Small molecular donor materials based on ß-ß-bridged BODIPY dimers with a triphenylamine or carbazole unit for efficient organic solar cells.

Herein, we have designed and synthesized two novel BODIPY dimer-based small molecules, denoted as ZMH-1 and ZMH-2, covalently linked and functionalized with triphenylamine (TPA) (ZMH-1) and carbazole (CZ) (ZMH-2) units as the electron donor at the 3- and 5-positions of the BODIPY core, respectively. Their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated. We have fabricated all small molecule bulk heterojunction organic solar cells using these BODIPY-based small molecules as electron donors along with fullerene derivative (PC71BM) and medium bandgap non-fullerene acceptor IDT-TC as electron acceptors. The optimized OSCs based on ZMH-1:PC71BM, ZMH-2:PC71BM, ZMH-1:IDT-IC, and ZMH-2:IDT-IC attain overall PCEs of 8.91%, 6.61%, 11.28%, and 5.48%, respectively. Moreover, when a small amount of PC71BM as guest acceptor is added to the binary host ZMH-1:IDT-TC and ZMH-2:IDT-TC, the ternary OSCs based on ZMH-1 and ZMH-2 reach PCEs of 13.70% and 12.71%, respectively.

An Asymmetric Coumarin-Anthracene Conjugate as Efficient Fullerene-Free Acceptor for Organic Solar Cells.

Asymmetric wide-bandgap fullerene-free acceptors (FFAs) play a crucial role in organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, we designed and synthesized a simple asymmetric coumarin-anthracene conjugate named CA-CN with optical bandgap of 2.1 eV in a single-step condensation reaction. Single crystal X-ray structure analysis confirms various multiple intermolecular non-covalent interactions. The molecular orbital energy levels of CA-CN estimated from cyclic voltammetry were found to be suitable for its use as an acceptor for OSCs. Binary OSCs fabricated using CA-CN as acceptor and PTB7-Th as the donor achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.13%. We further demonstrate that the insertion of 20 wt% of CA-CN as a third component in ternary OSCs with PTB7-Th:DICTF as the host material achieved an impressive PCE of 14.91%, an improvement of ~43% compared to the PTB7-Th:DICTF binary device (10.38%). Importantly, the ternary blend enhances the absorption coverage from 400 to 800 nm and improves the morphology of the active layer. The findings highlight the efficacy of an asymmetric design approach for FFAs, which paves the way for developing high-efficiency OSCs at low cost.

Retraction notice to "Mechanistic insight into the bioactivity of prodigiosin-entrapped lipid nanoparticles against triple-negative breast, lung and colon cancer cell lines" [Heliyon 9 (2023) e16963].

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16963.].

Mechanistic insight into the bioactivity of prodigiosin-entrapped lipid nanoparticles against triple-negative breast, lung and colon cancer cell lines.

This research investigates the potentials of prodigiosin(PG) derived from bacteria and its formulations against triple-negative breast (TNB), lung, and colon cancer cells. The PG was extracted from S. marcescens using continuous batch culture, characterized, and formulated into lyophilized parenteral nanoparticles (PNPs). The formulations were characterized with respect to entrapment efficiency (EE), DSC, FT-IR, TEM, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. In vitro drug release was evaluated in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) while acute toxicity, hematological and histopathological studies were performed on rats. The in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated against TNB (MCF-7), lung (A-549), and colon (HT-29) cancer cell lines. High EE (92.3 ± 12%) and drug release of up to 89.4% within 8 h were obtained. DSC thermograms of PG and PG-PNPs showed endothermic peaks indicating amorphous nature. The FT-IR spectrum of PG-PNPs revealed remarkable peaks of pure PG, indicating no strong chemical interaction between the drug and excipients. The TEM micrograph of the PG-PNPs showed nano-sized formulations (20-30 nm) whose particles were mostly lamellar and hexagonal structures. The 1H NMR result revealed the chemical structure of PG showing all assigned proton chemical shifts. Toxicity results of the PG and its formulation up to a concentration of 5000 mg/kg showed insignificant vacuolar changes of hepatocytes in the liver, with normal renal medulla and cortex in the kidney. The PG and PG-PNPs inhibited the growth of breast, lung, and colon cell lines. The nano-sized lipid formulation (PG-PNPs) showed potential in PG delivery and cancer treatments.

