Enhancement of Photovoltaic Performance through Nano-Phased Materials and Thin Film Heterostructures in Solar Cells

The purpose of this research is to investigate the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems by incorporating nano-phased materials and thin film heterostructures into existing solar cells. As a result of the incorporation of these cutting-edge components, solar cells will perform more effectively overall, ultimately satisfying the need for energy sources that are more dependable and efficient. In the context of this study, nano-phased materials are important due to the unique features they possess, which have the potential to significantly improve the efficiency with which solar energy is converted. The use of nanomaterials in solar cells makes it possible to achieve a number of benefits, including greater light absorption, reduced electron-hole recombination, and improved charge carrier mobility respectively. The increased functionality of the photovoltaic system leads to a more efficient use of the sunlight that is flowing in, which in turn increases the overall power conversion efficiency of the system. As an additional benefit, the incorporation of thin film heterostructures into solar cells improves the use of nano-phased materials by boosting the charge transport channels that are present inside the cells. Thin films, when precisely integrated into heterostructures, provide efficient charge separation and collection, hence minimizing the amount of energy that is lost during the conversion process. Through the synergistic interaction of thin film heterostructures with nano-phased materials, it is possible to construct a solar cell that has improved performance characteristics. In addition to the fabrication of thin film heterostructures by the use of advanced deposition techniques, the research includes the meticulous analysis of a wide variety of nanostructured materials, including nanowires, nanoparticles, and nanotubes. A thorough analysis and comparison of the performance of these unique solar cell designs with that of traditional solar cells will be carried out. The results of this comparison will provide valuable new information about the possibility of this much enhanced technology being widely used. By bringing forth a novel approach to enhancing photovoltaic performance, the purpose of this study is to make a significant contribution to the ongoing efforts that are being made to enhance the technology that is used for renewable energy sources. A combination of thin-film heterostructures and nano-phased materials might make it feasible for future generations of solar cells to be powered in a manner that is both environmentally friendly and efficient in terms of energy consumption

Nano-Phased Materials and Thin Film Heterostructures: A Pathway to High-Efficiency Solar Energy Conversion Technologies

The sun fuel conversion, solar photovoltaics, bio-catalysis, and solar water splitting are all things that are covered in this road map. Perovskites, organic photovoltaics, and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are several components of this category. The distribution and bridging of storage via the use of direct and indirect storage systems is the cornerstone of energy management for this electricity. This will exhibit energy efficiency ahead of several criteria, including mobility and light weight, high energy storage capacity, cheap manufacturing cost, low temperature performance, and quick energy transfer. Consequently, this will demonstrate energy efficiency. When an announcement is made on an increase in capacity, it is common practice to just include the installation of the equipment. Although it may seem like the manufacturing line is functioning well, this does not always mean that it is. It is possible that the installation of the manufacturing line and the actual sale of solar cells will be delayed for a period of time due to the introduction of new technologies. A semiconductor is the fundamental component of dye-sensitized solar cells. This semiconductor is produced by a photoelectrochemical system that consists of an electrolyte and a dye-sensitized anode

SplatArmor: Articulated Gaussian splatting for animatable humans from monocular RGB videos

We propose SplatArmor, a novel approach for recovering detailed and animatable human models by `armoring' a parameterized body model with 3D Gaussians. Our approach represents the human as a set of 3D Gaussians within a canonical space, whose articulation is defined by extending the skinning of the underlying SMPL geometry to arbitrary locations in the canonical space. To account for pose-dependent effects, we introduce a SE(3) field, which allows us to capture both the location and anisotropy of the Gaussians. Furthermore, we propose the use of a neural color field to provide color regularization and 3D supervision for the precise positioning of these Gaussians. We show that Gaussian splatting provides an interesting alternative to neural rendering based methods by leverging a rasterization primitive without facing any of the non-differentiability and optimization challenges typically faced in such approaches. The rasterization paradigms allows us to leverage forward skinning, and does not suffer from the ambiguities associated with inverse skinning and warping. We show compelling results on the ZJU MoCap and People Snapshot datasets, which underscore the effectiveness of our method for controllable human synthesis

