Bi-level Programming Based Optimal Strategy to LSEs with Demand Response Bids

With the increasing demand-side participation in electricity market, as a profit-seeking market participant, load-serving entities (LSEs) have been trying to apply demand response (DR) programs to induce the demand elasticity to further their profit. However, due to the different preference of DRs, it is difficult for LSEs to generate the optimal strategic bidding strategy considering DR in the ISO/RTO’s market. Therefore, this paper proposed a bi-level optimization model with the consideration of demand response bidding to maximize the total profit of LSEs: 1) conceptually, different from previous related works, the consumers participate DR through setting their bidding prices to LSEs with respect to their own preference and LSEs should determine the optimal reward value of DR as well as the amount of demanded electricity; and 2) technically, an original method has been implemented to solve the bi-level optimization model. The closed form of shadow price function with respect to the total load demand is derived to reduce the complexity of the proposed bi-level model. Hence, the proposed model is converted to a mixed integer second order cone programming and able to achieve the global optimality. It needs to be note that the closed form of shadow price introduced in this paper can also be applied to other bi-level programming models. Moreover, case studies have been performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method: 1) the proposed method to obtain the closed form of real-time price is verified on a 9-bus system; 2) 118-bus test system with three demand response participants is tested to show that by the proposed method, LSE can benefit from the DRs under various circumstance

QuickDrop: Efficient Federated Unlearning by Integrated Dataset Distillation

Federated Unlearning (FU) aims to delete specific training data from an ML model trained using Federated Learning (FL). We introduce QuickDrop, an efficient and original FU method that utilizes dataset distillation (DD) to accelerate unlearning and drastically reduces computational overhead compared to existing approaches. In QuickDrop, each client uses DD to generate a compact dataset representative of the original training dataset, called a distilled dataset, and uses this compact dataset during unlearning. To unlearn specific knowledge from the global model, QuickDrop has clients execute Stochastic Gradient Ascent with samples from the distilled datasets, thus significantly reducing computational overhead compared to conventional FU methods. We further increase the efficiency of QuickDrop by ingeniously integrating DD into the FL training process. By reusing the gradient updates produced during FL training for DD, the overhead of creating distilled datasets becomes close to negligible. Evaluations on three standard datasets show that, with comparable accuracy guarantees, QuickDrop reduces the duration of unlearning by 463.8x compared to model retraining from scratch and 65.1x compared to existing FU approaches. We also demonstrate the scalability of QuickDrop with 100 clients and show its effectiveness while handling multiple unlearning operations

Ultrafast selective extraction of hot holes from cesium lead iodide perovskite films

Lead halide perovskites have some unique properties which are very promising for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells, LEDs and lasers. One important and expected application of perovskite halide semiconductors is solar cell operation including hot carriers. This advanced solar cell concept allows overcoming the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit, thereby achieving energy conversion efficiency as high as 66% by extracting hot carriers. Understanding ultrafast photoexcited carrier dynamics and extraction in lead halide perovskites is crucial for these applications. Here, we clarify the hot carrier cooling and transfer dynamics in all-inorganic cesium lead iodide (CsPbI3) perovskite using transient absorption spectroscopy and Al2O3, poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and TiO2 as selective contacts. We find that slow hot carrier cooling occurs on a timescale longer than 10 ps in the cases of CsPbI3/Al2O3 and CsPbI3/ TiO2, which is attributed to hot phonon bottleneck for the high photoexcited carrier density. An efficient ultrafast hole transfer from CsPbI3 to the P3HT hole extracting layer is observed. These results suggest that hot holes can be extracted by appropriate selective contacts before energy dissipation into the halide perovskite lattice and that CsPbI3 has a potential for hot carrier solar cell applications

Slow hot carrier cooling in cesium lead iodide perovskites

Lead halide perovskites are attracting a great deal of interest for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells, LEDs, and lasers because of their unique properties. In solar cells, heat dissipation by hot carriers results in a major energy loss channel responsible for the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit. Hot carrier solar cells offer the possibility to overcome this limit and achieve energy conversion efficiency as high as 66% by extracting hot carriers. Therefore, fundamental studies on hot carrier relaxation dynamics in lead halide perovskites are important. Here, we elucidated the hot carrier cooling dynamics in all-inorganic cesium lead iodide (CsPbI3) perovskite using transient absorption spectroscopy. We observe that the hot carrier cooling rate in CsPbI3 decreases as the fluence of the pump light increases and the cooling is as slow as a few 10 ps when the photoexcited carrier density is 7 × 1018 cm−3, which is attributed to phonon bottleneck for high photoexcited carrier densities. Our findings suggest that CsPbI3 has a potential for hot carrier solar cell applications

Recombination Suppression in PbS Quantum Dot Heterojunction Solar Cells by Energy-Level Alignment in the Quantum Dot Active Layers

