Search results for "Toe"

Mesosynthesis of ZnO-SiO(2) porous nanocomposites with low-defect ZnO nanometric domains.

2011

Silica-based ZnO-MCM-41 mesoporous nanocomposites with high Zn content (5≤Si/Zn≤50) have been synthesized by a one-pot surfactant-assisted procedure from aqueous solution using a cationic surfactant (CTMABr = cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) as structure-directing agent, and starting from molecular atrane complexes as inorganic hydrolytic precursors. This preparative technique allows optimization of the dispersion of the ZnO nanodomains in the silica walls. The mesoporous nature of the final materials is confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms. The ZnO-MCM-41 materials show unimodal pore size distributions without …

Effective low temperature reduction of graphene oxide with vanadium(iii)

2014

Reduction of graphene oxide (GO) with vanadium(III) trichloride under various reaction conditions has been investigated. The results show that V(III) can be used as an efficient reducing agent for GO in aqueous solutions at low concentrations and in moderate temperatures under ambient conditions. The IR spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show that the structure of the vanadium-reduced material is similar to reduced graphene oxide prepared using TiCl3 or hydrazine as a reducing agent. The electrical conductivity of the material is also similar in all cases. However, on the basis of the XPS results, vanadium-based reduction does not leave significant reductant impurities …

Development of microwave gas sensors

2011

Abstract This work presents a novel approach in gas detection by an original method of microwave transduction. The design of the sensor includes a coplanar grounded wave guide with a gas sensing material to study its sensitivity to ammonia in argon flux. The sensing material can play the role of the substrate or can be deposited as a thin layer on a microstrip structure used in electronics. Submitted to an electromagnetic excitation in microwave energies, the sensor response in the presence of a gas results in a specific modification of the reflected wave (real and imaginary parts). The goals of this study include an examination of the form of the sensitive material and its influence on the…

Graded Carrier Concentration Absorber Profile for High Efficiency CIGS Solar Cells

2015

We demonstrate an innovative CIGS-based solar cells model with a graded doping concentration absorber profile, capable of achieving high efficiency values. In detail, we start with an in-depth discussion concerning the parametrical study of conventional CIGS solar cells structures. We have used the wxAMPS software in order to numerically simulate cell electrical behaviour. By means of simulations, we have studied the variation of relevant physical and chemical parameters-characteristic of such devices-with changing energy gap and doping density of the absorber layer. Our results show that, in uniform CIGS cell, the efficiency, the open circuit voltage, and short circuit current heavily depe…

Thin-Film Photovoltaics 2013

2014

Thin-Film Photovoltaics 2011

2012

Thin-Film Photovoltaics 2014

2015

The interest toward alternative energy sources to fossil fuels (still the most convenient in terms of efficiency and cost) is current. Initiatives that seek to convert wind, geothermal energy, hydropower, marine, solar thermal energy, and photovoltaics or derived from biomass energy into other forms continue to involve several research groups. For example, the transfer from solar energy into electricity, which in turn can be used for water splitting and for the subsequent production of hydrogen, seems a major challenge to provide a sustainable contribution to the “Earth system” together with the realization of devices having high conversion efficiencies, low environmental impact, and low pr…

Suppression of electron trapping by quantum dot emitters using a grafted polystyrene shell

2019

A fundamental problem of adding chromophores to an organic host is that their smaller band gap leads to severe trapping of either electrons or holes, resulting in strongly unbalanced transport. We demonstrate that electron trapping by an inorganic quantum dot (QD) in a conjugated polymer host can be suppressed by functionalizing its shell with a thin insulating polystyrene layer. The polystyrene shell not only reduces trapping, but also suppresses detrapping of captured electrons, resulting in increased charging of the QDs with subsequent voltage scans, after initial charging, a red-emitting hybrid polymer:QD light-emitting diode is obtained with voltage independent electroluminescence spec…

Photoelectrochemical monitoring of rouging and de-rouging on AISI 316L

2017

Electrochemical conditions for inducing rouging on surface of AISI 316L in quasi neutral aqueous solution are studied. Potentiostatic polarization at 0.6 V vs. SSC at pH ∼ 7 allowed growth of colourless passive films with a band gap slightly lower than that estimated for the oxide grown on the SS surface by air exposure due to chromium dissolution. Under stronger anodic polarization (UE = 1.5 V vs. SSC) coloured passive films are formed, mainly constituted by iron oxide according to their band gap (Eg = 2.0 eV). Etching in citric acid at 60 °C results to be effective in removing rouging.

Photoelectrochemical evidence of inhomogeneous composition at nm length scale of anodic films on valve metals alloys

2016

Abstract Anodic films of different thickness (∼30 nm and 70 nm) were grown by anodizing sputtering-deposited Ta-19at% Al to different formation voltages. N incorporation into the anodic films was inducing by performing the anodizing process in ammonium containing solutions. Layered anodic films were prepared by a double formation procedure with a first anodizing step in ammonium biborate solution and second anodizing step in borate buffer solution, or vice versa. Glow Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy was employed to show the distribution of N across the oxide. Photoelectrochemical measurements evidenced a red shift of the light absorption threshold due to N incorporation. A model was…