Results of the 13th Call for SAS-MOST Joint Research Projects (Taiwan)
By the decision no. 192 of 9 December 2021 the SAS Presidium approved funding for winning proposals in the
13th Call for SAS-MOST Joint Research Projects
within the bilateral cooperation between the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan.
The Call had been launched with the aim to support research project collaboration between teams affiliated to SAS organisations and research institutes in Taiwan. Submitted proposals had been evaluated in parallel by the SAS Committee for evaluation of international projects and the respective expert body of MOST, Taiwan.
8 proposals had been submitted to the Call, of which the following 2 have been selected selected for funding by the SAS and MOST in the years 2022 - 2024:
- Pb-free-PSC
Title: Highly efficient and stable lead-free perovskite solar cells with optimized non-radiative recombination
Slovak partner: Šiffalovič, Peter
Taiwanese partner: Galagan, Yulia
Abstract: The perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are recently received attention due to the outstanding increase of power conversion efficiency (PCE), which is already reaching 25.2%. High PCE and the potential of low-cost manufacturing using solution-based methods make PSC an excellent candidate to salve global energy issues. However, despite the many advantages, perovskite solar cells still remain within laboratories. Several critical issues need to be solved before perovskite solar celi technology enters the industria! stage and will go through the commercialization process. Among these issues are the instability of the halide perovskite absorber materials under ambient conditions and lead toxicity. In the project, we propose solutions to overcome these problems by replacement lead (Pb) by tin (Sn) to salve the toxicity issues and utilize mix-dimensional 20/30 Sn-based perovskites to salve stability problems. However, the wide bandgap energy of Sn-based perovskites and low out of-plane conductivity that characterizes 20 layered perovskites result in limited power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this project, all of the above-mentioned issues will be addressed by designing novel, highly efficient and stable lead-free 20 /30 perovskite absorbers and interface engineering by incorporating low-dimensional materials such as MXenes and post-growth HTL/ETL interfaces passivation. These developments will make it possible to achieve the projecťs goals, namely: high efficiency (PCE > 14%) and stability (lifetime > 1,000 hours under standard accelerated lifetime tests) of Lead-Free Perovskite Solar cells.
- AZCAI
Title: Anti-amyloid activity of zeolite-based composites and analysis with real-time 3D super-resolution imaging
Slovak partner: Šipošová, Katarína
Taiwanese partner: Chen, Shean-Jen
Abstract: A common feature associated with most of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease is the formation of extended, β-sheet rich amyloid fibrils. Today, amyloid-related diseases are incurable and the treatment is only symptomatic without feasibility to stop or substantially delay the progressive consequences of the diseases. Magnetic nano/micro-particles based on clinoptilolite-type of natural zeolite (CZ) jointly developed are expected to serve synergistic therapy approaches act as carriers for controlled drug delivery/release, imaging and local heating in biological systems, that can effectively decompose the amyloid-like fibrillar structures. The micro and mesopores of the natural zeolite can serve as containers for delivering various drugs to the target site to release. Magnetic CZ (MCZs) will improve drug delivery process, real-time monitoring of drug distribution surrounding a targeting side of tissue, as well as the subsequent effects of the therapeutics on the progression of diseases. In addition, fluorescent MCZs in combination with ultrasonic, magnetic or laser irradiation effects will provide hyperthermia and photoreaction to achieve both diagnosis and therapy. The Taiwanese research team has been deeply cultivated in temporalfocusing multiphoton microscopy (TFMPM), which imaging frame rate can achieve up to a hundred hertz. We will use the deep learning method to improve the imaging frame rate for real-time biomedical analysis. Within this project, animal models (including genetic rodent models) will be utilized to develop a theranostic system for for inhibition and destruction of amyloid aggregates and super-resolution imaging of MZC induced amyloid aggregate inhibition/destruction effects by state-of-art temporally and spatially super-resolution 3D imaging technology.
Contact person: Zuzana Černáková, +421 (0) 2 5751 0 118, cernakova@up.upsav.sk