Large Scale Benchmark of Materials Design Methods

Lack of rigorous reproducibility and validation are major hurdles for scientific development across many fields. Materials science in particular encompasses a variety of experimental and theoretical approaches that require careful benchmarking. Leaderboard efforts have been developed previously to mitigate these issues. However, a comprehensive comparison and benchmarking on an integrated platform with multiple data modalities with both perfect and defect materials data is still lacking. This work introduces JARVIS-Leaderboard, an open-source and community-driven platform that facilitates benchmarking and enhances reproducibility. The platform allows users to set up benchmarks with custom tasks and enables contributions in the form of dataset, code, and meta-data submissions. We cover the following materials design categories: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Electronic Structure (ES), Force-fields (FF), Quantum Computation (QC) and Experiments (EXP). For AI, we cover several types of input data, including atomic structures, atomistic images, spectra, and text. For ES, we consider multiple ES approaches, software packages, pseudopotentials, materials, and properties, comparing results to experiment. For FF, we compare multiple approaches for material property predictions. For QC, we benchmark Hamiltonian simulations using various quantum algorithms and circuits. Finally, for experiments, we use the inter-laboratory approach to establish benchmarks. There are 1281 contributions to 274 benchmarks using 152 methods with more than 8 million data-points, and the leaderboard is continuously expanding. The JARVIS-Leaderboard is available at the website: https://pages.nist.gov/jarvis_leaderboar

Evolutionary conservation of the gene Cvsox9 in the lizard, Calotes versicolor, and its expression during gonadal differentiation

We have cloned and sequenced an orthologue of the human SOX9 gene in the lizard, Calotes versicolor, which lacks heteromorphic sex chromosomes as well as temperature-dependent sex determination. PCR amplification of Calotes cDNA using human SOX9 primers yielded an 861-bp fragment which harboured the high-mobility group domain and flanking sequences and had identity greater than 85% at nucleotide and greater than 90% at amino acid level with the hitherto known homologues of Sox9, demonstrating its evolutionary conservation. CvSox9 makes an approx. 5-kb transcript which is expressed in the genital ridge and mullerian duct of all the embryos from their very inception. In the genital ridge the expression in day 40 and day 45 embryos is confined to the embryonic testis (medulla) of only 50% embryos, indicating a shift in the expression from non-gonad-specific to testis-specific. The temporal and cell-specific expression in the genital ridge suggests a vital role for CvSox9 in the determination and/or differentiation of testis

A zinc finger domain gene in the lizard, Calotes versicolor, shows extensive homology with the mammalian ZFX and is expressed embryonically

A 590-bp long zinc finger domain DNA fragment has been isolated by polymerase chain reaction from the lizard, Calotes versicolor, employing the primers used for amplifying the zinc finger domain of the human Y-chromosomal gene, ZFY. Cloned in pUC18, the fragment, called CvZfa, was sequenced and its expression during development was studied. At the nucleotide and amino acid level CvZfa shows respectively 83% and 90% identity with the human ZFY, but its extent of homology is greater with the ZFX of human (86% at nucleotide and 92% at amino acid level) and the ZFY-like genes of turtle and chick. Similarly its homology with the mouse Zfx and Zfa is much greater than that with Zfy-1 and Zfy-2. It appears that the mammalian ZFX (Zfx) evolved from reptilian ancestors with a considerable degree of conservation, but the ZFX to ZFY divergence within the class mammalia was more rapid. The CvZfa transcripts were seen in all the embryonic stages from which RNA was analysed. The whole mount in situ hybridization with the posteriorly placed mesonephros and the gonadal primordia of 10 to 25 day old embryos showed signal selectively in mesonephros of the 20 and 25 day embryos. There was no signal in the genital ridge. Thus CvZfa may not have a direct role in gonadogenesis of C. versicolor, but the possibility of its inductive role in the formation of adreno-gonadal axis through mesonephros cannot be discounted

Temporal difference between testis and ovary determinations with possible involvement of testosterone and aromatase in gonadal differentiation in TSD lacking lizard, Calotes versicolor

