Bidirectional actuation of ferrofluid using micropatterned planar coils assisted by bias magnetic fields

This paper reports a ferrofluid control method that enables both attraction and repelling of ferrofluid on micropatterned planar coils coupled with permanent magnets. A combinational use of a controlled magnetic field and a bias field is shown to provide lateral forces that attract/repel the ferrofluid to/from the coil depending on the direction of the current passed through the coil. Active mirror devices whose mirrors are switched by ferrofluids are developed as a proof-of-concept of the actuation method toward the application to imaging devices and optical switches. The planar devices lithographically fabricated to have arrays of mirror-coil cells are used to demonstrate activation/deactivation of individual cells enabled by the bidirectional radial motion of the ferrofluid layer with ∼100 μm thickness. The static and dynamic behaviors of the ferrofluid in the devices are characterized through an image processing approach. Multiple mirror cells are selectively and simultaneously operated to show enhanced ferrofluid control uniquely available with the two modes of the actuation as well as to demonstrate pattern generation with the arrays.     

Fabrication of a planar water gated organic field effect transistor using a hydrophilic polythiophene for improved digital inverter performance

A planar water gated OFET (WG-OFET) structure is fabricated by patterning gate, source and drain electrodes on the same plane at the same time. Transistor output characteristics of this novel structure employing commercial regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (rr-P3HT) as polymer semiconductor and deionized (DI) water as gate dielectric show successful field effect transistor operation with an on–off current ratio of 43 A/A and transconductance of 2.5 μA/V. These output characteristics are improved using P3HT functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (P3HT-co-P3PEGT), which is more hydrophilic, leading to on–off ratio of 130 A/A and transconductance of 3.9 μA/V. Utilization of 100 mM NaCl solution instead of DI water significantly increases the on–off ratio to 141 A/A and transconductance to 7.17 μA/V for commercial P3HT and to 217 A/A and to 11.9 μA/V for P3HT-co-P3PEGT. Finally, transistors with improved transconductances are used to build digital inverters with improved characteristics. Gain of the inverters employing P3HT and P3HT-co-P3PEGT are measured as 2.9 V/V and 10.3 V/V, respectively, with 100 mM NaCl solution.     

High efficiency process for the production of pure oxygen based on solid oxide fuel cell–solid oxide electrolyzer technology

This paper presents a novel system for production of pure oxygen based on the integration of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC). In the proposed arrangement, the SOFC provides electricity, heat and H₂O in vapour phase to the SOEC which carries out the inverse reactions of the SOFC, that is the separation of H₂O into H₂ (used as a fuel for the SOFC) and O₂ (representing the yield of the system). Simulations carried out in different operating conditions show that when the integrated SOFC–SOEC device runs at low current densities (less than 1000 A m⁻²), pure oxygen can be generated with an electric consumption comparable to mid-size cryogenic air separation units, and significantly lower than small scale systems based on the PSA technology.     

Construction of BiVO4 nanosheets@WO3 arrays heterojunction photoanodes by versatile phase transformation strategy

A versatile phase transformation strategy was proposed to synthesize novel BiVO₄ nanosheets (NSs)@WO₃ nanorod (NR) and nanoplate (NP) arrays films. The strategy was carried out by following a three-step hydrothermal process (WO₃→WO₃/Bi₂WO₆→WO₃/BiVO₄). According to the characterization results, plenty of BiVO₄ NSs grew well on the surface of WO₃ NR and NP arrays films, thus forming the WO₃/BiVO₄ heterojunction structure. The prepared WO₃/BiVO₄ heterojunction films were used as the photoanodes for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. As indicated by the results, the photoanodes exhibited an excellent PEC activity. The photocurrent densities of the WO₃/BiVO₄ NR and NP photoanodes at 1.23 V (vs RHE) without cocatalyst under visible light illumination reached up to about 1.56 and 1.20 mA/cm^brespectively.     

