Ligand engineering of colloid quantum dots and their application in all-inorganic tandem solar cells

How to effectively utilize the energy of the broad spectrum of sunlight is one of the basic problems in the research of tandem solar cells. Due to their size effect, quantum confinement effect and coupling effect, colloidal quantum dots(QDs) exhibit new physical properties that bulk materials don’t possess.CdX(X = Se, S, etc.) and Pb X(X = Se, S, etc.) QDs prepared by hot-injection methods have been widely studied in the areas of photovolitaic devices. However, the surfactants surrounding QDs seriously hinder the charge transport of QDs based solar cells. Therefore, how to fabricate high-performance tandem solar cells via ligands engineering has become a major challenge. In this paper, the latest progress of colloidal QDs in the research of all-inorganic tandem solar cells was summarized. Firstly, the improvement of QDs surface ligands and the optimization of ligands engineering were discussed, and the control of the physical properties of QDs films were realized. From the aspects of colloidal QDs, ligand engineering, and solar cell preparation, the future development direction of colloidal QDs solar cells was proposed, providing technical guidances for the preparation of low-cost and high-efficiency nanocrystalline solar cells.

Solution-based Synthesis of Ni Sb Nanoparticles for Electrochemical Activity in Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

A cost-effective,facile solution-based hot-injection synthetic route has been developed to synthesize NiSb nanoparticles in oleylamine(OAm)using commercially available inexpensive precursor with reducing toxicity at a relatively low temperature of 160℃.Especially,an organic reductant of borane-tert-butylamine complex is intentionally involved in the reaction system to promote a fast reduction of metallic Ni and Sb for the formation of the NiSb nanoparticles.Structural characterizations reveal that the NiSb nanoparticles are hexagonal phase with space group P63/mmc and they are composed of small granules with size about 10 nm that tend to form agglomerates with porous-like geometries.This is the first report on the generation of transition metal antimonide via solution-based strategy,and the asfabricated nanoparticles possess actively electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)property in acidic electrolytes when the long-chain ligand of OAm adhered on the surface of the nanoparticles is exchanged by ligand-removal and exchange procedure.It is found that the NiSb nanoparticles as a new kind of non-noble-metal HER electrocatalysts only require overpotentials of 437 and 531 mV to achieve high current densities of 10 and 50 mA/cm^2 respectively,as well as exhibit low charge transfer resistance and excellent HER stability.

Synthesis of CsPbX_(3)(X=Cl/Br,Br,and Br/I)@SiO_(2)/PM M A composite films as color-conversion materials for achieving tunable multi-color and white light emission

All-inorganic cesium lead halide based perovskite nanocrystals(PNCs)exhibit promising optoelectronic properties,but their poor stability and anion exchange reaction limit their broad commercial applications.Herein,we demonstrated the successful synthesis of blue-green-red emitting CsPbX_(3)(X=Cl/Br,Br,and Br/I)PNCs via hot injection method,followed by silica-coating and embedding in poly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA)matrix.The photoluminescence(PL)spectra of SiO_(2)/PMMA-coated PNCs can be tuned continuously by regulating precursor composition ratio,from blue(CsPb(Cl_(0.5)/Br_(0.5))_(3);460 nm)to red(CsPb(Br_(0.4)/I_(0.6))_(3)via green(CsPbBr_(3);519 nm).The PNCs composite films exhibit improved stability(thermal-,moisture-,and photo-stability)because of the barrier formed by Si0_(2)/PMMA coating and also displayed exceptional photoluminescent quantum yield(PLQY of blue,green,and red-emitting Si0_(2)/PMMA coated PNCs are 37%,86%,and 71%,respectively)with longer lifetimes inhibiting anion exchange.Eventually,the PNCs-encapsulated Si0_(2)/PMMA composite films were integrated into the UV LED chip as down-converting materials to construct a prototype white-peLED unit.The designed white-peLED unit demonstrated bright white light generating CIE coordinates(0.349,0.350),a luminous efficiency(LE)of 39.2%and a color rendering index(CRI)of 84.7.The wide color gamut of 121.47%of NTSC and 98.56%of Rec.2020 is also achieved with the built w-LED system.Therefore,the results demonstrated that CsPbX_(3)(X=Cl/Br,Br,and Br/I)PNCs@SiO_(2)/PMMA composite films can be employed as efficient UV to visible color conversion materials for white-LEDs and backlighting.

An Investigation into the Magnetic Properties of Nickel Nano-grains Synthesized Via Thermal Decomposition Techniques

Nickel nanoparticles were synthesized through the thermal decomposition of nickel（II） acetylacetonate in con- junction with the two methods of hot-injection and heating-up at elevated temperatures in alkylamine. Using several mole ratios of the oleic acid, different morphologies were obtained. The synthesized particles were characterized via XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED and EDAX. Mean particle size was revealed to range from 25 to 45 nm. Presence of crystallized particles in HCP with little FCC phases was also confirmed with XRD patterns. Magnetic hysteresis loops measured by the VSM showed that the magnetic properties of Ni nanoparticles （i.e., coercivity, saturation magnetization and relative permeability） were much enhanced in comparison with the bulk.