59 research outputs found
Atomistic Understanding of the Coherent Interface Between Lead Iodide Perovskite and Lead Iodide
Abstract Metal halide perovskite semiconductors have shown great performance in solar cells, and including an excess of lead iodide (PbI2) in the thin films, either as mesoscopic particles or embedded domains, often leads to improved solar cell performance. Atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscope micrographs of formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) perovskite films reveal the FAPbI3:PbI2 interface to be remarkably coherent. It is demonstrated that such interface coherence is achieved by the PbI2 deviating from its common 2H hexagonal phase to form a trigonal 3R polytype through minor shifts in the stacking of the weakly van-der-Waals-bonded layers containing the near-octahedral units. The exact crystallographic interfacial relationship and lattice misfit are revealed. It is further shown that this 3R polytype of PbI2 has similar X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks to that of the perovskite, making XRD-based quantification of the presence of PbI2 unreliable. Density functional theory demonstrates that this interface does not introduce additional electronic states in the bandgap, making it electronically benign. These findings explain why a slight PbI2 excess during perovskite film growth can help template perovskite crystal growth and passivate interfacial defects, improving solar cell performance
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A Highly Emissive Surface Layer in Mixed-Halide Multication Perovskites.
Mixed-halide lead perovskites have attracted significant attention in the field of photovoltaics and other optoelectronic applications due to their promising bandgap tunability and device performance. Here, the changes in photoluminescence and photoconductance of solution-processed triple-cation mixed-halide (Cs0.06 MA0.15 FA0.79 )Pb(Br0.4 I0.6 )3 perovskite films (MA: methylammonium, FA: formamidinium) are studied under solar-equivalent illumination. It is found that the illumination leads to localized surface sites of iodide-rich perovskite intermixed with passivating PbI2 material. Time- and spectrally resolved photoluminescence measurements reveal that photoexcited charges efficiently transfer to the passivated iodide-rich perovskite surface layer, leading to high local carrier densities on these sites. The carriers on this surface layer therefore recombine with a high radiative efficiency, with the photoluminescence quantum efficiency of the film under solar excitation densities increasing from 3% to over 45%. At higher excitation densities, nonradiative Auger recombination starts to dominate due to the extremely high concentration of charges on the surface layer. This work reveals new insight into phase segregation of mixed-halide mixed-cation perovskites, as well as routes to highly luminescent films by controlling charge density and transfer in novel device structures
TESLA Technical Design Report Part III: Physics at an e+e- Linear Collider
The TESLA Technical Design Report Part III: Physics at an e+e- Linear
ColliderComment: 192 pages, 131 figures. Some figures have reduced quality. Full
quality figures can be obtained from http://tesla.desy.de/tdr. Editors -
R.-D. Heuer, D.J. Miller, F. Richard, P.M. Zerwa
The future of botanical monography : report from an international workshop, 12–16 March 2012, Smolenice, Slovak Republic
Monographs are fundamental for progress in systematic botany. They are the vehicles for circumscribing and naming
taxa, determining distributions and ecology, assessing relationships for formal classification, and interpreting long-term and
short-term dimensions of the evolutionary process. Despite their importance, fewer monographs are now being prepared by the
newer generation of systematic botanists, who are understandably involved principally with DNA data and analysis, especially
for answering phylogenetic, biogeographic, and population genetic questions. As monographs provide hypotheses regarding
species boundaries and plant relationships, new insights in many plant groups are urgently needed. Increasing pressures on
biodiversity, especially in tropical and developing regions of the world, emphasize this point. The results from a workshop (with
21 participants) reaffirm the central role that monographs play in systematic botany. But, rather than advocating abbreviated
models for monographic products, we recommend a full presentation of relevant information. Electronic publication offers
numerous means of illustration of taxa, habitats, characters, and statistical and phylogenetic analyses, which previously would
have been prohibitively costly. Open Access and semantically enhanced linked electronic publications provide instant access
to content from anywhere in the world, and at the same time link this content to all underlying data and digital resources used
in the work. Resources in support of monography, especially databases and widely and easily accessible digital literature
and specimens, are now more powerful than ever before, but interfacing and interoperability of databases are much needed.
Priorities for new resources to be developed include an index of type collections and an online global chromosome database.
