Numerical simulation of graded band gap GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction solar cell by AMPS-1D

The conduction band discontinuity or spike in an abrupt heterojunction p+ GaAs / NAl0.4 Ga0.6As solar cell can hinder the separation of hole-electron by electric field. This paper analyzes the GaAs /AlxGa1-xAs/Al0.4Ga0.6As based solar cell performance by AMPS-1D numerical modeling. The affect of graded band gap region in the interface between the emitter (GaAs) and base (Al0.4Ga0.6As) on the solar cell’s performance is investigated. Among the factors studied are thickness of graded band gap region, thickness of emitter layer of the cells. In this study, a width 0.14µm has been required to eliminate the spike and improved the performance of solar cell. Keywords: heterojunction solar cell; graded band gap; AMPS-1D

The Effect of Graded Band Gap Structure Inserted in the Multijunction Solar Cell

We have theoretically calculated the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of a monolithic dual-graded junction AlGaAs/GaInAs device, which can be experimentally fabricated. By optimizing the band-gap combination of the considered structure, an improvement of conversion efficiency has been observed in comparison to the conventional AlGaAs/GaInAs system. For the suggested graded band-gap combination, our calculation indicates that the attainable efficiency can be enhanced up to 34% ( AM1.5d). Keywords: band gap gradient, multijunction solar cells, AlGaAs, GaInA

Development of a polymer endovascular prosthesis and its implantation in porcine arteries

A polyethylene-terephthalate braided mesh stent has been developed for application in the (coronary) arterial tree. In vitro measurements showed that the radial pressure delivered by this device was in the same range as that of a stainless steel stent. Hysteresis-like behavior, however, occurred after constraining the polyester stent for a period of only 15 minutes on a delivery system for percutaneous implantation. This implies that the polymer stent must be mounted on this delivery system immediately before the placement procedure, and that either a diameter in the unconstrained condition must be selected, which is considerably larger than the diameter of the target vessel, or stent expansion has to be enhanced by balloon expansion. Taking into account the results obtained during the in vitro studies, we investigated the angiographic patency and histologic features after implantation of this polyester stent in peripheral arteries of pigs. In four animals eight stents were placed. Except for heparin during the implantation procedure only, antithrombotic or antiplatelet drugs were not administered. After 4 weeks repeat angiography was performed. Angiography revealed that five of the six correctly placed stents were patent. At autopsy, two additional patent stents proved to be located in the aortic bifurcation, probably due to failure of the delivery system. Quantitative assessment showed that the mean luminal diameters of the site of stent placement were 3.3 +/- 0.2 mm before, 3.2 +/- 0.2 mm immediately after, and 3.1 +/- 0.3 mm at 4 weeks after implantation. Histology demonstrated an inflammatory reaction of variable severity around the stent fibers. Quantitative histologic measurements showed that the thickness of the neointima was 114 +/- 38 mum after 4 weeks. In conclusion, polyester stents can be constructed with mechanical properties similar to stainless steel stents. Hysteresis-like behavior of polyester stents, however, influences the selection of the nominal stent diameter as well as the forces exerted to the vessel wall. After implantation in porcine peripheral arteries, five of six correctly placed stents were patent at 4 weeks. The extent of neointimal proliferation was similar to that observed after placement of metal stents in swine, despite the presence of a more pronounced inflammatory reaction

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

3D Geometric Human Face Modeling

International audienceIn this paper we propose a new geometric model of 3D human face; this method relies on the analysis of a set of 3D facial data which are obtained by using 3D laser scanner. Our analysis of the different features points coordinates reveals that the 3D Euclidian distances in 3D scanned face are proportional to the horizontal distance between two eyes. The proposed approach has been obtained after being tested in more than 14 face scans. The set of faces scans which are used for experimental experience have different ages, different sex and also they are from different regions. Experimental results show that the proposed enhancement of such geometric model will later be used to improve not only the 3D face scanning process by knowing the location of the most features from eyebrows, nose and lips, then it is not necessary to scan all the face for recognition, but also involves to perform the extraction and the regeneration of significant facial features. Therefore, it has been found that this model can be used in biometric applications, virtual reality applications, facial expression simulation and computer based plastic surgery application