Green route fast synthesis and characterization of chemical bath deposited nanocrystalline ZnS buffer layers

Zinc sulphide (ZnS) thin films are deposited using chemical bath deposition method on the glass substrates in an aqueous alkaline reaction bath of zinc acetate and thiourea along with non-toxic complexing agent tri-sodium citrate at 95 °C. The results show noteworthy improvement in the growth rate of the deposited ZnS thin films and thickness of the film increases with the deposition time. From X-ray diffraction patterns, it is found that the ZnS thin films exhibit hexagonal polycrystalline phase reflecting from (101) and (0016) planes. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed the formation of hexagonal phase from the d-value calculation which was 0.3108 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the Zn–S bonding energy is at 1022.5 and 162.1 eV for Zn 2p_3/2 and S 2p_1/2 states, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscopy study shows that deposited thin films are highly uniform, with thin thickness and completely free from large ZnS clusters which usually form in aqueous solutions. Atomic force microscopy investigates that root mean square values of the ZnS thin films are from 3 to 4.5 nm and all the films are morphologically smooth. Energy dispersive spectroscopy shows that the ZnS thin films are relatively stoichiometric having Zn:S atomic ratio of 55:45. It is shown by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy that ～90% transmittance and ～10% absorbance for the ZnS films in the visible region, which is significantly higher than that reported elsewhere and the band gap energy of the ZnS films is found to be 3.76, 3.74, and 3.71 eV, respectively.     

Influence of front contact work function on silicon heterojunction solar cell performance

In this study, we present numerical and experimental analyses of the effect of the work function of the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) on the performance of silicon heterojunction solar cells. The simulation results showed that the solar cell performance such as V_oc and FF were strongly affected by the work function of TCO films due to band bending. The experimental analysis was carried out by preparing Zn–In–Sn–O films with varying work function by varying the composition. The compositional dependence of the work function, optical and electronic properties of Zn–In–Sn–O films was examined, and the performance of the silicon heterojunction solar cells with corresponding TCO films was analyzed. The electrical properties and work function in Zn–In–Sn–O films were significantly influenced by Zn content, and Zn–In–Sn–O film with 12.7 at.% Zn content, which had the highest work function and lowest resistivity among the studied films, resulted in the highest conversion efficiency of solar cell due to increased V_oc and FF. It was shown that the behavior of performance parameters in silicone heterojunction solar cells closely correlated with the work function and electrical properties of TCO films.     

High performance organic planar heterojunction solar cells by controlling the molecular orientation

A highly efficient planar heterojunction OSC based on zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc)/fullerene (C₆₀) by controlling the orientation of the ZnPc by using copper iodide (CuI) as the interfacial layer is reported. The proportion of face-on ZnPc molecules was increased significantly on the CuI layer compared to the layer without the CuI layer, which was analyzed with wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and optical absorption. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the orientation controlled planar heterojunction OSC was remarkably enhanced to 3.2 ± 0.1% compared with 1.2 ± 0.1% of the conventional OSCs without the control of the molecular orientation. By inserting the 3-nm-thick CuI layer, J_SC, V_OC and FF have increased from 4.6 ± 0.2 to 8.9 ± 0.2 mA cm^?2, from 0.48 ± 0.01 to 0.59 ± 0.02 V, and from 0.56 ± 0.01 to 0.61 ± 0.02, respectively. V_OC enhancement is discussed with the result of the ultraviolet photoemission spectra (UPS) measurements.     

Pressure dependence of acoustic behaviors and refractive index of amorphous Kel F-800 copolymer studied by Brillouin spectroscopy

The pressure dependences of the longitudinal sound velocity and the refractive index of amorphous Kel F-800 copolymer were investigated for pressures up to 13 GPa using high-pressure Brillouin spectroscopy combined with a diamond-anvil-cell technique. The sound velocity increased rapidly with increasing pressure at pressures below ～2 GPa, whereas it showed a mild change at higher pressure values. This was attributed to substantial collapse of effective free volume in this amorphous material. The refractive index could be measured by comparing the Brillouin spectra measured from backward and forward, symmetric scattering geometries. The pressure–density relationship could be obtained by using Lorentz–Lorenz equation based on an assumption of constant polarizability, which was consistent with that reported by previous study.     

Fiber-optic pH sensor based on sol-gel film immobilized with neutral red

In this study, we developed a fiber-optic pH sensor based on a sol-gel film immobilized with neutral red (NR). A solgel film was prepared by mixing tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS), trimethoxymethylsilane (MTMS), ethanol (EtOH), distilled water (H₂O), and NR powder. Accordingly, the thin pH sol-gel film was fabricated through a sol-gel process with a dip-coating method. The thickness and diameter of the fabricated pH sol-gel film are 0.11 and 0.6 mm, respectively. We measured the optical absorbance and the light intensity with the spectra of reflected light, which change with the color variation of the pH sol-gel film in the fiber-optic sensing probe. From the experimental results, we demonstrated that the proposed fiber-optic pH sensor has good reversibility, reproducibility, and a fast response time, in which the optical properties of the NR-based pH sol-gel film change with the pH value.     

Optimal Control Problems for Evolution Equations of Parabolic Type with Nonlinear Perturbations

In this paper, we study the optimal control problems governed by the semilinear parabolic type equation in Hilbert spaces. Under Lipschitz continuity condition of the nonlinear term, we can obtain the optimal conditions and maximal principles for a given equation, which are described by the adjoint state corresponding to the given equation without the rigorous conditions for the nonlinear term.     

Construction of biorthogonal wavelet vectors

The construction of all possible biorthogonal wavelet vectors corresponding to a given biorthogonal scaling vector may not be easy as that of biorthogonal uniwavelets. In this paper, we give some theorems about the construction of biorthogonal wavelet vectors, which is followed by simple computations for constructing all parametrized biorthogonal wavelet vectors supported in [-1,1]. This approach is also suitable for the case of compactly supported orthogonal uniwavelet. Moreover, we give examples parametrizing all biorthogonal wavelet vectors corresponding to well known biorthogonal scaling vectors.     

Tailor-made hexaethylene glycolic ionic liquids as organic catalysts for specific chemical reactions

Hexaethylene glycol substituted imidazolium based ionic liquids (hexaEGILs) were designed and prepared well-tailored to a specific organic reaction using alkali-metal fluorides (MFs) as multifunctional organic catalysts. These hexaEGIL catalysts could significantly enhance the reactivity of MF, even KF. Furthermore, the hexaEGIL systems showed tremendous efficiency in the nucleophilic fluorination of base-sensitive substrates.     

Synthesis and characterization of a multi-sensitive crosslinked injectable hydrogel based on Pluronic

This paper reports the construction of a novel multi-sensitive chemically crosslinked injectable hydrogel with strong mechanical strength by modifying Pluronic F127 responsive against temperature, pH and redox potential. Crosslinked polymer between benzaldehyde grafted Pluronic (P-A) and amine end capped Pluronic having disulfide linkage (P-B) have been synthesized and characterized with 1H NMR spectroscopy and GPC. The hydrogel under physiological conditions significantly altered sol-gel transition behaviors with much lower critical gelation concentrations and temperatures, compared to Pluronic hydrogels. The rheological characterization demonstrated that the moduli of the hydrogels were able to be tuned depending on molecular weight as well as pH, redox and temperature conditions.