Enhancing the performance of thin film CdS/PbS photovoltaic solar cells

This work investigates dependence of the short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of a thin film CdS/PbS solar cell on thickness of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, thickness of window layer (CdS), concentration of uncompensated acceptors (width of space-charge region), carrier lifetime in PbS and the reflectivity from metallic back contact. The effect of optical losses, front and rear recombination losses as well as the recombination losses on space-charge region are also considered in this study. As a result, by thinning the front contact layer indium tin oxide from 400 to 100 nm and window layer (CdS) from 200 to 100 nm it is possible to reduce the optical losses from 32 to 20%. The effect of electron lifetime on the internal and external quantum efficiency can be neglected at high width of the space-charge region. The maximum current density of 18.4 mA/cm² is achieved at wide space-charge region (concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁵ cm^?3) and the longest lifetime (τ_n = 10^?6 s) where the optical and recombination losses are about 55%. The maximum efficiency of 5.17%, maximum open-circuit voltage of 417 mV and approximately fixed fill factor of 74% are yielded at optimum conditions such as: electron lifetime = 10^?6 s; concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁶ cm^?3; thickness of TCO = 100 nm; thickness of CdS = 100 nm; velocity of surface and rear recombination = 10⁷ cm/s and thickness of absorber layer = 3 μm. When the reflectance from the back contact is 100%, the cell parameters improve and the cell efficiency records a value of 6.1% under the above conditions.     

Light reflection from finite conductors with a Gaussian random roughness using Kirchhoff and geometric optics approximations

A comparison between exact solutions and two approximate models, Kirchhoff approximation (KA) and geometric optics approximation (GOA), for reflection from random Gaussian rough conductive metallic surfaces for three regimes of correlation length in both cases of polarization TM and TE has been reported. The phenomenon of excitation of surface plasmons (SPs) has been shown only at TM polarization for KA. The domains of validity of both approximate models have been quantified. It is shown that accuracy and efficiency of any approximate method depended of various parameters: surface roughness, polarization, SPs effects, wavelength, and surface materials. KA is efficient for weakly rough surfaces with correlation length greater than wavelength, but when rms height increases GOA is more suitable than KA. Excitation of SPs is observed only at TM-polarized light, only for weakly rough surfaces with correlation length less than wavelength using KA and not GOA.     

Linewidths of ammonia in collisions with He: Calculations from an ab initio potential

We present semiclassical calculations based on the Robert-Bonamy formalism of collisional broadening coefficients of ammonia by collision with He at room temperature. Calculations have been performed with the accurate ab initio potential of Hodges and Wheatley. The calculated line widths are compared to the available experimental data and a satisfactory agreement is found, although the model contains no adjustable parameters. However the calculations also exaggerate the K dependence of the broadenings, especially for lines with K = J − 1 or K = J.     

The Significance of Mobilization and Immobilization of Specific Radionuclides for Optimum Bioleaching Conditions Using Aspergillus lentulus

Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters - Gamma spectrometry is applied for measurement of natural radioactivity by Hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) systems during the application of bioleaching optimum...     

Zinc-phosphate nanoparticles with reversibly attached TNF-α analogs: an interesting concept for potential use in active immunotherapy

The authors’ intention was to prepare nanometer-sized zinc-phosphate nanoparticles that would be capable of binding histidine-rich TNF-α analogs onto their surface via a coordinative bond. Zinc-phosphate nanoparticles with a size of around 60 nm were prepared by a wet precipitation method and characterized using SEM, EDX, XRD, and DLS. First, BSA was bound as a testing protein, afterward two TNF-α analogs with decreased activity were bound to the described nanoparticles. The efficiency of binding and the existence of coordinative bond were confirmed with SDS-PAGE analysis. During binding, particle storage, and release experiments, the prepared TNF-α analogs retained their biological activity—hence the epitopes necessary for formation of antibodies stayed intact. The particle size did not change within a period of 2 weeks. No significant agglomeration was observed, the particles could be quickly dispersed in ultrasound. The present nanoparticles and the general approach of coordinative binding are widely applicable for natural and engineered histidine-rich proteins. The nanoparticles bearing appropriate TNF-α analogs could also be potentially used for active immunotherapy to tackle the chronic inflammatory diseases associated with pathogenically elevated levels of TNF-α.     

