Comparison of two types of vertically aligned ZnO NRs for highly efficient polymer solar cells

Vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (NR) are prepared by two different syntheses methods and applied on polymer solar cells (PSCs). The ZnO electrodes work as the electron transport layer with the P3HT:PCBM blend acting as the active material. Several organic blend solution conditions are optimized: concentration, solvent, and deposition speed. The effect of different NR electrode morphologies is analyzed on the solar cell performance and characterized by current–voltage curves and IPCE analyses. The photovoltaic performance of the solar cells was observed to be influenced by many factors, among them infiltration of the organic P3HT:PCBM blend within the ZnO NR layer. The infiltration of the active layer was monitored by cross section SEM and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses. Our results show that higher power conversion efficiencies are achieved when shorter NRs lengths are applied. The best power conversion efficiency obtained was 2.0% for a 400 nm ZnO NR electrode. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2013     

Darrieus–Landau instability and Markstein numbers of premixed flames in a Hele-Shaw cell

Hydrodynamic flame instabilities are studied in a Hele-Shaw burner. By studying the development of perturbations, starting from a 2D Bunsen flame at the top of the burner, growth rates are measured for propane and methane–air mixtures, and compared to theoretical predictions. It is found that the dispersion relation in a Hele-Shaw cell has the same dependence with wavenumber $\sigma =k?k^2$ as the one predicted in tubes. Markstein numbers relative to fresh gases are obtained for propane and methane flames and compared to the literature.     

Effects of graft length and density of well‐defined graft polymers on the thermoresponsive behavior and self‐assembly morphology

A series of well‐defined thermoresponsive graft polymers with different lengths and graft densities, poly(glycidyl methacrylate)‐graft‐poly(N‐isopropylacrylate) (PGMA‐g‐PNIPAM), were successfully prepared by combination of controlled/living free radical polymerization and click chemistry. Effects of grafting length and density on the thermoresponsive behavior, aggregating mean diameter, and self‐assembly morphology are systematically investigated. The thermosensitive characteristics of graft polymers in aqueous solution prove that the length and graft density had positive co‐relationship with the lower critical solution temperature value and mean diameter of micelles as well as the size distribution, while the effect of graft length of polymers is more significant than that of density. Transmission electron microscopy analysis shows that the conformations of PGMA₄₅‐g‐PNIPAM₂₀ and PGMA₄₅‐g‐PNIPAM₄₆ with longer length and bigger grafting density in aqueous solutions are spherical nanoparticles with the increasing trend of the diameters, while that of PGMA₄₅‐g‐PNIPAM_{(73, 50%)} shows a spherical‐like morphology, which indicates that the graft length and density have a significant effect on the mean diameter of micelle but not on the self‐assembly morphology. These results reveal that to obtain desired thermoresponsive behavior and self‐assembly morphology of functional polymers, it is essential to design and fabricate the structure of graft polymers with proper length and graft density. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 2442–2453     

Issue Information

Three‐dimensional direct numerical simulation results of flow past a circular cylinder are influenced by numerical aspects, for example the spanwise domain length and the lateral boundary condition adopted for the simulation. It is found that inappropriate numerical set‐up, which restricts the development of intrinsic wake structure, leads to an over‐prediction of the onset point of the secondary wake instability (Re_cr). A best practice of the numerical set‐up is presented for the accurate prediction of Re_cr by direct numerical simulation while minimizing the computational cost. The cylinder span length should be chosen on the basis of the intrinsic wavelength of the wake structure to be simulated, whereas a long span length is not necessary. For the wake transitions above Re_cr, because the wake structures no longer follow particular wavelengths but become disordered and chaotic, a span length of more than 10 cylinder diameters (approximately three times the intrinsic wavelength) is recommended for the simulations to obtain wake structures and hydrodynamic forces that are not strongly restricted by the numerical set‐up. The performances of the periodic and symmetry lateral boundary conditions are compared and discussed. The symmetry boundary condition is recommended for predicting Re_cr, while the periodic boundary condition is recommended for simulating the wake structures above Re_cr. The general conclusions drawn through a circular cylinder are expected to be applicable to other bluff body configurations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alkyl‐Chain‐Regulated Charge Transfer in Fluorescent Inorganic CsPbBr3 Perovskite Solar Cells

Improved charge extraction and wide spectral absorption promote power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The state‐of‐the‐art carbon‐based CsPbBr₃ PSCs have an inferior power output capacity because of the large optical band gap of the perovskite film and the high energy barrier at perovskite/carbon interface. Herein, we use alkyl‐chain regulated quantum dots as hole‐conductors to reduce charge recombination. By precisely controlling alkyl‐chain length of ligands, a balance between the surface dipole induced charge coulomb repulsive force and quantum tunneling distance is achieved to maximize charge extraction. A fluorescent carbon electrode is used as a cathode to harvest the unabsorbed incident light and to emit fluorescent light at 516 nm for re‐absorption by the perovskite film. The optimized PSC free of encapsulation achieves a maximum power conversion efficiency up to 10.85 % with nearly unchanged photovoltaic performances under 80 %RH, 80 °C, or light irradiation in air.     

