This study underscores the significance of precisely manipulating the morphology of the active layer in organic solar cells (OSCs). By blending polymer donors of D18 with varying molecular weights, a multiscale interpenetrating fiber network structure within the active layer is successfully created. The introduction of 10% low molecular weight D18 (LW-D18) into high molecular weight D18 (HW-D18) produces MIX-D18, which exhibits an extended exciton diffusion distance and orderly molecular stacking. Devices utilizing MIX-D18 demonstrate superior electron and hole transport, improves exciton dissociation, enhances charge collection efficiency, and reduces trap-assisted recombination compared to the other two materials. Through the use of the nonfullerene acceptor L8-BO, a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.0% is achieved. This methodology, which integrates the favorable attributes of high and low molecular weight polymers, opens a new avenue for enhancing the performance of OSCs.

Single-component organic solar cells (SCOSCs), with covalently linked donor and acceptor, attract considerable attention for their improved thermodynamic stability over traditional bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. Despite the significant potential of SCOSCs, their efficiency has consistently trailed behind that of their BHJ counterparts for years, primarily due to challenges including rapid charge recombination, intricate phase separation, and substantial energy loss. Herein, this work represents a significant milestone in the advancement of SCOSCs based on a single component of PBDB-T-b-PYT, achieving both high efficiency (14.64%) and low energy loss (0.563 eV) through the combined use of thermal and solvent annealing. Optimized devices exhibit not only higher charge carrier mobilities but also a more balanced distribution, facilitating efficient transport and collection of photogenerated charge carriers by individual electrodes, while also demonstrating lower nonradiative recombination losses, thus contributing to superior optoelectronic performance and stability.

Inverted perovskite/organic tandem solar cells (P/O TSCs) suffer from poor long-term device stability due to halide segregation in organic-inorganic hybrid wide-bandgap (WBG) perovskites, which hinders their practical deployment. Therefore, developing all-inorganic WBG perovskites for incorporation into P/O TSCs is a promising strategy because of their superior stability under continuous illumination. However, these inorganic WBG perovskites also face some critical issues, including rapid crystallization, phase instability, and large energy loss, etc. To tackle these issues, two multifunctional additives based on 9,10-anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid (AQS) are developed to regulate the perovskite crystallization by mediating the intermediate phases and suppress the halide segregation through the redox-shuttle effect. By coupling with organic cations having the desirable functional groups and dipole moments, these additives can effectively passivate the defects and adjust the alignment of interface energy levels. Consequently, a record Voc approaching 1.3 V with high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.59% could be achieved in a 1.78 eV bandgap single-junction inverted all-inorganic PSC. More importantly, the P/O TSC derived from this cell demonstrates a T90 lifetime of 1000 h under continuous operation, presenting the most stable P/O TSCs reported so far.

BACKGROUND: Vector flow mapping (VFM) is a new echocardiographic technology that can effectively evaluate systolic and diastolic hemodynamic function. However, little is known about the prognostic value of VFM-related parameters. In this paper we aimed to investigate whether left ventricular energy loss (EL) parameters as assessed by VFM enhance prediction of adverse events in patients with chronic kidney disease with preserved ejection fraction.
METHODS: One hundred thirty-nine prospectively recruited patients (66% male, 58% on dialysis) with CKD stage 3-5 with normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) made up the study cohort. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) was calculated using 2-dimensional speckle tracking, and the LV EL during one cardiac cycle for each period was measured using VFM technology. Participants were followed for 4.17 ± 1.58 years for the primary end point of overall mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).
RESULTS: Forty-five (32%) patients had a primary endpoint event. The EL during each period especially during the ejection stage (Ej-EL) was significantly higher in patients with adverse events than in those without, meanwhile the LV GLS were lower. The Ej-EL (HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.06-1.15) and LV GLS (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.81-0.94) (all P < .001) were independent predictors for the primary end point. Increased Ej-EL (≥6.13, 10-3 J/m s) and impaired GLS (<15.52, %) were associated with a higher risk of overall mortality death and MACE (log rank χ2 = 26.94, 7.19; P < .001, =0.007), and DeLong tests showed that Ej-EL (AUC = 0.823) has a slight advantage in predicting adverse events compared to GLS (AUC = 0.681). Furthermore, the addition of Ej-EL to a model with conventional parameters did more to improve the model\'s discrimination compared to GLS.
CONCLUSIONS: Increased Ej-EL as determined by VFM is associated with a higher risk of overall death and MACE in CKD patients with preserved EF.

