1. A novel multi-functional thiophene-based organic cation as passivation, crystalline orientation, and organic spacer agent for low-dimensional 3D/1D perovskite solar cellsAli Semerci, Ali Buyruk, Saim Emin, Rik Hooijer, Daniela Kovacheva, Peter Mayer, Manuel A. Reus, Dominic Blätte, Marcella Günther, Nicolai F. Hartmann, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Recently, the mixed-dimensional (3D/2D or 3D/1D) perovskite solar cellsusing small organic spacers have attracted interest due to their outstandinglong-term stability. Here, a new type of thiophene-based organic cation2-(thiophene-2yl-)pyridine-1-ium iodide (ThPyI), which is used to fabricatemixed-dimensional 3D/1D perovskite solar cells, is presented. TheThPyI-based 1D perovskitoid is applied as a passivator on top of a 3D methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI) to fabricate surface-passivated 3D/1Dperovskite films or added alone into the 3D perovskite precursor to generatebulk-passivated 3D MAPI. The 1D perovskitoid acts as a passivating agent atthe grain boundaries of surface-passivated 3D/1D, which improves the powerconversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cells. Grazing incidence wide-angleX-ray scattering (GIWAXS) studies confirm that ThPyI triggers the preferentialorientation of the bulk MAPI slabs, which is essential to enhance chargetransport. Champion bulk-passivated 3D and surface-passivated 3D/1Ddevices yield 14.10% and 19.60% PCE, respectively. The bulk-passivated 3Doffers favorable stability, with 84% PCE retained after 2000 h withoutencapsulation. This study brings a new perspective to the design of organicspacers having a different binding motif and a passivation strategy to mitigatethe impact of defects in hybrid 3D/1D perovskite solar cells.A. Semerci, A. Buyruk, R. Hooijer, P. Mayer, D. Blätte, M. Günther, T. Bein,T. AmeriDepartment of Chemistry and Center for NanoScience (CeNS)Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenButenandtstrasse 5–13 (E), 81377 Munich, GermanyE-mail:tayebeh.ameri@ed.ac.ukS.EminMaterialsResearchLaboratoryUniversityofNovaGoricaVipavska13c,Ajdovšˇcina5270,SloveniaThe ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this articlecan be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202300267© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published byWiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permitsuse, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the originalwork is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.DOI: 10.1002/adom.2023002671. IntroductionDuring the last decade, 3D organic–inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) haveemerged as promising absorber materialsfor photovoltaic applications due to theirsuperior properties such as high absorp-tion coefficient, long diffusion length ofthe charge carriers, fast charge transport,and tunable bandgap. The 3D OIHPs havedemonstrated rapid increase in powerconversion efficiency (PCE) from 3.8% to25.2%.[1–9]On the other hand, their mod-erate intrinsic stability against moistureand heat still has been a concern with aview on possible commercialization.[10–14]Instability of the 3D methyl ammoniumlead iodide (MAPI) perovskite is assumedto be due to its crystalline structure. Ionicmigration is now well recognized to affectthe photovoltaic properties of perovskitesolar cells. Especially, the ionic migrationcauses the generation and displacement ofvacancies in perovskite materials. OIHPsare mixed ionic–electronic conductors withiodide ions as the majority of ionic carriers.D. KovachevaInstitute of General and Inorganic ChemistryBulgarian Academy of SciencesSofia 1113, BulgariaM. A. Reus, P. Müller-BuschbaumTUM School of Natural SciencesDepartment of PhysicsChair for Functional MaterialsTechnical University of MunichJames-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, GermanyN. F. HartmannAttocube systems AGNanoscale AnalyticsneaspecEglfinger Weg 2, 85540 Haar, GermanyS. Lotfi, J. P. HofmannSurface Science LaboratoryDepartment of Materials and Earth SciencesTechnical University of DarmstadtOtto-Berndt-Str. 3, 64287 Darmstadt, GermanyAdv. Optical Mater.2023,11, 23002672300267 (1 of 13)© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Optical Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
Keywords: perovskites, solar cells, passivation
Published in RUNG: 04.12.2023; Views: 439; Downloads: 2
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3. Microbial volatiles as diagnostic biomarkers of bacterial lung infection in mechanically ventilated patientsWaqar M Ahmed, Dominic Fenn, Iain R. White, Breanna Dixon, Tamara M E Nijsen, Hugo H Knobel, Paul Brinkman, Pouline M P van Oort, Marcus J Schultz, Paul Dark, Royston Goodacre, Timothy Felton, Lieuwe D J Bos, Stephen J Fowler, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Background
Early and accurate recognition of respiratory pathogens is crucial to prevent increased risk of mortality in critically ill patients. Microbial-derived volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) in exhaled breath could be used as non-invasive biomarkers of infection to support clinical diagnosis.
