We present 10-nm thick metal alloys created by coevaporation of calcium and silver as transparent top electrode for inverted bulk heterojunction small-molecule organic solar cells (SMOSC). It is shown that such alloys exhibit sufficiently high conductivity to replace previously used thicker (>14 nm) pure Ag contacts. At the same time, Ca:Ag alloys have higher transmittance compared to pure Ag, …
The use of engineered nano-sized materials led to revolutionary developments in many industrial applications and in the medical field. These materials, however, also may cause cytotoxicity. In addition to size, surface properties and shape were identified as relevant parameters for cell damage. Cell damage may occur as disruption of membrane integrity, induction of apoptosis and by organelle d…
In this work, we report on the prototyping of thin-film silicon tandem solar cells with periodic light-trapping textures. Our approach combines an industrial applicable nano-imprint process,for the fabrication of advanced light management concepts, with state-of-the-art thin film silicon solar cell technology. In a joint experimental effort between project partners of the European thinfilm sili…
Infrared plasmonic filters, consisting of subwavelength hole arrays etched into metal films, exhibit characteristics that are typically associated with the formation of surface plasmon polaritons, namely enhanced transmission and wavelength filtering of the incident light. In this article, the properties that dictate the plasmonic response of a material from the optical to the infrared regime a…
Upconversion (UC) enables the conversion of lower energy to higher energy photons and has gained interest for the application in solar cells and nanocrystal biolabels. Er 3+ -doped Gd 2 O 2 S is a highly promising UC material for applications. A record UC quantum yield of 12% was recently measured in Gd 2 O 2 S doped with 10% Er 3+ upon monochromatic excitation into the 4 I 13/2 state at 1510 …
The main challenge for applying upconversion (UC) to silicon photovoltaics is the limited amount of solar energy harvested directly via erbium-based upconverter materials (24.5 W m –2 ). This could be increased up to 87.7 W m –2 via spectral concentration. Due to the nonlinear behavior of UC, this could increase the best UC emission by a factor 13. In this paper, the combined use of quantu…
One dimensional gratings patterned on the surface of nanocrystalline titania electrodes are used as a light harvesting strategy to improve the overall performance of dye solar cells under both frontal and rear illumination conditions. A soft-lithography-based micromoulding approach is employed to replicate a periodic surface relief pattern onto the surface of the electrode,which is later sensi…
In the last decade in Europe, the power generated by Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has significantly increased. For the electric power system, the integration of a high amount of power generated by RES represents a big challenge. Energy Storage Systems (ESS) may help to solve problems related to the grid integration of RES. In this study, an analysis of the benefits that a planned and dedicate…
Most of the high efficiency kesterite solar cells are fabricated by vacuum or hydrazine-based solution methods which have drawbacks, such as high cost, high toxicity or explosivity.In our contribution, an alternative non-vacuum and environmental friendly deposition technology called electrostatic spray assisted vapour deposition (ESAVD) has been used for the cost-effective growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 (…
Periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) are unique materials with functional components embedded in their siliceous framework and have attracted much recent attention owing to their advantages over conventional mesoporous silica nanomaterials.[ 1 ] Such advantages include the homogeneous distribution of active functional sites throughout the whole framework,high loading of functional componen…
The application of layers of doped colloidal silicon nanocrystals sandwiched between hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers as emitters in silicon heterojunction solar cells is explored. It is shown that such emitters provide excellent interface passivation and reasonable conductivity. Final solar cells with such nanoparticle emitters reach conversion efficiencies on the same level as solar cell…
Electrically tunable mid-infrared metasurfaces with nanosecond response time and broad tuning range are reported. Electrical tuning is achieved by employing strong polaritonic coupling of electromagnetic modes in metallic nanoresonators with voltage-tunable inter-subband transitions in semiconductor heterostructures, tailored for a giant quantum-confi ned Stark effect.Experimentally, a 220-nm-…
