Highly efficient ultrathin plasmonic insulator-metal-insulator-metal solar cell

Nano-porous ultrathin plasmonic insulator-metal-insulator-metal (IMIM) solar cell with high power conversion efficiency up to 7% in broad wavelength range from 300 to 750 nm was theoretically studied. The proposed IMIM design allows to choose various bottom insulators with desired barrier height of metal-insulator interface due to independence of the total absorbance on the bottom insulator. IMIM structure shows 73.8% difference in the average absorbance between the top and bottom metal layers with 1-nm bottom insulator. Moreover, the incident light decreases the absorbance negligibly up to 35 degrees for both TE and TM modes and by 17.5% at 70 degrees. Furthermore, the absorption between TE and TM modes differs by less than 5%, which indicates the structure as polarization independent. Our results indicate IMIM design benefit in plasmonic solar cells demanding low thickness, flexibility, low-cost, and polarization independence. Moreover, this structure can be implemented for integrated optical circuits as well as for solar thermoelectric generator

Optoelectronic performance of AgNW transparent conductive films with different width-to-height ratios and a figure of merit embodying an optical haze

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) based on rectangularly shaped silver nanowires (AgNWs) with different width-to-height ratios were theoretically studied. We show that tall AgNWs (height > width) possess higher transmittance and lower sheet resistance compared to other configurations of AgNWs. Moreover, tall AgNWs possesses significantly higher optical haze, which makes them a transparent conductor of choice for thin solar cell applications. For applications requiring low haze such as displays and touch screens, we propose an updated figure of merit embodying transmittance, sheet resistance and haze, allowing tuning width-to-height ratio to achieve a reasonable AgNW TCF performance trade-off. Obtained results offer a means for deeper analysis of AgNW properties for many optoelectronic applications

Effect of silver nanowire length in a broad range on optical and electrical properties as a transparent conductive film

Optical and electrical properties of silver nanowire transparent conductive films with a broad range of nanowire lengths were studied. A proposed simulation model demonstrated similar behavior with experimental results for 30 and 90 μm nanowires, and thus it was used to expand the range of nanowire lengths from 10 to 200 μm. Theoretical results show that a lengthening of silver nanowires results in an increase of their optoelectronic performance; 200 μm long nanowire possess 13.5 times lower sheet resistance compared to 10 μm ones, while the transmittance remains similar for coverage densities of nanowires up to 25%. Moreover, the dependence of the sheet resistance on the length of nanowires changes non-linearly; from 10 to 20 µm, 20 to 80 µm and 80 to 200 µm the sheet resistance drops by a factor of 5, 2.25 and 1.2 respectively. Furthermore, a thickening of nanowire diameters from 30 to 90 nm decreases the sheet resistance to 5.8 times. Obtained results allow a deeper analysis of the silver nanowire transparent conductive films from the perspective of the length of nanowires for various optoelectronic applications

57Co Production using RbCl/RbCl/58Ni Target Stacks at the Los Alamos Isotope Production Facility: LA-UR-14-22122

Introduction The Los Alamos Isotope Production Program commonly irradiates target stacks consisting of high, medium and low-energy targets in the “A-”, “B-”, and “C-slots”, respectively, with a 100MeV proton beam. The Program has recently considered the production of 57Co (t1/2 = 271.74 d, 100% EC) from 58Ni using the low-energy posi-tion of the Isotope Production Facility, down-stream of two RbCl salt targets. Initial MCNPX/ CINDER’90 studies predicted 57Co radioisotopic purities >90% depending on time allotted for decay. But these studies do not account for broadening of the proton beam’s energy distribution caused by density changes in molten, potentially boiling RbCl targets upstream of the 58Ni (see e.g., [1]). During a typical production with 230 µA average proton intensity, the RbCl targets’ temperature is expected to produce beam energy changes of several MeV and commensurate effects on the yield and purity of any radioisotope irradiated in the low-energy posi-tion of the target stack. An experiment was designed to investigate both the potential for 57Co’s large-scale production and the 2-dimensional proton beam energy distribution. Material and Methods Two aluminum targets holders were fabricated to each contain 31 58Ni discs (99.48%, Isoflex, CA), 4.76 mm (Φ) x 0.127 mm (thickness). Each foil was indexed with a unique cut pattern by EDM with a 0.254 mm brass wire to allow their position in the target to be tracked through hot cell disassembly and assay (see FIG. 1). Brass residue from EDM was removed with HNO3/HCl solution. The holders’ front windows were 2.87 and 1.37 mm thick, corresponding to predicted average incident energies of 17.9 and 24.8 MeV on the Ni [2]. Each target was irradiated with protons for 1 h with an average beam current of 218 ± 3 µA to ensure an upstream RbCl target temperature and density that would mimic routine production. Following irradiation, targets were disassembled and each disc was assayed by HPGe γ-spectroscopy. Residuals 56Co (t1/2 = 77.2 d, 100% EC) and 57Co have inversely varying measured nuclear formation cross sections between approximately 15 and 40 MeV. Results and Conclusion Distributions of 56,57,58,60Co were tracked as described in both irradiated targets. The distribution of activities matched expectations, with radioisotopes produced by proton interactions with the 58Ni target (56Co and 57Co) concentrated in the area struck by IPF’s rastered, annulus-shaped proton beam, and the distribution of radioisotopes produced by neutron-induced reactions (58Co and 60Co) relatively uniform across all irradiated foils. The potential range of such temperature variations predicted by thermal modeling (approx. ± 200 °C) corre-sponds to a density variation of nearly 0.2 g.cm−3, and a change in the average energy of protons incident on the low-energy “C-slot” of approximately 5 MeV, well-matched to the indi-rectly measured energy variation plotted in FIG. 3. No energy distribution in the plane per-pendicular to the beam axis has previously been assumed in the design of IPF targets. The effective incident energy measured by yields of 57Co and 56Co is, however, almost 5 MeV higher than those predicted using Anderson and Ziegler’s well-known formalism [2]. This discrepancy is supported by previous reports [3] and likely exacerbated compared to these reports by the large magnitude of energy degradation (from 100 MeV down to 30 MeV) in the IPF target stack. For more detailed discussion, refer to Marus et al.’s abstract, also reported at this meeting. While the experiments reported do confirm the potential for many Ci-scale yields of 57Co from months-long irradiations at the IPF, the level radioisotopic impurities 56Co and 58Co are concerning. Commercial radioisotope producers using U-150 (23 MeV) and RIC-14 (14 MeV) cyclotrons in Obninsk, Russia specify 56/58Co activities at levels <0.2% of available 57C

