[ARTICLE WITHDRAWN] Semiconducting Polymer Dot-Based Ratiometric Fluorescence Nanoprobe for DNA Detection.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WITHDRAWN BY THE PUBLISHER IN MAY 2021

Greatly Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance of Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells via Metal Oxide.

Band-gap alignment engineering has now been extensively studied due to its high potential for application. Here we demonstrate a simple route to synthesize two metal oxide layers and align them together according to their bandgaps on the surface of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. The metal oxide layers not only extend absorption spectrum to generate extra carriers but also more efficiently separate electron⁻hole pairs. As a consequence, the photovoltaic performance of SnO2/CdO/Si double-layer solar cell (DLSC) is highly improved compared to the controlled Si solar cell, CdO/Si and SnO2/Si single-layer solar cells (SLSCs). Via alignment engineering, the SnO2/CdO/Si DLSC produces a short circuit photocurrent (Jsc) of 38.20 mA/cm², an open circuit photovoltage (Voc) of 0.575 V and a fill factor (FF) of 68.7%, a conversion efficiency (η) of 15.09% under AM1.5 illumination.

A water-soluble "turn-on" fluorescent probe for specifically imaging mitochondria viscosity in living cells.

Rational design of water-soluble probes for mitochondrial viscosity in practical biological applications remains a challenge. Herein, we described a novel hydro soluble benzothiazole salt derivative MitoSN, which exhibits specifically response and singular sensitivity to the mitochondria viscosity in living Hela cells. MitoSN displays an excellent fluorescence enhancement (ca. 35-fold) with the increase of the viscosity in the water-glycerol system. Moreover, confocal microscopy indicates that MitoSN is sensitive to the local viscosity and selectively stains mitochondria, the body of zebrafish as well. Importantly, MitoSN is capable to identify the viscosity difference of mitochondria in normal and nystatin treated Hela cells. The work provides a useful tool to monitor the changes of viscosity in the mitochondrial microenvironment.

Four Novel Zn (II) Coordination Polymers Based on 4'-Ferrocenyl-3,2':6',3''-Terpyridine: Engineering a Switch from 1D Helical Polymer Chain to 2D Network by Coordination Anion Modulation.

Four novel ZnII coordination polymers, [(ZnCl2)2(L)2]n (1), [(ZnBr2)2(L)2]n (2), and [(ZnI2)2(L)2]n (3) and {[Zn(SCN)2]1.5(L)3}n (4), have been synthesized based on 4'-ferrocenyl-3,2':6',3''-terpyridine with ZnII ions and different coordination anions under similar ambient conditions. Their structures have been confirmed using single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, showing that complexes 1-3 are one-dimensional (1D) double-stranded metal ion helical polymer chains and complex 4 is of a two-dimensional (2D) network. The structural transformations of them from a 1D polymer chain to a 2D network under the influence of the coordination anions has been systematic investigated. Furthermore, the optical band gaps have been measured by optical diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, revealing that the ligand and the complexes should have semiconductor properties.

A Series of Imidazole Derivatives: Synthesis, Two-Photon Absorption, and Application for Bioimaging.

A new series of D-π-A type imidazole derivatives have been synthesized and characterized. Two corresponding imidazolium salts (iodine and hexafluorophosphate) were prepared from the imidazole compound. Their electron-withdrawing ability can be largely tunable by salt formation reaction or ion exchange. UV-vis absorption and single-photon fluorescence spectra have been systematically investigated in different solvents. The two-photon cross sections (δ 2PA) of the imidazole derivatives are measured by two-photon excited fluorescence (2PEF) method. Compared with those of T-1 (107 GM) and T-3 (96 GM), T-2 (imidazolium iodine salt) has a large two-photon absorption (2PA) cross section value of 276 GM. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity and applications in bioimaging for the imidazole derivatives were carried out. The results showed that T-1 can be used as a lysosomal tracker with high stability and water solubility within pHs of 4-6, while T-2 and T-3 can be used as probes for cell cytoplasm.