An experimental apparatus has been developed to evaluate the drying process of green tea leaves. Tea drying is an energy-intensive process which results in the removal of leaf moisture; it is essential to the quality of the final product.In order to more efficiently use process energy, a prototype drying system has been built and tested. The prototype incorporates a rotating perforated drum whi…
In modern, stressed distribution system, voltage stability is a major concern from planning and operation perspectives. Remote wind farm connected to a weak distribution system through a long line could adversely affect the voltage stability of the respective distribution network. This paper investigates the transient and steady-state voltage issues of a distribution network with a distant dou…
In modern, stressed distribution system, voltage stability is a major concern from planning and operation perspectives. Remote wind farm connected to a weak distribution system through a long line could adversely affect the voltage stability of the respective distribution network. This paper investigates the transient and steady-state voltage issues of a distribution network with a distant dou…
In this study, we have exploited graphene’s unique combination of IR transparency and electrical conductivity to fabricate the fi rst pyroelectric IR sensor with graphene electrodes. We fi nd that the IR transparency of graphene enables an order of magnitude improvement in operating frequency, paving the way for faster thermal imaging than has been possible with pyroelectrics.Moreover, this i…
The application of PFSA-based proton exchange membranes was investigated for the production of hydrogen and sulfuric acid using a SO2-depolarized electrolyzer system. Parameters investigated included hot pressing pressure for the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) manufacturing, cell temperature, membrane thickness, catalyst loading, membrane type, and SO2 anode feed concentration.The effect of…
Realizing laterally continuous ultra-thin gold fi lms on transparent substrates is a challenge of signifi cant technological importance. In the present work,formation of ultra-thin gold fi lms on fused silica is studied, demonstrating how suppression of island formation and reduction of plasmonic absorption can be achieved by treating substrates with (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane prior to…
Ultrastrong exciton–photon coupling of Frenkel molecular excitons is demonstrated at room temperature in a metal-clad microcavity containing a thin fi lm of 2,7-bis[9,9-di(4-methylphenyl)-fl uoren-2-yl]-9,9-di(4-methylphenyl)fl uorene. A giant Rabi splitting of Ω ∼ 1 eV is measured using angle-resolved refl ectivity and bright photoluminescence is observed from the lower polariton branch.…
Effi cient absorption of solar radiation is desired for the renewable energy sector, such as solar thermophotovoltaics and solar thermal applications.In order to minimize thermal re-radiation, wavelength-selective devices are required. Absorbers with structured surfaces are attractive because they derive their electromagnetic properties to a greater extent from their geometry and to a lesser e…
Large Stokes shift downshifting organolanthanide complex,Eu(tta)3phen, is examined for inclusion in polymeric layers to replace the UVblocking layer in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology. The UV blocking layer increases stability but power conversion efficiency decreases as incident UV photons are not converted into photocurrent. Eu(tta)3phen doped polymeric film are prepared and atta…
Thermoelectric materials have attracted increasing attention because of their importance in applications such as energy harvesting and electronic cooling devices. [ 1–4 ] The performance of the thermoelectric devices is determined by the fi gure of merit,ZT , defi ned as ZT = S 2 σT / κ , where S is the Seebeck coeffi cient;σ , the electric conductivity; κ , the thermal conductivity; and …
Graphene is a material with enormous potential for numerous applications. Therefore, significant efforts are dedicated to large-scale graphene production using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. In addition, research is directed at developing methods to incorporate graphene in established production technologies and process flows. In this paper, we present a brief review of available…
This study investigates the esterification of hydrolyzed sea mango (Cerbera odollam)oil using several cationic ion exchange resins. The best resins were selected based on their performance in a preliminary esterification process. The best resins were then subsequently used in the optimization of the process parameters.The esterification parameters studied were reaction temperature (40–160°C)…
Animalmodels are important tools to predict human in vivo percutaneous absorption/penetration. Monkey, pig, rat, rabbit,guinea pig, hairless rodents, such as hairless rat, hairless mouse, hairless guinea pig and hairless dog, are among the most used animals for this purpose. Each animal model has its own advantages and weakness or limitation. To better correlate animal data with human skin abso…
