The impact of alkali elements on the degradation of CIGS solar cells

Unencapsulated CIGS solar cells with high and low contents of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were simultaneously exposed to damp heat and illumination. The solar cells with a high alkali (Na, K) content exhibited higher initial conversion efficiencies, but degraded severely within 100 h, while the alkali poor samples kept relatively stable performance under damp heat and illumination. The degradation of the samples with a high alkali content resulted in the formation of sodium rich spots on the top ZnO:Al surface of the samples. This is likely caused by light‐induced Na⁺ migration via the grain boundaries in the absorber to the depletion region, where the Na⁺ accumulated. This allowed subsequent Na⁺ transport through the depletion region due to the lowering of the internal electric field caused both by the Na⁺ accumulation and illumination. The migration resulted in the formation of shunt paths, which reduced the shunt resistance and open circuit voltage. Furthermore, ingression of water into the ZnO:Al is expected to be responsible for a slow but steady increase in series resistance for both high and low alkali solar cells. Additionally, sodium migration led to a severe increase of the series resistance in case of alkali rich samples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural Explanation of the Dielectric Enhancement of Barium Titanate Nanoparticles Grown under Hydrothermal Conditions

When synthesized under certain conditions, barium titanate (BaTiO₃, BTO) nanoparticles are found to have the non-thermodynamic cubic structure at room temperature. These particles also have a several-fold enhanced dielectric constant, sometimes exceeding 6000, and are widely used in thin-layer capacitors. A hydrothermal approach is used to synthesize BTO nanocrystals, which are characterized by a range of methods, including X-ray Rietveld refinement and the Williamson–Hall approach, revealing the presence of significant inhomogeneous strain associated with the cubic phase. However, X-ray pair distribution function measurements clearly show the local structure is lower symmetry than cubic. This apparent inconsistency is resolved by examining 3D Bragg coherent diffraction images of selected nanocrystals, which show the existence of ≈50 nm-sized domains, which are interpreted as tetragonal twins, and yet cause the average crystalline structure to appear cubic. The ability of these twin boundaries to migrate under the influence of electric fields explains the dielectric anomaly for the nanocrystalline phase.     

A Novel Approach to BaTiO3-based X8R Ceramics by Calcium Borosilicate Glass Ceramic Doping

High-performance X8R dielectric materials could be sintered at 1150°C by doping calcium borosilicate (CBS) glass ceramic into the BaTiO₃-Nb₂O₅-ZnO system, with a dielectric constant greater than 1800 and a dielectric loss lower than 1.0%. The effects of CBS, Nb₂O₅, and ZnO on the dielectric properties were discussed in this article. The X8R specification was achieved with the content of CBS ≥ 4 wt.%, Nb₂O₅ ≥ 1.0 mol%, and ZnO ≤ 2.0 mol%. The sample doped with 4 wt.% CBS exhibited the highest density and lowest dielectric loss in our experiment. A reduction in grain size was observed in the specimens with 4 and 7 wt.% CBS as compared with CBS-free specimen, whereas the abnormal growth of rectangle-shaped grains took place in the 10 wt.% CBS-doped specimen. The Curie point progressively moved to higher temperatures with CBS content up to 7 wt.%. However, T _c of the sample decreased slightly in the case when 10 wt.% CBS was doped. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the crystal structure of sintered ceramics changed from tetragonal to pseudocubic symmetry as increasing CBS content.     

环形钛酸锶元件电性能的控制研究

研究了不同LiOH掺杂量和烧结温度对环形钛酸锶元件电性能的影响。实验结果表明,随着LiOH含量的增加,压敏电压先降低,后升高,在x(LiOH)为4.5%时,电压呈现最低值;同时,烧结温度也是影响电性能的重要因素之一,1400℃是电性能发生明显变化的转折点。借助SEM对样品进行了观察和分析,发现LiOH主要是通过影响晶界的行为来控制元件宏观的电性能。     

Hillock and Whisker Growth on Sn and SnCu Electrodeposits on a Substrate Not Forming Interfacial Intermetallic Compounds

Intermetallic compound (IMC) formation at the interface between the tin (Sn) plating and the copper (Cu) substrate of electronic components has been thought to produce compressive stress in Sn electrodeposits and cause the growth of Sn whiskers. To determine if interfacial IMC is a requirement for whisker growth, bright Sn and a Sn-Cu alloy were electroplated on a tungsten (W) substrate that does not form interfacial IMC with the Sn or Cu. At room temperature, conical Sn hillocks grew on the pure Sn deposits and Sn whiskers grew from the Sn-Cu alloy electrodeposits. These results demonstrate that interfacial IMC is not required for initial whisker growth.     