Directed Message Passing Neural Network for Predicting Power Conversion Efficiency in Organic Solar Cells.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have emerged as a promising technology for renewable energy generation, and researchers are constantly exploring ways to improve their efficiency. For prediction of photovoltaic properties in OSCs, many machine learning models have been used in the past. All the models are used with fixed molecular descriptors and molecular fingerprints as input for power conversion efficiency (PCE) prediction. Recently, the graph neural network (GNN), which can model graph structures of the molecule, has received increasing attention as a method that could potentially overcome the limitations of fixed descriptors by learning the task-specific representations using graph convolutions. In this study, we have used the directed message passing neural network (D-MPNN), an emerging type of GNN for predicting PCE of organic solar cells, and the results are compared for the same train and test set with fixed descriptors and fingerprints. The excellent performance demonstrated by the D-MPNN model in this investigation highlights its potential for predicting PCE, surpassing the limitations of conventional fixed descriptors.

Effects of Halogenation on Cyclopentadithiophenevinylene-Based Acceptors with Excellent Responses in Binary Organic Solar Cells.

In recent years, non-fused non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have attracted increasing consideration due to several advantages, which include simple preparation, superior yield, and low cost. In the work reported here, we designed and synthesized three new NFAs with the same cyclopentadithiophenevinylene (CPDTV) trimer as the electron-donating unit and different terminal units (IC for FG10, IC-4F for FG8, and IC-4Cl for FG6). Both halogenated NFAs, i.e., FG6 and FG8, show red-shifted absorption spectra and higher electron mobilities (more pronounced for FG6) in comparison with FG10. Moreover, the dielectric constants of these materials also increased upon halogenation of the IC terminal units, thus leading to a reduction in the exciton binding energy, which is favorable for dissociation of excitons and subsequent charge transfer despite the driving force (highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital offsets) being very small. The organic solar cells (OSCs) constructed using these acceptors and PBDB-T, as the donor, showed PCE values of 15.08, 12.56, and 9.04% for FG6, FG8, and FG10, respectively. The energy loss for the FG6-based device was the lowest (0.45 eV) of all the devices, and this may be attributed to it having the highest dielectric constant, which leads to a reduction in the binding energy of exciton and a small driving force for hole transfer from FG6 to PBDB-T. The results indicate that the NFA containing the CPDTV oligomer core and halogenated terminal units can efficiently spread the absorption spectrum to the NIR zone. Non-fused NFAs have a bright future in the quest to obtain efficient OSCs with low cost for marketable purposes.

Simple and Efficient Acceptor-Donor-Acceptor-Type Non-fullerene Acceptors for a BODIPY-Thiophene-Backboned Polymer Donor for High-Performance Indoor Photovoltaics.

Herein, simple acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type small molecules denoted as DICTF and DRCTF with modification in terminal units were synthesized and used as electron acceptors. With the tuning of the electron-withdrawing units in electron acceptors, their photovoltaic properties were investigated when combined with low-band-gap BODIPY-thiophene-backboned donor material, named P(BdP-HT). The P(BdP-HT):DICTF-based organic solar cells (OSCs) displayed excellent efficiency of around 11.94%, which is superior to the P(BdP-HT):DRCTF counterpart (8.78%). Although the open-circuit voltage (VOC) of the P(BdP-HT):DRCTF-based OSC is greater than that for the P(BdP-HT):DICTF counterpart, the rise in the short-circuit current density (JSC) may be attributed to the fact that the P(BdP-HT):DICTF blend displayed impressive panchromatic absorption compared to P(BdP-HT):DRCTF. The improved fill factor (FF) is responsible for the balanced transport of charges in the P(BdP-HT):DICTF-based device. Moreover, the P(BdP-HT):DRCTF- and P(BdP-HT):DICTF-based OSCs showed 17.68 and 21.84%, respectively, under indoor illumination (1000 lx). To the best of our observation, this might be the first report on BODIPY-based donors with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.84% under indoor illumination conditions.

Investigation of Glypican-4 and -6 by Infrared Spectral Imaging during the Hair Growth Cycle.

