Enhanced proton irradiation resistance in Cs-doped CH_(3)NH_(3)PbI_(3) films and solar cells

Mixed-cation perovskite solar cells have attracted tremendous attention in space applications due to their excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability to light and heat.Although the evolution of photovoltaic performance in different space environments has been investigated,the role of inorganic cesium ions (Cs^(+)) in the enhancement of irradiation resistance needs to be further clarified.Herein,the structure and performance evolution of Cs-doped CH_(3)NH_(3)PbI_(3)(MAPbI_(3)) films and planar heterojunction devices under proton irradiation up to 1×10^(16)p cm^(-2) were studied.5%of Cs^(+) doping can increase the cohesive energy of MAPbI_(3)and effectively alleviate the lattice strain induced by proton irradiation,thereby enhancing the crystallinity and stability of films.The bandgap changes of irradiated Cs_(0.05)MA_(0.95)PbI_(3) films under the identical fluence were only one third of that of MAPbI_(3) films.Upon irradiation under the fluence of 1×10^(14)p cm^(-2),the density of trap states in the undoped and 5%Cs-doped films increased by 71%and 9%,respectively,and the average PCE of 20 corresponding devices decreased only by 12%and 9%,respectively.This proves that the replacement of organic methylamine ion with inorganic cesium ion contributes to the improvement of MAPbI_(3) resistance to proton irradiation,thus confirming the application prospects of mixed-cation or all-inorganic perovskite solar cells in spacecraft.

Effects of Nitrogen Doping on Microstructures and Irradiation Resistance of Ti-Zr-Nb-V-Mo Refractory High-Entropy Alloy

Interstitial strengthening with nitrogen(N)is one of the effective ways to improve the mechanical properties of HEAs,but the effects of N on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the irradiated HEAs have not been studied extensively.Here,the microstructures and mechanical properties of N-free and N-doped Ti_(2)ZrNbV_(0.5)Mo_(0.2)HEAs before and after He irradiation were investigated.The results showed that the solid solution strengthening caused by interstitial N improved the yield strength at room temperature and 1023 K without significantly reducing plasticity.N doping significantly promoted the growth,aggregation and wider spatial distribution of He bubbles by enhancing the mobility of He atoms/He-vacancy complexes,with the average size of He bubbles increasing from 10.4 nm in N-free HEA to 31.0 nm in N-doped HEA.In addition,N-doped HEA showed a much higher irradiation hardness increment and hardening fraction than N-free HEA.Contrary to conventional materials doped with N,the introduction of N into Ti_(2)ZrNbV_(0.5)Mo_(0.2)HEA had adverse effects on its resistance to He bubble growth and irradiation hardening.The results of this study indicated that N doping may not improve the irradiation resistance of HEAs.

Irradiation Resistance of CoCrCuFeNi High Entropy Alloy under Successive Bombardment

With the excellent irradiation resistance due to the chemical complexity,high entropy alloys have attracted considerable attention in the design of nuclear structural materials.However,their performance under successive bombardments remains elusive.In this study,we have investigated the irradiation resistance of equiatomic CoCrCuFeNi HEA compared with Ni metal using molecular dynamics simulations.The evolution of defects such as point defects,defect clusters and dislocations after 400 times of bombardments is examined.The results show that CoCrCuFeNi has fewer point defects than Ni does.Moreover,CoCrCuFeNi has smaller interstitial clusters size,lower interstitial-type Frank partial dislocation density,shorter average interstitial-type Frank partial dislocation length and higher average vacancy formation energy.These findings suggest that CoCrCuFeNi has superior radiation resistance under successive bombardments due to its high entropy effect.

