Highly Active Interfacial Sites in SFT-SnO_(2) Heterojunction Electrolyte for Enhanced Fuel Cell Performance via Engineered Energy Bands:Envisioned Theoretically and Experimentally

Extending the ionic conductivity is the pre-requisite of electrolytes in fuel cell technology for high-electrochemical performance.In this regard,the introduction of semiconductor-oxide materials and the approach of heterostructure formation by modulating energy bands to enhance ionic conduction acting as an electrolyte in fuel cell-device.Semiconductor(n-type;SnO_(2))plays a key role by introducing into p-type SrFe_(0.2)Ti_(0.8)O_(3-δ)(SFT)semiconductor perovskite materials to construct p-n heterojunction for high ionic conductivity.Therefore,two different composites of SFT and SnO_(2)are constructed by gluing p-and n-type SFT-SnO_(2),where the optimal composition of SFT-SnO_(2)(6∶4)heterostructure electrolyte-based fuel cell achieved excellent ionic conductivity 0.24 S cm^(-1)with power-output of 1004 mW cm^(-2)and high OCV 1.12 V at a low operational temperature of 500℃.The high power-output and significant ionic conductivity with durable operation of 54 h are accredited to SFT-SnO_(2)heterojunction formation including interfacial conduction assisted by a built-in electric field in fuel cell device.Moreover,the fuel conversion efficiency and considerable Faradaic efficiency reveal the compatibility of SFT-SnO_(2)heterostructure electrolyte and ruled-out short-circuiting issue.Further,the first principle calculation provides sufficient information on structure optimization and energy-band structure modulation of SFT-SnO_(2).This strategy will provide new insight into semiconductor-based fuel cell technology to design novel electrolytes.

Interface and energy band manipulation of Bi2O3-Bi2S3 electrode enabling advanced magnesium-ion storage

Rechargeable magnesium-ion(Mg-ion)batteries have attracted wide attention for energy storage.However,magnesium anode is still limited by the irreversible Mg plating/stripping procedure.Herein,a well-designed binary Bi_(2)O_(3)-Bi_(2)S_(3)(BO-BS)heterostructure is fulfilled by virtue of the cooperative interface and energy band engineering targeted fast Mg-ion storage.The built-in electronic field resulting from the asymmetrical electron distribution at the interface of electron-rich S center at Bi_(2)S_(3) side and electron-poor O center at Bi_(2)O_(3) side effectively accelerates the electrochemical reaction kinetics in the Mg-ion battery system.Moreover,the as-designed heterogenous interface also benefits to maintaining the electrode integrity.With these advantages,the BO-BS electrode displays a remarkable capacity of 150.36 mAh g^(−1) at 0.67 A g^(-1) and a superior cycling stability.This investigation would offer novel insights into the rational design of functional heterogenous electrode materials targeted the fast reaction kinetics for energy storage systems.

Reanalysis of energy band structure in the type-II quantum wells

Band structure analysis holds significant importance for understanding the optoelectronic characteristics of semiconductor structures and exploring their potential applications in practice. For quantum well structures, the energy of carriers in the well splits into discrete energy levels due to the confinement of barriers in the growth direction. However, the discrete energy levels obtained at a fixed wave vector cannot accurately reflect the actual energy band structure. In this work, the band structure of the type-II quantum wells is reanalyzed. When the wave vectors of the entire Brillouin region(corresponding to the growth direction) are taken into account, the quantized energy levels of the carriers in the well are replaced by subbands with certain energy distributions. This new understanding of the energy bands of low-dimensional structures not only helps us to have a deeper cognition of the structure, but also may overturn many viewpoints in traditional band theories and serve as supplementary to the band theory of low-dimensional systems.

