Search results for "ELECTRICITY"
showing 10 items of 1225 documents
Manipulation of charge transfer and transport in plasmonic-ferroelectric hybrids for photoelectrochemical applications
2016
Utilizing plasmonic nanostructures for efficient and flexible conversion of solar energy into electricity or fuel presents a new paradigm in photovoltaics and photoelectrochemistry research. In a conventional photoelectrochemical cell, consisting of a plasmonic structure in contact with a semiconductor, the type of photoelectrochemical reaction is determined by the band bending at the semiconductor/electrolyte interface. The nature of the reaction is thus hard to tune. Here instead of using a semiconductor, we employed a ferroelectric material, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT). By depositing gold nanoparticle arrays and PZT films on ITO substrates, and studying the photocurrent as well as the femtosecond …
Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene) nanoparticles as building blocks for hybrid thermoelectric flexible films
2019
Hybrid thermoelectric flexible films based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes were prepared by using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly. The employed PEDOT nanoparticles were synthesized by oxidative miniemulsion polymerization by using iron(III) p-toluenesulfonate hexahydrate (FeTos) as an oxidant and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) as stabilizer. Sodium deoxycholate (DOC) was used as a stabilizer to prepare the aqueous dispersions of the carbon nanotubes. Hybrid thermoelectric films were finally prepared with different monomer/oxidant molar ratios and different types of carbon nanotubes, aiming to maximize the power factor (PF). The …
Atomistic Theory of the Growth Mode for a Thin Metallic Film on an Isulating Substrate
2002
We have developed a novel theory for predicting the growth mode of a thin metallic film on an insulating substrate. Our theory combines ab initio electronic structure calculations for several ordered metal/insulator interfaces with varying metal coverage, with a thermodynamic method known in the theory of alloys. We illustrate this approach for an Ag film deposited on a MgO(001) substrate. Ab initio Hartree-Fock calculations predict a high mobility of adsorbed silver atoms on the perfect magnesia surface even at low temperatures. Our theoretical analysis clearly demonstrates that the growth of metal islands is predominant at the initial stage of silver deposition on MgO, which agrees with t…
Conformational Changes and Charge Transfer in Biomolecules Resolved Using Dynamic Enhanced Raman Correlation Spectroscopy
2019
International audience; In this contribution, we report that conforma-tional changes of molecules that are often buried in a wide-distributed Gaussian distribution can be discerned by analyzing the dynamics of specific Raman lines. We investigate the pertinence of the auto-and cross-correlation functions applied to the dynamics of three Raman lines of an amino acid, the tryptophan. The cross-correlation between intensity and the Raman band is an indicator of the charge transfer during the diffusion limited reaction of tryptophan and the gold surface. The Pećlet number Pe can provide a valuable indicator of the convective and/or diffusive features of each Raman band. Adsorption induced confo…
Dual boundary element model of 3D piezoelectric smart structures
2017
In this paper, the application of the dual boundary element method (DBEM) in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) is explored. The model involves a 3D host structure, which is formulated by the DBEM in the Laplace domain, and 3D piezoelectric transducers, whose finite element model is derived from the electro-mechanical behaviour of piezoelectricity. The piezoelectric transducers and the host structure are coupled together via BEM variables. The practicability of this method in active sensing applications is demonstrated through comparisons with established FEM and parametric studies.
On the Theory of Domain Structure of Disordered Ferroelectrics
2009
We present a comprehensive analysis of domain structure formation in ferroelectric phase of incipient ferroelectrics with off-center dipole impurities like KTaO 3 :Li, Nb,Na. Our analysis is carried out on the base of effective free energy of disordered ferroelectrics, derived by us earlier. This free energy permits to apply the standard approach to domain structure calculation. Using coupled system of Maxwell equations with those obtained by minimization of above free energy, we calculate the physical characteristics of domain structure as functions of impurity dipoles concentration n. Our theory can be easily generalized for arbitrary temperature and crystal shape including thin films.
Parametric conversion in micrometer and sub-micrometer structured ferroelectric crystals by surface poling
2012
We report on recent technological improvements concerning nonlinear patterning of lithium niobate and lithium tantalate in the micrometer and submicrometer scales using surface periodic poling for ferroelectric domain inversion. The fabricated samples were employed for frequency doubling via quasiphase-matching both in bulk and guided wave geometries, including forward and backward configurations and wavelength conversion in bands C and L. We also investigated short-period quasiperiodic samples with randomly distributed mark-to-space ratios.
How Electrical Heterogeneity Parameters of Ion-Exchange Membrane Surface Affect the Mass Transfer and Water Splitting Rate in Electrodialysis
2020
Electrodialysis (ED) has been demonstrated as an effective membrane method for desalination, concentration, and separation. Electroconvection (EC) is a phenomenon which can essentially increase the mass transfer rate and reduce the undesirable water splitting effect. Efforts by a number of researchers are ongoing to create conditions for developing EC, in particular, through the formation of electrical heterogeneity on the membrane surface. We attempt, for the first time, to optimize the parameters of surface electrical heterogeneity for ion-exchange membranes used in a laboratory ED cell. Thirteen different patterns on the surface of two Neosepta anion-exchange membranes, AMX and AMX-Sb, w…
Performance analysis of single cell solid oxide fuel cells
2017
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a class of fuel cells operating on high temperatures which have the potential to become one of the efficient and cost effective system for direct conversion of a wide variety of fuels to electricity. For proper operation of SOFCs, evaluation of cell stability and optimization of fuel utilization is of paramount importance. In this paper, we have performed experiments to obtain current-voltage (I–V) characteristics by using three different Hydrogen (H 2 ) flow rates(100 ml/min, 150 ml/min and 200 ml/min). Furthermore, we perform oxidation and reduction (redox) cycles to determine how many redox cycles a SOFC can withstand without cracking the cell which we …
Realization and drive tests of active thin glass x-ray mirrors
2016
A technique to obtain lightweight and high-resolution focusing mirror segments for large aperture X-ray telescopes is the hot slumping of thin glass foils. In this approach, already successfully experimented to manufacture the optics of the NuSTAR X-ray telescope, thin glasses are formed at high temperature onto a precisely figured mould. The formed glass foils are subsequently stacked onto a stiff backplane with a common axis and focus to form an XOU (X-ray Optical Unit), to be later integrated in the telescope optic structure. In this process, the low thickness of the glass foils guarantees a low specific mass and a very low obstruction of the effective area. However, thin glasses are sub…