Growth of Transparent and Conductive Polycrystalline (0001)‐ZnO Films on Glass Substrates Under Low‐Temperature Hydrothermal Conditions

Flat panel display technology seems to be an ever‐expanding field developing into a multibillion dollar market. A set of technical solutions involve a transparent conducting film (TCF) that is today still dominated by indium‐tin‐oxide (ITO). In a race to find alternatives that would avoid the indium pitfalls, mainly due to its increasing price and limited natural availablity, replacement materials have been extensively investigated. This work demonstrates that by exploiting basic principles of crystal growth in geometrically constrained conditions, zinc oxide (ZnO) could easily be utilized for this purpose. ZnO layers were grown on inexpensive glass substrates via low‐temperature citrate‐assisted hydrothermal (HT) method. It was shown that in the nucleation stage the crystal growth can be efficiently controlled by spatially confined oriented growth (SCOG) mechanism to produce smooth and dense (0001) oriented polycrystalline ZnO films with superb optical properties. Our products show optical transparency of 82% and surprisingly low sheet resistance for undoped ZnO, only in the order of few 100 Ω sq^?1. We believe that a very high degree of self‐organization between the ZnO crystals in our polycrystalline films grown under controlled SCOG conditions is main reason for the highest so far reported transparency to conductivity ratio for undoped ZnO thin film ceramics.     

Experimental investigation of pyrolysis process of woody biomass mixture

This paper describes an experimental investigation of pyrolysis of woody biomass mixture. The mixture consists of oak, beech, fir, cherry, walnut and linden wood chips with equal mass fractions. During the experiment, the sample mass inside the reactor was 10 g with a particle diameter of 5-10 mm. The sample in the reactor was heated in the temperature range of 24-650℃. Average sample heating rates in the reactor were 21, 30 and 54 ℃/min. The sample mass before, during and after pyrolysis was determined using a digital scale. Experimental results of the sample mass change indicate that the highest yield of pyrolytic gas was achieved at the temperature slightly above 650℃ and ranged from 77 to 85%, while char yield ranged from 15 to 23%. Heating rate has sig- nificant influence on the pyrolytic gas and char yields. It was determined that higher pyrolysis temperatures and heating rates induce higher yields of pyrolytic gas, while the char mass reduces. Condensation of pyrolytic gas at the end of the pyrolysis process at 650℃ produced 2.4-2.72 g of liquid phase. The results obtained represent a starting basis for determining material and heat balance of pyrolysis process as well as woody biomass pyrolysis equipment.     

Facile Synthesis of Cu2ZnSnS4 Photovoltaic Absorber Thin Films via Sulfurization of Cu2SnS3/ZnS Layers

Copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu₂ZnSnS₄) has been receiving a lot of attention in recent years as a new, alternative absorber for the production of cheap thin film solar cells owing to the high natural abundance of all the constituents, its tunable direct-band-gap energy, and its large optical absorption coefficient. In addition, to overcome the problem of expensive vacuum-based methods, solution-based approaches are being developed for Cu₂ZnSnS₄ deposition. In this study, Cu₂ZnSnS₄ thin films were grown on soda lime glass substrates via the sulfurization of solution grown Cu₂SnS₃/ZnS stacked sulfide layers. A new facile route to overcome the difficulty of depositing Cu₂ZnSnS₄ thin film with a desired stoichiometric composition in a single cation solution has been presented. The influences of deposition cycles of layers on the morphological, compositional, structural, and optical properties of the samples were investigated. It was observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images that the films were continuous and composed of homogenously distributed large grains. Possible chemical formulations of the best samples were predicted to be Cu_1.99Zn_1.25Sn_1.00S_3.76 and Cu_1.97Zn_1.03Sn_1.29S_3.71 via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) results. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the samples matched very well with the reference values. The Raman-scattering analysis of the films proved the phase purity of the CZTS samples. The optical absorption coefficient of the films was found to be about 10⁴ cm^?1 based on absorbance spectroscopy. The optical band gaps of the films were estimated to be between 1.36 and 1.50 eV. From these we are able to conclude that CZTS thin films can be effectively obtained via the vacuum-atmosphere sulfurization of Cu₂SnS₃/ZnS stacked sulfide layers.     

Incarcerated scrotal hernia containing a sigmoid colon carcinoma

The authors describe the case-history of a 65-year-old patient with an incarcerated scrotal hernia on the left side. An unexpected finding in the sac of the scrotal hernia was the sigmoid colon with an obturating tumour. The patient was subjected to two-stage surgery with a favourable final effect.     

