Importance of oxygen-containing functionalities and pore structures of biochar in catalyzing pyrolysis of homologous poplar

Biochar and bio-oil are produced simultaneously in one pyrolysis process,and they inevitably contact and may interact,influencing the composition of bio-oil and modifying the structure of biochar.In this sense,biochar is an inherent catalyst for pyrolysis.In this study,in order to investigate the influence of functionalities and pore structures of biochar on its capability for catalyzing the conversion of homologous volatiles in bio-oil,three char catalysts(600C,800C,and 800AC)produced via pyrolysis of poplar wood at 600 or 800℃or activated at 800℃,were used for catalyzing pyrolysis of homologous poplar wood at 600℃,respectively.The results indicated that the 600C catalyst was more active than 800C and 800AC for catalyzing cracking of volatiles to form more gas(yield increase by 40.2%)and aromatization of volatiles to form more light or heavy phenolics,due to its abundant oxygen-containing functionalities acting as active sites.The developed pores of the 800AC showed no such catalytic effect but could trap some volatiles and allow their further conversion via sufficient aromatization.Nevertheless,the interaction with the volatiles consumed oxygen on 600C(decrease by 50%),enhancing the aromatic degree and increasing thermal stability.The dominance of deposition of carbonaceous material of a very aromatic nature over 800C and 800AC resulted in net weight gain and blocked micropores but formed additional macropores.The in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy characterization of the catalytic pyrolysis indicated superior activity of 600C for removal of -OH,while conversion of the intermediates bearing C=O was enhanced over all the char catalysts.

Insights into the dwarfing mechanism of pear(Pyrus betulaefolia) based on anatomical and structural analysis using X-ray scanning

The lack of a suitable rootstock to control scion growth has limited the development of high-density plantations in pear production, which is partly attributed to poor understanding of the dwarfing mechanism. In the present study, the rootstock of the dwarf-type pear (Pyrus betulaefolia)PY-9’ was identified and used as the material for anatomical analysis.PY-9’ grew to half the tree height of the normal cultivar Zhengdu’, along with fewer internodes and shorter length. Significant differences in growth rate betweenPY-9’ andZhengdu’ were detected at approximately 30 days after full bloom, which corresponded with the time of the greatest difference in water potential between the dwarf and normal cultivar.PY-9’ showed a higher photosynthetic rate thanZhengdu’. Anatomical analysis showed thatPY-9’ had higher area ratios of both phloem and xylem and more developed vascular tissues thanZhengdu’. The three-dimensional reconstructed skeleton of the xylem from X-ray computed tomography scanning revealed greater intervessel connectivity inZhengdu’ than inPY-9’, which could contribute to the more vigorous growth ofZhengdu’. This study thus provides the first comparison of the microstructural properties of xylem elements between a dwarfing-type and vigorous-type pear rootstock, providing new insights into the dwarfing mechanism in pear and facilitating breeding of dwarf pear rootstocks to increase crop productivity.

Vacancy healing for stable perovskite solar cells via bifunctional potassium tartrate

Perovskite solar cell has gained widespread attention as a promising technology for renewable energy.However, their commercial viability has been hampered by their long-term stability and potential Pb leakage. Herein, we demonstrate a bifunctional passivator of the potassium tartrate(PT) to address both challenges. PT minimizes the Pb leakage in perovskites and also heals cationic vacancy defects, resulting in improved device performance and stability. Benefiting from PT modification, the power conversion efficiency(PCE) is improved to 23.26% and the Pb leakage in unencapsulated films is significantly reduced to 9.79 ppm. Furthermore, the corresponding device exhibits no significant decay in PCE after tracking at the maximum power point(MPP) for 2000 h under illumination(LED source, 100 mW cm^(-2)).

A-site phase segregation in mixed cation perovskite

Mixed cation strategy greatly benefits the enhancement of device performance and chemical stability.However,adverse impact also accompanies the mixed cation system simultaneously.It brings the compositional instability,wherein the homogeneous film is likely to segregate into multi-phases during the fabrication and ageing process,thus resulting in the efficiency reduction of perovskite solar cells(PSCs)devices.This review focuses on the cation induced phase segregation,and elucidates the segregation mechanisms from the perspectives of film formation and ageing process,respectively.Furthermore,the influence of cation segregation on device performance and operational stability are discussed.And based on these understandings,viable strategies are proposed for the design of phase-stable mixed composition halide perovskites and for suppressing segregation to benefit its development towards commercial applications.

空间选择性缺陷管理制备高性能碳基CsPbI_(3)钙钛矿太阳能电池

Defects formed at the surface,buried interface and grain boundaries(GB)of CsPbI_(3)perovskite films considerably limit photovoltaic performance.Such defects could be passivated effectively by the most prevalent post modification strategy without compromising the photoelectric properties of perovskite films,but it is still a great challenge to make this strategy comprehensive to different defects spatially distributed throughout the films.Herein,a spatially selective defect management(SSDM)strategy is developed to roundly passivate various defects at different locations within the perovskite film by a facile one-step treatment procedure using a piperazine-1,4-diium tetrafluoroborate(PZD(BF_(4))_(2))solution.The small-size PZD^(2+)cations could penetrate into the film interior and even make it all the way to the buried interface of CsPbI_(3)perovskite films,while the BF_(4)^(-)anions,with largely different properties from I^(-)anions,mainly anchor on the film surface.Consequently,virtually all the defects at the surface,buried interface and grain boundaries of CsPbI_(3)perovskite films are effectively healed,leading to significantly improved film quality,enhanced phase stability,optimized energy level alignment and promoted carrier transport.With these films,the fabricated CsPbI_(3)PSCs based on carbon electrode(C-PSCs)achieve an efficiency of18.27%,which is among the highest-reported values for inorganic C-PSCs,and stability of 500 h at 85℃with 65%efficiency maintenance.

Impeded degradation of perovskite solar cells via the dual interfacial modification of siloxane

It is challenging to improve the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells(PSCs) without sacrificing efficiency. The perovskite absorbers degrade from the film surface/interfaces, which follows entangled mechanisms that have not been fully revealed yet.Herein, we decouple and elaborate two distinctive pathways regarding film degradation based on FACsPbI3perovskites.Moreover, a dual interfacial modification strategy has been developed for improving the material’s intrinsic stability, thus leading to the film degrading in a more retardant pathway. The corresponding PSCs achieve a stable power output efficiency of 23.75%.More importantly, the unencapsulated PSCs devices retain over 93% of their initial PCE after the maximum power point(MPP)tracking under the continuous 1-sun illumination and show significantly improved stability after aged under the thermal treatment or stored in ambient atmosphere for over 1500 hours without obvious PCE decay. This work shows the importance of modulating the degradation pathway on stability improvement, and at the same time, proposes a strategy for designing perovskite-based optoelectronics with excellent performance and stability.