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Anode with good electrocatalytic capabilities is more specifically required to reduce the ohimic losses during microbial fuel cell (MFC) operation. Highly conductive polymers viz., Polyaniline (PANi) and Polyaniline/Carbon nanotube (PANi/CNT) composite were prepared by in situ oxidative chemical polymerization method. Anodes were fabricated independently by coating PANi and CNT/PANi composites on the surface of SSM. The fabricated electrodes were evaluated as anode against stainless steel mess (SSM) as cathode during MFC operation. Maximum bioelectricity generation was observed in SSM-PANi/CNT-anode with power density of 48 mW/m2 and COD removal efficiency of 80% compared with SSM-PANi-anode (38 mW/m2; 65%) and SSM-anode (28 mW/m2; 58%). Bioelectrochemical characterization of the electrode materials using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed high electrocatalytic activity of PANi/CNT composite electrode. The study concluded the efficiency of PANi/CNT composite electrodes as bioanode in operation of MFCs towards achieving increased bioelectricity production along with wastewater treatment.

Photoconductive antennas (PCAs) are among the most conventional devices used for emission as well as detection of terahertz (THz) radiation. However, due to their low optical-to-THz conversion efficiencies, applications of these devices in out-of-laboratory conditions are limited. In this paper, we report several factors of enhancement in THz emission efficiency from conventional PCAs by coating a nano-layer of dielectric (TiO2) on the active area between the electrodes of a semi-insulating GaAs-based device. Extensive experiments were done to show the effect of thicknesses of the TiO2 layer on the THz power enhancement with different applied optical power and bias voltages. Multiphysics simulations were performed to elucidate the underlying physics behind the enhancement of efficiency of the PCA. Additionally, this layer increases the robustness of the electrode gaps of the PCAs with high electrical insulation as well as protect it from external dust particles.

This work has been published in Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 215 (2020) 110603 (DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110603). Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) based solar cell technology has experienced rapid development with demonstrated cell efficiency reaching ̴ 9.2% for devices with substrate configuration, hence necessitating more intense research investigation for further progress. Though the effect of crystallographic orientation in this non-cubic material on device performance is now well understood, the influence of composition and intrinsic defects remains debatable. In this work we describe the fabrication and device characteristics of Sb2Se3 solar cells designed in the substrate configuration of (SLG/Mo/Sb2Se3/CdS/i-ZnO+ITO). Notably, Sb2Se3 absorber layers with predominant (hk0) orientation were deposited in a single step by e-beam evaporation of pre synthesized bulk source material. As grown precursor Sb2Se3 thin films were subjected to reactive thermal annealing (RTA) treatment in the presence of Se source at different temperatures for enhancing their crystalline quality and balancing their stoichiometry. Analysis of the completed solar cells indicated improved efficiencies post RTA process, with the best performing devices exhibiting a power conversion efficiency (η) of ~ 4.34% for an absorber annealed at a temperature of 350 °C. The improved efficiency is ascribed to the observed changes in chemical composition of the absorber layer and the possible formation of related beneficial antisite defects. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS)" and the Government of Catalonia's Agency for Business Competitiveness(ACCIÓ). This research was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under the WINCOST (ENE2016-80788-C5-1-R) project, and by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF, FEDER Programa Competitivitat de Catalunya 2007-2013). Authors from IREC and the University of Barcelona belong to the SEMS (Solar Energy and Materials Systems) Consolidated Research Group of the 'Generalitat de Catalunya' (Ref. 2017 SGR 862). Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is very well acknowledged for funding the research activities at SRM IST through the project "Development of Lithium Ion Batteries and Computational Studies for Solar Absorber Layers, (Grant No. 31/03/2014-15/PVSE-R&D).

AbstractA metal-organic framework, UiO-66, has been evaluated as adsorbent in a post-combustion vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) process. Equilibrium isotherms of the most relevant gases (CO2 and N2) as well as breakthrough curves measured using synthetic flue gas containing 15 mol% CO2 without and with 9 mol% water vapor are reported. Based on the breakthrough data, a six step one-column VSA cycle is designed and the effects of adsorption and CO2 rinse times used on the CO2 recovery and CO2 purity are examined. With the chosen process configuration and cycle design CO2 purities around 60% and CO2 recoveries up to 70% are achieved. 50 cycle adsorption-desorption experiments show that the cyclic CO2 capacity is reduced by approximately 25% in the presence of water vapor. No reduction in cyclic capacity is observed with increased cycle number; there is rather a slight increase in cyclic capacity with cycle number indicating that a cyclic steady state still not has been reached after 50 cycles.

The ultra durable monolithic dendritic anatase TiO2 provides a mechanistic inner-view via a rotational moiré pattern, resulting in 99.55% coulombic efficiency with only 41 mV polarization loss at the 1000th cycle, while retaining the columnar morphology.

Light‐emitting solar cells (LESCs) have tremendous potential in the next‐generation optoelectronics industry due to their excellent photophysical properties and general configurational advantages. The important feature of these LESC devices is that it can reversibly transduce optical energy to electrical energy and vice versa in a single platform. Consequently, they have significant potential in the development of solar light‐emitting diode (LED) street lights in rural, semiurban, and urban areas. However, their commercial development has been limited so far due to the complex device geometry, unfavorable alignment of energy levels, poor quality of transport layers, incomplete coverage of the solar spectrum, and more notably, intrinsic instability of perovskites. Herein, the recent developments in the field are discussed, followed by a critical analysis of major challenges and possible solutions to overcome these challenges. Finally, a roadmap for the successful development of efficient and stable dual‐functioning perovskite‐based LESCs is provided, which can be useful for the energy industry.

Advancing CdTe solar cell efficiency requires improving the open-circuit voltage $\rm{(V_{{\rm{OC}}})}$ above 900 mV. This requires long carrier lifetime, high hole density, and high-quality interfaces, where the interface recombination velocity is less than about 104 cm/s. Using CdTe single crystals as a model system, we report on CdTe/CdS electrical and structural interface properties in devices that produce open-circuit voltage exceeding 950 mV.

Four natural pigments, extracted from the leaves of teak (Tectona grandis), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), and the flower of crimson bottle brush (Callistemon citrinus), were used as sensitizers for TiO2based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The dyes have shown absorption in broad range of the visible region (400–700 nm) of the solar spectrum and appreciable adsorption onto the semiconductor (TiO2) surface. The DSSCs made using the extracted dyes have shown that the open circuit voltages (Voc) varied from 0.430 to 0.610 V and the short circuit photocurrent densities (Jsc) ranged from 0.11 to 0.29 mA cm−2. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiencies (IPCE) varied from 12–37%. Among the four dyes studied, the extract obtained from teak has shown the best photosensitization effects in terms of the cell output.