The expression of glypicans in different hair follicle (HF) compartments is still poorly understood. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) distribution in HF is classically investigated by conventional histology, biochemical analysis, and immunohistochemistry. Our previous study proposed a novel approach to assess hair histology and glypican-1 (GPC1) distribution changes in the HF at different phases of the hair growth cycle using infrared spectral imaging (IRSI). We show in the present manuscript for the first time complementary data on the distribution of glypican-4 (GPC4) and glypican-6 (GPC6) in HF at different phases of the hair growth cycle using IR imaging. Findings were supported by Western blot assays focusing on the GPC4 and GPC6 expression in HFs. Like all proteoglycan features, the glypicans are characterized by a core protein to which sulfated and/or unsulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains are covalently linked. Our study demonstrates the capacity of IRSI to identify the different HF tissue structures and to highlight protein, proteoglycan (PG), GAG, and sulfated GAG distribution in these structures. The comparison between anagen, catagen, and telogen phases shows the qualitative and/or quantitative evolution of GAGs, as supported by Western blot. Thus, in one analysis, IRSI can simultaneously reveal the location of proteins, PGs, GAGs and sulfated GAGs in HFs in a chemical and label-free manner. From a dermatological point of view, IRSI may constitute a promising technique to study alopecia.

Design, Synthesis of 3-(5-Substituted Phenyl-[1,3,4]oxadiazol-2-yl)-1H-indole and Its Microbial Activity.

Fischer indole synthesis of indole by using phenyl-hydrazine and acetaldehyde resulted 1H-Indole while phenyl-hydrazine reacted with malonaldehyde gives 1H-Indole-3-carbaldehyde. Also Vilsmeier-Haack formylation of 1H-Indole gives 1H-Indole-3-carbaldehyde. 1H-Indole-3-carbaldehyde were oxidized to form 1H-Indole-3-carboxylic acid. 1H-Indole reacted with excess of BuLi at -78 °C using dry ice also gives 1H-Indole-3-carboxylic acid. Obtained 1H-Indole-3-carboxylic acid was converted to ester and ester in to acid hydrazide. Finally 1H-Indole-3-carboxylic acid hydrazide reacted with substituted carboxylic acid gives microbial active indole substituted oxadiazoles. Synthesized compounds 9a-j showing promising in vitro anti microbial activities against S. aureus bacteria compared with Streptomycin. Compound 9a, 9f and 9g showing activities against E. coli compared with standards. Compound 9a and 9f are found potent active against B. subtilis compared with reference standard while compound 9a, 9c and 9j active against S. typhi.

Harnessing the Structure-Performance Relationships in Designing Non-Fused Ring Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells.

The prerequisite for commercially viable organic solar cells (OSC) is to reduce the efficiency-stability-cost gap. Therefore, the cost of organic materials should be reduced by minimizing the synthetic steps, yet maintaining the molecular planarity and efficiencies achieved by the fused ring acceptors (FRA). In this respect, developing non-fused ring acceptors (NFRA) with suitable functionalization to favor conformational planarity and effective molecular packing is beneficial and cost-effective. Presently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) for NFRAs is around 16 %, yet lower than the 19 % achieved for FRAs. Despite their potential, a thorough understanding of the effective structural design of NFRAs is necessary for developing efficient OSCs. This article pays special attention to the molecular design concept for NFRAs developed in the last years and analyzed the approach toward materials design and efficiency improvement, an important step toward technological application.

Medium Bandgap Nonfullerene Acceptor for Efficient Ternary Polymer Solar Cells with High Open-Circuit Voltage.

We have designed a new medium bandgap non-fullerene small-molecule acceptor consisting of an IDT donor core flanked with 2-(6-oxo-5,6-dihydro-4H-cyclopenta[c]-thiophene-4-ylidene) malononitrile (TC) acceptor terminal groups (IDT-TC) and compared its optical and electrochemical properties with the IDT-IC acceptor. IDT-TC showed an absorption profile from 300 to 760 nm, and it has an optical bandgap of 1.65 eV and HOMO and LUMO energy levels of -5.55 and -3.83 eV, respectively. In contrast to IDT-IC, IDT-TC has an upshifted LUMO energy level, which is advantageous for achieving high open-circuit voltage. Moreover, IDT-TC showed higher crystallinity and high electron mobility than IDT-IC. Using a wide bandgap D-A copolymer P as the donor, we compared the photovoltaic performance of IDT-TC, IDT-IC, and IDT-IC-Cl nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs). Polymer solar cells (PSCs) using P: IDT-TC, P: IDT-IC, and P:IDT-IC-Cl active layers achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.26, 11.56, and 13.34%, respectively. As the absorption profiles of IDT-IC-Cl and IDT-TC are complementary to each other, we have incorporated IDT-TC as the guest acceptor in the P: IDT-IC-Cl active layer to fabricate the ternary (P:IDT-TC: IDT-IC-Cl) PSC, demonstrating a PCE of 16.44%, which is significantly higher than that of the binary BHJ devices. The improvement in PCE for ternary PSCs is attributed to the efficient exploitation of excitons via energy transfer from IDT-TC to IDT-IC-Cl, suitable nanoscale phase separation, compact stacking distance, and more evenly distributed charge transport.