Light quality shows strong effects on humans in many aspects, including aesthetics, psychology, physiology, and health. By assuming that natural light has the best light quality, devising a pseudo-natural light is hence important and critical. Here, an all-weather pseudo-natural light is demonstrated based on a high number of broad-band emitters. By doping six broad-band organic light-emitting…
In this book, we introduce the following: – A concept of basic language; a descriptive language of simple form in which it is possible to formulate recorded facts. The semantics of this basic language make it possible to clarify the links between linguistic, conceptual, and real entities of the application domain of a physical theory. – A new concept of idealization. We know that practica…
Part 2 of A Guide to Physics Problems contains problems from written graduate qualifying examinations at many universities in the United States and, for comparison, problems from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a leading Russian Physics Department. While Part 1 presented problems and solutions in Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics, Part 2 offers problems and solutio…
The written qualifying examination, a little publicized requirement of graduate physics programs in most universities, brings some excitement to the generally dull life of the graduate student. While undergoing this ordeal ourselves, we were reminded of the initiation ceremonies into certain strict monastic orders, designed to cause the novices enough pain to make them consider their vocation s…
In the Preface to the previous edition, we posed questions regarding trends in engineering education and practice, and whether the discipline of heat transfer would remain relevant. After weighing various arguments, we concluded that the future of engineering was bright and that heat transfer would remain a vital and enabling discipline across a range of emerging technologies including but …
Since the last edition, fundamental changes have occurred, both nationally and globally, in how engineering is practiced, with questions raised about the future of the profession. How will the practice of engineering evolve over the next decade? Will tomorrow’s engineer be more valued if he is a specialist, or more handsomely rewarded if she has knowledge of greater breadth but less depth…
This book is intended for junior and senior engineering students who are interested in learning some fundamental aspects of fluid mechanics. We developed this text to be used as a first course. The principles considered are classical and have been well-established for many years. However, fluid mechanics education has improved with experience in the classroom, and we have brought to bear in…
In this fifth edition we have retained the objectives of the first four editions: * to present a thorough treatment of engineering thermodynamics from the classical viewpoint, * to provide a sound basis for subsequent courses in fluid mechanics and heat transfer, and * to prepare students to use thermodynamics in engineering practice. While the fifth edition retains the basic organizati…
Dwell duration of multiple-injection scheme is an important parameter, which makes it possible to shift the tradeoff curve between soot and NOx closer to the origin. In this investigation, therefore, energy and exergy analyses are carried out for various two-step injection schemes in which 25% of the total fuel is injected during the second pulse and the dwell time is increased from 5°CA (cran…
The increasing importance of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based thin films photovoltaic industry claims for the development of new assessment and monitoring tools to answer the needs existing in the improvement of the control of the processes involved in the production of solar cells modules. In this frame, a strong interest has been given to the development methodologies for the assessment of the CIGS ab…
In April 2011, we published the first peer-reviewed analysis of the greenhouse gas footprint (GHG) of shale gas, concluding that the climate impact of shale gas may be worse than that of other fossil fuels such as coal and oil because of methane emissions. We noted the poor quality of publicly available data to support our analysis and called for further research. Our paper spurred a large incr…
In this paper, single molecule spectroscopy is used to probe the photophysical heterogeneity of near-infrared emitting silver nanoclusters stabilized in single stranded DNA containing 24 cytosines (C24-AgNCs). Focusing on this subset of emitters allows us to address and correlate their photophysical parameters. The results suggest that for these near-infrared emitting C24-AgNCs, the broad rang…
