Chemistry
Summary :
In this study, the two-dimensional Schrodinger equation with the Hulthen-Kratzer potential (HKP) model is solved in the presence of AB and magnetic fields using the factorization method. The energy equation and wave function of the system are derived as a function of the external fields and potential parameters. The influence of these fields on the obtained energy spectra of and diatomic molecules have been analyzed. It has been shown that to control certain behaviors of the system and molecules, external fields are required. More so, the presence these fields eliminates degeneracy. The results of this study have potential applications in condensed matter physics, atomic physics, and chemical physics
About Author :
Collins Edet is a research assistant in the Theoretical Physics Group in the Department of Physics of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He has published about 30 journal articles, indexed in web of science (WOS), Scopus, Journal Citation Report (JCR) etc. His research articles have been cited more than 650 times on Google Scholar with h-index of 17 and 22 i10-index. He serves as a reviewer to many prestigious journals focusing on Mathematical Physics and related areas such as Scientific Report, Nature; International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons; European Physical Journal plus (EPJP), Springer etc. His research interest includes: Quantum/Mathematical physics (Wave Mechanics, Atomic structure, Topological defect and Molecular processes in external fields). Quantum Information Theory.
Summary :
In perovskite solar cells, the inverted device structure has the potential for faster commercialization due to its less complicated processing path when compared to the conventional planar structure solar cell. However, multi-cation perovskite crystallization on the PEDOT:PSS, the hole transport material, results in large domains with several deft and grain boundaries. These defects formed on the perovskite surface result in non-radiative recombination and limit the device’s performance. Incorporating surface passivation of the perovskite layer through the introduction of large cation is a feasible route to reduce defects and improve charge carrier extraction. This work reports on an inverted solar cell that uses a Csx(FAyMA1-y)Pb(IzBr1-z) perovskite on a PEDOT:PSS surface. The GUI layer results in the passivation of the perovskite and curbs the amount of non-radiative recombination. The beneficial aspects of the passivation include an increase in open-circuit voltages from 0.89 V to over 0.96 V and high efficiency of 16.03% for a GUAI device when compared to 12.92% for the control device. The presence of the GAUI layer improves the stability when compared to the control device by over 600 hours of storage in ambient conditions.
About Author :
Prof. Terry Alford holds the rank of professor and serves as the Associate Director of the School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy. Additional responsibilities include overseeing the materials science and engineering M.S. Online Graduate Program and creating the new Semiconductor Processing Certificate (online and face-to-face). His research spans materials characterization to electronic materials to organic-based perovskite solar cells. He has over 300 refereed archival publications, two books, and four volumes of e-book monographs to support undergraduate and graduate online course delivery. The Alford Group has10 patents ranging from advanced metallization to ion-beam cutting to make flexible electronics. He is the committee chair or co-chair of over 28 Ph.D. dissertations and 138 MS theses/applied projects.
Summary :
Increased protein citrullination is linked to various diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Lupus, and cancer. To understand the role of citrullination in pathophysiology, one needs to comprehensively identify the citrullinated proteins associated with these diseases and link them together. Towards this end, we used a chemoproteomic approach to define the RA-associated citrullinome. The identified proteins include numerous serine protease inhibitors (SERPINs) and serine proteases. Many of these serine proteases and SERPINs are involved in regulating hemostasis and fibrinolysis – the biological processes that maintain proper blood flow. The delicate balance between proteolytic and inhibitory reactions in hemostasis and fibrinolysis, can be disrupted, resulting in pathological conditions such as thrombosis and abnormal bleeding. Herein, we demonstrate that citrullination of P1-Arg containing SERPINs alters their activity under physiological conditions, thereby altering normal homeostasis. Overall, these data advance our understanding of the roles of citrullination in thrombosis and suggest that extracellular protein arginine deiminase (PAD) activity can modulate protease activity with consequent effects on SERPIN-regulated pathways.