UNASSIGNED: Mitral valve (MV) morphology after MV repair affects postoperative left ventricular (LV) blood flow pattern and long-term cardiac function. Pilot data suggest that LV diastolic vortex flow pattern changes after operation, but specific quantifiers remain unknown. We aimed to explore the role of vector flow mapping (VFM) in LV diastolic vortex flow pattern in patients who underwent MV repair.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 70 patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation were consecutively enrolled and 30 age- and gender-matched controls were recruited. 50 Patients who underwent MV repair were eventually included in our study. LV average energy loss (EL-AVE) during diastole was measured in the MV repair group by VFM one week before and one month after the operation, and compared with that of controls using one-way analysis of variance. The effect of surgical techniques and the extension of leaflet degeneration on postoperative EL-AVE were analyzed using muti-way analysis of variance, and patients were categorized into a resection subgroup (n = 29) and a non-resection subgroup (n = 21).
UNASSIGNED: The EL-AVE one month after operation in the MV repair group was decreased (p < 0.001) compared to that one week before the operation, and was increased (p < 0.001) compared to that in controls. Mitral leaflet resection had a statistically significant effect on postoperative EL-AVE. The EL-AVE of the resection subgroup was higher than that of non-resection subgroup (p < 0.001).
UNASSIGNED: VFM can be used to evaluate the diastolic blood flow pattern of LV after MV repair, and to observe the changes of LV blood flow pattern caused by different surgical techniques. VFM may be a potential new hemodynamic evaluation method after MV repair.

Patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) often experience a poor prognosis due to cardiac damage induced by anthracycline chemotherapy, with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction manifesting early. Vector Flow Mapping (VFM) is a novel technology, and its effectiveness in detecting left ventricular diastolic dysfunction following anthracycline chemotherapy remains unverified.
This study evaluates left ventricular diastolic function in DLBCL patients after anthracycline chemotherapy using vector flow mapping (VFM).
We prospectively enrolled 54 DLBCL patients who had undergone anthracycline chemotherapy (receiving a minimum of 4 cycles) as the case group and 54 age- and sex-matched individuals as controls. VFM assessments were conducted in the case group pre-chemotherapy (T0), post-4 chemotherapy cycles (T4), and in the control group. Measurements included basal, middle, and apical segment energy loss (ELb, ELm, ELa) and intraventricular pressure differences (IVPDb, IVPDm, IVPDa) across four diastolic phases: isovolumic relaxation (D1), rapid filling (D2), slow filling (D3), and atrial contraction (D4).
When comparing parameters between the control and case groups at T0, no significant differences were observed in general data, conventional ultrasound parameters, and VFM parameters (all P > 0.05). From T0 to T4, ELa significantly increased throughout the diastole cycle (all P < 0.05); ELm increased only during D4 (all P < 0.05); and ELb increased during D1, D2, and D4 (all P < 0.05). All IVPD measurements (IVPDa, IVPDm, IVPDb) increased during D1 and D4 (all P < 0.05) but decreased during D2 and D3 (all P < 0.05). Significant positive correlations were identified between ELa-D4, IVPDa-D4, and parameters A, e\', E/e,\' and LAVI (all r > 0.5, all P < 0.001). Negative correlations were noted with E/A for ELa- D4 IVPDa-D4 (all r < -0.5, all P < 0.001). Positive correlations were observed for IVPDa-D1, IVPDa-D2 with E, E/e\', and LAVI (0.3VFM parameters demonstrate a certain correlation with conventional diastolic function parameters and show promise in assessing left ventricular diastolic function. Furthermore, VFM parameters exhibit greater sensitivity to early diastolic function changes, suggesting that VFM could be a novel method for evaluating differences in left ventricular diastolic function in DLBCL patients before and after chemotherapy.

The energy loss induced open-circuit voltage (VOC) deficit hampers the rapid development of state-of-the-art organic solar cells (OSCs), therefore, it is extremely urgent to explore effective strategies to address this issue. Herein, a new volatile solid additive 1,4-bis(iodomethyl)cyclohexane (DIMCH) featured with concentrated electrostatic potential distribution is utilized to act as a morphology-directing guest to reduce energy loss in multiple state-of-art blend system, leading to one of highest efficiency (18.8%) at the forefront of reported binary OSCs. Volatile DIMCH decreases radiative/non-radiative recombination induced energy loss (ΔE2/ΔE3) by rationally balancing the crystallinity of donors and acceptors and realizing homogeneous network structure of crystal domain with reduced D-A phase separation during the film formation process and weakens energy disorder and trap density in OSCs. It is believed that this study brings not only a profound understanding of emerging volatile solid additives but also a new hope to further reduce energy loss and improve the performance of OSCs.