Electric potential and energy band in ZnO nanofiber tuned by local mechanical loading

Recent success in strain engineering has triggered tremendous interest in its study and potential applications in nanodevice design. In this paper, we establish a coupled piezoelectric/semiconducting model for a wurtzite structure ZnO nanofiber under the local mechanical loading. The energy band structure tuned by the local mechanical loading and local length is calculated via an eight-band k·p method, which includes the coupling of valance and conduction bands. Poisson's effect on the distribution of electric potential inversely depends on the local mechanical loading. Numerical results reveal that both the applied local mechanical loading and the local length exhibit obvious tuning effects on the electric potential and energy band. The band gap at band edges varies linearly with the applied loading. Changing the local length shifts the energy band which is far away from the band edges. This study will be useful in the electronic and optical enhancement of semiconductor devices.

Crystal Structure, Energy Band and Optical Properties of Phosphate In(PO_3)_3

The crystal of the title compound （InP3O9, Mr = 351.73） has been prepared and structurally determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group Cc with a = 13.545（6）, b = 19.603（7）, c = 9.672（4）A, β= 127.196（4）°, V= 2045.6（14） ,A^3 and Z = 12. The compound, with a three-fold superstructure, has two kinds of infinite chains of PO4 tetrahedra along the c axis. The absorption and luminescence spectra of In（PO3）3 powder have been measured. The calculated results of crystal energy band structure by DFT indicate that the solid state is kind of insulator. What is more, the bonding and optical properties were also investigated with the CASTEP code.

Energy Band Structure of Alq_3/TCAQ Heterostructure Complex Film Determined by Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy(SPS)

8-Hydroxyquinoling aluminum (Alq3) and 11, 11, 12, 12-tetracyano-9, 10-anthraquino dimethane(TCAQ) monolayer films and their heterostructure complex films were prepared by a vacuum deposition method. By means of surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and electric field-induced surface photovoltage spectroscopy (EFISPS), the band gaps of TCAQ and Alq3 monolayer films and the properties of the Alq3/TCAQ bilayer film were investigated. By analysing the mechanism and the results of the SPS and the EFISPS, a reasonable energy band structure of the Alq3/TCAQ complex film was roughly determined.

Energy band adjustment of 808 nm GaAs laser power converters via gradient doping

The gradient doping regions were employed in the emitter layer and the base layer of GaAs based laser power converters(LPCs).Silvaco TCAD was used to numerically simulate the linear gradient doping and exponential gradient doping structure,and analyze the transport process of photogenerated carriers.Energy band adjustment via gradient doping improved the separation and transport efficiency of photogenerated carriers and reduced the total recombination rate of GaAs LPCs.Compared with traditional structure of LPCs,the photoelectric conversion efficiency of LPCs with linear and exponential gradient doping structure were improved from 52.7%to 57.2%and 57.7%,respectively,under 808 nm laser light at the power density of 1 W/cm^(2).

Energy band and charge-carrier engineering in skutterudite thermoelectric materials

The binary CoSb_(3) skutterudite thermoelectric material has high thermal conductivity due to the covalent bond between Co and Sb, and the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, is very low. The thermal conductivity of CoSb_(3) materials can be significantly reduced through phonon engineering, such as low-dimensional structure, the introduction of nano second phases,nanointerfaces or nanopores, which greatly improves their ZT values. The phonon engineering can optimize significantly the thermal transport properties of CoSb_(3)-based materials. However, the improvement of the electronic transport properties is not obvious, or even worse. Energy band and charge-carrier engineering can significantly improve the electronic transport properties of CoSb_(3)-based materials while optimizing the thermal transport properties. Therefore, the decoupling of thermal and electronic transport properties of CoSb_(3)-based materials can be realized by energy band and charge-carrier engineering. This review summarizes some methods of optimizing synergistically the electronic and thermal transport properties of CoSb_(3) materials through the energy band and charge-carrier engineering strategies. Energy band engineering strategies include band convergence or resonant energy levels caused by doping/filling. The charge-carrier engineering strategy includes the optimization of carrier concentration and mobility caused by doping/filling, forming modulation doped structures or introducing nano second phase. These strategies are effective means to improve performance of thermoelectric materials and provide new research ideas of development of high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.