Demonstration of irradiation-resistant 4H-SiC based photoelectrochemical water splitting

4H silicon carbide(4H-SiC)has gained a great success in high-power electronics,owing to its advantages of wide bandgap,high breakdown electric field strength,high carrier mobility,and high thermal conductivity.Considering the high carrier mobility and high stability of 4H-SiC,4H-SiC has great potential in the field of photoelectrochemical(PEC)water splitting.In this work,we demonstrate the irradiation-resistant PEC water splitting based on nanoporous 4H-SiC arrays.A new two-step anodizing approach is adopted to prepare 4H-SiC nanoporous arrays with different porosity,that is,a constant low-voltage etching followed by a pulsed high-voltage etching.The constant-voltage etching and pulsed-voltage etching are adopted to control the diameter of the nanopores and the depth of the nanoporous arrays,respectively.It is found that the nanoporous arrays with medium porosity has the highest PEC current,because of the enhanced light absorption and the optimized transportation of charge carriers along the walls of the nanoporous arrays.The performance of the PEC water splitting of the nanoporous arrays is stable after the electron irradiation with the dose of 800 and 1600 k Gy,which indicates that 4H-SiC nanoporous arrays has great potential in the PEC water splitting under harsh environments.

Tungsten-containing high-entropy alloys: a focused review of manufacturing routes, phase selection, mechanical properties, and irradiation resistance properties

Alloying is one of the most effective means to confer superior properties to metal materials.For far too long,conventional W-based alloys were generally improved by the addition of minor elements.The exploitation of conventional W-based alloy is restricted to the corner of multielement phase diagrams with tiny compositional space.High-entropy alloys(HEAs)are a novel kind of alloys consisting of multi-principal alloying elements(usually more than 4)and have attracted increasing attention,since they were first reported in 2004.The emergence of HEAs filled the gap of the unexplored central region of multielement phase diagrams.Among them,tungsten-containing HEAs(TCHEAs)exhibit excellent mechanical properties,especially at extraordinarily elevated temperatures.Moreover,recent studies showed that TCHEAs had outstanding irradiation resistance properties.TCHEAs might serve as a promising candidate for plasma-facing materials in the fusion reactor.Many characteristics of TCHEAs are different from other HEAs due to the addition of tungsten with ultrahigh-melting temperature.Here,this paper aimed to introduce the manufacturing routes of TCHEAs;review the phase selection,mechanical properties,and irradiation resistance properties of TCHEAs;and propose the future prospects of TCHEAs.

Evolution of helium bubbles in FeCoNiCr-based high-entropy alloys containing γ′ nanoprecipitates

A series of high-entropy alloys(HEAs) containing nanoprecipitates of varying sizes is successfully prepared by a non-consuming vacuum arc melting method.In order to study the irradiation evolution of helium bubbles in the FeCoNiCrbased HE As with γ' precipitates,these samples are irradiated by 100-keV helium ions with a fluence of 5 × 10^(20) ions/m^(2) at 293 K and 673 K,respectively.And the samples irradiated at room temperature are annealed at different temperatures to examine the diffusion behavior of helium bubbles.Transmission electron microscope(TEM) is employed to characterize the structural morphology of precipitated nanoparticles and the evolution of helium bubbles.Experimental results reveal that nanosized,spherical,dispersed,coherent,and ordered L1_(2)-type Ni_(3)Ti γ' precipitations are introduced into FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs by means of ageing treatments at temperatures between 1073 K and 1123 K.Under the ageing treatment conditions adopted in this work,γ' nanoparticles are precipitated in FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HE As,with average diameters of 15.80 nm,37.09 nm,and 62.50 nm,respectively.The average sizes of helium bubbles observed in samples after 673-K irradiation are 1.46 nm,1.65 nm,and 1.58 nm,respectively.The improvement in the irradiation resistance of FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs is evidenced by the diminution in bubbles size.Furthermore,the FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs containing γ' precipitates of 15.8 nm exhibits the minimum size and density of helium bubbles,which can be ascribed to the considerable helium trapping effects of heterogeneous coherent phase boundaries.Subsequently,annealing experiments conducted after 293-K irradiation indicate that HEAs containing precipitated phases exhibits smaller apparent activation energy(E_(a)) for helium bubbles,resulting in larger helium bubble size.This study provides guidance for improving the irradiation resistance of L1_(2)-strengthened high-entropy alloy.

