Porous Tin Oxide Nanosheets with Enhanced Conversion Efficiency as Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Electrode

In this study, porous SnO₂ nanosheets composed of SnO₂ nanoparticles were prepared by calcining SnS₂ nanosheets. The SnO₂ nanoparticles have an average diameter of 15–20 nm and porous SnO₂ nanosheets have a large specific surface area of 37.39 m²/g. As photoanodes, the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs) based on porous SnO₂ nanosheets show a superior power conversion efficiency of 0.562%, improved by 134.2% compared to pure SnO₂ nanoplate (0.240%). The efficiency improvement could be attributed to the unique porous architecture, which provides efficient electron channels and excellent ability of light scattering

The enhanced x-ray timing and polarimetry mission – eXTP: an update on its scientific cases, mission profile and development status

The enhanced x-ray timing and polarimetry mission (eXTP) is a flagship observatory for x-ray timing, spectroscopy and polarimetry developed by an international consortium. Thanks to its very large collecting area, good spectral resolution and unprecedented polarimetry capabilities, eXTP will explore the properties of matter and the propagation of light in the most extreme conditions found in the universe. eXTP will, in addition, be a powerful x-ray observatory. The mission will continuously monitor the x-ray sky, and will enable multi-wavelength and multi-messenger studies. The mission is currently in phase B, which will be completed in the middle of 2022