Low temperature seamless joining of SiC using a Ytterbium film

Monolithic SiC, for the first time, was seamless joined at a low temperature of 1200 °C using electric field-assisted sintering technology. A 300 nm Yb coating on SiC was used as the joining filler to form Yb₃Si₂C₂ via an in-situ reaction with the SiC. A liquid phase was formed by an eutectic reaction between Yb₃Si₂C₂ and SiC. Almost completely seamless joints were formed by the precipitated SiC grains, which were fully consolidated with the SiC matrix with the help of in-situ formed liquid phase, followed by its elimination under the uniaxial pressure. The bending strength of the seamless joint joined at 1500 °C for 15 min was as high as 257.2 ± 31.1 MPa, which was comparable to the strength of the SiC matrix. As a result, the failure occurred in the matrix indicated a sound joint was obtained. The proposed low temperature seamless joining could potentially be used for joining of SiC-based composite.     

The preparation and gas sensitivity study of polypyrrole/zinc oxide

Polypyrrole (PPy) was prepared by chemical oxidation polymerization, analyzed by FT-IR, elemental analysis and HRTEM, and studied for gas sensitivity. It suggested that PPy had sensitivity to NH₃, H₂S and NO_x, and showed irreversibility to NO_x gas. The organic–inorganic hybrid materials PPy/ZnO with different PPy weight percents were prepared by mechanical mixing, and the sensitivity study of the materials to toxic gases NH₃, H₂S, NO_x was carried out at different operating temperatures 30, 60, and 90 °C. It was found that PPy/ZnO materials (PPy(1%)/ZnO, PPy(3%)/ZnO, PPy(5%)/ZnO, PPy(10%)/ZnO, PPy(20%)/ZnO) had better selectivity and reversibility to NO_x than pure PPy, and much lower working temperature than the reported working temperature of ZnO (about 350–450 °C). Their sensitivity increased with the increasing concentration of NO_x at particular working temperature, and among them PPy(10%)/ZnO had the maximum sensitivity to NO_x in the same condition. They showed no response to 1000, 1500, 2000 ppm NH₃ or H₂S. The response mechanism of PPy/ZnO materials to NO_x was discussed.     

Effect of temperature and moisture on electrical conductivity in polyaniline/polyurethane (PANI/PU) blends

Miscible blend of conductive polyaniline/polyurethane (PANI/PU) showed preferable electrical property at low percolation threshold compared to immiscible blend of PANI/polystyrene-isoprene-copolymer (PANI/SIS) and carbon black/PU composite (CB/PU). The time dependence of the electrical conductivity was investigated with these samples aged under different humidity and temperatures. The electrical conductivity of PANI/PU (11.5/88.5, v/v) decreased with aging time and the morphology changed with time in the coexistence of high moisture and high temperature. After the aging treatment, the film of the miscible blend was re-dissolved and re-cast. The morphology and electrical conductivity were found to recover to the same state as the original film. In addition, the recovery mechanism of the morphology and the conductivity was also proposed here.     

Pre-Buried ETL with Bottom-Up Strategy Toward Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with Efficiency Over 23%

With rapid development of photovoltaic technology, flexible perovskite solar cells (f-PSCs) have attracted much attention for their light weight, high flexibility and portability. However, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) achieved so far is not yet comparable to that of rigid devices. This is mainly due to the great challenge of depositing homogeneous and high-quality perovskite films on flexible substrate. In this study, the pre-buried 3-aminopropionic acid hydroiodide (3AAH) additives into the electron transport layer (ETL) and modified the ETL/perovskite (PVK) interface by a bottom-up strategy. 3AAH treatment induced a templated perovskite grain growth and improved the quality of the ETL. By this, the residual stresses generated in PVK during the annealing-cooling process are released and converted into micro-compressive stresses. As a result, the defect density of f-PSCs with pre-buried 3AAH is reduced and the photovoltaic performance is greatly improved, reaching an exceptional PCE of 23.36%. This strategy provides a new idea to bridge the gap between flexible and rigid devices.     

Proximity-Induced Fully Ferromagnetic Order with Eightfold Magnetic Anisotropy in Heavy Transition Metal Oxide CaRuO3

Ferromagnetic materials with a strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) have attracted much attention in recent years because of their exotic properties and potential applications in energy-efficient spintronics. However, such materials are scarce in nature. Here, a proximity-induced paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition for the heavy transition metal oxide CaRuO₃ in (001)-(LaMnO₃/CaRuO₃) superlattices is reported. Anomalous Hall effect is observed in the temperature range up to 180 K. Maximal anomalous Hall conductivity and anomalous Hall angle are as large as ∼15 Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ and ∼0.93%, respectively, by one to two orders of magnitude larger than those of the typical 3d ferromagnetic oxides such as La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃. Density functional theory calculations indicate the existence of avoid band crossings in the electronic band structure of the ferromagnetic CRO layer, which enhances Berry curvature thus strong anomalous Hall effects. Further evidences from polarized neutron reflectometry show that the CaRuO₃ layers are in a fully ferromagnetic state (∼0.8 μ_B/Ru), in sharp contrast to the proximity-induced canted antiferromagnetic state in 5d oxides SrIrO₃ and CaIrO₃ (∼0.1 μ_B/Ir). More than that, the magnetic anisotropy of the (001)-(LaMnO₃/CaRuO₃) superlattices is eightfold symmetric, showing potential applications in the technology of multistate data storage.     