Silver nanowires as transparent conductive films in the near-infrared spectral range

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) comprise a crucial component of optoelectronic devices, such as displays, light-emitting diodes, solar cells and touch screens. Indium tin oxide (ITO) currently dominates among TCFs in the visible spectral range due to the high transmittance at low resistivity. However, the remarkable decrease of the transmittance in the near-infrared range (NIR) restricts from using ITO as highly efficient NIR TCF. Here we show that silver nanowires (AgNWs) possesses up to 95% transmittance for whole 0.75-2.5|jm near-infrared spectral range

Production entomological preparation of trichogramma

The biotechnological process of production entomological preparation of Trichogramma consists of operations which touch the owner of Trichogramma: preparation and infection of grain; moistening of grain and interfusion; load it in boxing; receipt of butterflies and eggs of corn moth; cleaning and storage of eggs of corn moth; utilization of wastes of production and operations, which execute at breeding of Trichogramma: dropping of eggs of corn moth in the bottles; infection it by Trichogramma; collection and cleaning of infected eggs; determination of high-quality indexes of preparation and his storage. Using a contemporary methods of determination of optimum construction technological parameters of calibrator will allow to promote the high-quality indexes of preparation of entomologist of Trichogramma

Parameters of Pneumatic Calibrator of Grain Moth Eggs for Trichogramma Production

The aim of the work is to increase the efficiency of the biotechnological process of Trichogramma production by improving the pneumatic calibrator of grain moth eggs. The trajectory of grain moth eggs movement in horizontal air flow of the pneumatic calibrator, taking into account the equivalent diameter, as well as the initial velocity, is determined. The size and location of containers, height of the separation chamber and valve, and air flow velocity in the calibrator are substantiated. The obtained analytical dependencies allow us to determine the height of vertical channel of the stabilizing nozzle depending on the initial conditions of movement and the equivalent diameter of an egg. The hovering rate of grain moth eggs and conglomerates (depending on the number of eggs in them) is experimentally determined. Optimal values of the structural and technological parameters of the improved pneumatic calibrator (air flow velocity 3.8 m s−1, height of separation chamber 198–199 mm, valve height 26–27 mm) are determined on the basis of the experimental design planning methodology. The probability of selecting large eggs is increasing by 31%

Optoelectronic performance optimization for transparent conductive layers based on randomly arranged silver nanorods

Optoelectronic performance of transparent conductive layers (TCLs) based on randomly arranged silver (Ag) nanorods (NRs) is simulated. Models for calculation of optical and electronic properties were proposed founded on finite-difference time-domain method and percolation theory respectively. Obtained simulation results are well conformed to experimental data. The influence of angle deviation of NR crossings on the transmittance and sheet resistance are demonstrated. The balance between transmittance and sheet resistance which can be easily set by varying the combinations of NR radius and NR number is shown. Our results demonstrate that randomly arranged Ag layers are promising candidates for flexible TCLs

Theoretical comparison of optical and electronic properties of uniformle and randomly arranged nano-porous ultra-thin layers

The theoretical comparison of optical and electronic properties of aluminum and silver nano-porous ultra-thin layers in terms of the arrangement and size of the pores was presented. The uniform nano-porous layers exhibit a slightly higher average transmittance (up to 10%) in the wavelength range of the plasmonic response in comparison to the randomly arranged ones. Compared to uniform nano-porous layers, a much larger sheet resistance (up to 12 times) for random nano-porous layers is observed. The uniform and random Ag nano-porous layers possessing the strong plasmonic response over whole visible range can reach an average transmittance of 90 and 80% at the sheet resistance of 10 and 20 Ohm/sq, respectively, which is comparable to widely used ITO electrodes

Transparent conductive nanoporous aluminium mesh prepared by electrochemical anodizing

A non‐lithographic method for the fabrication of the transparent conductive nanoporous aluminium (Al) mesh is presented. The electrochemical anodizing of Al layer deposited on the glass substrate was used to obtain the mesh. The average transmittance of 10–60% in 400–800 nm wavelength range and the sheet resistance of 10–1000 Ω sq−1 have been obtained for Al mesh with disordered pores arrangement. It was found that transmittance of uniformly arranged porous mesh is increased up to 80–90% with the conductivity range of 25–100 Ω sq−1. Our results demonstrate porous Al mesh as a strong candidate of low‐cost transparent conductive electrode, especially for flexible electronics