Fracture strength and Young's modulus of ZnO nanowires

The fracture strength of ZnO nanowires vertically grown on sapphire substrates was measured in tensile and bending experiments. Nanowires with diameters between 60 and 310 nm and a typical length of 2 um were manipulated with an atomic force microscopy tip mounted on a nanomanipulator inside a scanning electron microscope. The fracture strain of (7.7 +- 0.8)% measured in the bending test was found close to the theoretical limit of 10% and revealed a strength about twice as high as in the tensile test. From the tensile experiments the Young's modulus could be measured to be within 30% of that of bulk ZnO, contrary to the lower values found in literature.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

1 cm2 CH3NH3PbI3 mesoporous solar cells with 17.8% steady-state efficiency by tailoring front FTO electrodes

In this article, we investigate the effects of atmospheric-pressure chemical vapour deposited fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films as front electrodes for the fabrication of mesoporous perovskite solar cells with an active area of 1 cm2 and compare them with the use of a commonly used commercial transparent conducting oxide. The effects of sheet resistance (Rs) and surface roughness are both closely linked to the film thickness. In order to separate out these effects the characteristics of the deposited FTOs were carefully controlled by changing the fluorine doping levels and the number of passes under the coating head to give films of specific thicknesses or Rs. Under AM 1.5 Sun illumination and maximum power point tracking, the optimised FTOs yielded a steady-state power conversion efficiency of 17.8%, higher than that of the reference cell fabricated from the commercial FTO. We attribute the improved cell efficiency to increased fill factor and a lower series resistance resulting from the lower Rs and increased thickness of these FTO substrates. This low-cost and viable methodology is the first such type of study looking independently at the significance of FTO roughness and resistance for highly efficient mesoporous perovskite solar cells

Nanoscale Analysis by EFTEM and FIB-Tomography for Optimization of Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 - August 5, 201

Demonstrating the high Voc potential of PEDOT:PSS/c-Si heterojunctions on solar cells

In this study, we demonstrate the high surface passivation quality of PEDOT:PSS/c-Si junctions for the first time on solar cell level, reaching a record high Voc value of 688 mV after full-area metallization of the PEDOT:PSS. We achieve this by combining the PEDOT:PSS hole-selective layer at the rear of the crystalline silicon wafer with a well-passivating electron-selective a-Si:H(i/n) layer stack at the front. Our results clearly prove the excellent hole selectivity of PEDOT:PSS on crystalline silicon. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Rapid actin monomer–insensitive depolymerization of Listeria actin comet tails by cofilin, coronin, and Aip1

Actin filaments in cells depolymerize rapidly despite the presence of high concentrations of polymerizable G actin. Cofilin is recognized as a key regulator that promotes actin depolymerization. In this study, we show that although pure cofilin can disassemble Listeria monocytogenes actin comet tails, it cannot efficiently disassemble comet tails in the presence of polymerizable actin. Thymus extracts also rapidly disassemble comet tails, and this reaction is more efficient than pure cofilin when normalized to cofilin concentration. By biochemical fractionation, we identify Aip1 and coronin as two proteins present in thymus extract that facilitate the cofilin-mediated disassembly of Listeria comet tails. Together, coronin and Aip1 lower the amount of cofilin required to disassemble the comet tail and permit even low concentrations of cofilin to depolymerize actin in the presence of polymerizable G actin. The cooperative activities of cofilin, coronin, and Aip1 should provide a biochemical basis for understanding how actin filaments can grow in some places in the cell while shrinking in others

Environmental proteomics reveals taxonomic and functional changes in an enriched aquatic ecosystem

Aquatic ecosystem enrichment can lead to distinct and irreversible changes to undesirable states. Understanding changes in active microbial community function and composition following organic matter loading in enriched ecosystems can help identify biomarkers of such state changes. In a field experiment, we enriched replicate aquatic ecosystems in the pitchers of the northern pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. Shotgun metaproteomics using a custom metagenomic database identified proteins, molecular pathways, and contributing microbial taxa that differentiated control ecosystems from those that were enriched. The number of microbial taxa contributing to protein expression was comparable between treatments; however, taxonomic evenness was higher in controls. Functionally active bacterial composition differed significantly among treatments and was more divergent in control pitchers than in enriched pitchers. Aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria contributed most to identified proteins in control and enriched ecosystems, respectively. The molecular pathways and contributing taxa in enriched pitcher ecosystems were similar to those found in larger enriched aquatic ecosystems and are consistent with microbial processes occurring at the base of detrital food webs. Detectable differences between protein profiles of enriched and control ecosystems suggest that a time series of environmental proteomics data may identify protein biomarkers of impending state changes to enriched states