Unconventional Energy Bands and Chirality of Ultracold Atoms in Trilayer Honeycomb Lattice

We investigate ultracold fermionic atoms in the trilayer honeycomb lattice. In the low energy approximation, we derive an effective Hamiltonian for pseudospins. The energy spectrum shows a cubic form of the wavevector and is gapless. The quasiparticles and quasiholes are ehiral and show Berry＇s phase π when the wavevector adiabatically evolves along a closed circle, Furthermore, the experimental detection of the energy spectrum is proposed with Bragg scattering techniques.

The Influence of Muffin-tin Approximation on Energy Band Gap

The influence of muffin tin approximation on energy band gap was studied using LMTO ASA ( Linear Muffin Tin Orbital Atomic Sphere Approximation) approach. Since the diverse data are available for LaX(X=N, P, As, Sb), they are presented in our research as an example in order to test the reliability of our results. Four groups of muffin tin radii were chosen, they were the fitted muffin tin radii based on the optical properties of the crystals (the first), 1∶1 for La∶X(the second), 1 5∶1 for La∶X(the third), and a group of radii derived by making the charge in the interstitial space to be zero(the fourth). The results show that the fitted muffin tin radii (the first group) give the best results compared with experimental values, and the predicted energy band gaps are very sensitive to the choice of muffin tin radius in comparison with the other groups. The second and the third delivered results somewhere in between, while the fourth provided the worst results compared with the other groups. For the same crystal, with the increase of muffin tin radius of lanthanum, the calculated energy band gaps decreased, going from semi conductor to semi metal. This again clearly indicated the sensitivity of energy band structure on muffin tin approximation.

Enhancing thermoelectric performance of p-type SnTe through manipulating energy band structures and decreasing electronic thermal conductivity

SnTe has received considerable attention as an environmentally friendly alternative to the representative thermoelectric material of PbTe.However,excessive hole carrier concentration in SnTe results in an extremely low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity,which makes it exhibit relatively inferior thermoelectric properties.In this work,the thermoelectric performance of p-type SnTe is enhanced through regulating its energy band structures and reducing its electronic thermal conductivity by combining Bi doping with CdSe alloying.First,the carrier concentration of SnTe is successfully suppressed via Bi doping,which significantly decreases the electronic thermal conductivity.Then,the convergence and flattening of the valence bands by alloying CdSe effectively improves the effective mass of SnTe while restraining its carrier mobility.Finally,a maximum figure of merit(ZT) of~ 0.87 at 823 K and an average ZT of~ 0.51 at 300-823 K have been achieved in Sn_(0.96)Bi_(0.04)Te-5%CdSe.Our results indicate that decreasing the electronic thermal conductivity is an effective means of improving the performance of thermoelectric materials with a high carrier concentration.

Studying the variable energy band structure for energy storage materials in charge/discharge process

So far,a clear understanding about the relationship of variable energy band structure with the corresponding charge-discharge process of energy storage materials is still lacking.Here,using optical spectroscopy(red-green-blue(RGB)value,reflectivity,transmittance,UV-vis,XPS,UPS)to studyα-Co(OH)_(2) electrode working in KOH electrolyte as the research object,we provide direct experimental evidence that:(1)The intercalation of OH-ions will reduce the valence/conduction band(VB and CB)and band gap energy(Eg)values;(2)The deintercalation of OH-ions corresponds with the reversion of VB,CB and E_(g) to the initial values;(3)The color of Co(OH)_(2) electrode also exhibit regular variations in RGB value during the charge-discharge process.

Electrically manipulating magnetization reversal via energy band engineering

Realization of a magnetization reversal by an external electric field is vital for developing ultra-low-power spintronic devices.In this report,starting from energy band engineering,a general design principle is proposed for achieving electrical manipulation of a nonvolatile 180°magnetization reversal.A half semiconductor(HSC)and a bipolar magnetic semiconductor(BMS)are selected as the model of magnetic layers,whose conduction-band minimum and valence-band maximum are in the same and opposite spin states,respectively.Based on the analysis of virtual hopping and tight-binding models,the interlayer coupling of HSC/insulator/BMS devices is successfully tuned between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions by varying electric field directions.Moreover,the interlayer coupling nearly disappears after removing the electric field,proving the nonvolatile magnetization reversal.Using first-principles calculations,the feasibility of present design strategy is further confirmed by a representative device with the structure of CrBr3/h-BN/2H-VSe_(2).This design guideline and physical phenomena may open an avenue to explore magnetoelectric coupling mechanisms and develop next-generation spintronic devices.

