are co-founders and equity holders in Westwood Bioscience Inc. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest. Supporting Information Available: Additional figures, table, and methods as described in the text. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
Organic single crystals have been well researched for many years.[1] Typical vapor-phase growth of organic crystals developed from vertical [2] to horizontal growth [3] in order to achieve improved crystalline quality. Recently, a field-effect study on these single-crystal semiconductors demonstrated high carrier mobilities, up to ca. 15 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , along with anisotropic charge-transport properties. [4,5] These single-crystal transistors were usually fabricated with rigid and thick crystals (tens of micrometers to millimeters), which were fragile and difficult to process because of poor mechanical properties. Recently, a growth method affording thin, 150 nm thick, organic crystals demonstrated the processability of single-crystal transistors on flexible substrates, [6] and these organic crystals could be patterned on individual channels for transistors. [7] However, in addition to transistor studies of these organic crystals, other types of electronic applications, such as two-terminal devices, have not yet been realized, mainly because of the difficultly processing thick crystals. In this Communication, we report organic single-crystal photovoltaics fabricated from single pieces of thin tetracene crystals on bilayer heterojunctions with fullerene (C 60 ) thin films. These organic singlecrystal devices exhibited excellent diode behavior with rectifying ratios of 10 5 and an external power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ca. 0.34 %. By employing these high-quality single crystals in two-terminal devices, high-performance optoelectronic devices, such as organic diodes, photovoltaics, and photodetectors, become possible alternatives for large-area, low-cost flexible electronics. The quality of the single crystals was examined by cross-polarized microscopy, [8] X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The optical microscopy images ( Fig. 1a and b) recorded at 0°and 90°from the entrance polarizer and exit analyzer, respectively, show large birefringence, confirming the anisotropic crystalline nature of the tetracene crystals. The XRD data exhibit strong and narrow first (001) and second order (002) reflections (Fig. 1c), indicating the tetracene crystal is c-oriented, with molecular-plane growth along the vertical direction. [9,10] The crystal data obtained for tetracene confirm a C 18 H 6 molecular formula with a molecule weight of 222.23 g mol -1. The lattice constants are a = 6.02 ± 0.025 Å, b = 7.77 ± 0.032 Å, c = 12.46 ± 0.054 Å, a =101.11 ± 0.078°, b = 99.41 ± 0.092°, and c = 94.40 ± 0.088°, and tetracene crystallizes with a triclinic crystal structure in space group P 1. The coordinates for tetracene can be obtained in the crystallographic information file (CIF) format from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (CCDC), and the above crystallographic data are consistent with the data in the CCDC. Both the strong birefringence and the XRD results indicate these organic single crystals are of high quality.A schematic structure of a single-crystal solar cell is shown in Figure...
An appropriate representation of the tumor microenvironment in tumor models can have a pronounced impact on directing combinatorial treatment strategies and cancer nanotherapeutics. The present study develops a novel 3D co-culture spheroid model (3D TNBC) incorporating tumor cells, enodothelial cells and fibroblasts as color-coded murine tumor tissue analogs (TTA) to better represent the tumor milieu of triple negative breast cancer in vitro. Implantation of TTA orthotopically in nude mice, resulted in enhanced growth and aggressive metastasis to ectopic sites. Subsequently, the utility of the model is demonstrated for preferential targeting of irradiated tumor endothelial cells via radiation-induced stromal enrichment of Galectin-1 using Anginex conjugated nanoparticles (nanobins) carrying arsenic trioxide and cisplatin. Demonstration of a multimodal nanotherapeutic system and inclusion of the biological response to radiation using an in vitro/ in vivo tumor model incorporating characteristics of tumor microenvironment presents an advance in preclinical evaluation of existing and novel cancer nanotherapies.
Many solid tumor types, such as pancreatic cancer, have a generally poor prognosis, in part because the delivery of therapeutic regimen is prohibited by pathological abnormalities that block access to tumor vasculature, leading to poor bioavailability. Recent development of tumor penetrating iRGD peptide that is covalently conjugated on nanocarriers’ surface or co-administered with nanocarriers becomes a popular approach for tumor targeting. More importantly, scientists have unlocked an important tumor transcytosis mechanism by which drug carrying nanoparticles directly access solid tumors (without the need of leaky vasculature), thereby allowing systemically injected nanocarriers more abundantly distribute at tumor site with improved efficacy. In this focused review, we summarized the design and implementation strategy for iRGD-mediated tumor targeting. This includes the working principle of such peptide and discussion on patient-specific iRGD effect in vivo, commensurate with the level of key biomarker (i.e. neuropilin-1) expression on tumor vasculature. This highlights the necessity to contemplate the use of a personalized approach when iRGD technology is used in clinic.
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