Interfacial morphology evolution in directionally solidified Al-1.5%Cu alloy

The solid-liquid interracial morphology evolution was investigated in directional solidification （DS） of Al-1.5%Cu alloy （mass fraction）. The results show that the solidified microstructural evolution is gradual other than sharp, and the microstructure patterns are interesting and diversiform at the pulling rate ranging from 30 μm/s to 1500 μm/s. Indeed, dendrite to cell transition follows this sequence： dendrites→→banded cellular dendrites→elongated cells and part of dendrites→main elongated cells and little dendrites. Moreover, the present microstructure is not normal microstructure as we saw before. Further, according to the experimental phenomenon, the dendrite to cell transition was studied theoretically. Dendrite tip shape is an important parameter to characterize the dendrite to cell transition. As the dendrite to cell transition is far from equilibrium solidification, non-equilibrium solidification is taken into consideration in calculation. Finally, it is speculated that the dendrite to cell transition would occur at the minimum tip radius.

锂精矿的焙烧探讨

随着技术的进步,锂产品的应用范围不断扩大,需求保持较快增长。我国作为重要的新兴经济体,未来一段时间对锂产品的需求增长率仍将高于世界平均水平。为此,本文从锂的主要用途和制作原料进行了简要介绍,选取国内、国外不同锂精矿进行了实验室测试与分析,并对锂精矿的焙烧细节及生产控制进行了阐述,以期达到提高锂精矿中氧化锂回收效率的目的。

Kinetics of celestite conversion to acidic strontium oxalate hydrate in aqueous solution of oxalic acid

Conversion of SrSO4 to acidic strontium oxalate hydrate(H[Sr(C2O4)1.5(H2O)]) in aqueous H2C2O4 solutions proceeds as a consecutive reaction. In the first step of the consecutive reaction, SrSO4 reacts with H2C2O4 and pseudomorphic conversion to SrC2 O4·H2O occurs. In the second step, SrC2 O4·H2O reacts with H2C2O4 to form H[Sr(C2 O4)1.5(H2O)]. Sr(HC2 O4)(C2 O4)0.5·H2 O crystallizes during cooling of the reaction mixture to room temperature if the solution reaches the saturation concentration of (H[Sr(C2O4)1.5(H2O)]. The aims of this study are the derivation of reaction rate equations and the determination of the kinetic parameters such as pre-exponential factor, apparent activation energy and order of H2C2O4 concentration for each reaction step.Fractional conversions of SrSO4 were calculated using the quantitative amounts of dissolved S and Sr. It was determined that the reaction rate increased at the initial time of reaction by increasing the temperature using solutions with approximately same H2C2O4 concentrations. The reaction extends very slowly after a certain time in solutions with low H2C2O4 concentration and ends by the formation of a protective layer of SrC2O4-H2O around the surfaces of solid particles. Fractional conversion of SrSO4 is increased by increasing concentration of H2C2O4 at constant temperature. Kinetic model equations were derived using shrinking core model for each step.

Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency Enhanced by Tilting Monocrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Devices

Based on the idea of tilting a photoelectric conversion device,the monocrystalline silicon p-n junction device was tilted to make light incident upon the device at an angle of 45° with the normal of the device surface,resulting in infrared multiple-internal-reflection inside the device.The internal reflection leads to path length increase of infrared light,making the enhancement of infrared absorption of the device.An increase of 11% in energy conversion efficiency has been obtained through tilting the device.

Conversion of coal gangue into alumina, tobermorite and TiO_2-rich material

A large amount of coal gangue from coal mining and processing is regarded as waste and usually stockpiled directly. In order to recycle the valuable elements from the coal gangue, an integrated process is proposed. The process consists of three steps: 1concentrating alumina from the coal gangue via activation roasting followed by alkali leaching of Si O2 which produces alumina concentrate for alumina extraction by the Bayer process; 2) synthesizing tobermorite whiskers from the filtrated alkali liquo containing silicate via a hydrothermal method and reusing excess caustic liquor; and 3) enriching titanium component from the Baye process residue by sulfuric acid leaching. Alumina concentrate with 69.5% Al_2O_3 and mass ratio of alumina to silica(A/S) of 5.9pure 1.1 nm tobermorite whisker and TiO_2-rich material containing 33% TiO_2 are produced, respectively, with the optimal parameters Besides, the actual alumina digestion ratio of alumina concentrate reaches 80.4% at 270 oC for 40 min in the Bayer process.