ELECTRONIC ENERGY BAND STRUCTURE OF MOLECULAR CRYSTALS MCI·(TCNQ)_2 AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION

The structure of electronic energy bands, electric charge distribution and the amount of charge transfer of molecular crystals 1-MCI·(TCNQ)_2 (Ⅰ) and 2-MCI· (TCNQ)_2 (Ⅱ) have been studied. The results are: (ⅰ) The dominant contributions to the electrical conductivities for crystals Ⅰ and Ⅱ are from TCNQ molecular columns, and the charge carriers are electrons. (ⅱ) The electrical conduction is mainly due to the hopping of charge carriers between the seats of lattice. (ⅲ) The considerable difference of the electrical conductivities between crystals Ⅰ and Ⅱ is due to the differences between (a) the concentrations of charge carriers n_(AⅠ)~C= 0.9988-|e|/cell and n_(AⅡ)~C=0.0340-|e|/cell; (b) the widths of the energy bands △E_(AⅠ)^(LU)=0.88 eV and △E_(AⅡ)~LU=0.040 eV; (c) the first derivative of E with respect to k, (dE/dk)_(K_FAⅠ)^(LU)=0.27 eV· and (dE/dk)_(K_FAⅡ)~LU=0.0048 eV·; and (d) the difference of energy barriers for the hopping of charge carriers ∈_Ⅱ-∈Ⅰ=2.5-8.8 kJ/mol.

Electronic band energy of a bent ZnO piezoelectric semiconductor nanowire

The electric band energy variation in a bent piezoelectric semiconductor(PSC) nanowire of circular cross-section induced by the mechanical force is analyzed based on a six-band k · p method. The electric-mechanical fields are first obtained analytically in a cantilever bent PSC nanowire by solving the fully-coupled electro-mechanical equations. Then, the band energy is acquired numerically via the six-band Hamiltonian.By considering further the nonlinear coupling between the piezoelectric and semiconducting quantities, the contribution of the redistribution carriers to the electric field is analyzed from the Gauss’ s law. Numerical examples are carried out for an n-type Zn O nanowire in different locations induced by an applied concentrated end force. They include the electric potential, heavy hole(HH), light hole(LH), spin-orbit split-off(SO),and conduction band(CB) edges along the axial and thickness directions. Our results show that the applied force has a significant effect on the band energies. For instance, on the bottom surface along the axial direction, the bandgaps near the fixed end are greater than those near the loading end, and this trend is reversed on the top surface. Moreover,at a fixed axial location, the energy level of the lower side can be enhanced by applying a bending force at the end. The present results could be of significant guidance to the electronic devices and piezotronics.

Energy band engineering via“Bite”defect located on N=8 armchair graphene nanoribbons

Graphene nanoribbons(GNRs)not only share many superlative properties of graphene but also display an exceptional degree of tunability of their electronic properties.The bandgaps of GNRs depend greatly on their widths,edges,etc.Herein,we report the synthesis path and the physical properties of atomic accuracy staggered narrow N=8 armchair graphene nanoribbons(sn-8AGNR)with alternating"Bite"defects on the opposite side.The intermediate structures in the surface physicochemical reactions from the precursors to the sn-8AGNR are characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy.The electronic properties of the sn-8AGNR are characterized by scanning tunneling spectroscopies and 6//6V mappings.Compared with the perfect N=8 armchair graphene nanoribbons(8AGNR),the sn-8AGNR has a larger bandgap,indicating that the liB\Xen edges can effectively regulate the electronic structures of GNRs.

