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We report the fabrication of monolithic all-perovskite tandem solar cells with a stabilized power conversion efficiency of 19.1% and demonstrate improved thermal, atmospheric, and operational stability of the tin–lead perovskite (FA 0.75 Cs 0.25 Sn 0.5 Pb 0.5 I 3 ) used as the low gap absorber.
Transient absorption and X-ray scattering demonstrate 1,8-diiodooctane impact on morphology and charge generation in mixed phases in bulk heterojunction solar cells.
We present synchrotron-based mass spectrometry to probe products formed in the lithium sulphide electrolyte. In operando analysis was obtained at two different potentials in a vacuum compatible microfluidic electrochemical cell. Mass spectral observations show that the charged electrolyte formed sulfur clusters under dynamic conditions, demonstrating electrolyte electron shuttling.
Increasing the power density and reducing the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is important for improving commercial viability. Here we discuss two strategies for achieving such improvements in Ni–YSZ supported SOFCs – electrolyte thickness reduction and cathode infiltration. Microstructural and electrochemical results are presented showing the effect of reducing YSZ/GDC electrolyte thickness from 8 to 2.5 μm, and the effect of PrO x infiltration into the LSCF–GDC cathode. Both of these measures are effective, particularly at lower temperatures, leading to an increase in the maximum power density at 650 °C from 0.4 to 0.95 W cm –2 , for example. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy utilizing subtractive analysis shows that PrO x enhances the cathode charge transfer process. Reducing the electrolyte thickness reduces not only the cell ohmic resistance but also the electrode polarization resistance. Furthermore, the latter effect appears to be an artifact associated with a slight increase in the steam partial pressure at the anode due to minor gas leakage across the thinner electrolyte.
Flexible glass enables high-temperature, roll-to-roll processing of superstrate devices with higher photocurrents than flexible polymer foils because of its higher optical transmission. Using flexible glass in our high-temperature CdTe process, we achieved a certified record conversion efficiency of 14.05% for a flexible CdTe solar cell. Little has been reported on the flexibility of CdTe devices, so we investigated the effects of three different static bending conditions on device performance. We observed a consistent trend of increased short-circuit current and fill factor, whereas the open-circuit voltage consistently dropped. The quantum efficiency under the same static bend condition showed no change in the response. After storage in a flexed state for 24 h, there was very little change in device efficiency relative to its unflexed state. This indicates that flexible glass is a suitable replacement for rigid glass substrates, and that CdTe solar cells can tolerate bending without a decrease in device performance.
We employed density functional theory to explore the stability of core (M = Cu, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Os, Ir, Au)-shell (Pt) catalysts under harsh conditions, including solutions and reaction intermediates involved in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. A pseudomorphic surface alloy (PSA) with a Pt monolayer (Pt{sub 1ML}) supported on an M surface, Pt{sub 1ML}/M(111) or (001), was considered as a model system. Different sets of candidate M cores were identified to achieve a stable Pt{sub 1ML} shell depending on the conditions. In vacuum conditions, the Pt{sub 1ML} shell can be stabilized on the most of M cores except Cu, Ag, and Au. The situation varies under various electrochemical conditions. Depending on the solutions and the operating reaction pathways of the ORR, different M should be considered. Pd and Ir are the only core metals studied, being able to keep the Pt{sub ML} shell intact in perchloric acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and alkaline solutions as well as under the ORR conditions via different pathways. Ru and Os cores should also be paid attention, which only fall during the ORR via the *OOH intermediate. Rh core works well as long as the ORR does not undergo the pathway via *O intermediate. Our results show that PSAs can behave differently from the near surface alloy, Pt{sub 1ML}/M{sub 1ML}/Pt(111), highlighting the importance of considering both chemical environments and the atomic structures in rational design of highly stable core-shell nanocatalysts. Finally, the roles that d-band center of a core M played in determining the stability of supported Pt{sub 1ML} shell were also discussed.
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We demonstrate a self-consistent numerical scheme for simulating an electronic device which contains active defects. As a specific case, we consider copper defects in cadmium telluride solar cells. The presence of copper has been shown experimentally to play a crucial role in predicting device performance. The primary source of this copper is migration away from the back contact during annealing, which likely occurs predominantly along grain boundaries. We introduce a mathematical scheme for simulating this effect in 2D and explain the numerical implementation of the system. Finally, we will give numerical results comparing our results to known 1D simulations to demonstrate the accuracy of the solver and then show results unique to the 2D case.
The Orbital-Motion-Limited (OML) theory has been modified to predict the dust charge and the results were contrasted with the Whipple approximation [X. Z. Tang and G. L. Delzanno, Phys. Plasmas 21, 123708 (2014)]. To further establish its regime of applicability, here, the OML predictions (for a non-electron-emitting, spherical dust grain at rest in a collisionless, unmagnetized plasma) are compared with particle-in-cell simulations that retain the absorption radius effect. It is found that for large dust grain radius r d relative to the plasma Debye length λ D , the revised OML theory remains a very good approximation as, for the parameters considered (r d /λ D ≤ 10, equal electron and ion temperatures), it yields the dust charge to within 20% accuracy. This is a substantial improvement over the Whipple approximation. The dust collected currents and energy fluxes, which remain the same in the revised and standard OML theories, are accurate to within 15%–30%.
We investigate the effect of doping on the mechanisms of carrier escape from intermediate states in delta-doped InAs/GaAs intermediate band solar cells. The intermediate states arise from InAs quantum dots embedded in a GaAs p-i-n junction cell. We find that doping the sample increases the number of excited-state carriers participating in a cycle of trapping and carrier escape via thermal, optical, and tunneling mechanisms. However, we find that the efficiency of the optically-driven carrier escape mechanism is independent of doping and remains small.
