3MPower Evidence Café 1: Report

3MPower will generate evidence on technology use for Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular focus on children’s foundation numeracy skills in schools serving marginalised, low-income, rural communities. 3Mpower will study the use of numeracy TPD courses on Muktopaath - a government-led e-Learning platform used by over 400,000 teachers in Bangladesh - to answer the question “How are primary numeracy teachers using mobile learning for teacher development in rural schools and in what ways does this change learning and teaching?” 3MPower will generate evidence about the validity of every step linking teachers’ use of mobile learning to improved student learning outcomes, through at-scale mixed methods research. 3MPower includes four process evaluation studies and two quasi-experimental impact evaluation studies with 240 teachers and 3,600 learners. Qualitative methods include Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research (PEER) exploring rural teachers’ experiences of accessing CPD with technology and the practical application CPD to teaching and learning. Throughout the research, 3MPower will engage a broad range of national stakeholders including government policymakers, policy implementers, teacher educators, rural education officers, and rural teachers. Stakeholders will participate in an iterative series of knowledge exchange activities, beginning with co-design and continuing throughout, through a series of Evidence Cafes. to make sense of the emerging evidence, refine the research approach, and identify implications and recommendations for policy and practice. 3MPower findings will address significant gaps in global evidence on the use of technology for teacher development in marginalised schools, the role of communities of practice, and the impacts at-scale on teaching quality and learning outcomes

Novel energy bandgap formation of organic solution doped graphene membrane for semiconductor applications

In this work, the electrolyte nano fibrous solution is prepared using corn husk through a chemical process. This study explores the new aspect of producing sizeable and tunable bandgap in graphene by doping organic nanoporous solution as a membrane. The energy bandgap of organic doped graphene membrane varies from 2.313 eV to 2.502 eV.  It is noted that the organic nanoporous solution as a membrane also has a bandgap under with (2.665 eV) and without PVA (3.761 eV).  The membrane is produced by the phase inversion process. The incorporation of graphene in green solution also exhibits conductive properties like organic nanoporous solution which in terns used as electrolytes to produce electricity. It is the first successful attempt to create a direct graphene bandgap with organic doping but it still requires more research for a better understanding of the properties for future applications. This concept can also be used where bandgap is a very concerning issue. The physical properties of with and without a graphene-based organic membrane are examined by Scanning Electron Microscope Test (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Test (FTIR), and Ultra Violate Test (UV). Sample 4 has a superior surface morphology, which means the particle dispersion is more homogeneous than the others. There are porosities in all the samples

Evidence Café 2: Report

This report describes an evidence café held with key stakeholders in Bangladesh as part of the 3MPower project, a collaboration between the Open University and the University of Dhaka. 3MPower is generating evidence on technology use for Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular focus on children’s foundation numeracy skills in schools serving marginalised, low-income, rural communities

Synthesis and characterization of novel banana-graphene nanofibrous membrane from viscous liquid for bandgap formation

Organic semiconductors with wide bandgaps have potential applications in organic light-emitting diode displays, organic photovoltaic devices, organic field-effect transistors and solar cells. However, organic semiconductors are not good conductors of electricity. This study synthesizes the banana-graphene nanofibrous membrane using an electric spin process to form a tunable bandgap to enhance conductivity. The chemical process was followed to prepare liquid viscous from banana stalks. Different percentages of graphene (1.2 wt.%, 2.4 wt.% and 3.6 wt.%) were used with the liquid viscous to form sizeable and tunable bandgaps in the composites and enhance the conductivity of the materials. The results showed 5.67 %, 24.5 %, and 27.8 % lower bandgap for 1.2 wt.%, 2.4 %, and 3.6 wt.% graphene-contained samples, respectively, as compared to the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) viscous fibre (3.35 eV). With the addition of graphene with PVA viscous fibre, the properties of electrospun nanofibrous graphene were changed from insulator to semiconductor. The band gap property was controlled by incorporating graphene with various percentages. The morphology of the surfaces showed that nanofibers are bonded with each other, and graphene nanoparticles are uniformly distributed. The results of this work can be considered to further progress in manufacturing nanocomposites for organic semiconductor applications