Combination of surface texturing and nanostructure coating for reduction of light reflection in ZnO/Si heterojunction thin film solar cell

In this study, we report a single heterojunction solar cell based on n-type zinc oxide/p-type silicon. Three different solar cells were fabricated based on ZnO thin film on Si substrate, ZnO nanorods on Si substrate, and ZnO nanorods on micro-pyramidal structure of Si substrate. The comparison between these three kinds of solar cells was studied. Pyramidal structure of silicon was fabricated using chemical etching technique of p-type Si (100). The chemical solution consists of NaOH, isopropyl alcohol and hydrazine hydrate. The results showed that Si micro-pyramids can enhance optical absorption of Si substrates by increasing surface area and entrapping of incident light. For fabrication of uniform ZnO nanorods, a seed layer of ZnO was deposited on Si substrates via radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. This layer can be used as an active n-type material in heterojunction solar cells as well. ZnO nanostructures can increase light absorption due to their high specific surface area. The combination of ZnO nanorods and Si micro-pyramids can enhance light trapping effect and increase the efficiency of solar cells. The structural and morphology of samples were studied using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffractometry while the optical properties were investigated using photoluminescence and reflectance spectrometry. The efficiency and fill factor of solar cells were obtained from current–voltage characteristics using a solar simulator and a source-meter. The results showed that the efficiency of solar cell based on nanostructures of ZnO/micropyramids of Si is highly increased due to high anti-reflective behavior of this sample.     

Flow of a generalized second grade fluid between heated plates

Summary We examine the fully developed flow of a generalized fluid of second grade between heated parallel plates, due to a pressure gradient along the plate. The constant coefficient of shear viscosity of a fluid of second grade is replaced by a shear dependent viscosity with an exponentm. If the normal stress coefficients are set equal to zero, this model reduces to the standard power-law model. We obtain the solution for the case when the temperature changes only in the direction normal to the plates for the two most commonly used viscosity models, i.e. (i) when the viscosity does not depend on temperature, and (ii) when the viscosity is an exponentially decaying function of temperature.

List of symbols

Alphanumeric A ₁,A ₂ Kinematical tensor - b Body force - C Dimensionless parameter related to the pressure gradient - h Separation between the plates - L Velocity gradient - m Power-law index - M Constant appearing in the Reynolds viscosity model - p Pressure field - Modified pressure field - q Heat flux vector - r Radiant heating - T Cauchy's stress tensor - l Unit tensor - v Velocity vector - V Characteristic velocity - x Axis along the plate - y Axis perpendicular to the plate Greek ₁, ₂ Normal stress coefficient - Specific internal energy - Dimensionless parameter related to the viscous dissipation - Conservative body force field - Specific entropy - Thermal conductivity - Coefficient of viscosity - ₀ Reference viscosity - Second invariant of the stretching tensor - Temperature - ₁ Temperature of the lower plate - ₂ Temperature of the upper plate - Density - Specific Helmholtz free energy Operators div Divergence - grad Gradient - tr Trace     

Metric-learning-based high-discriminative local features extraction for iris recognition

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Biometric-based authentication system is one of the main strategies to protect and control the access of users to important resources in any system and...     

Correction to: Synthesis and Characterization of MoO3 for Photocatalytic Applications

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10904-021-02038-6     

On the Representation of Turbulent Stresses for Computing Blood Damage

Computational prediction of blood damage has become a crucial tool for evaluating blood-wetted medical devices and pathological hemodynamics. A difficulty arises in predicting blood damage under turbulent flow conditions because the total stress is indeterminate. Common practice uses the Reynolds stress as an estimation of the total stress causing damage to the blood cells. This study investigates the error introduced by making this substitution, and further shows that energy dissipation is a more appropriate metric of blood trauma.     

