The effect of tourmaline additives in TiO2 photoanode for high-efficiency dye sensitized solar cells

Tourmaline is a kind of borosilicatemineral and has spontaneous polarization property. Due to this property, it can generate a feeble current around 0.06 mA[1 O'Regan, B., &; Grätzel, M. (1991). Nature 353, 737.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]]. We fabricated the TiO₂ photoanode with different wt.% ratio of tourmaline and investigated the effect of tourmaline additive on dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). We carried out electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and current density-voltage (J-V) measurement. The results showed that the electron lifetime and the power conversion efficiency of the DSSCs with TiO₂ photoanode containing 3wt% tourmaline were enhanced by about 42% and 20%, respectively, as compared to the DSSCs using pristine TiO₂ photoanode.     

Photo Alignment and Patterning of Liquid Crystal Polymer Films and Optical Devices by Side-Chain Photopolymers

Prerequisite for virtually all nematic field-effects on which liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are based is stable, uniaxial surface alignment with defined bias tilt angle between the long liquid crystal (LC) axes and their display boundaries. Since the invention of the TN-LCD [1 Schadt, M., & Helfrich, W. (1972). Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 17, 355.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] in 1970 until recently this was achieved by confining liquid crystals between mechanically brushed surfaces [2 Cognard, J. (1982). J. Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. Suppl. Ser., 1, 1–74. [Google Scholar]–4 Aoyama, H., Yamazaki, Y., Matsuura, N., Mada, H., & Kobayashi, S. (1981). Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. Lett., 72, 127.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]]. We have first shown in the 1990s that, non-mechanical, uniaxial, tilted and patterned LC-alignment is possible by anisotropic Van der Waals surface interactions [5 Schadt, M., Seiberle, H., & Schuster, A. (1996). Nature, 381, 212. US Patent (1995) US-6, 215, 539.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]], namely by directional polymerization of photo-sensitive side-chain polymers films [5 Schadt, M., Seiberle, H., & Schuster, A. (1996). Nature, 381, 212. US Patent (1995) US-6, 215, 539.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 6 Schadt, M., Schmitt, K., Kozinkov, V. & Chigrinov, V.G. (1992). Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 31, 2155. US patent (1991) US 5,389,698.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]] by linear polarized UV light. The LPP model is reviewed and its applications enabling high resolution multi-domain liquid crystal displays operated in transmission and reflection are discussed. Examples are given for optical retarders integrated into LCDs, anisotropic liquid crystal polymer (LCP)-films for 3D imaging, interference color filters, wide-view films and anisotropic polymer surface topologies.