Ultra-thin Ag/Si heterojunction hot-carrier photovoltaic conversion Schottky devices for harvesting solar energy at wavelength above 1.1 µm.

Traditional silicon solar cells can only absorb the solar spectrum at wavelengths below 1.1 µm. Here we proposed a breakthrough in harvesting solar energy below Si bandgap through conversion of hot carriers generated in the metal into a current using an energy barrier at the metal-semiconductor junction. Under appropriate conditions, the photo-excited hot carriers can quickly pass through the energy barrier and lead to photocurrent, maximizing the use of excitation energy and reducing waste heat consumption. Compared with conventional silicon solar cells, hot-carrier photovoltaic conversion Schottky device has better absorption and conversion efficiency for an infrared regime above 1.1 µm, expands the absorption wavelength range of silicon-based solar cells, makes more effective use of the entire solar spectrum, and further improves the photovoltaic performance of metal-silicon interface components by controlling the evaporation rate, deposition thickness, and annealing temperature of the metal layer. Finally, the conversion efficiency 3.316% is achieved under the infrared regime with a wavelength of more than 1100 nm and an irradiance of 13.85 mW/cm2.

Arabidopsis histone H3 lysine 9 methyltransferases KYP/SUVH5/6 are involved in leaf development by interacting with AS1-AS2 to repress KNAT1 and KNAT2.

The Arabidopsis H3K9 methyltransferases KRYPTONITE/SUPPRESSOR OF VARIEGATION 3-9 HOMOLOG 4 (KYP/SUVH4), SUVH5 and SUVH6 are redundantly involved in silencing of transposable elements (TEs). Our recent study indicated that KYP/SUVH5/6 can directly interact with the histone deacetylase HDA6 to synergistically regulate TE expression. However, the function of KYP/SUVH5/6 in plant development is still unclear. The transcriptional factors ASYMMETRIC LEAVES1 (AS1) and AS2 form a transcription complex, which is involved in leaf development by repressing the homeobox genes KNOTTED-LIKE FROM ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA 1 (KNAT1) and KNAT2. In this study, we found that KYP and SUVH5/6 directly interact with AS1-AS2 to repress KNAT1 and KNAT2 by altering histone H3 acetylation and H3K9 dimethylation levels. In addition, KYP can directly target the promoters of KNAT1 and KNAT2, and the binding of KYP depends on AS1. Furthermore, the genome-wide occupancy profile of KYP indicated that KYP is enriched in the promoter regions of coding genes, and the binding of KYP is positively correlated with that of AS1 and HDA6. Together, these results indicate that Arabidopsis H3K9 methyltransferases KYP/SUVH5/6 are involved in leaf development by interacting with AS1-AS2 to alter histone H3 acetylation and H3K9 dimethylation from KNAT1 and KNAT2 loci.

Arabidopsis cyclin-dependent kinase C2 interacts with HDA15 and is involved in far-red light-mediated hypocotyl cell elongation.

Histone deacetylases (HDAs) regulate many aspects of plant development and responses to environmental changes. Previous studies have demonstrated that the Arabidopsis histone deacetylase HDA15 is a positive regulator in far-red (FR) light-mediated inhibition of hypocotyl elongation. Furthermore, HDA15 can be phosphorylated and its enzymatic activity is negatively regulated by phosphorylation. However, the kinases that can phosphorylate HDA15 are still unknown. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are a large family of serine/threonine protein kinases and have been identified as major regulators of the cell cycle and transcription. In this study, we show that the cyclin-dependent kinase CDKC2 interacts with HDA15 both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro kinase assays show that CDKC2 phosphorylates HDA15. Genetic evidence suggests that HDA15 acts downstream of CDKC2 in hypocotyl elongation under FR light. Furthermore, HDA15 and CDKC2 function synergistically in the regulation of FR-mediated cell elongation. The expression of cell wall organization- and auxin signaling-related genes under FR light is increased in hda15 and cdkc2/hda15 mutants. Taken together, our study indicates that CDKC2 can phosphorylate HDA15 and plays an important role in FR light-regulated hypocotyl elongation.

HISTONE DEACETYLASE 15 and MOS4-associated complex subunits 3A/3B coregulate intron retention of ABA-responsive genes.

Histone deacetylases (HDAs) play an important role in transcriptional regulation of multiple biological processes. In this study, we investigated the function of HDA15 in abscisic acid (ABA) responses. We used immunopurification coupled with mass spectrometry-based proteomics to identify proteins interacting with HDA15 in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). HDA15 interacted with the core subunits of the MOS4-associated complex (MAC), MAC3A and MAC3B, with interaction between HDA15 and MAC3B enhanced by ABA. hda15 and mac3a/mac3b mutants were ABA-insensitive during seed germination and hyposensitive to salinity. RNA sequencing analysis demonstrated that HDA15 and MAC3A/MAC3B co-regulate ABA-responsive intron retention (IR). Furthermore, HDA15 reduced the histone acetylation level of genomic regions near ABA-responsive IR sites and the association of MAC3B with ABA-responsive pre-mRNA was dependent on HDA15. Our results indicate that HDA15 is involved in ABA responses by interacting with MAC3A/MAC3B to mediate splicing of introns.

Enhanced Efficiency of Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells via Double-Sided Sandwich Evaporation Technique for Four Terminal Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Application.

Halide perovskite based solar cells (PSC's) have shown tremendous potential based on its facile fabrication technique, and the low cost of perovskite thin film formation with efficiency passing through an unmatched growth in recent years. High quality film along with morphology and crystallinity of the perovskite layer influences the efficiency and other properties of the perovskite solar cell (PSC). Furthermore, semitransparent perovskite solar cells (ST-PSC) are an area of attraction due to its application in tandem solar cells, although various factors like suitable transparent rear electrodes and optimized technique limit the power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this article, we fabricated perovskite film using a technique termed Double-sided sandwich evaporation technique (DS-SET) resulting in high quality perovskite film (MAPbI3 and MAPbIxCl3-x). Using this fabrication approach as compared to the traditional spin-coating method, we reported an enhanced photovoltaic performance of the PSC with a better surface morphology and homogeneity. The best parameter via DS-SET was found to be SET 30 min, which demonstrated a PCE (%) up to 14.8% for MAPbI3 and 16.25% for MAPbIxCl3-x, respectively. Addressing the tandem solar cell, incorporating thin Ag as a transparent electrode with a thickness of 20 nm onto the PSC's as the top cell and further combining with the Si solar cell results in the four terminal (4T) tandem solar cell exhibiting a PCE (%) of 24.43%.