High Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries Using Layered 2H‐MoTe2 as Anode

The major challenges faced by candidate electrode materials in lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) include their low electronic and ionic conductivities. 2D van der Waals materials with good electronic conductivity and weak interlayer interaction have been intensively studied in the electrochemical processes involving ion migrations. In particular, molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂) has emerged as a new material for energy storage applications. Though 2H‐MoTe₂ with hexagonal semiconducting phase is expected to facilitate more efficient ion insertion/deinsertion than the monoclinic semi‐metallic phase, its application as an anode in LIB has been elusive. Here, 2H‐MoTe₂, prepared by a solid‐state synthesis route, has been employed as an efficient anode with remarkable Li⁺ storage capacity. The as‐prepared 2H‐MoTe₂ electrodes exhibit an initial specific capacity of 432 mAh g^?1 and retain a high reversible specific capacity of 291 mAh g^?1 after 260 cycles at 1.0 A g^?1. Further, a full‐cell prototype is demonstrated by using 2H‐MoTe₂ anode with lithium cobalt oxide cathode, showing a high energy density of 454 Wh kg^?1 (based on the MoTe₂ mass) and capacity retention of 80% over 100 cycles. Synchrotron‐based in situ X‐ray absorption near‐edge structures have revealed the unique lithium reaction pathway and storage mechanism, which is supported by density functional theory based calculations.     

Hybrid Metamodel—NSGA-III—EDAS Based Optimal Design of Thin Film Coatings

In this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin film coatings are deposited on silicon substrates by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique. By varying the hydrogen (H₂) flow rate, CH₄−Argon (Ar) flow rate and deposition temperature (T_d) as per a Box-Behnken experimental design (BBD), 15 DLC deposition experiments are carried out. The Young’s modulus (E) and the coefficient of friction (COF) for the DLCs are measured. By using a second-order polynomial regression approach, two metamodels are built for E and COF, that establish them as functions of H₂ flow rate, CH₄-Ar flow rate and T_d. A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-III) is used to obtain a set of Pareto solutions for the multi-objective optimization of E maximization and COF minimization. According to various practical scenarios, evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) approach is used to identify the most feasible solutions out of the Pareto solution set. Confirmation experiments are conducted which shows the efficacy of the polynomial regression—NSGA-III—EDAS hybrid approach. The surface morphology of the DLCs deposited as per the optimal predictions is also studied by using atomic force microscopy.     

Experimental study of a combined biomass and solar energy-based fully grid-independent air-conditioning system

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - In this paper, a small-scale triple-hybrid air-conditioning system operated by biomass and solar energy resources is experimentally investigated....     

Perovskite solar cells: recent progress and strategies developed for minimizing interfacial recombination

Organometallic perovskite is a new generation photovoltaic material with exemplary properties such as high absorption co-efficient, optimal bandgap, high defect tolerance factor and long carrier diffusion length. However, suitable electrodes and charge transport materials are required to fulfill photovoltaic processes where interfaces between hole transport material/perovskite and perovskite/electron transport material are affected by phenomena of charge carrier separation, transportation, collection by the interfaces and band alignment. Based on recent available literature and several strategies for minimizing the recombination of charge carriers at the interfaces, this review addresses the properties of hole transport materials, relevant working mechanisms, and the interface engineering of perovskite solar cell (PSC) device architecture, which also provides significant insights to design and development of PSC devices with high efficiency.     

Chalcogenide Phase Change Material for Active Terahertz Photonics

The strikingly contrasting optical properties of various phases of chalcogenide phase change materials (PCM) has recently led to the development of novel photonic devices such as all‐optical non‐von Neumann memory, nanopixel displays, color rendering, and reconfigurable nanoplasmonics. However, the exploration of chalcogenide photonics is currently limited to optical and infrared frequencies. Here, a phase change material integrated terahertz metamaterial for multilevel nonvolatile resonance switching with spatial and temporal selectivity is demonstrated. By controlling the crystalline proportion of the PCM film, multilevel, non‐volatile, terahertz resonance switching states with long retention time at zero hold power are realized. Spatially selective reconfiguration at sub‐metamaterial scale is shown by delivering electrical stimulus locally through designer interconnect architecture. The PCM metamaterial also features ultrafast optical modulation of terahertz resonances with tunable switching speed based on the crystalline order of the PCM film. The multilevel nonvolatile, spatially selective, and temporally tunable PCM metamaterial will provide a pathway toward development of novel and disruptive terahertz technologies including spatio‐temporal terahertz modulators for high speed wireless communication, neuromorphic photonics, and machine‐learning metamaterials.     

