2021 NEWS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

Coupling of triphenylamine dyes using 9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene forming a di-anchoring dye increases photovoltaic performance

Our paper in collaboration with Prof. Sang Hee Lee of Kunsan National University, the Republic of Korea regarding the effect of coupling and di-anchoring groups in the performance of triphenylamine-based dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells is now published in the Dyes and Pigments journal (Elsevier) which is a Q1 journal and has an impact factor of 4.889. In this paper, we studied the effect of di-anchoring group using 9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene as a bridge which was formed by coupling two triphenylamine-based dyes. Two octyl chains were introduced into the core of di-anchoring dye to avoid its aggregation and minimize its TiO₂/electrolyte recombination reactions. The photophysical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic parameters of both mono- and di-anchoring sensitizers were compared, herein referred to as KS-18 and KS-20, respectively. Computational results indicated that the two anchoring groups adsorbed to the TiO₂ in KS-20 were thermodynamically stable as compared to only one anchoring group. The results show that KS-20 produced a 7 % increase in its photovoltaic conversion efficiency mainly due to an increase in the short-circuit current density. This increase was brought by the red-shifting and widening of its absorption spectra thereby increasing its light harvesting efficiency..

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An alternative look on Alzheimer's disease with Tau fibrils with membrane lipids

We would like to congratulate Prechiel Barredo on publishing an article entitled "Tau fibril with membrane lipids: Insight from computational modeling and simulations", which gives an alternative insight on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease which is mainly based on β-amyloid therapies. Researchers have observed that the microtubule-binding protein tau was up to 4x more hyperphosphorylated than the normal adult brain. In this paper, we did some computational modelling on the interaction of the common lipids found in the brain such as 3-alpha-cholesterol, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; and C18:1 sphingomyelin with the tau protein. Results have shown that there was a strong formation of the protein-lipids complex which allows the tau proteins to aggregate in the brain.

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Our group is in collaboration with Dr. Annie Ng's research group (SEDS) and this collaboration has produced a new conference paper published in Materials Today: Proceedings which was a result of the presentation done during the International Conference on Nanomaterials and Advanced Energy Storage Systems (INESS) on August 6, 2020, held at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The paper is entitled "Interfacial engineering for high performance perovskite solar cells". Kudos to Damir, Zhinwei, and Zhuldys on the job well done, and special thanks to Dr. Ng for this opportunity to collaborate.

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