Snapshots of a Viral RNA Polymerase Switching Gears from Transcription Initiation to Elongation

During transcription initiation,RNA polymerase binds tightly to the promoter DNA defining the start of transcription,transcribes comparatively slowly,and frequently releases short transcripts(3-8 nucleotides)in a process called abortive cycling.Transitioning to elongation,the second phase of transcription,the polymerase dissociates from the promoter while RNA synthesis continues.Elongation is characterized by higher rates of transcription and tight binding to the RNA transcript.The RNA polymerase from enterophage T7 (T7 RNAP) has been used as a model to understand the mechanism of transcription in general,and the transition from initiation to elongation specifically.This single-subunit enzyme undergoes dramatic conformational changes during this transition to support the changing requirements of nucleic acid interactions while continuously maintaining polymerase function.Crystal structures,available of multiple stages of the initiation complex and of the elongation complex,combined with biochemical and biophysical data,offer molecular detail of the transition.Some of the crystal structures contain a variant of T7 RNAP where proline 266 is substituted by leucine.This variant shows less abortive products and altered timing of transition,and is a valuable tool to study these processes.The structural transitions from early to late initiation are well understood and are consistent with solution data.The timing of events and the structural intermediates in the transition from late initiation to elongation are less well understood,but the available data allows one to formulate testable models of the transition to guide further research.

Furan-based liquid-crystalline small-molecule donor guest improving the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells with amorphous packing

Introducing liquid-crystalline small-molecule donors(SMDs)into binary systems based on the strong intermolecular interactions of SMDs is a facile and effective strategy to tune the active layer morphology and improve the performance of organic solar cells(OSCs).Contrary to conventional understanding,this research proposes a new strategy for ternary OSCs implicating that"weakly crystalline materials can also optimize the morphology of the active layer and improve the OSCs performance".Herein,we designed and synthesized two liquid-crystalline SMDs,Z1 and Z2,based on benzodifuran(BDF)units.The amorphous Z2-incorporated ternary devices present an unexpectedly improved power conversion efficiency(PCE)>18%with good stability.By contrast,the highly ordered Z1-based ternary devices possess a significantly depressed efficiency.Multiple characterizations reveal that the Z2-based ternary blend films possess improved miscibility and efficient charge transport.This novel strategy for the selection of the third component is significant for the fabrication of high-efficiency ternary OSCs.

Realizing high-performance ternary organic solar cell with thick active layer via incorporating a liquid crystalline small molecule as a third component

In the past two decades, organic solar cells （OSCs） have at- tracted significant attention owing to their merits of achieving light-weight, flexible, low-cost devices [1,2]. Ternary OSC as an efficient way to improve the power conversion efficiencies （PCEs） of OSCs has inspired great interest from researchers to investigate ternary OSCs and result in many efficient de- vices. Ternary OSCs allow collecting high- and low-energy photons by separated semiconductors in a single active layer to minimize the thermalization loss and broaden absorption range to improve the performance of OSCs. However, most reported ternary OSCs only have active layer of about 100 nm in thickness.