Implementation of defected ground structure for microstrip filtenna design

A microstrip patch filtenna inspired by defected ground structure (DGS) is presented in this article. It uses modified split ring resonator and capacitance loaded strip as a radiating element. The presented structure is incorporated with a pair of double U‐shaped DGS (DU‐DGS) to obtain filtering characteristics. The width of DU‐DGS plays a vital role in selecting attenuation poles of the filter as well as for the filtenna circuit. The separation distance between the DU‐DGS also affects the resonant frequency of the structure. Both radiation and filtration can be performed through a single structure, otherwise known as filtenna. The physical size of the proposed filtenna in terms of guided wavelength is 2.465λ_g × 1.160λ_g × 0.116λ_g at 10.8 GHz, and is comparatively less to others reported, so is considered as a superior feature. The presented filtenna possesses impedance bandwidth of 700 and 1800 MHz at 10.8 and 16.6 GHz, which covers standards of X‐ and Ku‐band, respectively. So, this can be referred to as dual band filtenna. The radiation pattern shows omnidirectionality in both E and H planes at resonance.     

High Mobility 3D Dirac Semimetal (Cd3As2) for Ultrafast Photoactive Terahertz Photonics

The Dirac semimetal cadmium arsenide (Cd₃As₂), a 3D electronic analog of graphene, has sparked renewed research interests for its novel topological phases and excellent optoelectronic properties. The gapless nature of its 3D electronic band facilitates strong optical nonlinearity and supports Dirac plasmons that are of particular interest to realize high-performance electronic and photonic devices at terahertz (1 THz = 4.1 meV) frequencies, where the performance of most dynamic materials are limited by the tradeoff between power-efficiency and switching speed. Here, all-optical, low-power, ultrafast broadband modulation of terahertz waves using an ultrathin film (100 nm, λ/3000) of Cd₃As₂ are experimentally demonstrated through active tailoring of the photoconductivity. The measurements reveal the photosensitive metallic behavior of Cd₃As₂ with high terahertz electron mobility of 7200 cm² (Vs)⁻¹. In addition, optical fluence dependent ultrafast charge carrier relaxation (15.5 ps), terahertz mobility, and long momentum scattering time (157 fs) comparable to superconductors that invoke kinetic inductance at terahertz frequencies are demonstrated. These remarkable properties of 3D Dirac topological semimetal envision a new class of power-efficient, high speed, compact, tunable electronic, and photonic devices.     

Nonlinear THz-Nano Metasurfaces

Extreme terahertz (THz) science and technologies, the next disruptive frontier in nonlinear optics, provide multifaceted capabilities for exploring strong light-matter interactions in a variety of physical systems. However, current techniques involve the need for an extremely high-field free space THz source that is difficult to generate and has limited investigations to a rather weak and linear regime of light-matter interactions. Therefore, new approaches are being sought for the tight confinement of THz waves that can induce nonlinear effects. Here, a nonlinear “tera-nano” metasurface is demonstrated exhibiting extremely large THz nonlinearity and sensitive self-modulation of resonances at moderate incident THz field strengths. A record deep-subwavelength (≈λ/33 000) confinement of strongly enhanced (^≈3200) THz field in a nano-gap (15 nm) exhibits remarkable THz field-tailored nonlinearity. Further, ultrafast injection of photocarriers reveals a competition between nonlinear THz field-induced intervalley scattering and optically driven interband excitations. The results on “tera-nano” metasurfaces enable a novel platform to realize enhanced nonlinear nano/micro composites for field-sensitive extreme THz nonlinear applications without the need for intense THz light sources.     

A deep learning based approach to detect IDC in histopathology images

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Breast cancer is one of the widespread reasons of morbidity worldwide that begins in the cells of the tissues of morbidity worldwide in the woman community....     

Fire Controlling Under Uncertainty in Urban Region Using Smart Vehicular Ad hoc Network

Every year thousands of urban and industrial fires occur, which leads to the destruction of infrastructure, buildings, and loss of lives. One of the reasons behind this is the delayed transmission of information to the fire station and the nearer hospitals for ambulance service as the transmission of information is dependent on observer at the location where the fire is caught and cellular network. This paper proposed an automated routing protocol for the urban vehicular ad-hoc network to send the information from the location where the fire is caught to the nearest fire stations and hospitals with optimum service time. This transmission of information involves Road Side Unit (RSU) at the junction and the vehicles present in the transmission path. Selection of route to transmit faulty vehicle information from the RSU to the required faulty vehicle is based on a parameter called path value. The computation of path value is done by the attributes such as expected End To End (E2E) delay, the shortest distance to destination, the density of vehicle between the junctions, and attenuation. From the current junction, the selection of the next junction is based on minimum path value. The proposed routing protocol considers the performance parameters such as E2E delay, total service time (TST), number of network fragments or network gaps, number of hops, and attenuation for the propagation path for the evaluation of the proposed methodology. The proposed routing algorithm is implemented through OmNet++ and SUMO. Results obtained for the proposed routing protocol is compared with three existing VANET protocols (GSR, A-STAR, and ARP) in terms of End To End delay, number of hops, number of vehicular gaps, and Total Service Time (TST).