About Author :
Ronak Tilvawala received her bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences in 2007 from India. She received her PhD degree in chemistry in 2014 from Wesleyan University, USA. From 2014 to 2016, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Texas A & M medical school where she developed novel biosensors for the detection of early-stage tuberculosis. In 2016, she moved to UMass medical school, where she developed a novel chemoproteomic approach to detect citrullinated proteins from biological samples. In 2020, she joined the department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Kansas as an Assistant Professor. The current projects are focused on mainly two areas: 1) understanding how protein citrullination disrupts the regulation of key protease cascades leading to thrombosis and inflammation in multiple pathologies; and 2) understanding how viral proteases interfere with host protease cascades to invade into the host system. She has co-authored more than 18 publications.
Summary :
Neural circuits, composed of intercellular connected neurons with distinct properties lay the physical foundation of any brain function. Identifying subtype and connections of individual neurons in a circuit is the key to understand how information is processed and propagated in the brain. In order to obtain a detailed wiring diagram between neurons, we developed a series of multiplex labeling and profiling, sample preparation, and image processing tools to allow neuronal identity and connectivity features being directly measured by super-resolution light microscopy in a densely labeled mouse brain. Designed to be carried out with standard surgical, imaging and computational instrumentations, our comprehensive circuit mapping tool set will allow high-resolution, high-throughput neural circuit mapping in a regular neuroscience laboratory.
About Author :
Dr. Cai’s overall passion is to combine biophysical approaches, imaging techniques, and computational tools to understand how complex neural circuits are formed in the brain. During his postdoctoral training, he successfully optimized a novel labeling technique, termed Brainbow, which uses the random expression of three or four fluorescent proteins to generate a unique color label for each neuron to decode and reconstruct densely labeled neuronal circuits. His lab focuses on using systems approaches to study the complex nervous system at the single cell resolution in Drosophila and mouse brains. His lab has been developing genetic labeling, imaging, circuit mapping, high-throughput single cell profiling, and computational tools to unambiguously label, identify and analyze thousands of neurons in the same brain.
Summary :
In the realm of the Single-Molecule Electronics, a suite of advanced electrical characterization approaches have emerged allowing measuring charge transport in an electric contact made out of an individual molecule[1]. The field has (and is still) drawn(ing) an scenario where individual molecules can be chemically modified to deliver a particular electrical function in a nanoscale circuit, e.g. variable resistors[2], diodes[3], switches[4], etc. Along this excursion, we have observed that single molecules trapped in a nanoscale tunneling junction experience conformational structural changes and changes in molecule/ electrode contact geometries, which are usually accompanied by large conductance variations and can be easily detected electrically[1]. Such changes are induced by the imposed forces fields experienced by the molecules within the nanoscale gap, namely, a mechanical force and/or an electric field. In the past decade, we have learnt that under certain force field conditions, the individual molecules wired in a nanoscale junction undergo chemical transformations. Here, we will present a couple of illustrative examples of the use of singlemolecule junction to study and control reactivity at the nanoscale using electric fields, a concept that is inherent in the natural enzymatic molecular machinery.
About Author :
Ismael Díez Pérez is currently a Professor at the Chemistry department of King’s College London (UK). He received a M.S. (2001) and a PhD in Chemistry (2006) from UB in the study of semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces. During this early career period, he developed novel approaches to study chemical reactions on electrode surfaces at the nanoscale exploiting electrochemical Scanning Probe Microscopes. Interested in adding chemical functionality to the electrode/liquid interface, he joined the group of NJ Tao in Arizona State University in 2007 as a postdoctoral research associate. At the beginning of this period, he won the prestigious International Outgoing Marie Curie fellowship (2008). His postdoctoral research was endorsed with a high record of publications (including several Nature publishing group papers) demonstrating original electrical effects in single-molecule devices.
