Origin of Hole-Trapping States in Solution-Processed Copper(I) Thiocyanate and Defect-Healing by I2 Doping

Solution-processed copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) typically exhibits low crystallinity with short-range order; the defects result in a high density of trap states that limit the device's performance. Despite the extensive electronic applications of CuSCN, its defect properties are not understood in detail. Through X-ray absorption spectroscopy, pristine CuSCN prepared from the standard diethyl sulfide-based recipe is found to contain under-coordinated Cu atoms, pointing to the presence of SCN⁻ vacancies. A defect passivation strategy is introduced by adding solid I₂ to the processing solution. At small concentrations, the iodine is found to exist as I⁻ which can substitute for the missing SCN⁻ ligand, effectively healing the defective sites and restoring the coordination around Cu. Computational study results also verify this point. Applying I₂-doped CuSCN as a p-channel in thin-film transistors shows that the hole mobility increases by more than five times at the optimal doping concentration of 0.5 mol.%. Importantly, the on/off current ratio and the subthreshold characteristics also improve as the I₂ doping method leads to the defect-healing effect while avoiding the creation of detrimental impurity states. An analysis of the capacitance-voltage characteristics corroborates that the trap state density is reduced upon I₂ addition.     

Mitigating Detrimental Effect of Self-Doping Near the Anode in Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been one of the most established hole transport layers (HTL) in organic solar cells (OSCs) for several decades. However, the presence of PSS⁻ ions is known to deteriorate device performance via a number of mechanisms including diffusion to the HTL-active layer interface and unwanted local chemical reactions. In this study, it is shown that PSS⁻ ions can also result in local p-doping in the high efficiency donor:non-fullerene acceptor blends – resulting in photocurrent loss. To address these issues, a facile and effective approach is reported to improve the OSC performance through a two-component hole transport layer (HTL) consisting of a self-assembled monolayer of 2PACz ([2-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)ethyl]phosphonic acid) and PEDOT:PSS. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1% using devices with PEDOT:PSS HTL improved to 17.7% when the PEDOT:PSS/2PACz two-component HTL is used. The improved performance is attributed to the overlaid 2PACz layer preventing the formation of an intermixed p-doped PSS⁻ ion rich region (≈5–10 nm) at the bulk heterojunction-HTL contact interface, resulting in decreased recombination losses and improved stability. Moreover, the 2PACz monolayer is also found to reduce electrical shunts that ultimately yield improved performance in large area devices with PCE enhanced from 12.3% to 13.3% in 1 cm² cells.     

Solid Solvation Assisted Electrical Doping Conserves High-Performance in 500 nm Active Layer Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells (OSCs) process fascinating solution-printing capability to achieve low-cost and large-scale manufacture. However, the rapid power conversion efficiency (PCE) decay with active layer thickness enlargement inhibits the implement of OSCs’ potential advantages. To overcome the bottlenecks of PCE decay in thick active layer OSCs, the electrical doping with componential selectivity in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) film is achieved by introducing a solid solvation additive. Benefiting from the higher exciton splitting efficiency together with the longer drift (L_dr) and diffusion (L_diff) lengths, an OSC with 100 nm BHJ film demonstrates a PCE increment from 16.44% to 18.24% with prolonged dark and illuminated storage stabilities. Applying the solid solvation assisted (SSA) doping method in the OSCs with 500 nm active layer, the PCE significantly increases by 31.9%, from the original value of 11.79% to 15.55%. It further improves to 15.84% in a ternary blend thick-film device, which is the record value to the best of our knowledge. Besides, the SSA doping narrows the PCE gap between the 0.04 and 1 cm² devices. All improvements demonstrate the great potential of SSA doping for OSC commercial manufacture, since it optimizes the photovoltaic performance under all practical conditions of long-term, thick-film, and large-area.     

Understanding Boosted Selective CO2-to-CO Photoreduction with Pure Water Vapor over Hierarchical Biomass-Derived Carbon Matrix

