Simulation design of P–I–N-type all-perovskite solar cells with high efficiency

According to the good charge transporting property of perovskite, we design and simulate a p–i–n-type all-perovskite solar cell by using one-dimensional device simulator. The perovskite charge transporting layers and the perovskite absorber constitute the all-perovskite cell. By modulating the cell parameters, such as layer thickness values, doping concentrations and energy bands of n-, i-, and p-type perovskite layers, the all-perovskite solar cell obtains a high power conversion efficiency of 25.84%. The band matched cell shows appreciably improved performance with widen absorption spectrum and lowered recombination rate, so weobtain a high J_(sc) of 32.47 m A/cm~2. The small series resistance of the all-perovskite solar cell also benefits the high J_(sc). The simulation provides a novel thought of designing perovskite solar cells with simple producing process, low production cost and high efficient structure to solve the energy problem.     

Synthesis and Properties of Cupric Sulphate Doped Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) Solutions

The optical, electrical and acoustical properties of polymer solutions based on polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) doped with cupric sulphate (CuSO₄) were studied. The polymer solutions were prepared by varying the concentration of Cu in the PVP using a simple chemical route. The UV-visible spectroscopy results showed that the optical absorbance decreased with an increase in wavelength from 300 to 700 nm. The optical band gaps were found to decrease with addition of the Cu salt in the polymer. The refractive index also showed significant variation with the doping of the CuSO₄. The electrical conductivity of the polymer solutions was found to increase with temperature as well as concentration of Cu while the activation energy of electrical conduction decreased with concentration of Cu. The ultrasonic velocities of the polymer solutions were measured at a frequency of 1 MHz using an ultrasonic interferometer. The ultrasonic velocity and surface tension were increased while the adiabatic compressibility, acoustic impedance and intermolecular free length, the average distance between the surfaces of the coils of adjacent molecules, were decreased with increase in the concentration of CuSO₄ in the PVP.     

Elastic,thermodynamic, electronic,and optical properties of recently discovered superconducting transition metal boride NbRuB:An ab-initio investigation

The elastic, thermodynamic, electronic, and optical properties of recently discovered and potentially technologically important transition metal boride NbRuB, are investigated using the density functional formalism. Both generalized gradient approximation(GGA) and local density approximation(LDA) are used for optimizing the geometry and for estimating various elastic moduli and constants. The optical properties of NbRuB are studied for the first time with different photon polarizations. The frequency(energy) dependence of various optical constants complement quite well the essential features of the electronic band structure calculations. Debye temperature of NbRuB is estimated from the thermodynamical study. All these theoretical estimates are compared with published results, where available, and discussed in detail. Both electronic band structure and optical conductivity reveal robust metallic characteristics. The NbRuB possesses significant elastic anisotropy. Electronic features, on the other hand, are almost isotropic in nature. The effects of electronic band structure and Debye temperature on the emergence of superconductivity are also analyzed.     

Modulation depth of series SQUIDs modified by Josephson junction area

The superconducting quantum interference device(SQUID) amplifier is widely used in the field of weak signal detection for its low input impedance, low noise, and low power consumption. In this paper, the SQUIDs with identical junctions and the series SQUIDs with different junctions were successfully fabricated. The Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb trilayer and input Nb coils were prepared by asputtering equipment. The SQUID devices were prepared by a sputtering and the lift-off method.Investigations by AFM, OM and SEM revealed the morphology and roughness of the Nb films and Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb trilayer.In addition, the current–voltage characteristics of the SQUID devices with identical junction and different junction areas were measured at 2.5 K in the He~3 refrigerator. The results show that the SQUID modulation depth is obviously affected by the junction area. The modulation depth obviously increases with the increase of the junction area in a certain range. It is found that the series SQUID with identical junction area has a transimpedance gain of 58 ? approximately.     

A generalized model of TiO_x-based memristive devices and its application for image processing

Memristive technology has been widely explored, due to its distinctive properties, such as nonvolatility, high density,versatility, and CMOS compatibility. For memristive devices, a general compact model is highly favorable for the realization of its circuits and applications. In this paper, we propose a novel memristive model of TiO_x-based devices, which considers the negative differential resistance(NDR) behavior. This model is physics-oriented and passes Linn's criteria. It not only exhibits sufficient accuracy(IV characteristics within 1.5% RMS), lower latency(below half the VTEAM model),and preferable generality compared to previous models, but also yields more precise predictions of long-term potentiation/depression(LTP/LTD). Finally, novel methods based on memristive models are proposed for gray sketching and edge detection applications. These methods avoid complex nonlinear functions required by their original counterparts. When the proposed model is utilized in these methods, they achieve increased contrast ratio and accuracy(for gray sketching and edge detection, respectively) compared to the Simmons model. Our results suggest a memristor-based network is a promising candidate to tackle the existing inefficiencies in traditional image processing methods.     

Novel conductance step in carbon nanotube with wing-like zigzag graphene nanoribbons

Connecting one armchair carbon nanotube(CNT) to several zigzag graphene nanoribbons(ZGNRs) we find that the topologically-protected edge states of ZGNRs and the massless Dirac particle inherited from CNT still hold from the analysis of the band structure and the edge state. Furthermore, the lowest conductance step at the valley bottom increases proportionally with increasing the number of ZGNR wings. A novel conductance step of a peak occurs in the valley, which is two steps higher than the lowest step at the valley bottom. In addition, with increasing the number of ZGNR wings the width of the novel conductance step becomes narrow.