The kinematics of a 1-D electron hole is studied using a novel Particle-In-Cell simulation code. A hole tracking technique enables us to follow the trajectory of a fast-moving solitary hole and study quantitatively hole acceleration and coupling to ions. We observe a transient at the initial stage of hole formation when the hole accelerates to several times the cold-ion sound speed. Artificially imposing slow ion speed changes on a fully formed hole causes its velocity to change even when the ion stream speed in the hole frame greatly exceeds the ion thermal speed, so there are no reflected ions. The behavior that we observe in numerical simulations agrees very well with our analytic theory of hole momentum conservation and the effects of “jetting.”.
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The transmembrane metalloprotease ADAM10 sheds a range of cell surface proteins, including ligands and receptors of the Notch, Eph, and erbB families, thereby activating signaling pathways critical for tumor initiation and maintenance. ADAM10 is thus a promising therapeutic target. Although widely expressed, its activity is normally tightly regulated. We now report prevalence of an active form of ADAM10 in tumors compared with normal tissues, in mouse models and humans, identified by our conformation-specific antibody mAb 8C7. Structure/function experiments indicate mAb 8C7 binds an active conformation dependent on disulfide isomerization and oxidative conditions, common in tumors. Moreover, this active ADAM10 form marks cancer stem-like cells with active Notch signaling, known to mediate chemoresistance. Importantly, specific targeting of active ADAM10 with 8C7 inhibits Notch activity and tumor growth in mouse models, particularly regrowth after chemotherapy. Our results indicate targeted inhibition of active ADAM10 as a potential therapy for ADAM10-dependent tumor development and drug resistance.
Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) forms a trimeric ring that encircles duplex DNA and acts as an anchor for a number of proteins involved in DNA metabolic processes. PCNA has two structurally similar domains (I and II) linked by a long loop (inter-domain connector loop, IDCL) on the outside of each monomer of the trimeric structure that makes up the DNA clamp. All proteins that bind to PCNA do so via a PCNA-interacting peptide (PIP) motif that binds near the IDCL. A small protein, called TIP, binds to PCNA and inhibits PCNA-dependent activities although it does not contain a canonical PIP motif. The X-ray crystal structure of TIP bound to PCNA reveals that TIP binds to the canonical PIP interaction site, but also extends beyond it through a helix that relocates the IDCL. TIP alters the relationship between domains I and II within the PCNA monomer such that the trimeric ring structure is broken, while the individual domains largely retain their native structure. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) confirms the disruption of the PCNA trimer upon addition of the TIP protein in solution and together with the X-ray crystal data, provides a structural basis for the mechanism of PCNA inhibition by TIP.
With the advent of petawatt class lasers, the very large laser intensities attainable on target should enable the production of intense high-order Doppler harmonics from relativistic laser-plasma mirror interactions. At present, the modeling of these harmonics with particle-in-cell (PIC) codes is extremely challenging as it implies an accurate description of tens to hundreds of harmonic orders on a broad range of angles. In particular, we show here that due to the numerical dispersion of waves they induce in vacuum, standard finite difference time domain (FDTD) Maxwell solvers employed in most PIC codes can induce a spurious angular deviation of harmonic beams potentially degrading simulation results. This effect was extensively studied and a simple toy model based on the Snell-Descartes law was developed that allows us to finely predict the angular deviation of harmonics depending on the spatiotemporal resolution and the Maxwell solver used in the simulations. Our model demonstrates that the mitigation of this numerical artifact with FDTD solvers mandates very high spatiotemporal resolution preventing realistic three-dimensional (3D) simulations even on the largest computers available at the time of writing. Finally, we finally show that nondispersive pseudospectral analytical time domain solvers can considerably reduce the spatiotemporal resolution required to mitigate this spurious deviation and should enable in the near future 3D accurate modeling on supercomputers in a realistic time to solution.
Using Sentaurus Device Software, we analyze how bulk and interface recombination affect time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) decays in CdTe solar cells. This modeling analysis could improve the interpretation of TRPL data and increase the possibility of rapid defect characterization in thin-film solar cells. By illuminating the samples with photons of two different wavelengths, we try to deducethe spatial origin of the dominant recombination loss. Shorter-wavelength photons will be more affected by the interface recombination and drift compared to the longer ones. Using the two-wavelength TRPL characterization method, it may be possible to determine whether a specific change in deposition process has affected the properties of interface or the bulk of the absorber.
Oxygenated cadmium sulfide (CdS:O) is commonly used as the n-type window layer in high-performance CdTe heterojunction solar cells. This layer is deposited by reactive sputtering, but the optimal amount of oxygen in the sputtering ambient is highly dependent on the specific system and process employed. In this work, the intrinsic properties of CdS:O were measured as a function of the oxygen content (0%–10%) in the sputtering ambient and correlated to device performance with the goal of better defining optimal CdS:O properties for CdTe solar cells. Optimal performance was found using CdS:O films that contained ∼40 at. % oxygen as measured by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed these results and showed that oxygen is incorporated primarily as oxygenated sulfur compounds (SO{sub x}). Device efficiency improved from 10.5% using CdS to >14% with CdS:O due largely to increases in short-circuit current density as well as a modest improvement in open-circuit voltage. The transparency of the CdS:O films was well correlated with observed improvements in blue quantum efficiency with increasing oxygen content. The optical bandgap of as-deposited CdS:O was identified as a simple metric for process optimization and transfer, with 2.8 eV being ideal for the device architecture employed.