Funding for sabbaticals for monographers to work uninterrupted on major projects is strongly encouraged. We recommend
that doctoral students be assigned smaller genera, or natural portions of larger ones (subgenera, sections, etc.), to gain the necessary expertise for producing a monograph, including training in a broad array of data collection (e.g., morphology, anatomy,
palynology, cytogenetics, DNA techniques, ecology, biogeography), data analysis (e.g., statistics, phylogenetics, models), and
nomenclature. Training programs, supported by institutes, associations, and agencies, provide means for passing on procedures
and perspectives of challenging botanical monography to the next generation of young systematists.Appreciation is expressed to: the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
for financial support that allowed the workshop to be convened; the
International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) for additional
financial support for the workshop.http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/iapt/s_taxon.phpam201
The future of botanical monography : report from an international workshop, 12–16 March 2012, Smolenice, Slovak Republic
Monographs are fundamental for progress in systematic botany. They are the vehicles for circumscribing and naming
taxa, determining distributions and ecology, assessing relationships for formal classification, and interpreting long-term and
short-term dimensions of the evolutionary process. Despite their importance, fewer monographs are now being prepared by the
newer generation of systematic botanists, who are understandably involved principally with DNA data and analysis, especially
for answering phylogenetic, biogeographic, and population genetic questions. As monographs provide hypotheses regarding
species boundaries and plant relationships, new insights in many plant groups are urgently needed. Increasing pressures on
biodiversity, especially in tropical and developing regions of the world, emphasize this point. The results from a workshop (with
21 participants) reaffirm the central role that monographs play in systematic botany. But, rather than advocating abbreviated
models for monographic products, we recommend a full presentation of relevant information. Electronic publication offers
numerous means of illustration of taxa, habitats, characters, and statistical and phylogenetic analyses, which previously would
have been prohibitively costly. Open Access and semantically enhanced linked electronic publications provide instant access
to content from anywhere in the world, and at the same time link this content to all underlying data and digital resources used
in the work. Resources in support of monography, especially databases and widely and easily accessible digital literature
and specimens, are now more powerful than ever before, but interfacing and interoperability of databases are much needed.
Priorities for new resources to be developed include an index of type collections and an online global chromosome database.
Funding for sabbaticals for monographers to work uninterrupted on major projects is strongly encouraged. We recommend
that doctoral students be assigned smaller genera, or natural portions of larger ones (subgenera, sections, etc.), to gain the necessary expertise for producing a monograph, including training in a broad array of data collection (e.g., morphology, anatomy,
palynology, cytogenetics, DNA techniques, ecology, biogeography), data analysis (e.g., statistics, phylogenetics, models), and
nomenclature. Training programs, supported by institutes, associations, and agencies, provide means for passing on procedures
and perspectives of challenging botanical monography to the next generation of young systematists.Appreciation is expressed to: the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
for financial support that allowed the workshop to be convened; the
International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) for additional
financial support for the workshop.http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/iapt/s_taxon.phpam201
The Muon g-2
The muon anomalous magnetic moment is one of the most precisely measured
quantities in particle physics. In a recent experiment at Brookhaven it has
been measured with a remarkable 14-fold improvement of the previous CERN
experiment reaching a precision of 0.54ppm. Since the first results were
published, a persisting "discrepancy" between theory and experiment of about 3
standard deviations is observed. It is the largest "established" deviation from
the Standard Model seen in a "clean" electroweak observable and thus could be a
hint for New Physics to be around the corner. This deviation triggered numerous
speculations about the possible origin of the "missing piece" and the increased
experimental precision animated a multitude of new theoretical efforts which
lead to a substantial improvement of the prediction of the muon anomaly
a_mu=(g_mu-2)/2. The dominating uncertainty of the prediction, caused by strong
interaction effects, could be reduced substantially, due to new hadronic cross
section measurements in electron-positron annihilation at low energies. Also
the recent electron g-2 measurement at Harvard contributes substantially to the
progress in this field, as it allows for a much more precise determination of
the fine structure constant alpha as well as a cross check of the status of our
theoretical understanding.Comment: 134 pages, 68 figure
Controlling intrinsic quantum confinement in formamidinium lead triiodide perovskite through Cs substitution
Lead halide perovskites are leading candidates for photovoltaic and light-emitting devices, owing to their excellent and widely tunable optoelectronic properties. Nanostructure control has been central to their development, allowing for improvements in efficiency and stability, and changes in electronic dimensionality. Recently, formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3) has been shown to exhibit intrinsic quantum confinement effects in nominally bulk thin films, apparent through above-bandgap absorption peaks. Here, we show that such nanoscale electronic effects can be controlled through partial replacement of the FA cation with Cs. We find that Cs-cation exchange causes a weakening of quantum confinement in the perovskite, arising from changes in the bandstructure, the length scale of confinement, or the presence of δH-phase electronic barriers. We further observe photon emission from quantum-confined regions, highlighting their potential usefulness to light-emitting devices and single-photon sources. Overall, controlling this intriguing quantum phenomenon will allow for its suppression or enhancement according to need
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