Effect of formulation ingredients on the physical characteristics of salmeterol xinafoate microparticles tailored by spray freeze drying

Series of microparticles containing salmeterol xinafoate (SX) as active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and lactose, mannitol or trehalose as a bulking agents were prepared using spray freeze drying (SFD) technique and the effects of sugar type and presence of hydroxy propyl beta cyclodextrin (HPβCD) on the physical properties of powders were evaluated. Precipitation of salmeterol in the presence of lactose and mannitol resulted in the formation of irregular shapes of microparticles with broad size distributions. However application of trehalose resulted in the formation of porous particles with spherical morphology. Addition of cyclodextrin in the formulations was generally helpful for formation of porous and spherical particles with narrow size distribution with a mean size of 10–30 μm. Dissolution of SX from processed particles was substantially higher (～90% drug release in 30 min) than that of unprocessed drug and physical mixture of drug and cyclodextrin (～22% drug release in 30 min). This study showed that, processing of SX by SFD technique could be a constructive approach to the production of various forms of drug and drastic changes in the physical characteristics of microparticles could be achieved by changing the composition of bulking agent and cyclodextrin.     

Functionally Graded Materials Optimization Using Particle Swarm-Based Algorithms

This article presents an application of particle swarm-based algorithms for volume fraction optimization of functionally graded materials. A simple and efficient method for constraint handling is included too. To optimize the material composition, two numerical examples are done. In the first example, the peak residual stresses are minimized when the FGM is cooled from a reference temperature. In the second example, the factor of safety against yielding are maximized for a temperature-dependent FGM sphere subjected to thermal gradients. The algorithms PSO, PSOPC, PSACO and PSPCACO are used too and the optimum volume fraction are obtained. According comparison of the results, particle swarm-based algorithms can be used as a powerful tool for optimizing the FG materials.     

Carbon Nanotube–Ionic Liquid (CNT–IL) Nanocamposite Modified Sol-Gel Derived Carbon-Ceramic Electrode for Simultaneous Determination of Sunset Yellow and Tartrazine in Food Samples

Carbon-ceramic electrode modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes–ionic liquid (MWCNTs–IL) nanocomposite was constructed. This electrode was used for electrochemical determination of food dyes Sunset Yellow (SY) and tartrazine (Tz). The modified electrode based on high surface area and high ionic conductivity of nanocomposite exhibited electrocatalytic effect for oxidation of SY and Tz; also, oxidation peak potentials of SY and Tz effectively separated on modified electrode, and their simultaneous determination was possible. Operational parameters, such as the amount of MWCNTs in suspension, IL volume, solution pH, and scan rate, which affect the analytical performance of determination, were optimized. The present electrode behaved linearly to Sunset Yellow and tartrazine in the concentration range of 4?×?10^?7 to 1.1?×?10^?4?M and 3?×?10^?6 to 0.7?×?10^?4?M with a detection limit of 10^?7?M (0.045 mg?L^?1) and 1.1?×?10^?6?M (0.59 mg?L^?1), respectively. The proposed method was successfully utilized for simultaneous determination of SY and Tz in different food samples, and the obtained results were in good agreement to those obtained by HPLC method.     

A note on the meaning of mixture viscosity using the classical continuum theories of mixtures

In this paper we provide a brief review of the basic equations for the flow of two linearly viscous fluids using the mixture theory equations given in Atkin and Craine [R.J. Atkin, R.E. Craine, Continuum theories of mixtures: applications, J. Inst. Math. Appl. 17 (1976) 153; R.J. Atkin, R.E. Craine, Continuum theories of mixtures: basic theory and historical development, Quart. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 29 (1976) 290]. We then look at certain principles (or more accurately assumptions) due to Truesdell [C. Truesdell, Sulle basi della thermomeccanica, Rand Lincei, Series 8 22 (1957) 33–38, and 158–166] and Adkins [J.E. Adkins, Non-linear diffusion, 1. Diffusion and flow of mixtures of fluids, Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A 255 (1963) 607–633; J.E. Adkins, Non-linear diffusion, 2. Constitutive equations for mixtures of isotropic fluids, Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A 255 (1963) 635–648] and show that if the ‘assumption of the limiting cases’ of Adkins is to hold, then a very specific structure on the material properties of the two fluids has to be imposed. This new hypothesis provides one such condition for this requirement. An attempt is made to derive a relationship for the mixture viscosity using these ideas.