Graphene/Metal Oxide Nanocomposite Usage as Photoanode in Dye-Sensitized and Perovskite Solar Cells

Global energy shortage will be one of the most critical challenges in the next 50 years. Currently, over 80% of energy consumed is produced from fossil fuels, which is directly linked to global warming and environmental pollution issues. Environment-friendly renewable energy is rapidly gaining importance for the existence of human civilization. A leading source of renewable energy is the solar energy, which is inexhaustible and abundantly available. Solar cells that convert solar energy directly into electricity are drawing considerable attention as a potential turnkey solution to address these challenges. Several approaches have been made in this respect, including the development of better materials and the designs of new solar cell configuration and architecture. Among the innovative materials with potential application in emerging 3G solar cells, graphene and its derivatives such as GO, rGO and G/nanocomposite have been widely explored as transparent conducting electrodes, electron donor or acceptor materials and counter electrodes (CE). In this chapter, the use of graphene nanocomposites has been explored as an electrode material in DSSCs and PSCs. Recently, graphene/metal oxide nanocomposites have been widely used in DSSCs and PSCs and played a significant role in increasing charge transport, reducing charge recombination and thus enhancing the performance of solar cell

Analysing support towards inclusive and integrated rural advisory systems

Public Rural Advisory Services (RAS) have adapted to different socio-economic scenarios in politically diverse countries with the help of the third sector supporting dedicated RAS programmes. The Plantwise (PW) programme, led by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) and designed to increase food security in over 30 countries, is a good example of a public/NGO partnership, although recent evaluations have questioned its impacts on gendered agricultural information access. This study aims to investigate Plantwise’s gender impacts from individual and institutional viewpoints, interviewing smallholder farmers and extension staff involved in and outside of, the Plantwise programme in Bahawalpur and Jhang district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. This serves to highlight the programme’s impacts on systemic processes which ultimately have the potential to contribute to gender-transformative change and a more efficient and sustainable RAS. Results show differences between extension workers in a PW district and a non-PW district and between plant doctors and non-plant doctors in a PW district, though none were significant from a gendered perspective. There were interesting findings highlighting the plant clinic’s capacity as an agent of change but the low turnout of women at clinics did not reinforce the clinics’ capacity for change from a female perspective. Information from systemic, male and female-specific analyses are important to consider for PW from a practical perspective, such as the importance of spiritual locations. This study into the Pakistani PW initiative also offers an opportunity to contribute to the growing body of academic literature on the individual and institutional impacts of international development programmes, helping to understand wider aspects of international development involvement in RAS. From a practical perspective, this study also enables PW and other international development initiatives to better understand and interpret stakeholders’ perceptions, highlighting the importance of design and investment in participatory approaches to enable longer term impacts, especially focused on gender. It will also help the PW programme assess and understand implementation challenges in order to attain impact on the ground and be a driver of positive change in the country

An Analysis of the Relationships among Exports, Imports, Physical Capital and Economic Growth in Pakistan

This review emphasized the relationship among capital formation, economic growth, exports and imports in case of Pakistan scenario using time series data from 1976 to 2015. Augmented Dickey Fuller Test, Johansen Co-integration, Vector error correction model and Granger Causality techniques have been used to check the relationships among exports, imports and economic growth. The results from this study show that the exports, imports, real GDP and gross fixed capital formation have a long run relationship and are co-integrated. This study uses the data of Pakistan and concludes that GDP doesn’t granger cause with the export and import while export and imports do granger cause with the GDP in the long run. Finding of the study also displays that physical capital formation has no impression over GDP. Previous study shows the positive relation among exports, imports, capital formation and economic growth while this study shows that in the long run capital formation and economic growth has no effect. Government subsidizes the exports and also increases the duty bills on imports that help boost the domestic industries manufacture the goods and motivate to produce the best quality of goods. JEL codes: F2, O4

Organic Inorganic Perovskites: A Low-Cost-Efficient Photovoltaic Material

Organic-inorganic perovskite materials, due to the simultaneous possession of various properties like optical, electronic and magnetic beside with their structural tunability and good processability, has concerned the attention of researchers from the field of science and technology since long back. Recently, the emergence of efficient solar cells based on organic-inorganic perovskite absorbers promises to alter the fields of thin film, dye-sensitized and organic solar cells. Solution processed photovoltaics based on organic-inorganic perovskite absorbers CH3NH3PbI3 have attained efficiencies of over 25%. The increase in popularity and considerable enhancement in the efficiency of perovskites since their discovery in 2009 is determined by over 6000 publications in 2018. However, although there are broad development prospects for perovskite solar cells (PSCs), but the use of CH3NH3PbI3 results in lead toxicity and instability which limit their application. Therefore, the development of environmental-friendly, stable and efficient perovskite materials for future photovoltaic applications has long-term practical significance, which can eventually be commercialized

Synchronization of N-Non-Linear Slave Systems with Master System Using Non-Adaptive and Adaptive Coupled Observers

Synchronization of N-slave chaotic systems with a master system is a challenging task, particularly in recent times. In this paper, a novel methodology is proposed for synchronizing the N number of slave systems with a master system. The proposed methodology is based on coupled adaptive synchronous observers. The difference between the corresponding states of master and slave systems is converged to the origin by means of a novel feedback control scheme to achieve synchronization between the master and slave systems. The efficacy of the proposed methodology is verified through a simulation of FitzHugh–Nagumo non-linear systems in MATLAB. The simulation results validate and prove claims, and these systems are successfully synchronized by CCS and CCAS observer-based control