Combining Complex and Radial Slave Boson Fields within the Kotliar–Ruckenstein Representation of Correlated Impurities

The gauge symmetry group of any slave boson representation allows to gauge away the phase of bosonic fields. One benefit of this radial field formulation is the elimination of spurious Bose condensations when saddle-point approximation is performed. Within the Kotliar–Ruckenstein representation, three of the four bosonic fields can be radial while the last one has to remain complex. In this work, the procedure to carry out the functional integration involving constrained fermionic fields, complex bosonic fields, and radial bosonic fields is presented. The correctness of the representation is verified by exactly evaluating the partition function and the Green's function of the Hubbard model in the atomic limit.     

碳纳米管的可控长度拾取及导电性分析

拾取指定长度的半导体性碳纳米管对大规模制造碳纳米管场效应管具有重要意义.本文提出了一种利用原子力显微镜探针和钨针对碳纳米管进行可控长度拾取的方法并进行了碳纳米管导电性分析.在扫描电子显微镜下搭建微纳操作系统,针对切割操作过程中原子力显微镜探针、钨针和碳纳米管的接触情况进行了力学建模和拾取长度误差分析.建立了单根金属性碳纳米管、单根半导体性碳纳米管及碳纳米管束与钨针接触的电路模型,推导了接入不同性质碳纳米管后电路的电流电压特性方程.使用原子力显微镜探针对碳纳米管的空间位姿进行调整,控制钨针对碳纳米管上目标位置进行通电切割,同时获取切割电路中的电流电压数据.实验结果表明,本文提出的方法能够有效控制所拾取碳纳米管的长度,增加碳纳米管与原子力显微镜探针的水平接触长度能够减小碳纳米管形变导致的拾取长度误差,建立的电流电压特性方程能够用于分析碳纳米管的导电性.     

Film thickness measurements in liquid–liquid slug flow regimes

At present there is significant interest in the development of small scale medical diagnostic equipment. These devices offer faster processing times and require smaller sample volumes than equivalent macro scale systems. Although significant attention has been focused upon their outputs, little attention has been devoted to the detailed fluid mechanics that govern the flow mechanisms within these devices. Conventionally, the samples in these small scale devices are segmented into distinct discrete droplets or slugs which are suspended in an organic carrier phase. Separating these slugs from the channel wall is a very thin film of the organic carrier phase.The magnitude of this film is the focus of the present study and the effects of sample slug length and carrier phase fluidic properties on the film are examined over a range of Capillary numbers. A non-intrusive optical technique was used to capture images of the flow from which the magnitude of the film was determined.The experimental results show that the film is not constant along the length of the slug; however above a threshold value for slug length, a region of constant film thickness exists. When compared with existing correlations in the literature, the experimental data showed reasonable agreement with the Bretherton model when the Capillary number was calculated based on the mean two phase flow velocity. However, significant differences were observed when the Capillary number was redefined to account for the mean velocity at the liquid interface, i.e., the mean slug velocity.Analysis of the experimental data revealed that it fell into two distinct flow regimes; a visco-capillary regime and a visco-inertial regime. A modified Taylor expression is presented to estimate the magnitude of the film for flows in the visco-capillary regime while a new model is put forward, based on Capillary and Weber numbers, for flows in the visco-inertial regime. Overall, this study provides some novel insights into parameters, such as aqueous slug length and carrier phase fluidic properties, that affect the thickness of the film in liquid–liquid slug flow regimes.     

Important unanswered questions—1970

This paper was given as the opening address at the 1970 Albany International Conference on Radiation Effects in Semiconductors, and it attempts to establish a general overview of the field by concentrating on recent research developments and important unanswered questions. The continuing importance of impurity-defect interactions, of microscopic defect identification, and of the necessity for more theoretical calculations are emphasized. The rapid development of the field of ion implantation and its close relationship with radiation effects studies are pointed out. It is predicted that research in compound semiconductors will increase rapidly with close beneficial interaction with ion implantation studies.