Electrochemical beaviour of the solid ionic conductor Ag7I4PO4

Electrochemical investigation of the solid superionic conductor Ag₇I₄PO₄ (0.8 AgI + 0.2 Ag₃PO₄) at room temperature and at 40°C were performed by means of cyclic voltammetry, cyclic chronoamperometry and cyclic chronocoulometry, normal pulse polarography and ac polarography. It was shown that the Ag⁺ ↔ Ag redox process on Pt and Ag working electrode occurs with a certain overvoltage, ie that for Ag⁺ → Ag⁺ oxidation and the return of Ag⁺ ions into the electrolyte a certain overvoltage is necessary. From the determined values of the exchange current one estimates the redox process as a rather fast one. The silver working electrode is electrochemically inactive, while only cathodically deposited silver is electrochemically active and can be oxidized to Ag⁺ ions. Chronoamperometry and chronocoulometry show that there is a certain difference in the behaviour of Pt and Ag working electrodes due to uneven passivating anodic processes. On the basis of measurements of faradaic and capacitance currents and their dependence on frequency, diagrams of complex impedance of the Pt/Ag₇I₄PO₄ interface at various anodic and cathodic polarizations of the Pt electrode were plotted. The dependence of the serial capacity of the interface on the dc potential and temperature are discussed.     

Twinning and charge compensation in Nb2O5–doped SnO2–CoO ceramics exhibiting promising varistor characteristics

We investigated the effects of dual doping of SnO₂ varistor ceramics with 1 mol% CoO and different amounts of Nb₂O₅ (0.1–2 mol%) on the formation of twin boundaries, microstructure development and electrical properties. Nb₂O₅ addition shifts densification to higher temperatures (up to 1430 °C), producing microstructures composed of twinned SnO₂ grains. Already 0.1 mol% Nb₂O₅ triggers a three-fold increase in growth rate via the diffusion induced grain boundary mobility (DIGM). At 0.5 mol% of Nb₂O₅ chemical equilibrium is achieved and SnO₂ grains undergo normal grain growth. Electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) has shown that the prevailing type of twins is {101}. Cyclic twins are common. High-angle annular dark-filed scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) image analysis revealed non-uniform segregation of Nb along the twin boundaries, indicating that they are not directly triggered by Nb₂O₅, but are a result of yet unexplained sequence of topotaxial replacement reactions. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) has shown that by dual doping of SnO₂ with CoO and Nb₂O₅ the amount of Co dissolved in SnO₂ grains is always ~4x lower compared to the amount of incorporated Nb and propose the following mechanism of tin out-diffusion: $6Sn{\left(IV\right)}_{Sn(IV)}^{\times }?Sn{\left(II\right)}_{Sn(IV)}^{\text{'}\text{'}}+Co{\left(II\right)}_{Sn(IV)}^{\text{'}\text{'}}+4Nb{\left(V\right)}_{Sn(IV)}^{?}$. Optimal electrical properties were achieved at 1 mol% Nb₂O₅ addition displaying high nonlinearity (α=50), moderate break-down voltage (571±12 V/mm) and low leakage current (I_L = 4.2 µA). The addition of 2 mol% of Nb₂O₅ has an inhibiting effect on densification and SnO₂ grain growth, resulting in a collapse of nonlinearity and increase of leakage current.     

Combustion characteristics of wheat straw in a fixed bed

Combustion of wheat straw was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor for two air flow rates, 1,151 and 2,125 kg/m²h. Measured temperatures, mass loss, and gas composition were used to evaluate the combustion characteristics in terms of ignition front speed, burning rate, and quality of combustion in general. At lower value of air flow rate difference between the ignition rate and burning rate was significant, which can be easily noticed by the measurement results. At higher value of air flow rate, there was still a small difference between the ignition and burning rate, while the content of oxygen in the flue gas was 10%, which leads to the conclusion that a change in the method of delivering the combustion air is necessary.     

DFT study of platinum and palladium overlayers on tungsten carbide: Structure and electrocatalytic activity toward hydrogen oxidation/evolution reaction

Platinum and palladium overlayers on W- and C-terminated WC(0001) surface, at coverage ranging from 0.25 ML to 2 ML, have been studied using DFT approach. Strong adhesion of metal monolayers to the WC support, accompanied by a modification of electronic structure, was evidenced. Calculated values of hydrogen binding energy on studied metal overlayers were correlated to available experimentally determined values of exchange current densities of hydrogen oxidation/evolution reaction (HOR/HER), resulting with the volcano curve with both explanatory and predictive power. None of the investigated metal/WC surfaces were found to exceed the Pt(111) surface in terms of catalytic activity toward HER/HOR. The obtained results indicate that WC may efficiently replace the precious metal support in the Pt (Pd) core–shell electrocatalyst for HER/HOR, but no synergism arising due to electronic effects of WC support was evidenced.     

Computing the electromagnetic field of the system of arbitrarily positioned conductors in horizontally stratified multilayer medium

This paper presents a novel computational methodology, based on the finite element technique, for the analysis of electromagnetic field due to system of arbitrarily positioned current‐carrying conductors in horizontally stratified multilayer medium, having arbitrary number of layers with different characteristics (including air). Each soil layer is horizontally unbounded, homogenous and isotropic, whereas conductors can penetrate different layers and extend into the air. The effect of the stratified multilayer medium is taken into account by using the originally developed fixed image method. Complete electromagnetic coupling between grounding system conductors (satisfying thin‐wire approximation) is taken into account, whereas attenuation and phase shift effects are approximated. The electric and magnetic field in stratified multilayer medium are computed from the scalar electric and vector magnetic potentials, using the said fixed image method and approximations to the attenuation and phase shift effects. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.