Energy Transfer Induced by TADF Polymer Enables the Recycling of Excitons in Perovskite Solar Cells

Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI₃) has been demonstrated as the most efficient perovskite system to date, due to its excellent thermal stability and an ideal bandgap approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit. Whereas, there are intrinsic quantum confinement effects in FAPbI₃, which lead to unwanted non-radiative recombination. Additionally, the black α-phase of FAPbI₃ is unstable under room temperature due to the significant residual tensile stress in the film. To simultaneously address the above issues, a thermally-activated delayed fluorescence polymer P1 is designed in the study to modify the FAPbI₃ film. Owing to the spectral overlap between the photoluminescence of P1 and absorption of the above-bandgap quantum wells of FAPbI₃, the Förster energy transfer occurs at the P1/FAPbI₃ interface, which further triggers the Dexter energy transfer within FAPbI₃. The exciton “recycling” can thus be realized, which reduces the non-radiative recombination losses in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Moreover, P1 is found to introduce compressive stress into FAPbI₃, which relieves the tensile stress in perovskite. Consequently, the PSCs with P1 treatment achieve an outstanding power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.51%. Moreover, with the alleviation of stress in the perovskite film, flexible PSCs (f-PSCs) also deliver a high PCE of 21.40%.     

A new insight into promotion action of Co2+ in Ni-diamond composite electrodeposition

A new insight into the promotion action of Co²⁺ on both particle and metal deposition in Ni-diamond composite electrodeposition system was analyzed according to electrochemical measurements. The results showed that the addition of Co²⁺ made particles content in deposits increased remarkably. The change of particles content in deposits was related inversely to the change of cathodic zero potential with the increase of the concentration of cobalt sulfate. Zero charge potential of cathode was shifted to much more negative region. The negative shift of the zero potential, combining with positive shift of the zeta potential, increased the electrostatic force between the particle-adsorbed metallic cations and the cathode. It not only benefits to the transportation of particles in solution towards cathode, but also shortens their residence time on cathodic surface. Meanwhile, entry of particles is also promoted. For metals deposition, reduction resistance of metallic cations rises greatly and deposition current at cathodic potentiodynamic polarization decreases after cobalt sulfate has been added into electrolyte. These factors are favorable for increasing particles content in deposits. In addition, physical model of diamond particles deposition state before and after the addition of Co²⁺ has been discussed.     

Fabrication and characterization of direct patterning ferroelectric Sr0.9Bi2.1Ta2O9 thin films by photosensitive sol–gel solution

Photosensitive ferroelectric Sr_0.9Bi_2.1Ta₂O₉ (SBT) precursor solutions were synthesized using strontium ethoxide chelated with ethylacetoacetone, tetramethylheptanedionato bismuth and tantalum ethoxide chelated with ethylacetoacetone. SBT thin films with 200 nm thickness were prepared on Pt/TiO₂/SiO₂/Si substrates using the spin coating method. As UV light exposure time to the SBT thin film increased, the intensity of the UV absorption peak of the metal β-diketonate decreased due to metal–oxygen–metal bond formation, which led to decreased solubility of SBT thin film. The solubility difference enabled direct patterning of thin films that had ferroelectric properties. The ferroelectric properties of the UV irradiated SBT thin films were superior to those of the non-UV irradiated films. Pr/Ps and 2 Pr values (at 3 V) of SBT thin films improved approximately 8% and 5%, respectively, with UV irradiation.     

Oligothiophene-based small molecules with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene central unit for solution-processed organic solar cells

Two new oligothiophene-based small molecules, namely DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F, with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene as the central building block and 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-rhodanine as end groups, were designed and synthesized. Compared to their non-fluorinated counterparts DRCN6T and DRCN8T, DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F exhibit enhanced intermolecular interactions and lower HOMO energy levels. However, PCEs of 2.26% and 5.07% were obtained for DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F based optimized devices, respectively, lower than those of non-fluorinated molecules DRCN6T and DRCN8T. The relatively poor performance for the DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F were mainly caused by their low short-circuit current densities, due to their unfavorable morphologies and low charge carrier mobilities.