A sintering-free, nanocrystalline tin oxide electron selective layer for organometal perovskite solar cells

Effective electron selective layer （ESL） is critical for the power conversion efficiency in organometal halide- based perovskite solar cells （PSCs）. In this work, a spincoating process has been developed to fabricate high quality nanocrystalline SnO2 film at 100℃ without further sintering at higher temperature. When used as ESL in PSCs, such SnO2 film shows greater electron extraction ability and higher efficiency than TiO2 film processed under similar condition, as evidenced by the efficient time-resolved photoluminescence （TRPL） quenching SnO2/CH3NH3PbI3 film. As a resuit, the SnO2-based PSCs possess higher open circuit voltage of 0.91 V, short circuit current density of 20.73 mA cm^-2, and fill factor of 64.25%, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 12.10%, compared with 7.16% of TiO2-based PSCs. This demonstrates the great potential of applying spin-coating sintering-free process for the low-cost and large-scale manufacturing of PSCs.

Carbon-free Cu_2ZnSn(S,Se)_4 film prepared via a non-hydrazine route

The kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) is an ideal candidate for light harvesting materials in earth-abundant low-cost thinfilm solar cells(TFSC). Although the solution-based processing is a most promising approach to achieve low-cost solar cells with high power conversion efficiency, the issues of poor crystallinity and carbon residue in CZTSSe thin films are still challenging. Herein, a non-hydrazine solution-based method was reported to fabricate highly crystallized and carbon-free kesterite CZTSSe thin films. Interestingly, it was found that the synthetic atmosphere of metal organic precursors have a dramatic impact on the morphology and crystallinity of CZTSSe films. By optimizing the processing parameters, we were able to obtain a kesterite CZTSSe film composed of compact large crystal grains with trace carbon residues. Also, a viable reactive ion etching(RIE) processing with optimized etching conditions was then developed to successfully eliminate trace carbon residues on the surface of the CZTSSe film.

Engineering the heterogeneous interfaces of inverse opals to boost charge transfer for efficient solar water splitting

Herein,we report a three-dimensional porous TiO_(2)/Fe_(2)TiO_(5)/Fe_(2)O_(3)(TFF)inverse opal through in situ thermal solid reactions for photoelectrochemical water splitting.The Fe_(2)TiO_(5) interfacial layer within TFF acting as a bridge to tightly connect to TiO_(2) and Fe_(2)O_(3) reduces the interfacial charge transfer resistance,and suppresses the bulk carrier recombination.The optimized TFF displays a remarkable photocurrent density of 0.54mAcm^(-2) at 1.23V vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE),which is 25 times higher than that of TiO_(2)/Fe_(2)O_(3)(TF)inverse opal(0.02mAcm^(-2) at 1.23V vs.RHE).The charge transfer rate in TFF inverse opal is 2-8 times higher than that of TF in the potential range of 0.7-1.5V vs.RHE.The effects of the Fe_(2)TiO_(5) interfacial layer are further revealed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy.This work offers an interfacial engineering protocol to improve charge separation and transfer for efficient solar water splitting.

Photovoltaic efficiency enhancement of polycrystalline silicon solar cells by a highly stable luminescent film

Si-based solar cells have dominated the entire photovoltaic market,but remain suffering from low power conversion efficiency(PCE),partly because of the poor utilization of ultraviolet(UV)light.Europium(III)(Eu^3+)complexes with organic ligands are capable of converting UV light into strong visible light,which makes them ideal light converter to increase the efficiency of solar cells.However,the low stability of such complexes seriously hampers their practical applications.In this work,we report a highly stable and luminescent ethylene-vinyl acetate(EVA)copolymer film consisting of a Eu^3+complex as a down-shift material,Eu(ND)4 CTAC(ND=4-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,5-naphthyridine-3-carbonitrile,CTAC=hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride),coating of which onto the surface of large area polycrystalline silicon solar cells(active area:110 cm^2)results in an increase of PCE from 15.06%to 15.57%.Remarkable stability of the luminescent film was also demonstrated under lightsoaking test for 500 h,and no obvious luminescence degradation can be observed.The remarkable enhancement of the conversion efficiency by 0.51%absolute on such a large active area,together with the high stability of the luminescent film,demonstrates a prospect for the implementation of the films in photovoltaic industry.