改形苦味酸钾的结晶控制

介绍了苦味酸钾自发结晶习性，论述了改形苦味酸钾的结晶控制，对影响结晶的因素分别进行了分析，通过正交实验设计确定了优化晶形控制工艺条件。     

一种含纳米钾盐的新型消焰药性能测试

为了减小炮口火焰面积,制备了一种含纳米有机钾盐AK的新型消焰药,进行了该消焰药基本性能、吸湿性、燃烧性能、对发射装药炮口火焰及内弹道性能影响试验研究.试验结果表明,对比常规单质消焰剂材料,制备的新型消焰药有较好的消焰效果,可使枪口火焰面积减少95%,且吸湿小,燃烧稳定,对火炮内弹道性能无明显影响.     

CaTiO_3掺杂对BST铁电电容器陶瓷性能的影响

采用固相法制备了CaTiO3掺杂的(Ba0.65Sr0.35)TiO3(BST)陶瓷,研究了CaTiO3掺杂量对BST电容器陶瓷介电性能和微观结构的影响。结果表明:随着CaTiO3掺杂量的增加,BST陶瓷的相对介电常数(εr)先增大然后减小然后增大,介质损耗(tanδ)和交流耐压强度(Eb)先增大然后减小。当CaTiO3掺杂量为摩尔分数10%时,BST陶瓷的综合介电性能较好:εr为4480,tanδ为0.022,Eb为5.8×103V/mm(AC),容温特性符合Y5U特性。     

Directly Deposited Antimony on a Copper Silicide Nanowire Array as a High-Performance Potassium-Ion Battery Anode with a Long Cycle Life

Antimony (Sb) is a promising anode material for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) due to its high capacity and moderate working potential. Achieving stable electrochemical performance for Sb is hindered by the enormous volume variation that occurs during cycling, causing a significant loss of the active material and disconnection from conventional current collectors (CCs). Herein, the direct growth of a highly dense copper silicide (Cu₁₅Si₄) nanowire (NW) array from a Cu mesh substrate to form a 3D CC is reported that facilitates the direct deposition of Sb in a core-shell arrangement (Sb@Cu₁₅Si₄ NWs). The 3D Cu₁₅Si₄ NW array provides a strong anchoring effect for Sb, while the spaces between the NWs act as a buffer zone for Sb expansion/contraction during K–cycling. The binder-free Sb@Cu₁₅Si₄ anode displays a stable capacity of 250.2 mAh g⁻¹ at 200 mA g⁻¹ for over 1250 cycles with a capacity drop of ≈0.028% per cycle. Ex situ electron microscopy revealed that the stable performance is due to the complete restructuring of the Sb shell into a porous interconnected network of mechanically robust ligaments. Notably, the 3D Cu₁₅Si₄ NW CC is expected to be widely applicable for the development of alloying-type anodes for next-generation energy storage devices.     

An Ultrastable Nonaqueous Potassium‐Ion Hybrid Capacitor

Potassium‐ion hybrid capacitors (PIHCs) show great potential in large‐scale energy storage due to the advantages of electrochemical capacitors and potassium‐ion batteries. However, their development remains at the preliminary stage and is mainly limited by the kinetic imbalance between the two electrodes. Herein, an architecture of NbSe₂ nanosheets embedded in N, Se co‐doped carbon nanofibers (NbSe₂/NSeCNFs) as flexible, free‐standing, and binder‐free anodes for PIHCs is reported. The NbSe₂/NSeCNFs with hierarchically porous structure and N, Se co‐doping afford highly efficient channels for fast transportation of potassium ions and electrons during repeated cycling process. Furthermore, excellent electrochemical reversibility of the NbSe₂/NSeCNFs electrode is demonstrated through in situ XRD, in situ Raman, ex situ transmission electron microscopy and element mapping. Thus, PIHCs with the NbSe₂/NSeCNFs anode and active carbon cathode achieve a high energy of 145 W h kg^?1 at a current density of 50 mA g^?1, as well as an ultra‐long cycle life of over 10 000 cycles at a high current density of 2 A g^?1. These results indicate that the assembled PIHCs display great potential for applications in the field of ultra‐long cycling energy storage devices.