Elimination of Intragrain Defect to Enhance the Performance of FAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells by Ionic Liquid.

Ionic liquids have been widely used to improve the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), and are generally believed to passivate defects on the grain boundaries of perovskites. However, few studies have focused on the relevant effects of ionic liquids on intragrain defects in perovskites which have been shown to be critical for the performance of PSCs. In this work, the effect of ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (HMII) on intragrain defects of formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) perovskite is investigated. Abundant {111}c intragrain planar defects in pure FAPbI3 grains are found to be significantly reduced by the addition of the ionic liquid HMII, shown by using ultra-low-dose selected area electron diffraction. As a result, longer charge carrier lifetimes, higher photoluminescence quantum yield, better charge carrier transport properties, lower Urbach energy, and current-voltage hysteresis are achieved, and the champion power conversion efficiency of 24.09% is demonstrated. These observations suggest that ionic liquids significantly improve device performance resulting from the elimination of {111}c intragrain planar defects.

Upregulation of CENPF is linked to aggressive features of osteosarcoma.

Centromere protein F (CENPF) plays a key role in the regulation of the cell cycle. The present study revealed that CENPF was overexpressed in a variety of tumors and associated with the poor prognosis of osteosarcoma. The mRNA expression levels of CENPF were analyzed using the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database and the protein levels of CENPF were detected in the specimens from patients with osteosarcoma using immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation, cell cycle and flow cytometry assays were performed after the transfection of control or CENPF plasmids into osteosarcoma cells. A xenografts assay was used to determine the effects of CENPF on tumor growth in vivo. The results showed that CENPF was upregulated in osteosarcoma tissues and associated with high-grade tumor stage (P=0.023) and intraglandular dissemination (P=0.046). The transfection-induced depletion of CENPF in human osteosarcoma MG-63 and U-2 OS cell lines inhibited cell proliferation, stimulated apoptosis and induced cell cycle arrest. Induced CENPF depletion in MG-63 cells inhibited tumor growth of osteosarcoma cells in mice. These findings suggested that elevated CENPF levels contributed to increased cell proliferation by mediating apoptosis and cell cycle in osteosarcoma. Therefore, CENPF might be a potential biomarker for poor prognosis of osteosarcoma.

Adenovirus-mediated small interfering RNA targeting ezrin induces apoptosis and inhibits metastasis of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells.

Osteosarcoma is a disease prone to recurrence and metastasis, and adenovirus expression vector is frequently studied as a therapeutic target of osteosarcoma in recent years. The present study attempts to explore the effect of adenovirus-mediated siRNA targetting ezrin on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells. Human osteosarcoma MG-63 cell line was selected for construction of recombinant adenovirus vector. The mRNA and protein levels of ezrin, Bcl2-associated X protein (Bax), B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), p21, p53, Caspase-3, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9, Cyclin D1, and cyclin-dependent kinase 4a (CDK4a) were determined. Through ELISA, the levels of Caspase-3, MMP-2 and MMP-9 were examined. Finally, human osteosarcoma MG-63 cell viability, growth, invasion, migration, and apoptosis were detected. Initially, adenovirus expression vector of ezrin was constructed by ezrin 2 siRNA sequence. Adenovirus-mediated siRNA targetting ezrin reduced expression of ezrin in MG-63 cells. The results revealed that adenovirus-mediated siRNA targetting ezrin elevated expression levels of Bax, p21, p53, and Caspase-3, Cyclin D1, and CDK4a and reduced expression levels of Bcl-2, MMP-2 and MMP-9. Furthermore, adenovirus-mediated siRNA targetting ezrin inhibited human osteosarcoma MG-63 cell viability, growth, invasion, and migration, and promoted apoptosis. Our study demonstrates that adenovirus-mediated siRNA targetting ezrin can induce apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells.