Photovoltaic cells technology: principles and recent developments

Solar energy is one of the renewable energy resources that can be changed to the electrical energy with photovoltaic cells. This article accomplishes a comprehensive review on the emersion, underlying principles, types and performance improvements of these cells. Although there are some different categorizations about the solar cells, but in general, all of them can be divided to crystalline silicon solar cells, thin film technology, III–V multijunction cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, polymer solar cells and quantum structured solar cells. Thin film technology is investigated in two non-crystalline silicon solar cells and chalcogenide cells. We present a complete categorization of solar cells and discuss the recent developments of different types of solar cells. Indeed, this paper covers almost all of the development processes of solar cells from their emersion in 1939 up to now. Also, due to substantial effects of the light trapping techniques on the improvements of the solar cells, a comprehensive study has been carried out.     

Sonochemical and visible light induced photochemical and sonophotochemical degradation of dyes catalyzed by recoverable vanadium-containing polyphosphomolybdate immobilized on TiO2 nanoparticles

Na₅PV₂Mo₁₀O₄₀ supported on nanoporous anatase TiO₂ particles, TiO₂–PVMo, was used as an efficient photocatalyst for photocatalytic degradation of different dyes by visible light using oxygen as oxidant. This catalyst showed a good catalytic activity in the sonocatalytic and sonophotocatalytic decomposition of different dyes in aqueous solutions. The TiO₂–PVMo composite showed higher photocatalytic and sonocatalytic activity than pure polyoxometalate or pure TiO₂.     

Novel and Rapid Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) Homogeneous Liquid–Liquid Microextraction (HLLME) with Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS) Detection for the Determination of Copper in Vegetables

Novel and fast deep eutectic solvent (DES)-based homogeneous liquid–liquid microextraction (HLLME) was applied for the extraction of copper from vegetable samples followed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). 1,5-diphenyl carbazone (DPC) was used as the chelating agent, and a DES was used as the extraction media. The utilized DES was based on benzyl triphenyl phosphonium bromide and ethylene glycol in a 1:8?mole ratio. The phase separation phenomenon was occurred by changing of sample temperature. Several factors influencing the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, an enhancement factor of 64 was obtained. The limit of detection, based on three signal-to-noise ratio, and limit of quantification were found to be 0.13?µg L^?1 and 5.0?µg L^?1, respectively. The calibration curve was linear within the range of 5.0–250?µg L^?1 with r² > 0.9957. Intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (%) of 2.1% and 2.6% were obtained at the concentration of 25?µg L^?1. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated by analyzing a tomato leaves certified reference material and the results were to be in agreement with the certified value. Finally, the feasibility of the method was successfully confirmed by determination of copper in spinach, lettuce, broccoli, potato, carrot and parsley samples.     

Determination of acidic drugs in biological and environmental matrices by membrane‐based dual emulsification liquid‐phase microextraction followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography

A simple method is introduced providing a highly clean microextraction for the determination of some anti‐inflammatory drugs as the model analytes in human urine and environmental matrices. This method is based upon the implementation of two consecutive emulsification liquid‐phase microextractions, which are separated by a syringe filtration step. In this method, the organic extraction solvent (dihexyl ether) is dispersed into the aqueous sample solution (20 mL), and the resulting cloudy mixture is passed through a hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene syringe filter. By this action, the extraction phase containing the analytes and many interfering species that could be transferred into the organic phase is retained behind the hydrophilic membrane. The filter is then detached from the syringe and attached to another syringe containing an aqueous solution (pH 12.0, 150 μL), and by the in‐syringe dispersion of the organic phase into the aqueous phase, the analytes are selectively back‐extracted into the aqueous phase. The developed method is centrifuge‐free and very simple, and provides a high sample clean‐up in a few minutes. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the developed method provided a linearity in the range of 2.0–2000 ng/mL, a low limit of detection (0.5 ng/mL), and enrichment factors of 47–53.     

