998 research outputs found
Porosity-enhanced solar powered hydrogen generation in GaN photoelectrodes
Two types of GaN based photoelectrodes using either horizontally aligned or vertically aligned
nanopores have been fabricated by means of using an electrochemical etching approach. The
photoelectrodes based on such nanostructures have demonstrated an up to 5-fold enhancement in
applied bias photon-to-current efficiency and incident photon-to-current efficiency in comparison
with their planar counterpart, leading to a high Faradaic conversion efficiency which approaches 1.
The GaN photoelectrodes with these nanopores also show excellent chemical stability in HBr solution
as an electrolyte. The results presented reveal that the gas diffusion in the nanopores plays an
important role in water splitting processes, which should be taken into account when designing a
GaN photoelectrode with a nanopore structur
GaN nano-pyramid arrays as an efficient photoelectrode for solar water splitting.
A prototype photoelectrode has been fabricated using a GaN nano-pyramid array structure grown on a cost-effective Si (111) substrate, demonstrating a significant improvement in performance of solar-powered water splitting compared with any planar GaN photoelectrode. Such a nano-pyramid structure leads to enhanced optical absorption as a result of a multi-scattering process which can effectively produce a reduction in reflectance. A simulation based on a finite-difference time-domain approach indicates that the nano-pyramid architecture enables incident light to be concentrated within the nano-pyramids as a result of micro-cavity effects, further enhancing optical absorption. Furthermore, the shape of the nano-pyramid further facilitates the photo-generated carrier transportation by enhancing a hole-transfer efficiency. All these features as a result of the nano-pyramid configuration lead to a large photocurrent of 1 mA cm(-2) under an illumination density of 200 mW cm(-2), with a peak incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 46.5% at ∼365 nm, around the band edge emission wavelength of GaN. The results presented are expected to pave the way for the fabrication of GaN based photoelectrodes with a high energy conversion efficiency of solar powered water splitting
Combined effect of rapid nitriding and plastic deformation on the surface strength, toughness and wear resistance of steel 38CrMoAlA
A controlled experiment on yarn hairiness and fabric pilling
This study focused on the hairiness of worsted wool yarns and how it affects the pilling propensity of knitted wool fabrics. Conventional worsted ring spun yarns were compared with comparable SolospunTM yarns and yarns modified with a hairiness reducing air nozzle in the winding process (JetWind). Measurements of yarn hairiness (S3) on the Zweigle G565 hairiness meter showed a reduction in the S3 value of approximately 46% was achieved using SolospunTM ring spinning attachment and a 33% reduction was achieved using the JetWind process. Interestingly, subsequent evaluation of the pilling performance of fabrics made from the SolospunTM spun yarn and JetWind modified yarn showed a half grade and full grade improvement, respectively over a similar fabric made from conventional ring spun yarns. This result suggested that a relatively large reduction in yarn hairiness was needed to achieve a moderate improvement in fabric pilling, and that the nature of yarn hairiness was also a key factor in influencing fabric pilling propensity. It is postulated that the wrapping of surface hairs by the air vortex in the JetWind process may limit the ability of those surface fibers to form fuzz and reach the critical height required for pill formation. <br /
Nernst effect of iron pnictide and cuprate superconductors: signatures of spin density wave and stripe order
The Nernst effect has recently proven a sensitive probe for detecting unusual
normal state properties of unconventional superconductors. In particular, it
may sensitively detect Fermi surface reconstructions which are connected to a
charge or spin density wave (SDW) ordered state, and even fluctuating forms of
such a state. Here we summarize recent results for the Nernst effect of the
iron pnictide superconductor , whose ground state evolves
upon doping from an itinerant SDW to a superconducting state, and the cuprate
superconductor which exhibits static stripe
order as a ground state competing with the superconductivity. In , the SDW order leads to a huge Nernst response, which allows
to detect even fluctuating SDW precursors at superconducting doping levels
where long range SDW order is suppressed. This is in contrast to the impact of
stripe order on the normal state Nernst effect in . Here, though signatures of the stripe order are
detectable in the temperature dependence of the Nernst coefficient, its overall
temperature dependence is very similar to that of ,
where stripe order is absent. The anomalies which are induced by the stripe
order are very subtle and the enhancement of the Nernst response due to static
stripe order in as compared to that of the
pseudogap phase in , if any, is very small.Comment: To appear in: 'Properties and applications of thermoelectric
materials - II', V. Zlatic and A. Hewson, editors, Proceedings of NATO
Advanced Research Workshop, Hvar, Croatia, September 19 -25, 2011, NATO
Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics, (Springer
Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Multiple superconducting gap and anisotropic spin fluctuations in iron arsenides: Comparison with nickel analog
We present extensive 75As NMR and NQR data on the superconducting arsenides
PrFeAs0.89F0.11 (Tc=45 K), LaFeAsO0.92F0.08 (Tc=27 K), LiFeAs (Tc = 17 K) and
Ba0.72K0.28Fe2As2 (Tc = 31.5 K) single crystal, and compare with the nickel
analog LaNiAsO0.9F0.1 (Tc=4.0 K) . In contrast to LaNiAsO0.9F0.1 where the
superconducting gap is shown to be isotropic, the spin lattice relaxation rate
1/T1 in the Fe-arsenides decreases below Tc with no coherence peak and shows a
step-wise variation at low temperatures. The Knight shift decreases below Tc
and shows a step-wise T variation as well. These results indicate spinsinglet
superconductivity with multiple gaps in the Fe-arsenides. The Fe
antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are anisotropic and weaker compared to
underdoped copper-oxides or cobalt-oxide superconductors, while there is no
significant electron correlations in LaNiAsO0.9F0.1. We will discuss the
implications of these results and highlight the importance of the Fermi surface
topology.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figure
Nernst Effect in Electron-Doped PrCeCuO
The Nernst effect of PrCeCuO (x=0.13, 0.15, and 0.17) has
been measured on thin film samples between 5-120 K and 0-14 T. In comparison to
recent measurements on hole-doped cuprates that showed an anomalously large
Nernst effect above the resistive T and H
\cite{xu,wang1,wang2,capan}, we find a normal Nernst effect above T and
H for all dopings. The lack of an anomalous Nernst effect in the
electron-doped compounds supports the models that explain this effect in terms
of amplitude and phase fluctuations in the hole-doped cuprates. In addition,
the H(T) determined from the Nernst effect shows a conventional behavior
for all dopings. The energy gap determined from H(0) decreases as the
system goes from under-doping to over-dopingin agreement with the recent
tunnelling experiments
A surface-based approach to determine key spatial parameters of the acetabulum in a standardized pelvic coordinate system
Accurately determining the spatial relationship between the pelvis and acetabulum is challenging due to their inherently complex three-dimensional (3D) anatomy. A standardized 3D pelvic coordinate system (PCS) and the precise assessment of acetabular orientation would enable the relationship to be determined. We present a surface-based method to establish a reliable PCS and develop software for semi-automatic measurement of acetabular spatial parameters. Vertices on the acetabular rim were manually extracted as an eigenpoint set after 3D models were imported into the software. A reliable PCS consisting of the anterior pelvic plane, midsagittal pelvic plane, and transverse pelvic plane was then computed by iteration on mesh data. A spatial circle was fitted as a succinct description of the acetabular rim. Finally, a series of mutual spatial parameters between the pelvis and acetabulum were determined semi-automatically, including the center of rotation, radius, and acetabular orientation. Pelvic models were reconstructed based on high-resolution computed tomography images. Inter- and intra-rater correlations for measurements of mutual spatial parameters were almost perfect, showing our method affords very reproducible measurements. The approach will thus be useful for analyzing anatomic data and has potential applications for preoperative planning in individuals receiving total hip arthroplasty
Optimisation of Interface Roughness and Coating Thickness to Maximise Coating-Substrate Adhesion - A Failure Prediction and Reliability Assessment Modelling
This paper addresses a novel modelling technique which is based on a multidisciplinary approach to predict the coating-substrate adhesion. It proposes new equations governing coating debondment that combines material science concepts with and solid mechanics concepts. The effects of two parameters i.e. interface roughness λ and coating thickness h on coating-substrate adhesion has been analysed. The reliability of newly developed technique has been validated by comparison with the experimental results
Upper critical field calculations for the high critical temperature superconductors considering inhomogeneities
We perform calculations to obtain the curve of high temperature
superconductors (HTSC). We consider explicitly the fact that the HTSC possess
intrinsic inhomogeneities by taking into account a non uniform charge density
. The transition to a coherent superconducting phase at a critical
temperature corresponds to a percolation threshold among different
superconducting regions, each one characterized by a given .
Within this model we calculate the upper critical field by means of an
average linearized Ginzburg-Landau (GL) equation to take into account the
distribution of local superconducting temperatures . This
approach explains some of the anomalies associated with and why
several properties like the Meissner and Nernst effects are detected at
temperatures much higher than .Comment: Latex text, add reference
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