Solar-driven CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) with water into carbon-neutral fuels is of great significance but remains challenging due to thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness of CO₂. Biomass-derived nitrogen-doped carbon (N-C_b) have been considered as promising earth-abundant photocatalysts for CO₂RR, although their activities are not ideal and the reaction mechanism is still unclear. Herein, an efficient catalyst is developed for CO₂-to-CO conversion realized on diverse N-C_b materials with hierarchical pore structures. It is demonstrated that the CO₂-to-CO conversion preferentially takes place on positively charged carbon atoms next to pyridinic-N using two representatives treated pollens with the largest difference in pyridinic-N density and N content as model photocatalysts. Systematic experimental results indicate that surface local electric field originating from charge separation can be boosted by hierarchical pore structures, doped N, as well as pyridinic-N. Mechanistic studies reveal that positively charged carbon atoms next to pyridinic-N serve as active sites for CO₂RR, reduce the energy barrier on the formation of CO*, and facilitate the CO₂RR performance. All these benefits cooperatively contribute to treated chrysanthemum pollen catalyst exhibiting excellent CO formation rate of 203.2 µmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ with 97.2% selectivity in pure water vapor. These results provide a new perspective into CO₂RR on N-C_b, which shall guide the design of nature-based photocatalysts for high-performance solar-fuel generation.     

CuI Encapsulated within Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks with High Current Carrying Capacity and Excellent Conductivity

High current carrying capacity and high conductivity are two important indicators for materials used in microscale electronics and inverters. However, it is challenging to obtain high conductivity and high current carrying capacity at the same time since high conductivity requires a weakly bonded system to provide free electrons, while high current carrying capacity requires a strongly bonded system. In this paper, CuI@SWCNT networks by filling the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with CuI is ingeniously prepared. CuI@SWCNT shows good stability due to the confinement protection of SWCNTs. Through the host-guest hybridization, CuI@SWCNT networks exhibit a current carrying capacity of 2.04 × 10⁷ A cm⁻² and a conductivity of 31.67 kS m⁻¹. Their current carrying capacity and conductivity are significantly improved compared with SWCNT. The Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements show a drop of surface potential energy after SWCNT filled with CuI, indicating that the CuI guest molecules regulate the position of the Fermi level of SWCNTs, increasing carrier concentration, achieving high conductivity and high current carrying capacity. This study offers ideas and solutions for the regulation of high-performance carbon tube networks, which hold great promise for future applications in carbon-based electronic devices.     

Er3+/Yb3+/Tm3+/Pr3+共掺碲酸盐玻璃超宽带近红外发光性能研究

采用熔融淬火技术制备了0.2 mol% Er₂O₃、1 mo l% Yb₂O₃、0.1 mol% Tm₂O₃和x mol% Pr₆O₁₁( x=0.25、 0.3、0.35和0.4)掺杂的65TeO₂-15ZnO-10Na₂O-10WO₃系碲酸盐玻璃,通过X 射线衍射(X-ray diffraction,XRD)、差热扫描曲线(differential scanning calorimetry,DSC)对玻璃样 品的抗析晶性和热稳定性 进行了表征。结果表明,玻璃样品具备良好的抗析晶性,析晶温度和转变温度差值为140 ℃,具有较好 的热稳定性。吸收光谱结果显示,Er³⁺/Yb³⁺/Tm³⁺/Pr³⁺共掺碲 酸盐玻璃在980 nm处有较强的吸收峰,故可 以采用980 nm泵浦源对该玻璃样品进行激发。在1 200—2 000 nm近 红外波段范围,玻璃样品存在峰值中 心为1.35 μm、1.53 μm和1.8 μm 3个波段发射峰,且3个发射峰的荧光半高宽(full width at half maxima, FWHM)均大于100 nm,其覆盖了光信号传输的E、S、C和C+L 4个波段,大幅度地提高了掺铒 光纤放大器(erbium doped fiber amplifier,EDFA)的放大带宽。     

基于意象尺度图的重型卡车造型设计

目的以意象尺度图为依据探索重型卡车造型设计方法。方法收集并筛选出典型样本与感性词汇后,运用语义差异法获取重型卡车的感性意象评价;采用主成分分析法建立重型卡车意象尺度图,提取感性因子;最后结合阶层类别分析明确重型卡车造型设计要素。结果通过设计实践,验证了基于意象尺度图的重型卡车造型设计方法的可行性。结论运用感性工学方法对重型卡车造型展开意象研究,明确其意象尺度分布特性,以辅助重型卡车的造型设计与开发。     

磷含量对真空蒸镀磷掺杂多晶硅薄膜的影响

采用真空蒸镀的方法制备磷掺杂多晶硅薄膜,研究了磷含量对多晶硅薄膜的表面形貌、组织结构、晶粒尺寸及晶化率的影响。结果表明:随着磷掺杂分数的增加,多晶硅薄膜的晶粒尺寸和晶化率表现出先增加后降低的趋势,当磷掺杂分数为1%时,薄膜晶粒尺寸达到最大值,为0.55μm,晶化率为96.82%,且晶粒的均匀性最佳。