In the garden lizard, Calotes versicolor, which lacks identifiable sex chromosomes, incubation temperature also does not have a deterministic effect on the gender. However, the embryos reared at high temperature (33–35°C) have a shorter duration of incubation as well as gonadal differentiation. In contrast, exogenous application of the male hormone testosterone to embryos at ambient temperature (28°C) results in almost all individuals with only testis. Thus the testosterone treatment reverts genic females to males and accelerates the differentiation of testis, a feature similar to the high-temperature treatment. Treatment of eggs with estradiol shows no difference from that seen in the untreated eggs. The present series of experiments was done to establish the “window” of testosterone sensitivity and to understand the interaction between sex hormones and high temperature on gonadal differentiation. The period between day 5 and 15 of embryonic development was the window period of testosterone sensitivity for sex reversal. This period coincided with the formation of the genital ridge and its differentiation into cortex and medulla. Treatment of the 33°C-reared embryos with testosterone resulted in hatchlings of both the sexes, in contrast to only males at the ambient temperature. In contrast, at the same temperature (33°C), all the dihydrotestosterone (nonaromatisable testosterone)–treated embryos hatched into males. However, those given estradiol showed no sex bias regardless of the day of application and the concentration of drug. Eggs were also treated with aromatase inhibitor, CGS 16949 A, at ambient temperature and at 33°C. All the 33°C eggs to which the drug was given on day 25 hatched into males. These results suggest that though high temperature has no direct effect on sex determination in this species, it may have a stimulatory effect on aromatase activity, leading to the conversion of the exogenously applied testosterone into estradiol and permitting ovarian differentiation in the genic females. It also follows from the present report that the pathway of testis formation in Calotes versicolor is triggered much earlier, and irreversibly, than that for the ovary

Evaluation of the remineralization potential of amorphous calcium phosphate and fluoride containing pit and fissure sealants using scanning electron microscopy

Aim: To evaluate the remineralization potential of Amorphous Calcium Phosphate (ACP) and Fluoride containing pit and Fissure Sealants using Scanning Electron Microscopy. Materials and Methods: Thirty maxillary first premolars were divided into three groups of ten each and were randomly selected for ACP containing (Aegis- Opaque White, Bosworth Co. Ltd.), Fluoride containing (Teethmate F1 Natural Clear, Kuraray Co. Ltd.), resin based (Concise- Opaque White, 3M ESPE Co. Ltd.) pit and fissure sealant applications. The Concise group served as a control. The teeth weresubjected to the pH-cycling regimen for a period of two weeks. After two weeks, the teeth were sectioned bucco-lingually into 4mm sections and were observed under Scanning Electron Microscope at 50X, 250X, 500X, 1000X and 1500X magnifications. The qualitative changes at the tooth surface and sealant interface were examined and presence of white zone at the interface was considered positive for remineralization. Results: Both ACP containing (Aegis) and Fluoride containing (Teethmate F1) group showed white zone at the tooth surface-sealant interface. The resin based group (Concise) showed regular interface between the sealant and the tooth structure, but no clear cut white zone was observed. Conclusion: Both, Aegis and Teethmate F1 have the potential to remineralize. Release of Amorphous Calcium Phosphate molecules in Aegis group and formation of Fluoroapetite in Teethmate F1 group, were probably responsible for the remineralization

The effectiveness of a musical toothbrush for dental plaque removal: A comparative study

Background and Objectives: the purpose of this study was to clinically evaluate and compare the efficacy of "Brush Buddies" musical tooth brush and Colgate Smile tooth brush in the reduction of established plaque and gingivitis. Materials and Methods: for this study, 120 healthy kids (73 boys and 47 Girls) were selected. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups by a second examiner; one group used Colgate Smile brush and the other group used "Brush Buddies" musical tooth brush. Plaque index (Quigley and Hein), Modified Gingival Index (Lobene and Associates) and Gingival Bleeding Index (Ainamo and Bay) were assessed at baseline, 30th day, 60th day, and 90th day. Results: all the baseline indices appeared to be well balanced. At the end of the study, reduction in plaque index, modified gingival index and gingival bleeding index were statistically highly significant during each interval for both the toothbrushes. For "Brush Buddies" musical tooth brush, the reduction in all clinical parameters were statistically significant for 30 days and 60 days interval, while nonsignificant at 90 days interval. Interpretation and Conclusion: both the tooth brushes used in this study were clinically effective in removing plaque, improving gingival health. Musical tooth brush is more effective initially but as the time period increases both tooth brushes give almost similar results