397 research outputs found
The balancing act between high electronic and low ionic transport influenced by perovskite grain boundaries
\ua9 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.A better understanding of the materials\u27 fundamental physical processes is necessary to push hybrid perovskite photovoltaic devices towards their theoretical limits. The role of the perovskite grain boundaries is essential to optimise the system thoroughly. The influence of the perovskite grain size and crystal orientation on physical properties and their resulting photovoltaic performance is examined. We develop a novel, straightforward synthesis approach that yields crystals of a similar size but allows the tuning of their orientation to either the (200) or (002) facet alignment parallel to the substrate by manipulating dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and tetrahydrothiophene-1-oxide (THTO) ratios. This decouples crystal orientation from grain size, allowing the study of charge carrier mobility, found to be improved with larger grain sizes, highlighting the importance of minimising crystal disorder to achieve efficient devices. However, devices incorporating crystals with the (200) facet exhibit an s-shape in the current density-voltage curve when standard scan rates are used, which typically signals an energetic interfacial barrier. Using the drift-diffusion simulations, we attribute this to slower-moving ions (mobility of 0.37
7 10-10 cm2 V-1 s-1) in combination with a lower density of mobile ions. This counterintuitive result highlights that reducing ion migration does not necessarily minimise hysteresis
Efficient photogeneration of charge carriers in silicon nanowires with a radial doping gradient
From electrodeless time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements, the
efficiency of charge carrier generation, their mobility, and decay kinetics on
photo-excitation were studied in arrays of Si nanowires grown by the
vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. A large enhancement in the magnitude of the
photoconductance and charge carrier lifetime are found depending on the
incorporation of impurities during the growth. They are explained by the
internal electric field that builds up, due to a higher doped sidewalls, as
revealed by detailed analysis of the nanowire morphology and chemical
composition
Reversible and Irreversible Interactions of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) with Oxygen Studied by Spin-Sensitive Methods
Understanding of degradation mechanisms in polymer:fullerene
bulk-heterojunctions on the microscopic level aimed at improving their
intrinsic stability is crucial for the breakthrough of organic photovoltaics.
These materials are vulnerable to exposure to light and/or oxygen, hence they
involve electronic excitations. To unambiguously probe the excited states of
various multiplicities and their reactions with oxygen, we applied combined
magneto-optical methods based on multifrequency (9 and 275 GHz) electron
paramagnetic resonance (EPR), photoluminescence (PL), and PL-detected magnetic
resonance (PLDMR) to the conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and
polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunctions (P3HT:PCBM; PCBM =
[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester). We identified two distinct
photochemical reaction routes, one being fully reversible and related to the
formation of polymer:oxygen charge transfer complexes, the other one,
irreversible, being related to the formation of singlet oxygen under
participation of bound triplet excitons on the polymer chain. With respect to
the blends, we discuss the protective effect of the methanofullerenes on the
conjugated polymer bypassing the triplet exciton generation
Climate and southern Africa's water-energy-food nexus
In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water-energy-food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and Gross Domestic Product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose; the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool, and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water
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