Role of Exciton Lifetime, Energetic Offsets, and Disorder in Voltage Loss of Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells.

Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs) has significantly progressed with a rapid increase from 10 to 19% due to state-of-the-art research on nonfullerene acceptor molecules and various device processing strategies. However, OSCs still exhibit significant open circuit voltage loss (ΔVOC ∼ 0.6 V) due to high energetic offsets and molecular disorder. In this work, we present a systematic investigation to determine the effects of energetic offset and disorder on different recombination losses in open circuit voltage (VOC) using 13 different photoactive layers, wherein the PCE and ΔVOC vary in the ranges of 2.21-14.74% and 0.561-1.443 V, respectively. The detailed voltage loss analysis of all these devices was carried out, and voltage losses were correlated with energetic offset and disorder. This has enabled us to identify the key features for minimizing the voltage loss like: (1) a low energy offset between the donor and acceptor molecular states is essential to attain a nonradiative voltage loss (ΔVOC, nrad) as low as ∼200 meV and (2) Urbach energy, which is a measure of the materials' disorder and packing, should be low for the minimization of the radiative voltage loss (ΔVOC, rad). In addition, time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy was employed to further understand the exciton dynamics of pristine materials and donor-acceptor blends. It was observed that the absorbers with ultralong exciton lifetime (∼1000 ps) produce higher efficiencies. The current study emphasizes the importance of simultaneously testing photovoltaic performance and active layer exciton dynamics for rational device optimization and opens new prospects for designing novel molecules with fine-tuning of energetic offset and disorder with longer exciton lifetime which is the effective strategy to boost the efficiency of OSCs to their modified Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit by minimizing radiative and nonradiative voltage losses.

Active Discovery of Donor:Acceptor Combinations For Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

The structural flexibility of organic semiconductors offers vast a search space, and many potential candidates (donor and acceptor) for organic solar cells (OSCs) are yet to be discovered. Machine learning is extensively used for material discovery but performs poorly on extrapolation tasks with small training data sets. Active learning techniques can guide experimentalists to extrapolate and find the most promising D:A combination in a significantly small number of experiments. This study uses an active learning technique with a predictive random forest model to iteratively find the most optimal D:A combinations in the search space using various acquisition functions. Active learning results with five different acquisition functions (MM, MEI, MLI, MU, and UCB) are compared. Results reveal that acquisition functions that combine exploitation and exploration (MEI, MLI, and UCB) perform far better than purely exploiting (MM) and purely exploring (MU) acquisition functions. Interestingly, the proposed model can overcome the bottleneck of extrapolating small training data sets and find most promising D:A combinations in relatively fewer experiments.

Efficient remediation of antibiotic pollutants from the environment by innovative biochar: current updates and prospects.

The increased antibiotic consumption and their improper management led to serious antibiotic pollution and its exposure to the environment develops multidrug resistance in microbes against antibiotics. The entry rate of antibiotics to the environment is much higher than its exclusion; therefore, efficient removal is a high priority to reduce the harmful impact of antibiotics on human health and the environment. Recent developments in cost-effective and efficient biochar preparation are noticeable for their effective removal. Moreover, biochar engineering advancements enhanced biochar remediation performance several folds more than in its pristine forms. Biochar engineering provides several new interactions and bonding abilities with antibiotic pollutants to increase remediation efficiency. Especially heteroatoms-doping significantly increased catalysis of biochar. The main focus of this review is to underline the crucial role of biochar in the abatement of emerging antibiotic pollutants. A detailed analysis of both native and engineered biochar is provided in this article for antibiotic remediation. There has also been discussion of how biochar properties relate to feedstock, production conditions and manufacturing technologies, and engineering techniques. It is possible to produce biochar with different surface functionalities by varying the feedstock or by modifying the pristine biochar with different chemicals and preparing composites. Subsequently, the interaction of biochar with antibiotic pollutants was compared and reviewed. Depending on the surface functionalities of biochar, they offer different types of interactions e.g., π-π stacking, electrostatic, and H-bonding to adsorb on the biochar surface. This review demonstrates how biochar and related composites have optimized for maximum removal performance by regulating key parameters. Furthermore, future research directions and opportunities for biochar research are discussed.