Electronic Energy Band and Transport Properties in Monolayer Graphene with Periodically Modulated Magnetic Vector Potential and Electrostatic Potential

We investigated the electronic energy band and transport features of graphene superlattice with periodically modulated magnetic vector potential and electrostatic potential. It is found that both parallel magnetic vector potential and electrostatic potential can decisively shift Dirac point in a different way, which may be an efficient way to achieve electron or hole filter. We a/so find that applying modulated parallel and anti-parallel magnetic vector potential to the electrons can efficiently change electronic states between pass and stop states, which can be useful in designing electron or hole switches and lead to large magneto-resistance.

Electric Anisotropy and Two－dimensional Energy Band of Undoped and Heavily Doped Polyacetylene

ased on the known crystal data , we used the EHMACC(EHMO/CO) methodto calculate the twotlimensional energy band of both undoped and heavily iodine-doped polyacetylene (PA). The results show that (1 ) I-doping obviously reducesthe niagnitudes of Eg , Egi; (2) in the conducting process along the direction per-pendicular to PA chain , the P-type AO of iodine plays a very important role, i- e. ,the conducting bridge to transport the charge between the two neighbor PA chains.I-doping reniarkably increases σ_T value while the conducting process will reduce theratio magnitude of σ/σ. Therefore, heavily I-doping makes PA change fromsimeconductor to conductor which obviously has 2-D conductive ability.

Regulation of excitation energy transfer in Sb-alloyed Cs_(4)MnBi_(2)Cl_(12) perovskites for efficient CO_(2) photoreduction to CO and water oxidation toward H_(2)O_(2)

Lead(Pb)-free halide perovskites have recently attracted increasing attention as potential catalysts for CO_(2) photoreduction to CO due to their potential to capture solar energy and drive catalytic reaction.However,issues of the poor charge transfer still remain one of the main obstacles limiting their performance due to the overwhelming radiative and nonradiative charge-carrier recombination losses.Herein,Pb-free Sb-alloyed all-inorganic quadruple perovskite Cs_(4)Mn(Bi_(1-x)Sb_(x))_(2)Cl_(12)(0≤x≤1)is synthesized as efficient photocatalyst.By Sb alloying,the undesired relaxation of photogenerated electrons from conduction band to emission centers of[MnCl6]^(4-)is greatly suppressed,resulting in a weakened PL emission and enhanced charge transfer for photocatalyst.The ensuing Cs_(4)Mn(Bi_(1-x)Sb_(x))_(2)Cl_(12) photocatalyst accomplishes efficient conversion of CO_(2)into CO,accompanied by a surprising production of H_(2)O_(2),a high valueadded product associated with water oxidation.By optimizing Sb^(3+) concentration,a high CO evolution rate of 35.1μmol g^(-1)h^(-1)is achieved,superior to most other Pb and Pb-free halide perovskites.Our findings provide new insights into the mixed-cation alloying strategies for improved photocatalytic performance of Pb-free perovskites and shed light on the rational design of robust band structure toward efficient energy transfer.

Discrimination of Motor Imagery Patterns by Electroencephalogram Phase Synchronization Combined With Frequency Band Energy

Central nerve signal evoked by thoughts can be directly used to control a robot or prosthetic devices without the involvement of the peripheral nerve and muscles.This is a new strategy of human-computer interaction.A method of electroencephalogram(EEG) phase synchronization combined with band energy was proposed to construct a feature vector for pattern recognition of brain-computer interaction based on EEG induced by motor imagery in this paper,rhythm and beta rhythm were first extracted from EEG by band pass filter and then the frequency band energy was calculated by the sliding time window;the instantaneous phase values were obtained using Hilbert transform and then the phase synchronization feature was calculated by the phase locking value(PLV) and the best time interval for extracting the phase synchronization feature was searched by the distribution of the PLV value in the time domain.Finally,discrimination of motor imagery patterns was performed by the support vector machine(SVM).The results showed that the phase synchronization feature more effective in4s-7s and the correct classification rate was 91.4%.Compared with the results achieved by a single EEG feature related to motor imagery,the correct classification rate was improved by 3.5 and4.3 percentage points by combining phase synchronization with band energy.These indicate that the proposed method is effective and it is expected that the study provides a way to improve the performance of the online real-time brain-computer interaction control system based on EEG related to motor imagery.