Methods
In this study, we investigated the diagnostic potential of in vitro confirmed mVOCs in the exhaled breath of patients under mechanically ventilation from the BreathDx study. Samples were analysed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS).
Results
Pathogens from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cultures were identified in 45/89 patients and S. aureus was the most commonly identified pathogen (n = 15). Out of 19 mVOCs detected in the in vitro culture headspace of four common respiratory pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli), 14 were found in exhaled breath samples. Higher concentrations of two mVOCs were found in the exhaled breath of patients infected with S. aureus compared to those without (3-methylbutanal p < 0.01. AUROC = 0.81-0.87 and 3-methylbutanoic acid p = 0.01. AUROC = 0.79-0.80). In addition, bacteria identified from BAL cultures which are known to metabolise tryptophan (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca and Haemophilus influenzae) were grouped and found to produce higher concentrations of indole compared to breath samples with culture-negative (p = 0.034) and other pathogen-positive (p = 0.049) samples.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates the capability of using mVOCs to detect the presence of specific pathogen groups with potential to support clinical diagnosis. Although not all mVOCs were found in patient samples within this small pilot study, further targeted and qualitative investigation is warranted using multi-centre clinical studies.
Keywords: Breath, VOCs, infection, respiratory pathogens, VAP
Published in RUNG: 28.11.2022; Views: 1224; Downloads: 0
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4. Composition and diversity analysis of the lung microbiome in patients with suspected ventilator-associated pneumoniaDominic Fenn, Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Pouline van Oort, Paul Brinkman, Waqar Ahmed, Timothy Felton, Antonio Artigas, Pedro Póvoa, Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Marcus Schultz, Paul Dark, Stephen Fowler, Iain R. White, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is associated with high morbidity and health care costs, yet diagnosis remains a challenge. Analysis of airway microbiota by amplicon sequencing provides a possible solution, as pneumonia is characterised by a disruption of the microbiome. However, studies evaluating the diagnostic capabilities of microbiome analysis are limited, with a lack of alignment on possible biomarkers. Using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from ventilated adult patients suspected of VAP, we aimed to explore how key characteristics of the microbiome differ between patients with positive and negative BALF cultures and whether any differences could have a clinically relevant role. Methods: BALF from patients suspected of VAP was analysed using 16s rRNA sequencing in order to: (1) differentiate between patients with and without a positive culture; (2) determine if there was any association between microbiome diversity and local inflammatory response; and (3) correctly identify pathogens detected by conventional culture. Results: Thirty-seven of 90 ICU patients with suspected VAP had positive cultures. Patients with a positive culture had significant microbiome dysbiosis with reduced alpha diversity. However, gross compositional variance was not strongly associated with culture positivity (AUROCC range 0.66–0.71). Patients with a positive culture had a significantly higher relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria compared to those without [0.45 (IQR 0.10–0.84), 0.02 (IQR 0.004–0.09), respectively], and an increased interleukin (IL)-1β was associated with reduced species evenness (rs = − 0.33, p < 0.01) and increased pathogenic bacteria presence (rs = 0.28, p = 0.013). Untargeted 16s rRNA pathogen detection was limited by false positives, while the use of pathogen-specific relative abundance thresholds showed better diagnostic accuracy (AUROCC range 0.89–0.998). Conclusion: Patients with positive BALF culture had increased dysbiosis and genus dominance. An increased caspase-1-dependent IL-1b expression was associated with a reduced species evenness and increased pathogenic bacterial presence, providing a possible causal link between microbiome dysbiosis and lung injury development in VAP. However, measures of diversity were an unreliable predictor of culture positivity and 16s sequencing used agnostically could not usefully identify pathogens; this could be overcome if pathogen-specific relative abundance thresholds are used.
Keywords: Microbiome, Next-generation sequencing, Ventilator-associated pneumonia
Published in RUNG: 26.10.2022; Views: 1021; Downloads: 0
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