The large open circuit voltage (VOC) loss is currently one of the main obstacles to achieving efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). In this study, the ternary OSCs comprising PM6:BTP-eC9:IT-4F demonstrate a superior efficiency of 18.2 %. Notably, the utilization of the medium bandgap acceptor IT-4F as the third component results in an exceptionally low nonradiative recombination energy loss of 0.28 V. The desirable energy level cascade is formed among PM6, BTP-eC9, and IT-4F due to the low-lying HOMO and LUMO energy levels of IT-4F. More importantly, the VOC of PM6:BTP-eC9:IT-4F OSCs can reach as high as 0.86 V, which is higher than both binary OSCs without sacrificing JSC and FF. Besides, this strategy proved that IT-4F can not only broaden the absorption range but also work as a morphology modifier in PM6:BTP-eC9:IT-4F OSCs, and there also exists efficient energy transfer between BTP-eC9 and IT-4F. This result provides a promising way to suppress the nonradiative recombination energy loss and realize higher VOC than the two binary OSCs in ternary OSCs to obtain high power conversion efficiencies.

In the field of organic photovoltaics (OPVs), significant progress has been made in tailoring molecular structures to enhance the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current density. However, there remains a crucial gap in the development of coordinated material design strategies focused on improving the fill factor (FF). Here, we introduce a molecular design strategy that incorporates electrostatic potential fluctuation to design organic photovoltaic materials. By reducing the fluctuation amplitude of IT-4F, we synthesized a new acceptor named ITOC6-4F. When using PBQx-TF as a donor, the ITOC6-4F-based cell shows a markedly low recombination rate constant of 0.66×10-14 cm3 s-1 and demonstrates an outstanding FF of 0.816, both of which are new records for binary OPV cells. Also, we find that a small fluctuation amplitude could decrease the energetic disorder of OPV cells, reducing energy loss. Finally, the ITOC6-4F-based cell creates the highest efficiency of 16.0 % among medium-gap OPV cells. Our work holds a vital implication for guiding the design of high-performance OPV materials.

Objective: The aim of this study is to perform specific hemodynamic simulations of idealized abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) models with different diameters, curvatures and eccentricities and evaluate the risk of thrombosis and aneurysm rupture. Methods: Nine idealized AAA models with different diameters (3 cm or 5 cm), curvatures (0° or 30°) and eccentricities (centered on or tangent to the aorta), as well as a normal model, were constructed using commercial software (Solidworks; Dassault Systemes S.A, Suresnes, France). Hemodynamic simulations were conducted with the same time-varying volumetric flow rate extracted from the literature and 3-element Windkessel model (3 EWM) boundary conditions were applied at the aortic outlet. Several hemodynamic parameters such as time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS), oscillatory shear index (OSI), relative residence time (RRT), endothelial cell activation potential (ECAP) and energy loss (EL) were obtained to evaluate the risk of thrombosis and aneurysm rupture under different conditions. Results: Simulation results showed that the proportion of low TAWSS region and high OSI region increases with the rising of aneurysm diameter, whereas decreases in the curvature and eccentric models of the corresponding diameters, with the 5 cm normal model having the largest low TAWSS region (68.5%) and high OSI region (40%). Similar to the results of TAWSS and OSI, the high ECAP and high RRT areas were largest in the 5 cm normal model, with the highest wall-averaged value (RRT: 5.18 s, ECAP: 4.36 Pa-1). Differently, the increase of aneurysm diameter, curvature, and eccentricity all lead to the increase of mean flow EL and turbulent EL, such that the highest mean flow EL (0.82 W · 10-3) and turbulent EL (1.72 W · 10-3) were observed in the eccentric 5 cm model with the bending angle of 30°. Conclusion: Collectively, increases in aneurysm diameter, curvature, and eccentricity all raise mean flow EL and turbulent flow EL, which may aggravate the damage and disturbance of flow in aneurysm. In addition, it can be inferred by conventional parameters (TAWSS, OSI, RRT and ECAP) that the increase of aneurysm diameter may raise the risk of thrombosis, whereas the curvature and eccentricity appeared to have a protective effect against thrombosis.