Extraction of antidepressant drugs in biological samples using alkanol‐based nano structured supramolecular solvent microextraction followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric analysis

In the present study, a supramolecular solvent was formed from reverse micelle aggregates of octanol. The proposed supramolecular solvent was used for rapid extraction of some antidepressants drugs including amitriptyline, imipramine, desipramine, maprotiline, sertraline, and doxepin from biological samples. Alkanol‐based supramolecular solvents have a unique array of physicochemical properties, making them a very attractive alternative to replace organic solvents in analytical extractions. The parameters affecting the extraction of target analytes (i.e., the volume of tetrahydrofuran and octanol as the major components comprising the supramolecular solvent, chain length of alkanols, sample solution pH, salt addition, and ultrasonic time) were investigated and optimized by factor by factor optimization method. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration factors of 470, 490, 460, 385, 370, and 430 were obtained for amitriptyline, doxepin, imipramine, desipramine, maprotiline, and sertraline, respectively. The linear ranges and coefficients of determination (R²) were obtained in the range of 0.01–100 μg/L and 0.9974–0.9991, respectively. Also the limits of detection (S/N = 3) of 0.003–0.03 μg/L, and precisions (n = 5) of 4.9–8.9% were calculated. Finally, the method was successfully applied for the extraction of antidepressant drugs in biological samples, and relative recoveries in the range of 91–102% were obtained.     

Predictive QSAR modeling for the antioxidant activity of natural compounds derivatives based on Monte Carlo method

Molecular Diversity - In this research, QSAR modeling was carried out through SMILES of compounds and on the basis of the Monte Carlo method to predict the antioxidant activity of 79 derivatives of...     

DFT/TDDFT Investigation of Electronic,Magnetic, and Optical Properties of Graphene Containing Different Values of Se Impurity

Physics of the Solid State - The electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of graphene (gr) containing selenium impurities of 2, 3, 5.5, and 12.5% were calculated by DFT. By increasing the...     

Role of sodium decoration on the methane storage properties of BC3 nanosheet

First-principles calculations including dispersion correction are carried out to investigate pristine and Na-decorated graphene-like BC₃ (h-BC₃) for their application as methane storage materials. Structural optimization shows that the methane is physisorbed on the pristine sheet via van der Waals forces with adsorption energy of ?2.7 kcal/mol. It was found that unlike the pristine graphene, sodium decorated sheet can effectively interact with the CH₄ molecule, so that each metal atom bound on sheet may adsorb up to four CH₄. Furthermore, no bond dissociation was observed for the adsorption of CH₄ on Na-decorated h-BC₃, which means that decorated sheet can act as a storage device for methane safety storage. The results indicate that decoration of the Na atom on surface of sheet induces significant changes in electronic properties of the sheet and its E _g is unchanged after adsorption of CH₄ molecules. Theoretical methane storage capacity of Na-decorated BC₃ nanosheet could approach 18.1 wt%.     

MWCNTs@NHBut/PTA: New efficient solid acid catalyst for solvent free synthesis of benzochromenopyrimidines

In this study, a novel and eco‐friendly synthesis of benzochromenopyrimidines catalyzed by phosphotugstic acid immobilized on aminated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs@NHBut/PTA) is reported. New solid acid catalyst was prepared through a simple process with good percentage of organo metallic groups and characterized with FTIR, TEM, SEM, EDX and TGA techniques. Reusable catalytic system provides a convenient, safe and green pathway to generate a variety of benzochromenopyrimidines under mild conditions.     

Modeling and active control of chatter vibrations of piezoelectric stacked machining arm in micro-turning process

Self-excited vibrations known as chatter are considered as the most detrimental issue in micro-turning processes. Occurring unpredictably, they adversely affect the tool life, productivity rate and surface quality of the machining processes. In this paper, a novel machining arm is modeled as a piezoelectric stacked rod which is subjected to a chatter force in the orthogonal micro-turning process. Due to the fact that machining processes are affected by various sources of uncertainties, H_∞ robust control approach is used to suppress the chatter vibrations of the machining arm in the presence of tool wear and dynamic model parameter variations. Also, input control force of the system is provided by exciting the input voltage of piezoelectric layers of the rod. In order to be certain that the designed controller succeeds in suppressing vibrations of the effective structural modes, behavior of the first three modes of vibrations are considered in the final response of the machining arm. In the following, performance of the robust H_∞ controller is compared with a modified PID controller. Simulation results show that the H_∞ controller improves the robustness and performance of the system against uncertainties. The PID controller extends the stability region of the sharp tool and fails to achieve this purpose for the worn tool although its performance is acceptable in suppressing chatter vibrations.