Modification of POSS and their tribological properties and resistant to space atomic oxygen irradiation as lubricant additive of multialkylated cyclopentanes

Developing functional additive resistant to space atomic oxygen(AO)irradiation through simple molecular design and chemical synthesis to enhance the lubricating performance of multialkylated cyclopentanes(MACs)oil is a significant challenge.Herein,sulfur-containing polyhedral oligomere silsesquioxane(POSS)were synthesize via a click-chemistry reaction of octavinyl polyhedral oligomeric with alkyl sulfide.The reduce-friction(RF),anti-wear(AW)properties and anti-AO irradiation of POSS-S-R as MACs base oil additives in atmospheric and simulated space environments were systematically investigated for the first time.Results demonstrate that POSS-S-R not only possesses outstanding anti-AO irradiation capacity but also effectively improves the RF and AW of MACs in atmospheric or simulated space surroundings.This improvement is due to the excellent anti-AO irradiation properties of the POSS structure itself and the high load-carrying ability of silicon-containing and sulfur-containing compounds generated by tribo-chemical reactions,which effectively separates the direct contact of the friction interface.We believe that this synthesized POSS-S-R is a promising additive for space lubricants.

A review of CNTs and graphene reinforced YSZ nanocomposites:Preparation,mechanical and anti-irradiation properties

Yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ)ceramics have been widely applied in areas of high-temperature thermal protection and nuclear radiation protection during the past decades.Both carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and graphene are regarded as highly ideal reinforcements for YSZ ceramics due to their natural excellent properties.However,is still a controversial topic how to make YSZ composites obtain better performance after adding CNTs and graphene.In particular,dispersion and sintering processes of CNTs and graphene in YSZ,are critical to the performance of the YSZ composites.So far,there is not a thorough analy-sis of the impact of CNTs and graphene on the mechanical characteristics and irradiation resistance of YSZ.Therefore,this paper focuses on the dispersion methods and sintering technologies of CNTs/YSZ and graphene/YSZ nanocomposites,as well as the mechanical properties and anti-irradiation properties.Fur-thermore,the potential applications are also prospected for CNTs/YSZ and graphene/YSZ nanocomposites.

Corrosion and irradiation behavior of Fe-based amorphous coating in lead-bismuth eutectic liquids

Lead-bismuth eutectics (LBE) have considerable potential as a candidate material for accelerator-driven sub-critical systems(ADS).However,LBE corrosion and irradiation damage are two urgent challenges remaining to be solved for impellers of primary pumps.In this study,we have explored the possibility of using Fe-based amorphous coatings to overcome LBE corrosion and concurrently to sustain irradiation damage.Specifically,the Fe_(54)Cr_(18)Mo_(2)Zr_(8)B_(18)amorphous coating was prepared by high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spraying on 316L steel and exposed to saturated oxygen static LBE for 500 h at 400℃.The coating with high thermal stability (T_(g)=615℃ and T_(x)=660℃) effectively prevented the substrate steel from being corroded by LBE owing to its unique long-range disordered atomic packing.The coating also exhibited strong irradiation resistance when being subjected to 45 dpa (displacement per atom) Au ion irradiation at room temperature,with no sign of crystallization even at the maximum implantation depth of 300 nm.Consequently,the hardness of the coatings before and after irradiation increased slightly.The current findings shed new insights into understanding corrosion mechanism and irradiation behavior of amorphous solids in LBE and expand the application range of amorphous materials.

Recent progress of tungsten-based high-entropy alloys in nuclear fusion

The extreme environment in a fusion reactor,namely high thermal load and intense energetic particles,requires the materials to possess high strength and good ductility at high temperature in combination with excellent radiation resistance.Conventional metal tungsten(W)and its alloy cannot satisfy these rigorous requirements,but the discovery of the W-based high-entropy alloys(HEAs)with outstanding properties sheds light on the developments of structural materials.Unique properties of some of these alloys make them promising candidates for engineering applications in fusion reactor beyond conventional W and its alloys.In particular,their strengthening-toughening mechanism has also aroused wide concern.Here,the design,microstructure,mechanical properties and irradiation performance of W-based HEAs are reviewed,and their future prospects are outlined.