Using high haze (> 90%) light-trapping film to enhance the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells

The high haze light-trapping (LT) film offers enhanced scattering of light and is applied to a-Si:H solar cells. UV glue was spin coated on glass, and then the LT pattern was imprinted. Finally, a UV lamp was used to cure the UV glue on the glass. The LT film effectively increased the Haze ratio of glass and decreased the reflectance of a-Si:H solar cells. Therefore, the photon path length was increased to obtain maximum absorption by the absorber layer. High Haze LT film is able to enhance short circuit current density and efficiency of the device, as partial composite film generates broader scattering light, thereby causing shorter wave length light to be absorbed by the P layer so that the short circuit current density decreases. In case of lab-made a-Si:H thin film solar cells with v-shaped LT films, superior optoelectronic performances have been found (V_oc = 0.74 V, J_sc = 15.62 mA/cm², F.F. = 70%, and η = 8.09%). We observed ~ 35% enhancement of the short-circuit current density and ~ 31% enhancement of the conversion efficiency.     

Role of Microporosity of Activated Carbons on Their Adsorption Abilities for Phenols and Dyes

The amounts of adsorption of two commercial dyes, phenol, and 4-chlorophenol from water on activated carbons were measured at 30°C. The carbons were prepared from cane (bagasse) piths and were activated by steam. The activation temperature and time were in the ranges of 750–840°C and 2 h, respectively. It was shown that the isotherm data of all four solutes could be well fitted by the Langmuir equation under the conditions studied. The adsorption capacities of the solutes were correlated with the microporosity properties of the activated carbons including micropore volume and external surface area. Finally, the adsorption characteristics of the present carbons was compared with those prepared from various agricultural wastes.     

Closed-form solutions for a class of optimal quadratic tracking problems

Closed-from solutions are derived for a class of tracking problems including a linear optimal regulator and a prefilter for a time-invariant plant. The solutions for the prefilter equation and state trajectory, coupled by the Riccati equation, are exponentially related to the stability matrix of the plant. A computational procedure is presented in recursive form when the desired output state dynamics is assumed linear and time-invariant. Several examples are given for illustration.     

三项混合共轭梯度算法及其收敛性

本文对求解无约束优化问题提出一类三项混合共轭梯度算法,新算法将Hestenes- stiefel算法与Dai-Yuan方法相结合,并在不需给定下降条件的情况下,证明了算法在Wolfe线搜索原则下的收敛性,数值试验亦显示出这种混合共轭梯度算法较之HS和PRP的优势．     

Effect of pH on Competitive Adsorption of Cu(II), Ni(II), and Zn(II) from Water onto Chitosan Beads

The amounts of adsorption of Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Zn²⁺ from single, binary, and tertiary nitrate solutions onto glutaraldehyde cross-linked chitosan beads were measured. The beads had an average particle size and pore volume of 2 mm and 0.06 cm³/g, respectively, and had a BET surface area of 60 m²/g. All experiments were performed at 298 K as a function of initial pH (2.0–5.0), total metal concentration (0.77–17.0 mol/m³), and molar concentration ratio (0.25–4) in the aqueous phase. It was shown that the amount of metal adsorption generally increased with increasing solution pH. Competitive adsorption was significant in binary and tertiary systems when Cu²⁺ was present. The selectivity factor reached maximum in an equilibrium pH range of 5.1–5.3 and 4.5–4.9 for the Cu-Ni and Cu-Zn binary systems, respectively. This adsorbent provided a possibility for selective separation of Cu²⁺ from such multi-component solutions.     

Electrochemical methods for the preparation of gold-coated TiO2 nanoparticles with variable coverages

We report here the first electrochemical methods to prepare elemental Au0-coated TiO2 nanoparticles with controllable coverages. First, Au substrates were cycled in a deoxygenated aqueous solution containing 0.1 N HCl and 1 mM TiO2 nanoparticles from -0.28 to +1.22 V versus Ag/AgCl at 500 mV/s with different numbers of scans. The durations at the cathodic and anodic vertexes were 10 and 5 s, respectively. After this process, positively charged Au-coated TiO2 nanoparticles were formed in the solutions. Then a cathodic overpotential of 0.6 V from the open circuit potential of ca. 0.82 V versus Ag/AgCl was applied under sonication to synthesize elemental Au0-coated TiO2 nanoparticles. The coverage of Au shells in the elemental Au-coated TiO2 nanoparticles is varied from 10% to 95% by increasing the number of scans from 10 to 50 in preparing the positively charged Au-coated TiO2 nanoparticles. The extremely high coverage of 95% in this study is notable, as compared with other methods to prepare Au-coated TiO2 nanoparticles.     

Sorption of cesium on rocks using heterogeneity-based isotherm models

Summary Sorption of radionuclides onto surrounding rocks play an important role in retarding the migration of radionuclides from a radioactive waste repository. The sorption isotherm model is usually used to describe the sorption behaviors and assess the sorption potential of radionuclides on rock. However, most of the studies to investigate the feasibility of isotherm models for the sorption of radionuclides are based on the assumption that the sorption energy is uniform and homogeneously distributed on the sorbent surfaces. In this study, two heterogeneity-based isotherms, Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model (LF) and generalized-Freundlich isotherm model (GF), were used for the evaluation of the sorption characteristics of cesium on the selected Taiwan tuff and basalt. The sorption experiments in this study were carried out by batch method, and the experimental data were modeled by LF and GF heterogeneity-based isotherm models. The results showed that both of the LF and GF models could fit the data more perfectly than the Langmuir model. The heterogeneity of sorption onto tuff and basalt could be well characterized by the LF and GF models by means of the calculation and plotting of the affinity spectrum. The results showed that the sorption surface of tuff is more heterogeneous and complex than that of basalts.