Thermodynamic Phase Transition of Three-Dimensional Solid Additives Guiding Molecular Assembly for Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

Fine-tuning the thermodynamic self-assembly of molecules via volatile solid additives has emerged to be an effective way to construct high-performance organic solar cells. Here, three-dimensional structured solid molecules have been designed and applied to facilitate the formation of organized molecular assembly in the active layer. By means of systematic theory analyses and film-morphology characterizations based on four solid candidates, we preselected the optimal one, 4-fluoro-N,N-diphenylaniline (FPA), which possesses good volatility and strong charge polarization. The three-dimensional solids can induce molecular packing in active layers via strong intermolecular interactions and subsequently provide sufficient space for the self-reassembly of active layers during the thermodynamic transition process. Benefitting from the optimized morphology with improved charge transport and reduced energy disorder in the FPA-processed devices, high efficiencies of over 19 % were achieved. The strategy of three-dimensional additives inducing ordered self-assembly structure represents a practical approach for rational morphology control in highly efficient devices, contributing to deeper insights into the structural design of efficient volatile solid additives.

Dual Polymerized Y-Acceptors of Distinct-Dimensionality Create Neuron-Like Interpenetrating Hierarchical Network towards Efficient and Stable All-Polymer Solar Cells.

All-polymer solar cells have garnered particular attention thanks to their superior thermal, photo, and mechanical stabilities for large-scale manufacturing, yet the performance enhancement remains largely restrained by inherent morphological challenges of the bulk-heterojunction active layer. Herein, a 3D Y-branched polymerized small-molecule acceptor named PYBF, characteristic of high molecular weight and glass transition temperature, is designed and synthesized by precisely linking C3h-symmetric benzotrifuran with Y6 acceptors. In comparison to the benchmark thiophene-bridged linear PYIT acceptor, an optical blue-shift absorption is observed for PYBF yet a slightly higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.7% (vs 15.14%) is obtained when paired with polymer donor PM6, which benefit from the more crystalline and face-on-oriented PYBF domains. However, the star-like bulky structure of PYBF results in the nucleation-growth dominant phase-separation in polymeric blends, which generates stumpy droplet-like acceptor fibrils and impairs the continuity of acceptor phases. This issue is however surprisingly resolved by incorporating a small amount of PYIT, which leads to the formation of the more interconnective neuron-like dual-acceptor domains by long-chain entanglements of linear acceptors and alleviates bimolecular recombination. Thus, the champion device realizes a respectable PCE of up to ≈17% and importantly exhibits thermal and storage stabilities superior to the linear counterpart.

Memory color of natural familiar objects: effects of surface texture and 3-D shape.

Natural objects typically possess characteristic contours, chromatic surface textures, and three-dimensional shapes. These diagnostic features aid object recognition, as does memory color, the color most associated in memory with a particular object. Here we aim to determine whether polychromatic surface texture, 3-D shape, and contour diagnosticity improve memory color for familiar objects, separately and in combination. We use solid three-dimensional familiar objects rendered with their natural texture, which participants adjust in real time to match their memory color for the object. We analyze mean, accuracy, and precision of the memory color settings relative to the natural color of the objects under the same conditions. We find that in all conditions, memory colors deviate slightly but significantly in the same direction from the natural color. Surface polychromaticity, shape diagnosticity, and three dimensionality each improve memory color accuracy, relative to uniformly colored, generic, or two-dimensional shapes, respectively. Shape diagnosticity improves the precision of memory color also, and there is a trend for polychromaticity to do so as well. Differently from other studies, we find that the object contour alone also improves memory color. Thus, enhancing the naturalness of the stimulus, in terms of either surface or shape properties, enhances the accuracy and precision of memory color. The results support the hypothesis that memory color representations are polychromatic and are synergistically linked with diagnostic shape representations.

On the road to the brain-on-a-chip: a review on strategies, methods, and applications.

