Synthesis of cadmium (Cd)-free quantum dots (QDs) with tunable emission and high color purity has been a big challenge for the academic and industrial research community. Among various Cd-free QDs, indium phosphide (InP) QDs exhibit reasonably good color purity with emission full width at half-maximum (fwhm) values between 45 and 50 nm for green and over 50 nm for red emission, which is not good enough, as values less than 35 nm are favorable in commercial display products. In this work, we present the synthesis of highly luminescent In­(Zn)­P/ZnSe/ZnS QDs with tunable emission from 488 to 641 nm and high color purity. We found that the addition of zinc during the conventional SILAR growth of shell (ZnSe or ZnS) deteriorated the absorption features of core InP QDs and resulted in broader emission line widths. We solved this issue by synthesizing Zn carboxylate covered In­(Zn)P QDs in a single step and dramatically decreased the emission fwhm to as low as 36 nm with quantum yields (QYs) up to 67% for the green emitting QDs. We also demonstrate an effective successive ion layer adsorption and reaction method to continuously tune the InP QDs size from 1.6 to 3.6 nm with narrow size distribution. This enables us to tune the emission up to 641 nm with fwhm values less than 45 nm and QY up to 56% for red emission. This is the first report on the synthesis of InP QDs with such high color purity. In addition, the obtained QDs show exceptional stability under air (>15 days) and heat treatment (150 °C in air for 24 h). Given the difficulty in synthesizing size tunable InP QDs with narrow emission fwhm and high quantum yield, the results presented here are an important step toward the realization of Cd-free QDs as a feasible alternative in commercial display technologies.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by plaques containing amyloid-β (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles composed of aggregated, hyperphosphorylated tau. Beyond tau and Aβ, evidence suggests that microglia play an important role in AD pathogenesis. Rare variants in the microglia-expressed triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) gene increase AD risk 2-to 4-fold. It is likely that these TREM2 variants increase AD risk by decreasing the response of microglia to Aβ and its local toxicity. However, neocortical Aβ pathology occurs many years before neocortical tau pathology in AD. Thus, it will be important to understand the role of TREM2 in the context of tauopathy. We investigated the impact of the ADassociated TREM2 variant (R47H) on tau-mediated neuropathology in the PS19 mouse model of tauopathy. We assessed PS19 mice expressing human TREM2 CV (common variant) or human TREM2 R47H. PS19-TREM2 R47H mice had significantly attenuated brain atrophy and synapse loss versus PS19-TREM2 CV mice. Gene expression analyses and CD68 immunostaining revealed attenuated microglial reactivity in PS19-TREM2 R47H versus PS19-TREM2 CV mice. There was also a decrease in phagocytosis of postsynaptic elements by microglia expressing TREM2 R47H in the PS19 mice and in human AD brains. These findings suggest that impaired TREM2 signaling reduces microglia-mediated neurodegeneration in the setting of tauopathy.

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Stretchable energy storage devices are of great interest because of their potential applications in body-friendly, skin-like, wearable devices. However, stretchable batteries are very challenging to fabricate. The electrodes must have a degree of stretchability because the active materials occupy most of the volume, and the separator and packaging should also be stretchable. Here, an all-component stretchable lithium-ion battery was realized by leveraging the structural stretchability of re-entrant micro-honeycomb graphene−carbon nanotube (CNT)/active material composite electrodes and a physically cross-linked gel electrolyte, without using an inactive elastomeric substrate or matrix. Active materials interconnected via the entangled CNT and graphene sheets provided a mechanically stable porous network framework, and the inwardly protruding framework in the re-entrant honeycomb structure allowed for structural stretching during deformation. The composite network consisting solely of binder-free, highly conductive materials provided superior electron transfer, and vertically aligned microchannels enabled facile ion transport. Additionally, the physically cross-linked gel electrolyte increased the mechanical stability upon deformation of the electrodes and was effective as a stretchable separator. The resulting stretchable battery showed a high areal capacity of 5.05 mAh•cm −2 , superior electrochemical performance up to 50% strain under repeated (up to 500) stretch−release cycles, and long-term stability of 95.7% after 100 cycles in air conditions.

TGase 2 inhibitor GK921 abrogates RCC growth in xenograft tumor models, suggesting the possibility of a new therapeutic approach to RCC.