Continuously boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and delving deeper into its functionalities are essential problems faced by the very new antimony selenosulfide (Sb2(S,Se)3) solar technology. Here, a convenient and effective solution post‐treatment (SPT) technique is used to fabricate high‐performance Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells, where alkali metal fluorides are applied to improve the quality of Sb2(S,Se)3 films in terms of morphology, crystallinity, and conductivity. In particular, this approach is able to manipulate the S/Se gradient in the films and creates favorable energy alignment which facilitates the carrier transport. As a result, the fill factor and short‐circuit current density of Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells (Glass/FTO/Zn(O,S)/CdS/Sb2(S,Se)3/Spiro‐OMeTAD/Au) based on the SPT strategy are significantly enhanced, achieving a champion efficiency of 10.7%. To date, this conversion efficiency value represents the highest efficiency of all Sb‐based solar cells. This study provides an effective post‐treatment strategy for improving the quality of Sb2(S,Se)3 film which sheds new light on the fabrication of high‐efficiency Sb2(S,Se)3 solar cells.

No abstract

According to Shockley-Queisser's theory, the maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a single-junction Sb 2 S 3 solar cell is up to 28.64%. [2] Owing to the wide band gap (≈1.7 eV), it is also a suitable candidate for tandem solar cell applications. As an emerging solar cell material, its device efficiency has fallen far short of expectations and has remained limited for 8 years. [3] It has been acknowledged that the material processing method plays a vital role in improving device efficiency. In this regard, tremendous efforts have been made in developing film deposition techniques for Sb 2 S 3 absorbers, including hydrothermal, chemical bath deposition (CBD), fast chemical approach, vapor transport deposition, thermal evaporation, rapid thermal evaporation, atomic layer deposition, and closed space sublimation. [4] Among them, the CBD approach is featured as simple operation, low cost and high production capacity, [5] and the systematical survey (Figure 1f) suggested that the overall PCEs of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells are all lower than that reported in 2014 by Choi et al. using CBD method (7.5%). [3] Therefore, CBD is recognized as the most feasible and successful method for chalcogenide film deposition.Sb 2 S 3 as a light-harvesting material has attracted great attention for applications in both single-junction and tandem solar cells. Such solar cell has been faced with current challenge of low power conversion efficiency (PCE), which has stagnated for 8 years. It has been recognized that the synthesis of highquality absorber film plays a critical role in efficiency improvement. Here, using fresh precursor materials for antimony (antimony potassium tartrate) and combined sulfur (sodium thiosulfate and thioacetamide), a unique chemical bath deposition procedure is created. Due to the complexation of sodium thiosulfate and the advantageous hydrolysis cooperation between these two sulfur sources, the heterogeneous nucleation and the S 2releasing processes are boosted. As a result, there are noticeable improvements in the deposition rate, film morphology, crystallinity, and preferred orientations. Additionally, the improved film quality efficiently lowers charge trapping capacity, suppresses carrier recombination, and prolongs carrier lifetimes, leading to significantly improved photoelectric properties. Ultimately, the PCE exceeds 8% for the first time since 2014, representing the highest efficiency in all kinds of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells to date. This study is expected to shed new light on the fabrication of high-quality Sb 2 S 3 film and further efficiency improvement in Sb 2 S 3 solar cells.

Recent studies have identified a class of small non-coding RNA molecules, named microRNA (miRNA), that is dysregulated in malignant brain glioblastoma. Substantial data have indicated that miRNA-16 (miR-16) plays a significant role in tumors of various origins. This miRNA has been linked to various aspects of carcinogenesis, including cell apoptosis and migration. However, the molecular functions of miR-16 in gliomagenesis are largely unknown. We have shown that the expression of miR-16 in human brain glioma tissues was lower than in non-cancerous brain tissues, and that the expression of miR-16 decreased with increasing degrees of malignancy. Our data suggest that the expression of miR-16 and nuclear factor (NF)-κB1 was negatively correlated with glioma levels. MicroRNA-16 decreased glioma malignancy by downregulating NF-κB1 and MMP9, and led to suppressed invasiveness of human glioma cell lines SHG44, U87, and U373. Our results also indicated that upregulation of miR-16 promoted apoptosis by suppressing BCL2 expression. Finally, the upregulation of miR-16 in a nude mice model of human glioma resulted in significant suppression of glioma growth and invasiveness. Taken together, our experiments have validated the important role of miR-16 as a tumor suppressor gene in glioma growth and invasiveness, and revealed a novel mechanism of miR-16-mediated regulation in glioma growth and invasiveness through inhibition of BCL2 and the NF-κB1/MMP-9 signaling pathway. Therefore, our experiments suggest the possible future use of miR-16 as a therapeutic target in gliomas.

Moringa oleifera Lam. (M. oleifera) is commonly distributed and utilized in tropical and sub-tropical areas. There has been a large number of reports on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of its leaves, but only a few about its seeds and roots. Hence, in this work we aimed to systematically compare the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the ethanol crude extracts of leaves, seeds, and roots of M. oleifera from Kenya, and further correlate the differential activities with the chemical constituents from these three parts. The antioxidant activities were measured by using three different assays (DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and FRAP (Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power), respectively). Results showed that the leaf extracts displayed the highest DPPH radical scavenging and FRAP total reducing power activities with IC50 values of 1.02 ± 0.13 mg/mL and 0.99 ± 0.06 mM Fe2+/g, respectively; the leaf and root extracts exhibited potential ABTS radical scavenging activities with the IC50 values of 1.36 ± 0.02 and 1.24 ± 0.03 mg/mL. Meanwhile, the leaf and seed extracts (11.1–100 µg/mL) also exerted obvious anti-inflammatory activities, as indicated by the inhibition of NO production. To further reveal correlations between these differential activities with the chemical constituents in the three organs, the total flavonoids content (TFC) of the three different extracts were evaluated, and the TFC of leaves, seeds and roots were found to be 192.36 ± 2.96, 5.89 ± 0.65 and 106.79 ± 2.12 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/g, respectively. These findings indicated the important impacts of the total flavonoid contents on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Additionally, we further determined the phytochemical profiles of M. oleifera by HPLC-UV/ESI-MS/MS, and identified most of the chemical constituents of leaves as flavonoids. In summary, the leaves of M. oleifera are a better potential natural source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents, and very promising for development into the health promoting dietary supplements.