Electronic structure and surface properties of copper thiocyanate: a promising hole transport material for organic photovoltaic cells

Considering the significance of hexagonal copper thiocyanate (β-CuSCN) in several optoelectronic technologies and applications, it is essential to investigate its electronic structure and surface properties. Herein, we have employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to characterise the band structure, density of states, and the energy-dependent X-ray photoelectron (XPS) valence band spectra at variable excitation energies of β-CuSCN. The surface properties in the absence and presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a solvent additive for improving perovskite solar cells’ power conversion efficiency, have also been systematically characterised. β-CuSCN is shown to be an indirect band gap material (Eg = 3.68 eV) with the valence band edge demonstrated to change from being dominated by Cu-3d at soft X-ray ionisation photon energies to Cu-3p at hard X-ray ionisation photon energies. The adsorption energy of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the (100) and (110) β-CuSCN surfaces is calculated at −1.12 and −0.91 eV, respectively. The presence of DMSO on the surface is shown to have a stabilisation effect, lowering the surface energy and tuning the work function of the β-CuSCN surfaces, which is desirable for organic solar cells to achieve high power conversion efficiencies. View Full-Text Keywords: copper thiocyanate (CuSCN); hole transport layer (HTL); dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO); electronic structure; XPS valence band spectra; work function; density functional theory (DFT

Visual versus verbal contents at the title pages of czech weekly magazines

The thesis is concerned in the relationship between the words and images. It tries to describe a several relevant approaches of semiothics and it concerns in the basis princip of the method of history of art, iconography. Both of this methodolical approaches then tries to put together and it shows their cohesion and indiscerptibility through the new term of semiography. This methodological approach is apply on the five chosen title pages of major czech magazines. The teoretical results and evan the results of empirical analyses try to be use in the discursus of visual culture/ visual studies. The new scientific platform for understanding images as an integral part of our everyday lives