Karolina Tran

Ms. Karolina Tran

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

5Years (2022-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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13 August 2023 in Advanced Functional Materials
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
MPMatteo Pitaro
Matteo Pitaro
JAJavier E. Sebastián Alonso
Javier E. Sebastián Alonso
LMLorenzo Di Mario
Lorenzo Di Mario
DRDavid Garcia Romero
David Garcia Romero
KTKarolina Tran
Karolina Tran
MLMaria Antonietta Loi
Maria Antonietta Loi
Recently, carbazole‐based self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) have been utilized as hole transport layers (HTLs) in perovskite solar cells. However, their application in Sn or mixed Sn/Pb perovskite solar cells has been hindered by the poor wettability of the perovskite precursor solution on the carbazole surface. Here a self‐assembled bilayer (SAB) comprising a covalent monolayer (Br‐2PACz) and a noncovalent wetting layer (4CzNH3I) as the HTL in a Cs0.25FA0.75Sn0.5Pb0.5I3 perovskite solar cell is proposed. It is demonstrated that the wetting layer completely solves the problem due to the higher polarity of the surface and, furthermore, the ammonium groups help in the passivation of trap states at the buried SAB/perovskite interface. The introduction of the SAB enhances the device reproducibility with an average efficiency of 18.98 ± 0.28% (19.45% for the best device), compared to 11.54 ± 9.36% (19.34% for the best device) for the SAM‐only devices. Furthermore, the improved perovskite processability on the SAB helps to increase the reproducibility of larger size device, where, a 12.5% efficiency for a 0.8 cm2 active area device compared to 0.68% for the best SAM‐based solar cell is demonstrated. Finally, the device's operational stability is also improved to 358 hours (T80%), compared to 220 hours for the SAM‐based solar cell.

27 December 2022 in Biomolecules
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
KYKeni Yang
Keni Yang
KTKarolina Tran
Karolina Tran
ASAnna Salvati
Anna Salvati
Ideal drug carriers should be stable in biological environments but eventually release their drug load once inside the targeted cells. These two aspects can be in contrast with each other, thus they need to be carefully tuned in order to achieve the desired properties for specific applications. Quantifying drug release profiles in biological environments or inside cells can be highly challenging, and standard methods to determine drug release kinetics in many cases cannot be applied to complex biological environments or cells. Within this context, the present work combined kinetic studies by flow cytometry with aging experiments in biological fluids and size-exclusion chromatography to determine drug release profiles in biological environments and inside cells. To this purpose, anionic and zwitterionic liposomes were used as model nanomedicines. By changing lipid composition, liposome stability in serum and intracellular release kinetics could be tuned and formulations with very different properties could be obtained. The methods presented can be used to characterize liposome release profiles in complex biological media, as well as inside cells. In this way, liposome composition can be tuned in order to achieve formulations with optimal balance between stability and release kinetics for specific applications.

29 February 2024 in ACS Materials Letters
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
XYXuwen Yang
Xuwen Yang
GYGang Ye
Gang Ye
KTKarolina Tran
Karolina Tran
YLYuru Liu
Yuru Liu
JCJiamin Cao
Jiamin Cao
LKL. Jan Anton Koster
L. Jan Anton Koster

22 November 2023 in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
APAndrea Perinot
Andrea Perinot
FSFrancesca Scuratti
Francesca Scuratti
ASAlberto D. Scaccabarozzi
Alberto D. Scaccabarozzi
KTKarolina Tran
Karolina Tran
JSJorge Mario Salazar-Rios
Jorge Mario Salazar-Rios
MCMario Caironi
Mario Caironi
The integration of organic electronic circuits into real-life applications compels the fulfillment of a range of requirements, among which the ideal operation at a low voltage with reduced power consumption is paramount. Moreover, these performance factors should be achieved via solution-based fabrication schemes in order to comply with the promise of cost- and energy-efficient manufacturing offered by an organic, printed electronic technology. Here, we propose a solution-based route for the fabrication of low-voltage organic transistors, encompassing ideal device operation at voltages below 5 V and exhibiting n-type unipolarization. This process is widely applicable to a variety of semiconducting and dielectric materials. We achieved this through the use of a photo-cross-linked, low-k dielectric interlayer, which is used to fabricate multilayer dielectric stacks with areal capacitances of up to 40 nF/cm2 and leakage currents below 1 nA/cm2. Because of the chosen azide-based cross-linker, the dielectric promotes n-type unipolarization of the transistors and demonstrated to be compatible with different classes of semiconductors, from conjugated polymers to carbon nanotubes and low-temperature metal oxides. Our results demonstrate a general applicability of our unipolarizing dielectric, facilitating the implementation of complementary circuitry of emerging technologies with reduced power consumption.

27 August 2023 in Advanced Intelligent Systems
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
KTKarolina Tran
Karolina Tran
HWHan Wang
Han Wang
MPMeike Pieters
Meike Pieters
MLMaria Antonietta Loi
Maria Antonietta Loi
One of the emerging paradigms to resolve pressing issues of modern computing electronics, such as limits in miniaturization and excessive energy consumption, takes inspiration from the biological brain and is therefore expected to display some of its properties, such as energy efficiency and effective learning. Moreover, one of the brain's remarkable properties is its ability to process complex information by resolving it on different timescales. In synapse‐emulating artificial devices, some form of memory (e.g., hysteresis in current–voltage characteristics) is required. One of the important characteristics of biological synapses is the coexistence of short‐ and long‐term memory, also called plasticity. However, a broader exploration of memory at multiple timescales in materials remains limited. Herein, the first example of synaptic transistors utilizing colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) as active material is reported. It is demonstrated that PbS‐CQDs, with metal halide and perovskite‐like ligands, are ideal as an active material for synaptic transistors exhibiting both short‐ and long‐term plasticity. Most interestingly, by changing the chemistry of the quantum dot outer monolayer, a drastic change in the temporal response of the learning is observed, demonstrating the possibility of engineering materials exhibiting learning at multiple timescales, similar to the biological synapses.