Fullerene solar cells with cholesteric liquid crystal doping

This paper reports the doping effect of cholesteric liquid crystal 3β-Hydroxy-5-cholestene 3-oleate on polymer solar cells composed of the poly 3-hexyl thiophene and the fullerene derivative.With a doping ratio of 0.3 wt%,the device achieves an ideal improvement on the shunt resistor and the fill factor.Compared with the reference cell,the power conversion efficiency of the doped cell is improved 24%.The photoelectric measurement and the active layer characterization indicate that the self-assembly liquid crystal can improve the film crystallization and reduce the membrane defect.

A repeated interdiffusion method for efficient planar formamidinium perovskite solar cells

A repeated interdiffusion method is described for phase-stable and high-quality （FA,MA）PbI3 film. The crys- tallization and growth of the perovskite films can be well controlled by adjusting the reactant concentrations. With this method, dense, smooth perovskite films with large crystals have been obtained. Finally, a PCE of 16.5% as well as a steady-state efficiency of 16.3% is achieved in the planar perovskite solar cell.

Studies on the Structure and Properties of Cordierite Synthesized by Talc-Magnesite

Homogeneous cordierite has been synthesized at low cost by talc-magnesite and coal gangue as the main raw materials. The mechanism of synthesizing cordierite under such a composing system of raw materials, and the effect of temperature on the crystal cell parameters and microstructure and thermal expansion coefficient of cordierite crystal have been studied via testing methods of XRD, SEM, etc. The result shows that the homogeneous cordierite can be synthesized by the systematic composing materials of ＂talc-magnesite-coal gangue-talc＂ with heat pre-servation at 1350 ℃ for 1 h; as the keeping time is prolonged, Al^3＋ and Mg^2＋ in cordierite crystal are replaced by a few impurity ions such as Fe^3＋, Fe^2＋, etc., and the crystal cell parameters of cordierite present an increase trend; as the high-temperature heat preservation is prolonged, the content of glassy phase in the sample is increased, its density is improved, and its thermal expansion coefficient presents an increase trend.

Experimental design to measure the anchoring energy on substrate surface by using the alternating-current bridge

The anchoring property of the substrate surface of liquid crystal cells plays an important role in display and nondisplay fields. This property directly affects the deformation of liquid crystal molecules to change the phase difference through liquid crystal cells. In this paper, a test method based on the alternating-current bridge is proposed to determine the capacitance of liquid crystal cells and thus measure the anchoring energy of the substrate surface. The anchoring energy can be obtained by comparing the capacitance-voltage curves of twisted nematic liquid crystal cells with different anchoring properties in experimental and theoretical results simulated on the basis of Frank elastic theory. Compared with the other methods to determine the anchoring energy, our proposed method requires a simple treatment of liquid crystal cells and allows easy and high-accuracy measurements, thereby expanding the test ideas on the performance parameters of liquid crystal devices.

Charge distribution into illuminated dye-doped surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell

Surface stabilized （anti） ferroelectric liquid crystal cells can be used as an optically addressed media for optical data processing. The structure of the cell has to contain a photo sensible agent, i.e, an absorbing dye-doped orienting layer. The all-optical generation of the diffractive grating can be done due to the switching parameters of the smectic slab within cells with a sensitive layer. This Letter considers a study of the optically induced charge generation into the dye-doped layer, and the explanation of the phenomena of the selective molecular director reorientation, while cell driving what leads to the induction of phase grating.

Evaluation of four inch diameter VGF-Ge substrates used for manufacturing multi-junction solar cell

Low dislocation density Ge wafers grown by a vertical gradient freeze（VGF） method used for the fabrication of multi-junction photovoltaic cells（MJC） have been studied by a whole wafer scale measurement of the lattice parameter,X-ray rocking curves,etch pit density（EPD）,impurities concentration,minority carrier lifetime and residual stress.Impurity content in the VGF-Ge wafers,including that of B,is quite low although B_2O_3 encapsulation is used in the growth process.An obvious difference exists across the whole wafer regarding the distribution of etch pit density,lattice parameter,full width at half maximum（FWHM） of the X-ray rocking curve and residual stress measured by Raman spectra.These are in contrast to a reference Ge substrate wafer grown by the Cz method.The influence of the VGF-Ge substrate on the performance of the MJC is analyzed and evaluated by a comparison of the statistical results of cell parameters.

Organic-inorganic bismuth （lll）-based material： A lead- free, air-stable and solution-processable light-absorber beyond organolead perovskites

Methylammonium bismuth （III） iodide single crystals and films have been developed and investigated. We have further presented the first demonstration of using this organic-inorganic bismuth-based material to replace lead/tin-based perovskite materials in solution-processable solar cells. The organic-inorganic bismuth-based material has advantages of non-toxicity, ambient stability, and low-temperature solution-processability, which provides a promising solution to address the toxicity and stability challenges in organolead- and organotin-based perovskite solar cells. We also demonstrated that trivalent metal cation-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials can exhibit photovoltaic effect, which may inspire more research work on developing and applying organic-inorganic hybrid materials beyond divalent metal cations （Pb （II） and Sn （II）） for solar energy applications.

Characterization and mode of action analysis of black soldier fly(Hermetia illucens)larva-derived hemocytes

With the growing importance of the black soldier fly(Hermetia illucens)for both sustainable food production and waste management as well as for science,a great demand of understanding its immune system arises.Here,we present the first description of the circulating larval hemocytes with special emphasis on uptake of microorganisms and distinguishing hemocyte types.With histological,zymographic,and cytometric methods and with a set of hemocyte binding lectins and antibodies,the hemocytes of H.illucens are identified as plasmatocytes,crystal cells,and putative prohemocytes.Total hemocyte counts(THC)are determined,and methods for THC determination are compared.Approximately 1100 hemocytes per microliter hemolymph are present in naive animals,while hemocyte density decreases dramatically shortly after wounding,indicating a role of hemocytes in response to wounding(and immune response in general).The determination of the relative abundance of each hemocyte type(differential hemocyte count,DHC)revealed that plasmatocytes are highly abundant,whereas prohemocytes and crystal cells make up only a small percentage of the circulating cells.Plasmatocytes are not only the most abundant but also the professional phagocytes in H.illucens.They rapidly engulf and take up bacteria both in vivo and in vitro,indicating a very potent cellular defense against invading pathogens.Larger bioparticles such as yeasts are also removed from circulation by phagocytosis,but slower than bacteria.This is the first analysis of the potent cellular immune response in the black soldier fly,and a first toolbox that helps to identify hemocyte(types)is presented.