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Maruccia E, Galliano S, Schiavo E, Garino N, Segura Zarate AY, Muñoz-García AB, Pavone M, Gerbaldi C, Barolo C, Cauda V, Bella F. Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach. ENERGY ADVANCES 2024; 3:1062-1072. [PMID: 38766406 PMCID: PMC11097750 DOI: 10.1039/d4ya00010b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Dye-sensitized solar cells assembled with aqueous electrolytes are emerging as a sustainable photovoltaic technology suitable for safe indoor and portable electronics use. While the scientific community is exploring unconventional materials for preparing electrodes and electrolytes, this work presents the first study on zinc oxide as a semiconductor material to fabricate photoanodes for aqueous solar cells. Different morphologies (i.e., nanoparticles, multipods, and desert roses) are synthesized, characterized, and tested in laboratory-scale prototypes. This exploratory work, also integrated by a computational study and a multivariate investigation on the factors that influence electrode sensitization, confirms the possibility of using zinc oxide in the field of aqueous photovoltaics and opens the way to new morphologies and processes of functionalization or surface activation to boost the overall cell efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Maruccia
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Simone Galliano
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
| | - Eduardo Schiavo
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Nadia Garino
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Ana Y Segura Zarate
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
- Escuela de Física, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, TEC 159-7050 - Cartago Costa Rica
| | - Ana B Muñoz-García
- Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Michele Pavone
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Claudio Gerbaldi
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Claudia Barolo
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
- ICxT Interdepartmental Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Lungo Dora Siena 100 10153 - Torino Italy
- Istituto di Scienza, Tecnologia e Sostenibilità per lo Sviluppo dei Materiali Ceramici (ISSMC-CNR), Via Granarolo 64 48018 - Faenza Italy
| | - Valentina Cauda
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Federico Bella
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
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Mohebichamkhorami F, Faizi M, Mahmoudifard M, Hajikarim-Hamedani A, Mohseni SS, Heidari A, Ghane Y, Khoramjouy M, Khayati M, Ghasemi R, Zali H, Hosseinzadeh S, Mostafavi E. Microfluidic Synthesis of Ultrasmall Chitosan/Graphene Quantum Dots Particles for Intranasal Delivery in Alzheimer's Disease Treatment. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2207626. [PMID: 37309299 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202207626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Nanoparticles (NPs) based therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) attract interest due to their ability to pass across or bypass the blood-brain barrier. Chitosan (CS) NPs or graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are promising drug carriers with excellent physicochemical and electrical properties. The current study proposes the combination of CS and GQDs in ultrasmall NP form not as drug carriers but as theranostic agents for AD. The microfluidic-based synthesis of the CS/GQD NPs with optimized characteristics makes them ideal for transcellular transfer and brain targeting after intranasal (IN) delivery. The NPs have the ability to enter the cytoplasm of C6 glioma cells in vitro and show dose and time-dependent effects on the viability of the cells. IN administration of the NPs to streptozotocin (STZ) induced AD-like models lead to a significant number of entrances of the treated rats to the target arm in the radial arm water maze (RAWM) test. It shows the positive effect of the NPs on the memory recovery of the treated rats. The NPs are detectable in the brain via in vivo bioimaging due to GQDs as diagnostic markers. The noncytotoxic NPs localize in the myelinated axons of hippocampal neurons. They do not affect the clearance of amyloid β (Aβ) plaques at intercellular space. Moreover, they showed no positive impact on the enhancement of MAP2 and NeuN expression as markers of neural regeneration. The memory improvement in treated AD rats may be due to neuroprotection via the anti-inflammation effect and regulation of the brain tissue microenvironment that needs to be studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fariba Mohebichamkhorami
- Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1968917313, Iran
| | - Mehrdad Faizi
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 19919-53381, Iran
| | - Matin Mahmoudifard
- Department of Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, 1497716316, Iran
| | | | - Seyedeh Sarvenaz Mohseni
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 19919-53381, Iran
| | - Amirhossein Heidari
- Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, 1916893813, Iran
| | - Yekta Ghane
- School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1461884513, Iran
| | - Mona Khoramjouy
- Phytochemistry Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 19919-53381, Iran
| | - Maryam Khayati
- Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, 45139-56184, Iran
- Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, 45139-56184, Iran
| | - Rasoul Ghasemi
- Neurophysiology research center and Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1985717443, Iran
| | - Hakimeh Zali
- Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1968917313, Iran
- Medical Nanotechnology and Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1968917313, Iran
| | - Simzar Hosseinzadeh
- Medical Nanotechnology and Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 1968917313, Iran
| | - Ebrahim Mostafavi
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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Mokhtari A, Yavari A, Khatamian M, Sadeghi E, Peighambardoust NS, Aydemir U. Facile synthesis of graphene quantum dots/ZSM-5 type metalosilicate composites and evaluating their performance in photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and electrochemical water splitting. ADV POWDER TECHNOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apt.2022.103892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Li L. Multi-Bit Biomemristic Behavior for Neutral Polysaccharide Dextran Blended with Chitosan. NANOMATERIALS 2022; 12:nano12071072. [PMID: 35407190 PMCID: PMC9000225 DOI: 10.3390/nano12071072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Natural biomaterials applicable for biomemristors have drawn prominent attention and are of benefit to sustainability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and metabolism. In this work, multi-bit biomemristors based on the neutral polysaccharide dextran were built using the spin-casting method, which was also employed to explore the effect of dextran on the ternary biomemristic behaviors of dextran–chitosan nanocomposites. The doping of 50 wt% dextran onto the bio-nanocomposite optimized the ratio of biomemristance in high-, intermediate-, and low-resistance states (105:104:1). The interaction between dextran and chitosan (hydrogen-bond network) was verified by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy analysis; through this interaction, protons derived from the self-dissociation of water may migrate under the electric field, and so proton conduction may be the reason for the ternary biomemristic behaviors. Observations from X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis displayed that the 50 wt% dextran/50 wt% chitosan nanocomposite had the greatest amorphous ratio as well as the highest decomposition and peak transition temperatures in comparison with the other three dextran–chitosan nanocomposites. This work lays the foundation for neutral biomaterials applied to green ultra-high-density data-storage systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Li
- HLJ Province Key Laboratories of Senior-Education for Electronic Engineering, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China; ; Tel.: +86-451-8660-8504
- Research Center for Fiber Optic Sensing Technology National Local Joint Engineering, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China
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Son I, Son SR, An J, Choi JW, Kim S, Lee WY, Lee JH. Photoluminescent surface-functionalized graphene quantum dots for spontaneous interfacial homeotropic orientation of liquid crystals. J Mol Liq 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2021.115901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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