Comparison of theoretical and experimental results for band-gap-graded CZTSSe solar cell

The simulation of CZTSSe solar cells is presented in this paper. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data, indicating the reliability of simulation results. New structure is proposed to increase the functionality of the cell. Improved functional performances are achieved by inserting a P-Silicon (P-Si) layer as back surface field. Simulation results suggest that by inserting this P-Si layer, efficiency of the CZTSSe solar cell increases from 12.6% to 16.59%, which is a significant improvement. For the champion cell J_SC = 36.27 mA/cm², V_OC = 0.625 V and FF = 73.11% has been achieved.     

Thermal width of quarkonium from holography

Nuclear effects in deep inelastic scattering at low $x$ are phenomenologically described changing the typical dynamical and/or kinematical scales characterizing the free nucleon case. In a holographic approach, this rescaling is an analytical property of the computed structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$ . This function is given by the sum of a conformal term and of a contribution due to quark confinement, depending on IR hard-wall parameter $z_0$ and on the mean square distances, related to a parameter $Q^\prime $ , among quarks and gluons in the target. The holographic structure function per nucleon in a nucleus $A$ is evaluated showing that a rescaling of the typical nucleon size, $z_0$ and $Q^\prime $ , due to nuclear binding, can be reabsorbed in a $Q^2$ -rescaling scheme. The difference between neutron and proton structure functions and the effects of the longitudinal structure functions can also be taken into account. The obtained theoretical results favorably compare with the experimental data.     

Radial basis functions method for solving of a non-local boundary value problem with Neumann’s boundary conditions

In this paper, the problem of solving the two-dimensional diffusion equation subject to a non-local condition involving a double integral in a rectangular region is considered. The solution of this type of problems are complicated. Therefore, a simple meshless method using the radial basis functions is constructed for the non-local boundary value problem with Neumann’s boundary conditions. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of this method. Also N_e and root mean square errors are obtained to show the convergence of the method.     

Cyclopalladated complexes of 2-phenylaniline and their catalytic activity in Suzuki and Heck reactions under mild conditions

A series of palladium complexes bearing monodentate and bidentate ligands were applied in the Suzuki reaction of aryl halides and the Heck reaction of styrene with phenylboronic acid. The complexes were found to be effective catalysts for these reactions affording the cross-coupled products in moderate to excellent yields.     

A high‐order compact finite‐difference lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of steady and unsteady incompressible flows

A high‐order compact finite‐difference lattice Boltzmann method (CFDLBM) is proposed and applied to accurately compute steady and unsteady incompressible flows. Herein, the spatial derivatives in the lattice Boltzmann equation are discretized by using the fourth‐order compact FD scheme, and the temporal term is discretized with the fourth‐order Runge–Kutta scheme to provide an accurate and efficient incompressible flow solver. A high‐order spectral‐type low‐pass compact filter is used to stabilize the numerical solution. An iterative initialization procedure is presented and applied to generate consistent initial conditions for the simulation of unsteady flows. A sensitivity study is also conducted to evaluate the effects of grid size, filtering, and procedure of boundary conditions implementation on accuracy and convergence rate of the solution. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed solution procedure based on the CFDLBM method are also examined by comparison with the classical LBM for different flow conditions. Two test cases considered herein for validating the results of the incompressible steady flows are a two‐dimensional (2‐D) backward‐facing step and a 2‐D cavity at different Reynolds numbers. Results of these steady solutions computed by the CFDLBM are thoroughly compared with those of a compact FD Navier–Stokes flow solver. Three other test cases, namely, a 2‐D Couette flow, the Taylor's vortex problem, and the doubly periodic shear layers, are simulated to investigate the accuracy of the proposed scheme in solving unsteady incompressible flows. Results obtained for these test cases are in good agreement with the analytical solutions and also with the available numerical and experimental results. The study shows that the present solution methodology is robust, efficient, and accurate for solving steady and unsteady incompressible flow problems even at high Reynolds numbers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronic and transport properties of monolayer graphene defected by one and two carbon ad-dimers

Using density functional theory combined with non-equilibrium Green’s function method, we have investigated the electronic and transport properties of graphenes defected by one and two carbon ad-dimers (CADs), placed parallel to the graphene lattice. Addition of these CADs to graphenes creates 3D paired pentagon–heptagon defects (3D-PPHDs). The band structure, density of states (DOS), quantum conductance, projected DOS, as well as the current–voltage characteristic per graphene super-cells containing each type of 3D-PPHD are calculated. The local strain introduced to graphene by 3D-PPHDs forces the C-bonds in the dimers to hybridize in sp ³-like rather than sp ²-like orbitals, creating localized states at the center of the corresponding defect below the Fermi energy. Simulations show that the zero-bias conductances per super-cells containing defects created by one and two CADs exhibit dip about ~0.579 and ~0.253 eV below their corresponding Fermi levels, respectively. These can be attributed to the localized states around the same energy levels. Simulations also show that the enhanced carriers scatterings within the graphenes defected by the 3D-PPHDs have increased their overall resistances, as compared with the pristine graphene. Moreover, the current–voltage characteristic calculated per super-cell for each case shows that the current for those containing one and two CADs, at an applied voltage of 0.5 V, is ~5 and 13 % less than the current calculated for the pristine super-cell of the same size.     

The effect of high-energy electron beam irradiation and content of ATH upon mechanical and thermal properties of EVA copolymer

Mechanical and thermal properties of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) mixed with various amounts of alumina trihydrate (ATH), irradiated with 5 MeV electron beam at dose range varied from 38 to 190 kGy, have been studied. A small amount (1%) of triallyl cyanurate has been used as a radiation sensitizer. It has been found that (i) EVA samples with various contents of ATH are crosslinked, (ii) crosslinking increases with irradiation dose, (iii) the mechanical properties of samples improve by irradiation and (iv) decomposition of samples takes place at two stages and due to irradiation, decomposition temperatures shift to higher values. These studies were carried out in order to obtain a suitable compound for wire and cable insulation.     

Complex formation of hydronium ion with several crown ethers in 1,2-dichloroethane,acetonitrile, and nitrobenzene solutions

A conductance study concerning the interaction between hydronium ion and several crown ethers in acetonitrile, nitrobenzene and 1,2-dichloroethane solutions has been carried out at 25°C. The stability constants of the resulting 1:1 complexes in acetonitrile and nitrobenzene solutions were determined from the molar conductance-mole ratio data and found to vary in the order 18C6>DB30C10>DC18C6>DB18C6>DB21C7>DB24C8>B15C5. In 1,2-dichloroethane solution, the complexation process results in the dissociation of ion pairs. There is an inverse relationship between the stabilities of the complexes and the Gutmann donicity of the solvents. In nitrobenzene solution, some evidence for the formation of a 2:1 sandwich adduct between the smaller crowns (i.e., B15C5 and 18-crowns) are observed from the molar conductance-mole ratio data which is supported by the¹H NMR data.