Hydrothermal fabrication of p-Cu2O−n-ZnO films and their properties for photodegradation and ultraviolet sensors

This article reports spin coating and hydrothermal approaches to the synthesis of Cu₂O seed layer−ZnO and Cu₂O film−ZnO heterojunction films on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates. Cu₂O seed layers and an ethylene glycol (EG) reducing agent were employed to obtain pure, uniform, and adhesive Cu₂O films on the substrate. Transmission electron microscopy validated the heterojunctions with clear interfaces between each component on the p-Cu₂O film−n-ZnO (with EG) sample, the conductive types of which were determined through Mott−Schottky measurements. Constructed energy band diagrams supported the Mott−Schottky result, manifesting favorable conduction band positions for the generation of •O₂⁻ radicals for all constituent materials and indicating smooth charge carrier transport for the p-Cu₂O film−n-ZnO (with EG) sample. Furthermore, abundant p−n junction interfaces synergistically enabled the sample to exhibit the most satisfactory photodegradation capability (rate constant ≈ 8.9 × 10⁻³ min⁻¹), which was attributable to the predominance of •OH radicals. The sample's rectifying (diode) behavior with a ratio of the current density (J) at +3 V (forward bias) to that at −3 V (reverse bias) of approximately 27 was observed without ultraviolet illumination. Moreover, the J at −3 V is under illumination approximately 80 times that without illumination, implying the suitability of the sample for UV detectability.     

Impact of the Cd2+ treatment on the electrical properties of Cu2ZnSnSe4 and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

The present contribution aims at determining the impact of modifying the properties of the absorber/buffer layer interface on the electrical performance of Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ (CZTSe) thin‐film solar cells, by using a Cd²⁺ partial electrolyte (Cd PE) treatment of the absorber before the buffer layer deposition. In this work, CZTSe/CdS solar cells with and without Cd PE treatment were compared with their respective Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe)/CdS references. The Cd PE treatment was performed in a chemical bath for 7 min at 70 °C using a basic solution of cadmium acetate. X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements have revealed the presence of Cd at the absorber surface after the treatment. The solar cells were characterized using current density–voltage (J–V), external quantum efficiency, and drive‐level capacitance profiling measurements. For the CZTSe‐based devices, the fill factor increased from 57.7% to 64.0% when using the Cd PE treatment, leading to the improvement of the efficiency (η) from 8.3% to 9.0% for the best solar cells. Similar observations were made on the CIGSe solar cell reference. This effect comes from a considerable reduction of the series resistance (R_S) of the dark and light J–V, as determined using the one‐diode model. The crossover effect between dark and light J–V curves is also significantly reduced by Cd PE treatment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

直接Z-Scheme异质结Al-PMOFs/CdZnS光催化剂的制备及其光催化苯甲胺氧化性能

摘要：采用水热法合成了具有立方柱状结构的卟啉基金属有机框架化合物(Al-PMOFs),然后通过共沉淀法将CdZnS纳米颗粒沉积在Al-PMOFs棱柱上,得到了界面接触良好的异质结Al-PMOFs/CdZnS纳米杂化材料。将催化剂应用于可见光催化苯甲胺氧化偶联反应中,结果表明,Al-PMOFs/CdZnS纳米复合材料具有较好的光催化反应活性和稳定性。室温下当溶剂为N,N-二甲基甲酰胺(DMF)时,经可见光照射7 h后,苯甲胺可以发生氧化偶联反应生成N-苄基-1-苯基甲亚胺(BPMI),苯甲胺的转化率可达97%,BPMI 的选择性超过99%,复合材料的光催化活性较相同条件下单一的CdZnS和Al-PMOFs提高了2倍。Al-PMOFs/CdZnS光催化性能的提高主要归因于Al-PMOFs与CdZnS之间形成了直接Z-scheme异质结,该异质结能够促进Al-PMOFs和CdZnS界面上的电荷传输,抑制Al-PMOFs/CdZnS杂化材料表面光生载流子的复合。通过自由基捕获实验等提出了适合该体系的直接Z-scheme光催化反应机理以及电荷转移路径。     

非标定图像对最小化畸变几何校正方法研究

图像校正需要对图像进行透视变换,不可避免会产生欠采样或过采样问题,同时射影变换会引起图像扭曲,造成图像对之间相似性丢失.为了降低图像校正后的畸变程度,重点研究了图像校正过程中不同类型图像畸变问题.通过图像对规范化简化基础矩阵,并通过考虑几何约束简化校正变换矩阵;然后求取射影变换权值变化测度之和的极值以实现最小化射影畸变;最后采用Jacobian行列式度量校正前后的局部区域变化,求得最小化重采样效果的矩阵系数.采用该校正变换矩阵对非标定图像对进行平面校正可以减轻射影扭曲程度和重采样效果.