Employment of gold-coated silver nanowires as transparent conductive electrode for organic light emitting diodes.

This study proposes a simple method of Au coating on silver nanowires (Ag NWs) transparent conductive films as the anode of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) to increase the work function of the film and thus enhance hole transport. We carefully engineer the process conditions (pretreatment, solution concentrations, and coating number) of the coating using a diluted HAuCl4 solution on the Ag NWs film to minimize etching damage on Ag NWs accompanying the galvanic replacement reaction. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy show work function increase of Ag NWs upon Au coating. OLED devices based on Au-coated Ag NWs show a lower turn-on voltage and higher luminance, compared with pristine Ag NWs device. Although the Ag NWs device displays poor efficiencies in the low luminance range due to a high leakage, some of the Au-coated Ag NWs devices showed efficiencies higher than those of the ITO device in a high luminance.

Inhibitory effect of 6-hydroxy-7-methoxychroman-2-carboxylic acid phenylamide on nitric oxide and interleukin-6 production in macrophages.

6-Hydroxy-7-methoxychroman-2-carboxylic acid phenylamide (CP compound) is a novel chemically synthetic compound with vitamin E-like chemical structure. In the present study, the CP compound was discovered to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin (IL)-6 productions in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages. Further, CP compound attenuated LPS-induced synthesis of mRNA and protein levels of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), in parallel, and inhibited iNOS promoter activity. In the similar way, CP compound inhibited LPS-induced synthesis of IL-6 transcript but also IL-6 promoter activity. These results indicate that CP compound could down-regulate LPS-induced iNOS and IL-6 expression at the transcription step. As a mechanism of the anti-inflammatory action shown by CP compound, suppression of LPS-induced activation of both nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) has been documented. Finally, CP compound could provide an invaluable tool to investigate LPS-induced NF-kappaB and AP-1 activation, in addition to its therapeutic potential in NO- and IL-6-associated inflammatory diseases.