Efficient Medium Bandgap Electron Acceptor Based on Diketopyrrolopyrrole and Furan for Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells.

We report the design of novel medium bandgap nonfullerene small molecule acceptor NFSMA SPS-TDPP-2CNRh with A2-π-A1-π-A2 architecture, with the molecular engineering of this material comprising a strong electron-accepting backbone unit DPP (A1) as the acceptor, which is attached to the dicyanomethylene-3-hexylrhodanine (A2) acceptor via a furan (π-spacer) linker. We systematically studied its structural and optoelectronic properties. The incorporation of dicyanomethylene-3-hexylrhodanine and furan enhance the light absorption and electrochemical properties by extending π-conjugation and is anticipated to improve VOC by decreasing the LUMO level. The long alkyl chain units were responsible for the better solubility and aggregation of the resultant molecule. Binary BHJ-OSCs constructed with polymer P as the donor and SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as the acceptor resulted in a PCE of 11.49% with improved VOC = 0.98 V, JSC = 18.32 mA/cm2, and FF = 0.64 for P:SPS-TDPP-2CNRh organic solar cells. A ternary solar cell device was also made using Y18-DMO and SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as acceptors having complementary absorption profiles and polymer P as the donor, resulting in a PCE of 15.50% with improved JSC = 23.08 mA/cm2, FF = 0.73, and VOC = 0.92 V for the P:SPS-TDPP-2CNRh:Y18-DMO solar cell. The ternary OSCs with SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as the host acceptor in the P:Y18-DMO binary film were shown to have improved PCE values, which is mainly attributed to the effective photoinduced charge transfer through multiple networks and the use of excitons from SPS-TDPP-2CNRh and Y18-DMO. Moreover, in the ternary BHJ active layers, the superior stable charge transport that was observed compared to the binary counterparts may also lead to an increase in the fill factor. These results demonstrate that combining medium bandgap and narrow bandgap NFSMAs with a wide bandgap polymer donor is a successful route to increasing the overall PCE of the OSCs via the ternary BHJ concept.

Gold(III) Porphyrin Was Used as an Electron Acceptor for Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

The widespread use of nonfullerene-based electron-accepting materials has triggered a rapid increase in the performance of organic photovoltaic devices. However, the number of efficient acceptor compounds available is rather limited, which hinders the discovery of new, high-performing donor:acceptor combinations. Here, we present a new, efficient electron-accepting compound based on a hitherto unexplored family of well-known molecules: gold porphyrins. The electronic properties of our electron-accepting gold porphyrin, named VC10, were studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy and by cyclic voltammetry (CV) , revealing two intense optical absorption bands at 500-600 and 700-920 nm and an optical bandgap of 1.39 eV. Blending VC10 with PTB7-Th, a donor polymer, which gives rise to an absorption band at 550-780 nm complementary to that of VC10, enables the fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) featuring a power conversion efficiency of 9.24% and an energy loss of 0.52 eV. Hence, this work establishes a new approach in the search for efficient acceptor molecules for solar cells and new guidelines for future photovoltaic material design.

Novel Pyrrolo [3,4-b] Dithieno [3, 2-f:2″,3″-h] Quinoxaline-8,10 (9H)-Dione Based Wide Bandgap Conjugated Copolymers for Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells.

Two D-A copolymers consisting of fused ring pyrrolo-dithieno-quinoxaline acceptors are synthesized with different donor units, i.e., benzodithiophene (BDT) with alkylthienyl (P134) and 2-ethylhexyloxy (P117) side chains. These copolymers are used as donors and a narrow bandgap acceptor Y6 to fabricate bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell devices. Owing to the strong electron-deficient fused ring pyrrolo-bithieno-quinoxaline and weak alkyl thienyl side chains in BDT, the polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on P134:Y6 attain the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.42%, which is higher than the P117:Y6 counterpart (12.14%). The superior value of PCE for P134:Y6 can be associated with more well-adjusted charge transport, weak charge recombination, proficient exciton generation, and dissociation into free charge carriers and their subsequent charge collection owing to the dense π-π stacking distance and more considerable crystal coherence length for the P134:Y6 thin films. This investigation confirms the great potential of a strong acceptor-weak donor tactic for developing efficient D-A copolymers consists of quinoxaline acceptor for PSCs.