The brain is the most complex organ of our body. Such a complexity spans from the single-cell morphology up to the intricate connections that hundreds of thousands of neurons establish to create dense neuronal networks. All these components are involved in the genesis of the rich patterns of electrophysiological activity that characterize the brain. Over the years, researchers coming from different disciplines developedin vitrosimplified experimental models to investigate in a more controllable and observable way how neuronal ensembles generate peculiar firing rhythms, code external stimulations, or respond to chemical drugs. Nowadays, suchin vitromodels are namedbrain-on-a-chippointing out the relevance of the technological counterpart as artificial tool to interact with the brain: multi-electrode arrays are well-used devices to record and stimulate large-scale developing neuronal networks originated from dissociated cultures, brain slices, up to brain organoids. In this review, we will discuss the state of the art of the brain-on-a-chip, highlighting which structural and biological features a realisticin vitrobrain should embed (and how to achieve them). In particular, we identified two topological features, namely modular and three-dimensional connectivity, and a biological one (heterogeneity) that takes into account the huge number of neuronal types existing in the brain. At the end of this travel, we will show how 'far' we are from the goal and how interconnected-brain-regions-on-a-chip is the most appropriate wording to indicate the current state of the art.

On the origins of three-dimensionality in drug-like molecules.

AIM: Many medicinal chemistry-relevant structures and core scaffolds tend toward geometric planarity, which hampers the optimization of physicochemical properties desirable in drug-like molecules. As challenging drug target classes emerge, the exploitation of molecular three-dimensionality in lead optimization is becoming increasingly important. While recent interest has emphasized the importance of enhanced three-dimensionality in molecular fragment designs, the extent to which this is required in core scaffolds remains unclear. MATERIALS & METHODS: Three computational methods, Scaffold Tree deconstruction, Synthetic Disconnection Rules retrosynthetic deconstruction and virtual library enumeration, are applied, together with the descriptors plane of best fit and principal moments of inertia, to investigate the origins of three-dimensionality in drug-like molecules. CONCLUSION: This study informs on the stage at which molecular three-dimensionality should be considered in drug design.

Optimal invasive key-hole neurosurgery with a miniaturized 3D chip on the tip: Microendoscopic device.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the performed study was to evaluate the possibility of a three-dimensional endoscope to become a combined microscope-endoscope device in one. We analyzed the ergonomy of the device, the implementation into the surgical workflow, the image quality, and the future perspectives such devices could have for the next generation of neurosurgeons. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Within 6 months, 22 patients (10 male, 12 female, 20-65 age) underwent surgery in neuroaxis using the new 3D-microendoscope (ME). The new 3D-ME has (a) the ability to visualize the surgical field from out- to inside with all advantages offered by a microscope, and in the same moment, (b) its design is like a small diameter endoscope that allows stereoscopic views extracorporal, intracorporal, and panoramic "para-side" of the lesion. RESULTS: In general, transcranial 3D-"microendoscopy" was performed in all patients with high-resolution 3D quality. No severe complications were observed intra- or postoperatively. With the addition of depth perception, the anatomic structures were well seen and observed. CONCLUSION: The 3D-microendoscopy is a very promising surgical concept associated with new technological developments. The surgeon is able to switch to a modern visualization instrument reaching the most optimal surgical approach without compromising safety, effectiveness, and visual information.

Reflections on research and learning from the patient: the art and science of what we do.

Over three decades ago, John Bowlby argued for psychoanalysis to seek beyond its own parameters if it was to maintain its claim to be a science. Since then there has been a wealth of relevant research from various fields. While this has been instrumental in the development of my own work, this paper concerns learning from the patient. The paper begins with a premise: interpretative analytic work requires three-dimensionality (self, other and object). Although interpretative work may be ingrained in our professional identity, this triangulation may or may not exist in our patients in any stable way. The paper continues with a brief developmental account of how early archetypally-shaped shifts in the infant's field of interest establish the experiential components of three-dimensionality. From there, observational and clinical material with a toddler and a young boy describe how early relational deficits hindered their capacities for three-dimensionality. Yet both were able to engage with the therapist and to become active in the creation of three-dimensionality within their own minds. Implied in this work are considerations for working with patients for whom interpretations do not work. Michael Fordham's comments on 'working out of the self' are linked with the art of what we do.