Back contact–absorber interface modification by inserting carbon intermediate layer and conversion efficiency improvement in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cell

Carbon layers have been employed as intermediate layers between Mo back contact and Cu₂ZnSn(S_1–xSe_x)₄(CZTSSe) absorber film prepared by sol–gel and post‐selenization method. Carbon layers with appropriate thickness can significantly inhibit the formation of MoSe₂ and voids at bottom region of the absorber, and therefore reduce the series resistance remarkably. The conversion efficiency can be boosted by the introducing of the carbon layer from 6.20% to 7.24% by enhancement in short current density, fill factor and open voltage in comparison to the reference sample without carbon layer. However, excess thickness of carbon layer will worse device performance due to the deteriorated absorber crystallinity. In addition, the time‐resolved photoluminescence analysis shows that inserting the carbon layer with suitable thickness does not introduce recombination and lower minority lifetime. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Phase transitions in a holographic s $$$$ p model with back-reaction

In a previous paper (Nie et al. in JHEP 1311:087, arXiv:1309.2204 [hep-th], 2013), we presented a holographic s \(+\) p superconductor model with a scalar triplet charged under an SU(2) gauge field in the bulk. We also study the competition and coexistence of the s-wave and p-wave orders in the probe limit. In this work we continue to study the model by considering the full back-reaction. The model shows a rich phase structure and various condensate behaviors such as the “n-type” and “u-type” ones, which are also known as reentrant phase transitions in condensed matter physics. The phase transitions to the p-wave phase or s \(+\) p coexisting phase become first order in strong back-reaction cases. In these first order phase transitions, the free energy curve always forms a swallow tail shape, in which the unstable s \(+\) p solution can also play an important role. The phase diagrams of this model are given in terms of the dimension of the scalar order and the temperature in the cases of eight different values of the back-reaction parameter, which show that the region for the s \(+\) p coexisting phase is enlarged with a small or medium back-reaction parameter but is reduced in the strong back-reaction cases.     

Magnolol and honokiol included green emissive terbium sol–gel materials and their recognition behaviors

Magnolol and honokiol as pharmaceutical ligands have been introduced into terbium complex systems for the first time and two hybrid organic–inorganic materials were successfully prepared. Both of them can sensitize terbium characteristic green emission effectively based on intra-molecular energy transfer channel. Moreover, they selectively recognized Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ through luminescence quenching effects. The photophysical properties and morphological structures were extensively investigated.     

A Complete Switch of the Directional Selectivity in the Annulation of 2‐Hydroxybenzaldehydes with Alkynes

Controlling reaction selectivity is an eternal pursuit for chemists working in chemical synthesis. As part of this endeavor, our group has been exploring the possibility of constructing different natural product skeletons from the same simple starting materials by using different catalytic systems. In our previous work, an isoflavanone skeleton was obtained from the annulation of a salicylaldehyde and an alkyne when a gold catalyst was employed. In this paper, it is shown that a coumarin skeleton can be efficiently obtained through an annulation reaction with the same starting materials, that is, terminal alkynes and salicylaldehydes, by simply switching to a rhodium catalyst. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed for this new annulation based on isotopic substitution experiments.     

Preparation and characteristics of spinnable sol and continuous mullite fibers with nano silica addition

The spinning precursor sols for the continuous mullite-based fibers were prepared by adding nano-silica to substitute part of silica sol. The effect of SiO₂ nanoparticles on the particle evolution models, polymerization degree and solid content of the sol,and the spinning length and sintering behavior of the fibers was investigated. The results were shown that the addition of nano silica enhanced the polymerization degree and extended the spinnable range of the sol. The appropriate polymerization degree (B value) for this sol system was 1.885–2.145. The grain diameter decreased from 39.6 to 25.9 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 20 %, and then, it increased to 41.2 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 100 %. The appropriate content of nano-silica powders would reduce the grain diameter. However, it had no influence on the linear growth model, homogeneity and solid content of the precursor sol.     

New cadinane sesquiterpenoids from Mikania micrantha

Abstract

Chemical investigation of the aerial parts of Mikania micrantha led to the isolation of eight sesquiterpenoids and ten diterpenoids, including five cadinane sesquiterpenoids (1?5), three bisabolene sesquiterpenoids (6???8), nine ent-kaurane diterpenoids (9–17), and an abietane diterpenoid (18). Among them, 1???3 are new and feature a rare lactone or furan ring derived from C-6 isopropyl group side chain. Compound 18 was isolated from genus Mikania for the first time, and was also the first example of abietane-type diterpenoids from this plant. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses (1D and 2D NMR, HRESIMS, and ECD). All compounds were examined for their inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells, and compound 18 exhibited pronounced inhibition on NO production (IC₅₀ = 11.04?µM), being comparable to the positive control, quercetin (IC₅₀ = 11.15?µM).     

The midas touch on copper into palladium

Science China Chemistry -     

Families of gap solitons and their complexes in media with saturable nonlinearity and fractional diffraction

Nonlinear Dynamics - We demonstrate the existence of various types of gap localized modes, including one- and two-dimensional (1D and 2D) single solitons and soliton clusters, as well as the...