Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene

We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (<90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼4.9% and ±8.8%, respectively; low pass energy spectra perform worse than the global average, in terms of systematic deviations, due to diminished count rates and signal-to-noise ratio. Differences in absolute offset are attributed to the surface roughness of the LDPE induced by sample preparation. We further assess the usability of LDPE as a secondary reference material and comment on its performance in the presence of issues such as variable dark noise, x-ray warm up times, inaccuracy at low count rates, and underlying spectrometer problems. In response to participant feedback and the results of the study, we provide an updated LDPE intensity calibration protocol to address the issues highlighted in the interlaboratory study. We also comment on the lack of implementation of a consistent and traceable intensity calibration method across the community of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) users and, therefore, propose a route to achieving this with the assistance of instrument manufacturers, metrology laboratories, and experts leading to an international standard for XPS intensity scale calibration

Recent Development of Pd-Based Electrocatalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

This review selectively summarizes the latest developments in the Pd-based cataysts for low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells, especially in the application of formic acid oxidation, alcohol oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction. The advantages and shortcomings of the Pd-based catalysts for electrocatalysis are analyzed. The influence of the structure and morphology of the Pd materials on the performance of the Pd-based catalysts were described. Finally, the perspectives of future trends on Pd-based catalysts for different applications were considered

Noncontact Detection of Respiration Rate Based on Forward Scatter Radar

Bioradar-based noncontact breathing detection technology has been widely studied due to its superior detection performance. In this paper, a breath detection mechanism based on the change in radar cross section (RCS) is proposed by using a forward scatter radar and the deduction of the mathematical model of the received signal. Furthermore, we completed human breathing detection experiments in an anechoic chamber and in an ordinary chamber; we obtained the breathing rate through envelope detection in cases where the human orientation angle was 0, 30, 60, and 90&deg;. The analysis of the measured data shows that the theoretical model fits well with the measured results. Compared with the existing single-base radar detection schemes, the proposed scheme can detect human respiratory rates in different orientations

Investigation on thermal evaporated CH3NH3PbI3 thin films

CH3NH3I, PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 films were fabricated by evaporation and characterized with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XPS results indicate that the PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 films are more uniform and stable than the CH3NH3I film. The atomic ratio of the CH3NH3I, PbI2 and CH3NH3PbI3 films are C:N:I=1.00:1.01:0.70, Pb:I= 1.00:1.91 and C: N: Pb: I = 1.29:1.07:1.00:2.94, respectively. The atomic ratio of CH3NH3PbI3 is very close to that of the ideal perovskite. Small angle x-ray diffraction results demonstrate that the as evaporated CH3NH3PbI3 film is crystalline. The valence band maximum (VBM) and work function (WF) of the CH3NH3PbI3 film are about 0.85eV and 4.86eV, respectively

Efficiently manufacturing large-scale isotropic Al7075 alloy sheets with submicron grain by multidirectional rotary forging

Aluminum alloy sheets with higher isotropy and finer grains possess larger post-formability and better mechanical properties. However, it is extremely difficult to simultaneously realize the isotropy improvement and grain refinement by conventional plastic deformation process. In this paper, a multidirectional rotary forging (MRF) process was applied to tune the isotropy degree and grain structure of Al7075 sheets. The isotropy behaviors of microstructure and mechanical property along different testing directions were investigated, and the grain refinement behaviors were studied. The microstructure analysis indicates that initial anisotropic textures firstly transform to different single textures individually, and then the lattice orientations of all these different single textures strongly rotate along 〈110〉 crystal direction to form the same multiple textures along 〈110〉//normal fiber, i.e. isotropic τ-fiber. The mechanical property analysis indicates that isotropic yield strength and tensile strength were obtained by MRF deformation, which was mainly attributed to the combined effect of texture isotropy and dislocation density isotropy. Strong grain refinement was achieved under the deformation amount of 70 %, and the final grain size was ∼ 0.8 μm, which were mainly contributed to the interaction effects of strong lattice rotation, complex slip system activation and dislocation gliding

Stabilizing Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes by incorporation of binary alkali cations

The poor stability of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) is a key bottleneck that hinders commercialization of this technology. Here, the degradation process of formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3)-based PeLEDs is carefully investigated and the device stability is improved through binary-alkalication incorporation. Using time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry, it is found that the degradation of FAPbI3-based PeLEDs during operation is directly associated with ion migration, and incorporation of binary alkali cations, i.e., Cs+ and Rb+, in FAPbI3 can suppress ion migration and significantly enhance the lifetime of PeLEDs. Combining experimental and theoretical approaches, it is further revealed that Cs+ and Rb+ ions stabilize the perovskite films by locating at different lattice positions, with Cs+ ions present relatively uniformly throughout the bulk perovskite, while Rb+ ions are found preferentially on the surface and grain boundaries. Further chemical bonding analysis shows that both Cs+ and Rb+ ions raise the net atomic charge of the surrounding I anions, leading to stronger Coulomb interactions between the cations and the inorganic framework. As a result, the Cs+–Rb+-incorporated PeLEDs exhibit an external quantum efficiency of 15.84%, the highest among alkali cation-incorporated FAPbI3 devices. More importantly, the PeLEDs show significantly enhanced operation stability, achieving a half-lifetime over 3600 min