Resolution of ghost imaging with entangled photons for different types of momentum correlation

We present an analytical analysis of the spatial resolution of quantum ghost imaging implemented by entangled photons from a general, spontaneously parametric, down-conversion process. We find that the resolution is affected by both the pump beam waist and the nonlinear crystal length. Hence, we determined a method to improve the resolution for a certain imaging setup. It should be noted that the resolution is not uniquely related to the degree of entanglement of the photon pair since the resolution can be optimized for a certain degree of entanglement. For certain types of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen(EPR) states——namely the momentum-correlated or momentum-positively correlated states——the resolution exhibits a simpler relationship with the pump beam waist and crystal length. Further, a vivid numerical simulation of ghost imaging is presented for different types of EPR states,which supports our analysis. This work discusses applicable references to the applications of quantum ghost imaging.

Giant spin torque efficiency in single-crystalline antiferromagnet MnAu films

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) materials have attracted wide attention in spin-orbit torque (SOT)-based spintronic due to its abundant spin-dependent properties and unique advantage of immunity against external field perturbations.To act as the charge-to-spin conversion source in energy-saving spintronic devices,it is of great importance for the AFM material to possess a large spin torque efficiency(ξDL).In this work,using the spin torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) technique and a Mn2Au/Ni Fe(Py) bilayer system,we systemically study the ξDLof AFM Mn2Au films with different crystal structures.Compared with polycrystalline Mn2Au with effective ξDL<0.051,we show a much larger ξDLof~0.333 in single-crystal Mn2Au,which arises from the large spin Hall conductivity instead of electrical resistivity.Moreover,with a further contribution of interfacial effects,the effective ξDLof single-crystalline Mn2Au/Py system increases to 0.731,which is more than two times larger than the value of ~0.22 reported for the Mn2Au/CoFeB system.By utilizing the largeξDLof Mn2Au in a perpendicularly magnetized Mn Ga/Mn2Au system,energy-efficient deterministic magnetization switching with a current density at ~10^(6)A cm^(-2)is achieved.Our results reveal a significant potential of Mn2Au as an efficient SOT source and shed light on its application in future AFM material-based SOT integration technology.

Reveal the growth mechanism in perovskite films via weakly coordinating solvent annealing

In this study, we investigated the nucleation mechanism of perovskite films by employing isopropanol(IPA), a weakly coordinating solvent, to anneal both PbI2 and CH3 NH3 PbI3 in the sequential deposition and CsPbI3 in the one-step deposition. IPA solvent annealing(IPA SA) of PbI2 films was carried out at different temperatures. The grain size,compactness, roughness and morphology of PbI2 and CH3 NH3 PbI3 films were seriously affected by annealing methods. Similarly, weakly coordinating solvent annealing process was also employed to anneal all inorganic CsPbI3 perovskite in a one-step method. A continuous and dense CsPbI3 film with uniform grain size was obtained. We recognized that weakly coordinating solvent annealing for perovskite could regulate the dissolution-recrystallization process via controlling the volume of residual solvent in perovskite intermediate films. The power conversion efficiency(PCE) of conventional CH3 NH3 PbI3 perovskite solar cells(PSCs)reached 17.4% and that of CsPbI3 PSCs reached 2.5% based on this sequential IPA SA process.

Simulation of high conversion efficiency and open-circuit voltages of α-si/poly-silicon solar cell

The P+ α-Si /N+ polycrystalline solar cell is molded using the AMPS-1D device simulator to explore the new high efficiency thin film poly-silicon solar cell. In order to analyze the characteristics of this device and the thickness of N+ poly-silicon, we consider the impurity concentration in the N+ poly-silicon layer and the work function of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) in front contact in the calculation. The thickness of N+ poly-silicon has little impact on the device when the thickness varies from 20 μm to 300 μm. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed. The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of P+ α-Si /N+ polycrystalline solar cell is very high, reaching 752 mV, and the conversion efficiency reaches 9.44%. Therefore, based on the above optimum parameters the study on the device formed by P+ α-Si/N+ poly-silicon is significant in exploring the high efficiency poly-silicon solar cell.