New Medium Bandgap Donor D-A1 -D-A2 Type Copolymers Based on Anthra[1,2-b: 4,3-b":6,7-c"'] Trithiophene-8,12-dione Groups for High-Efficient Non-Fullerene Polymer Solar Cells.

A new acceptor unit anthra[1,2-b: 4,3-b': 6,7-c'']trithiophene-8,12-dione (А3Т) (A2) is synthesized and used to design D-A1 -D-A2 medium bandgap donor copolymers with same thiophene (D) and A2 units but different A1, i.e., fluorinated benzothiadiazole (F-BTz) and benzothiadiazole (BTz) denoted as P130 and P131, respectively. Their detailed optical and electrochemical properties are examined. The copolymers show good solubility in common organic solvents, broad absorption in the visible spectral region from 300 to 700 nm, and deeper HOMO levels of -5.45 and -5.34 eV for P130 and P131, respectively. Finally, an optimized polymer solar cell (PSC) based on P131 as the donor and narrow bandgap non-fullerene small molecule acceptor Y6 demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of >11.13%. To further improve the efficiency of the non-fullerene PSC, the P130 is optimized by introducing a fluorine atom into the BTz unit, F-BTz acceptor unit, and PCE PSC based on P130: Y6 active layer increased to >15.28%, which is higher than that for the non-fluorinated analog P131:Y6. The increase in the PCE for former PSC is attributed to the more crystalline nature and compact π-π stacking distance, leading to more balanced charge transport and reduced charge recombination. These remarkable results demonstrate that A3T-based copolymer P130 with F-BTz as the second acceptor is a promising donor material for high-performance PSCs.

Assessment of Ovarian Tumor Growth in Wild-Type and Lumican-Deficient Mice: Insights Using Infrared Spectral Imaging, Histopathology, and Immunohistochemistry.

Ovarian cancer remains one of the most fatal cancers due to a lack of robust screening methods of detection at early stages. Extracellular matrix (ECM) mediates interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment via specific molecules. Lumican, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP), maintains ECM integrity and inhibits both melanoma primary tumor development, as well as metastatic spread. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of lumican on tumor growth of murine ovarian epithelial cancer. C57BL/6 wild type mice (n = 12) and lumican-deficient mice (n = 10) were subcutaneously injected with murine ovarian epithelial carcinoma ID8 cells, and then sacrificed after 18 days. Analysis of tumor volumes demonstrated an inhibitory effect of endogenous lumican on ovarian tumor growth. The ovarian primary tumors were subjected to histological and immunohistochemical staining using anti-lumican, anti-αv integrin, anti-CD31 and anti-cyclin D1 antibodies, and then further examined by label-free infrared spectral imaging (IRSI), second harmonic generation (SHG) and Picrosirius red staining. The IR tissue images allowed for the identification of different ECM tissue regions of the skin and the ovarian tumor. Moreover, IRSI showed a good correlation with αv integrin immunostaining and collagen organization within the tumor. Our results demonstrate that lumican inhibits ovarian cancer growth mainly by altering collagen fibrilogenesis.

An investigation of chemical and electrochemical conversion of SILAR grown Mn3O4 into MnO2 thin films.

Manganese oxide is an interesting material for electrochemical properties. It is well known that Mn3O4 (spinel) can be electrochemically converted to MnO2 (birnessite) via the electrochemical route during cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycling in aqueous Na2SO4 solution. Herein, the novel way is represented for the growth of highly adherent and compact Mn3O4 thin films by using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. As grown Mn3O4 thin films are converted into MnO2 after chemical treatment by hydrochloric acid (HCl) via a disproportionate reaction. Mn3O4 thin films are converted into MnO2 by both chemical and electrochemical paths. During chemical conversion, at acidic pH, the crystal water insertion (H3O+) in Mn3O4 crystal provides the necessary driving force to transform it into MnO2 crystal. During electrochemical transformation, the specific capacitance was found to increase from 72 (1st CV cycle) to 393 F/g (1600th CV cycle). On the other hand, the specific capacitance was increased from 72 to 258 F/g through chemical transformation. Electrochemical and chemical conversion leads to ~5.5 and ~3.5 fold, respectively, improved supercapacitive performance than pristine Mn3O4 thin films. Both chemical and electrochemical conversion routes are extremely useful to recycle battery waste for supercapacitor applications.