Spectral Properties of Probes Containing Benzothioxanthene Chromophore Linked with Hindered Amine in Solution and in Polymer Matrices

Absorption and emission spectroscopy as well as laser flash photolysis was employed in order to characterize the spectral properties of novel probes based on benzothioxantheneimide chromophore covalently linked with different types of sterically hindered amines. These were chosen as 2-(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)-thioxantheno[2,1,9-dej]isoquinoline-1,3-dione (BTXINH), the equivalent stable nitroxyl radical, i.e. 2-(1-oxo-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)thioxantheno[2,1,9dej]isoquinoline 1,3-dione (BTXINO) and the alkoxy derivative 2-(1-(1′-phenylethoxy)-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl)-thioxantheno[2,1,9-dej]isoquinoline-1,3-dione (BTXINOR). Spectral properties, in solutions and in various polymer matrices such as polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene, were compared with the compound 2-(1-dodecyl)-thioxantheno[2,1,9-dej]isoquinoline-1,3-dione (BTXID) taken in the present study as a reference compound. By means of the fluorescence decay and in the contrary to three other probes, BTXINO probe clearly showed a biexponential decay while the three other probes led to monoexponential decay. Two different singlet excited states with lifetimes of about 0.4 and 5 ns were proposed. They correspond to two dispositions of the nitroxyl radical chain above and along the fluorescent moiety of the molecule. Such behaviour depends on the surrounding media. Moreover, an efficient intramolecular quenching of the fluorescence emission was only observed with the short lived singlet excited state. The ratio BTXID/BTXINO was found equal to about 4 and 9 in solutions and polymer matrices respectively. Laser flash photolysis indicated that the novel probes as well as the model compound yielded transient absorption with maximum at 530 nm, corresponding to the triplet states. The intermolecular quenching of such species by molecular oxygen and by free N-oxyl, such as 1-oxy-2,2,6,6-teramethylpiperidine (TEMPO) and 1-oxy-2,2,6,6-teramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidine (TEMPOL), and the intramolecular quenching was not efficient.     

Photoacoustic characterization of optical and thermal properties of CdSe quantum dots

We report on the optical absorption properties of as prepared CdSe quantum dots (QDs) measured by the photoacoustic (PA) method. CdSe QDs were fabricated by the chemical solution deposition (CD) technique. With increasing growing time, the redshift of the PA spectra can be clearly observed and optical absorption in the visible region due to CdSe Q-dots is demonstrated. The average diameters of the CdSe QDs for each growth time interval is estimated using the effective mass approximation giving diameters ranging from 2.6 nm to 3.4 nm. These values are comparable to those obtained by scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). Thus, PA spectroscopy is useful to obtain the QDs sizes as grown and with no further preparation. In addition, PA measurements provide also the thermal diffusivity of samples of different sizes which in this case show an increase by at least an order of magnitude than the bulk value.     

The sound generated by a square cylinder with a splitter plate at low Reynolds number

The generation of aerodynamic sound by the interaction of flow at a Reynolds number of 150 and a Mach number of 0.2 with a rigid square cylinder attached to a rigid thin flat plate is numerically investigated. When the length of the plate is varied from L=0.5D to 6D, where D is the side length of the square cylinder, the results can be grouped into three distinct regimes. For the first regime (L?D), the sound levels decrease with increasing plate length. A 3 dB sound reduction is obtained when the length of the plate is D. For the second regime (1.25D?L?4.75D), the sound levels increase with increasing plate length. For the third regime (5D?L?6D), the sound levels decrease as the length of the plate increases but the levels are higher than for the other regimes. Results also show that the lift fluctuation is the dominant sound source. These acoustic results can be explained in terms of the fluid mechanics occurring in the near wake of the cylinder.     

Some remarks on the Jensen-Hadamard inequalities and applications

We provide some inequalities and integral inequalities connected to the Jensen-Hadamard inequalities for convex functions. In particular, we give some refinements to these inequalities. Some natural applications and further extensions are given.

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Sunto Forniamo alcune diseguaglianze e diseguaglianze integrali connesse alle dise-gueglianze di Jensen-Hadamard per funzioni convesse. In particolare, diamo qualche miglioramento di queste diseguaglianze. Alcune applicazioni naturali ed ulteriori estensioni sono date.