Ultrasound-assisted transesterification of refined palm oil (RPO) and crude palm oil (CPO) to produce biodiesel using a palm oil mill fly ash supported calcium oxide (CaO) catalyst is studied in this work. The reaction time is significantly reduced from a maximum of 360 min under conventional mixing to just 30 min with the use of ultrasound. Under ultrasonic cavitation, the required catalyst lo…
Photodetectors play key roles in many applications such as remote sensing,night vision, reconnaissance, medical imaging, thermal imaging, and chemical detection. Several properties such as performance, reliability, ease of integration, cost, weight, and form factor are all important in determining the attributes of photodetectors for particular applications. While a number of materials have be…
Recently, organic-based lead halide perovskites have received much attention for their high performance as light absorbers in thin-fi lm solar cells. [ 1–8 ] They exhibit not only a high optical absorption coeffi cient, optimal bandgap, and long electron/hole diffusion lengths, [ 9,10 ] which are advantageous for solar cells, but also good optical and electrical transport properties,making th…
Most animal experiments on cosmetics safety are prohibited and since March 2013, this obligation includes sensitization tests. However, until now there has been no validated alternative in vitro method. In this work, 400 compounds used in the cosmetic industry were selected to cover the greatest diversity of structures, biological activities and sensitizing potential.Thesemolecules were submit…
First reported by Farnum as much as 40 years ago, diketopyrrolopyrroles (2,5-dihydropyrrolo[4,3- c ]pyrrolo-1,4-diones) are currently one of the most widely used dyes, with applications that span high-quality pigments, fi eldeffect transistors, bulk-heterojunction solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells,and fl uorescence imaging. Due to the breadth of their utility, there have been several foc…
Offshore and near-shore wind energy is one of the major renewable energy resources, which already make a substantial contribution to the energy supply in Europe. Nevertheless, development is still in the start-up phase, with new projects being planned and implemented continuously. This development needs to be informed, to enable deployment at the most suitable/ideal locations.However, in order…
In this study, three different kinds of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of washed pretreated corn stover with water-insoluble solids (WIS)content of 20% were investigated to find which one resulted in highest ethanol yield at high-solids loadings. The different methods were batch SSF, prehydrolysis followed by batch SSF and fed-batch SSF. Batch-SSF resulted in an ethanol y…
The human brain, with all its complexity, relies on an interconnected network of organic biological microfi bers, known as neurons, which facilitate the propagation of information across the body. Through the use of electrical action potentials, these signals are processed using different spatio-temporal principles (Figure S1, Supporting Information) that rely on the biochemical nature of axons…
Fluid mechanics is an exciting and fascinating subject with unlimited practical applications ranging from microscopic biological systems to automobiles, airplanes, and spacecraft propulsion. Fluid mechanics has also historically been one of the most challenging subjects for undergraduate students because proper analysis of fluid mechanics problems requires not only knowledge of the concept…
A study, entitled “Wabamun Lake Sequestration Project” or “WASP,” was performed to evaluate large-scale CO2 storage opportunities in the Wabamun area including potential risks. The project examined the feasibility of storing 20 megatons (Mt) of CO2 per year over 50 years. This scale is one order of magnitude larger than the typical benchmark (1 Mt/year) used in academic research and co…
In this paper, we demonstrate a two-step laser crystallization process for thin film silicon solar cells on glass. In a first step a 5mm thick amorphous silicon layer is crystallized by a diode laser to get the absorber. The multicrystalline layer consists of grains with sizes in the range of 1mmto 10mm. In a second step a thin amorphous silicon layer is epitaxially crystallized by an excimer l…
There is tremendous interest in one-dimensional nanostructures, since they permit enhanced properties as well as new paradigms for electronic, optical,optoelectronic, and photonic devices. Besides inorganic systems, nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) containing an optically active polymer are now being intensively investigated. This article reviews recent developments in the various preparati…
Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have attracted a great deal of interest from the viewpoints of both fundamental studies and applications. Photoluminescence (PL) is one of the intriguing properties of GQDs, however, the mechanism of the PL in GQDs is not fully understood. In the present study, a drastic change in the PL from UV to red light region is reported among GQDs separated by size-exclusion …