Summary :
The combination of lead halide perovskites nanocrystals (NCs) and conjugated polymer in a blend film opens the way to the realization of hybrid active layers with widely tunable optical and electrical properties, able to combine the best properties of both families. We investigated the emission properties of different polymer:perovskite NCs blends, evidencing that these hybrid films show photoluminescence spectra made by the linear superposition of the spectra of the components. This feature opens the way to the use of these blends as light emitting systems with broadly tunable emission color, including white emission. Moreover we investigated the interaction between the polymeric and the perovskite component, mainly unexplored to date, of a poly(9,9-dioctylfluoreneco- benzothiadiazole )(F8BT):CsPbI1:5Br1:5 nanocrystals hybrid film. We demonstrate that the primary interaction channel is charge transfer, both from F8BT to the NCs and from the NCs to F8BT, while Förster Resonant Energy Transfer has not visible effects, despite the excellent spectral overlap between F8BT emission and NCs absorption. Moreover we show that the charge transfer is assisted by energy migration within the F8BT excited states distribution and that it is dependent on the local micromorphology of the film. The possible relevance of our results for the development of hybrid organic-perovskite optoelectronic devices will be discussed.
About Author ;
Marco Anni is Associate Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Salento, Lecce (Italy). He graduated in Physics in 1998 and he obtained the title of Philosophy Doctor in Physics in 2001, both from the University of Lecce. From 2006 he heads the Photonic Laboratory of the Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”. The research activity of the laboratory is focused on the investigation of the optical properties of innovative materials for applications in lasers, sensors and solar cells. He has authored more than 120 publications in international journals, two books and has co-authored 4 patents.
Summary :
In this Keynote, I will present the recent achievements realized by my research group in the catalytic synthesis of heterocyclic derivatives by palladium-iodide promoted carbonylation processes. It will be shown how a simple catalytic system, consisting of PdI2 in conjunction with an excess of KI and in the absence of additional ligands, is able to promote a plethora of carbonylation reactions, including oxidative and substitutive carbonylations. Starting from CO and simple organic substrates (functionalized alkynes, in particular) as building blocks, these processes have allowed obtaining carbonylated heterocycles in one single synthetic step under relatively mild reaction conditions.
About Author :
Prof. Bartolo Gabriele completed his PhD in “Chemical Sciences” in 1994 at the University of Calabria (Unical). In 1997 he joined Professor Ronald Breslow’s group at Columbia University (New York) for 1 year as a NATO-CNR fellow. In 1998 he returned to Unical, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2006. His current scientific production includes more than 210 articles in international peer-reviewed journals [h-index: 48; total citations: 7048 (Scopus)] more than 10 chapters in international books, and 20 industrial patents. He received the “Research Award” in 2013 from the Italian Chemical Society, in the field Synthetic Organic Chemistry. His current research interests include the synthesis of high value added molecules by catalytic techniques and the development of new materials for advanced applications.
Summary :
Fluorescence bioassay using responsive probes has been widely used in biomedical research and pre-/clinical investigations. The development of reliable bioanalytical probes for selective and sensitive detection of particular biomolecule in biological systems plays key roles in fluorescence bioassay and is essential for better understanding the roles of the biomolecule in their native contexts [1]. In the last two decades, a large number of fluorescent molecular probes have been developed for the detection of biomolecules in vitro and in vivo, while it remains challenge to use these probes for biomolecules detection in the samples with high background autofluorescence signals. In our research, we found that the optical output signals can be easily modulated to eliminate the autofluorescence signals via three strategies, including anti-Stokes upconversion luminescence [2], time-gated luminescence [3,4], and photoswitchable “double-checked” luminescence [5]. In this presentation, I will introduce our research using responsive molecule probes for accurate and background-free luminescence detection and imaging of reactive biomarkers in vitro and in vivo.
About Author :
Dr. Run Zhang received his PhD from the Dalian University of Technology in 2012. He was a Postdoc Research Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Macquarie University (MQ) in 2012, then a Macquarie University Research Fellow at the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science in 2013-2015. He joined the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, as a Research Associate in 2016. Here, he was awarded the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (ARC DECRA) Fellowship in 2017-2019 and is now a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Fellow. He is a team leader of the biosensing and bioimaging, working on developing responsive molecules/nanomaterials for bioassay, imaging, early disease diagnosis and treatment. He has published more than 120 research papers since his first publication in 2010.