Using spatial energy-level gradient engineering with quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes to increase the generated carrier collection at the junction of a QD heterojunction solar cell (QDHSC) is a hopeful route for improving the energy-conversion efficiency. However, the results of current related research have shown that a variable band-gap structure in a QDHSC will create an appreciable increase, not in the illumination current density, but rather in the fill factor. In addition, there are a lack of studies on the mechanism of the effect of these graded structures on the photovoltaic performance of QDHSCs. This study presents the development of air atmosphere solution-processed TiO2/PbS QDs/Au QDHSCs by engineering the energy-level alignment (ELA) of the active layer via the use of a sorted order of differently sized QD layers (four QD sizes). In comparison to the ungraded device (without the ELA), the optimized graded architecture (containing the ELA) solar cells exhibited a great increase (21.4%) in short-circuit current density (Jsc). As a result, a Jsc value greater than 30 mA/cm2 has been realized in planar, thinner absorption layer (∼300 nm) PbS QDHSCs, and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and power-conversion efficiency (PCE) were also improved. Through characterization by the light intensity dependences of the Jsc and Voc and transient photovoltage decay, we find that (i) the ELA structure, serving as an electron-blocking layer, reduces the interfacial recombination at the PbS/anode interface, and (ii) the ELA structure can drive more carriers toward the desirable collection electrode, and the additional carriers can fill the trap states, reducing the trap-assisted recombination in the PbS QDHSCs. This work has clearly elucidated the mechanism of the recombination suppression in the graded QDHSCs and demonstrated the effects of ELA structure on the improvement of Jsc. The charge recombination mechanisms characterized in this work would be able to shed light on further improvements of QDHSCs, which could even benefit other types of solar cells

Ultrafast Electron Injection from Photoexcited Perovskite CsPbI3 QDs into TiO2 Nanoparticles with Injection Efficiency near 99%

Photoexcited electron injection dynamics from CsPbI3 quantum dots (QDs) to wide gap metal oxides are studied by transient absorption spectroscopy. Experimental results show under a low excitation intensity that ∼99% of the photoexcited electrons in CsPbI3 QDs can be injected into TiO2 with a size-dependent rate ranging from 1.30 × 1010 to 2.10 × 1010 s–1, which is also ∼2.5 times faster than that in the case of ZnO. A demonstration QD-sensitized solar cell based on a CsPbI3/TiO2 electrode is fabricated that delivers a power conversion efficiency of 5%

Improvement of Photovoltaic Performance of Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells Using Organic Small Molecule as Hole-Selective Layer

A novel organic small molecule bis-triphenylamine with spiro(fluorene-9,9′-xanthene) as the conjugated system, named BTPA-4, is successfully synthesized and employed as the hole-selective layer (HSL) in colloidal quantum dots solar cells (CQDSCs). The introduction of BTPA-4 layer can significantly prolong effective carrier lifetime (τeff), increase charge recombination resistance (Rrec), and thus diminish the interfacial charge recombination at the PbS-QDs/Au electrode interface. The effect of BTPA-4 as HSL in the device performance is especially significant for the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE), with a ∼ 10% and 15% enhancement respectively, comparing with those of device without the HSL. Furthermore, the PbS CQDSCs with BTPA-4 possessed a noticeably stable property for over 100 days of storage under ambient atmosphere

Highly Luminescent Phase-Stable CsPbI3 Perovskite Quantum Dots Achieving Near 100% Absolute Photoluminescence Quantum Yield

Perovskite quantum dots (QDs) as a new type of colloidal nanocrystals have gained significant attention for both fundamental research and commercial applications owing to their appealing optoelectronic properties and excellent chemical processability. For their wide range of potential applications, synthesizing colloidal QDs with high crystal quality is of crucial importance. However, like most common QD systems such as CdSe and PbS, those reported perovskite QDs still suffer from a certain density of trapping defects, giving rise to detrimental nonradiative recombination centers and thus quenching luminescence. In this paper, we show that a high room-temperature photoluminescence quantum yield of up to 100% can be obtained in CsPbI3 perovskite QDs, signifying the achievement of almost complete elimination of the trapping defects. This is realized with our improved synthetic protocol that involves introducing organolead compound trioctylphosphine–PbI2 (TOP–PbI2) as the reactive precursor, which also leads to a significantly improved stability for the resulting CsPbI3 QD solutions. Ultrafast kinetic analysis with time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy evidence the negligible electron or hole-trapping pathways in our QDs, which explains such a high quantum efficiency. We expect the successful synthesis of the “ideal” perovskite QDs will exert profound influence on their applications to both QD-based light-harvesting and -emitting devices

Colloidal Synthesis of Air-Stable Alloyed CsSn1–xPbxI3 Perovskite Nanocrystals for Use in Solar Cells

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated unprecedented high power conversion efficiencies in the past few years. Now, the universal instability of the perovskites has become the main barrier for this kind of solar cells to realize commercialization. This situation can be even worse for those tin-based perovskites, especially for CsSnI3, because upon exposure to ambient atmosphere the desired black orthorhombic phase CsSnI3 would promptly lose single crystallinity and degrade to the inactive yellow phase, followed by irreversible oxidation into metallic Cs2SnI6. By alloying CsSnI3 with CsPbI3, we herein report the synthesis of alloyed perovskite quantum dot (QD), CsSn1–xPbxI3, which not only can be phase-stable for months in purified colloidal solution but also remains intact even directly exposed to ambient air, far superior to both of its parent CsSnI3 and CsPbI3 QDs. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy studies reveal that the photoexcited electrons in the alloyed QDs can be injected into TiO2 nanocrystals at a fast rate of 1.12 × 1011 s–1, which enables a high photocurrent generation in solar cells