• Energy Research

AbstractA novel sealing method of vacuum glazing is introduced in this study. Anodic bonding technology was used to enhance the bonding strength of the sealant of vacuum glazing. Two sheets of plane glass were sealed by V2O5‐P2O5‐TeO2 glass powder with low glass transition temperature (339.3℃) using anodic bonding‐assisted low‐temperature sintering. Through analyzing the results of Shear Strength test, the diagram of microstructures of the sealing bond taken by a micro Super‐depth Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), the best bonding treatment schedule was determined for achieving the strongest bond. The experiment results show that anodic bonding has a dramatic influence on bonding performance. When the sealing temperature and bonding time are kept constant, the shear strength of the sample increases by increasing the bonding voltage. With the bonding temperature of 470℃ and the voltage of 600 V, the air tightness of the sealed sample is 3.9 × 10−9 Pa·m3/s. The improved bonding strength can enhance life‐time of vacuum glazing.

Abstract A great deal of attention has been directed towards the development of facile synthetic methods for semiconductor materials that allow for doping. In this work, Cu-doped CdSeTe-alloyed quantum dots (QDs) were synthesized via a non-injection one pot synthesis route and used as a sensitizer in solar cells. The lattice incorporation of CdSeTe QDs with Cu2+ was evidenced by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and ab initio simulation. We have performed characterization on the relaxed geometry structure, bonding character, and band alignment of the Cu-doped CdSeTe QDs based on rigorous ab initio calculations. Our main objective is to fully understand the effect of the Cu2+ dopant on the physical properties of CdSeTe QDs, which would be very useful to further understand the mechanism of photoelectric conversion. HR-TEM analysis showed ~7 nm and ~9 nm particles for CdSeTe and Cu-doped CdSeTe nanocrystals (NCs), respectively. It was found that the open circuit voltage (Voc) of Cu-doped CdSeTe NCs decreases with respect to that of the undoped ones. The QD-based solar cell with Cu-doped Cu0.2Cd0.8Se0.6Te0.4 exhibited a photo-conversion efficiency of 1.25% (VOC=0.593 V, JSC=3.78 mA/cm2, FF=55.5%), which was higher than the reference CdSeTe NCs under AM1.5 G at 100 mW/cm2 simulated sunlight radiation conditions.

AbstractHerein, we present ultrasmall delafossite‐type Mg‐doped CuCrO2 nanocrystals prepared by using hydrothermal synthesis and their first application as photocathodes in efficient p‐type dye‐sensitized solar cells. The short‐circuit current density (Jsc) is notably increased by approximately 27 % owing to the decreased crystallite size and the enhanced optical transmittance associated with Mg doping of the CuCrO2 nanocrystalline sample. An open‐circuit voltage (Voc) of 201 mV, Jsc of 1.51 mA cm−2, fill factor of 0.449, and overall photoconversion efficiency of 0.132 % have been achieved with the CuCr0.9Mg0.1O2 dye photocathode sensitized with the P1 dye under optimized conditions. This efficiency is nearly three times higher than that of the NiO‐based reference device, which is attributed to the largely improved Voc and Jsc. The augmentation of Voc and Jsc can be attributed to the lower valance band position and the faster hole diffusion coefficient of CuCr0.9Mg0.1O2 compared to those of the NiO reference, respectively, which leads to a higher hole collection efficiency.

Synergistic coupling of ruthenium with cobalt phosphide can significantly boost the hydrogen evolution performance of the hybrid catalysts in a wide pH range.

Abstract In this work, nanostructural Ag thin films and SiO2-Ag-SiO2 thin films were successfully fabricated on glass substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering for use in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) reflectors. The XRD results showed that Ag thin films deposited under different powers had face-centered cubic structures with preferred orientation of (111). The Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) results indicated a significant difference in the morphologies of Ag thin films. Also, increasing of power led to a correspondingly larger grain sizes from 8 to 25 nm. Film thickness tests showed that deposition rate changed almost linearly with increasing of power. The reflectance curves revealed that an amazing reflectance of SiO2-Ag-SiO2 thin films in near-infrared band can be obtained and it can be up to 99.97% . Most importantly, it is found that when SiO2 layer served as a medium layer, it can improve the film adhesion to a great degree, while it can served as a good protection layer with increasing reflectance when sputtered on the surface of Ag thin film.

Herein, an organic redox couple 1-methy-1H-tetrazole-5-thiolate (T(-)) and its disulfide dimer (T2) redox shuttle, as an electrolyte, is introduced in a p-type dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) on the basis of an organic dye (P1) sensitizer and nanocrystal CuCrO2 electrode. Using this iodide-free transparent redox electrolyte in conjunction with the sensitized heterojunction, we achieve a high open-circuit voltage of over 300 mV. An optimal efficiency of 0.23% is obtained using a CoS counter electrode and an optimized electrolyte composition under AM 1.5 G 100 mW cm(-2) light illumination which, to the best of our knowledge, represents the highest efficiency that has so far been reported for p-type DSCs using organic redox couples.

The influence of structural parameters of highly-ordered silicon nanowire arrays on their solar-driven HER performance is systematically investigated.