Applied Physics Letters Research Articles

Light-Driven Small Molecule Oxidation on Pd-Au Bimetallic Film-Coupled Electrodes

The ability to efficiently oxidize small molecules containing C-C bonds (e.g. ethanol and ethylene glycol) is challenging at low temperature (i.e., < 80°C). It was previously shown that bimetallic catalysts (e.g. Pd-Au systems) have enhanced electrocatalytic activities for various organic reactions.1 Moreover, an increased overall selectivity and turnover frequency for primary alcohol conversion to aldehydes has been reported after the addition of Au to Pd nanocrystals.2 However dissociation of the C-C bonds is often incomplete and only undergoes a partial oxidation to intermediate product(s). Therefore, a breakthrough technology is required to overcome this obstacle at low temperature. One strategy is to tailor bimetallic catalysts for photo-electrochemical oxidation reactions by engineering the plasmonic response. For example, bimetallic Pd-Au nanostructures have been tuned to the visible portion of the solar spectrum for use as plasmonic H2 sensors.3 We report the use of nanolithography patterned Pd-Au bimetallic catalysts for the photo-electrochemical oxidation of ethanol and ethylene glycol. We consider the effect of laser and solar-simulated excitations on nanostructured Pd-Au bimetallic electrodes fabricated on atomic layer deposited TiO2 films coupled to a back contact.4-5 The Pd-Au bimetallic electrodes with and without film-coupling are evaluated in parallel with discrete dipole approximation (DDA) modeling derived from doubly-periodic array simulations, which allows assessment of the absorption, scattering, and near-field enhancements. For select bimetallic configurations, we compare the selectivity and kinetics of the photo-electrochemical oxidation reactions and discuss the catalytic response driven by light excitation. Lu, C.L.; Prasad, K. S.; Wu, H.L.; Ho, J.A.; Huang, M.H. JACS 2010, 132 (41), 14546-14553.Enache, D. I.; Edwards, J. K.; Landon, P.; Solsona-Espriu, B.; Carley, A. F.; Herzing, A. A.; Watanabe, M.; Kiely, C. J.; Knight, D. W.; Hutchings, G. J. Science 2006, 311 (5759), 362-365.Nugroho, F. A.; Iandolo, B.; Wagner, J. B.; Langhammer, C. ACS Nano 2016, 10 (2), 2871-9.McClure, J. P.; Grew, K. N.; Das, N. C.; Chu, D.; Baker, D.; Strnad, N.; Gobrogge, E. MRS Advances 2017, 2 (55), 3397-3402.Ciracì, C.; Chen, X.; Mock, J. J.; McGuire, F.; Liu, X.; Oh, S.-H.; Smith, D. R. Applied Physics Letters 2014, 104 (2), 023109.

Strain Engineering and Two-Dimensional Electron Gas in Polar ε-Ga2O3

As a wide gap semiconductor, Ga2O3 is rapidly emerging as a promising candidate for power electronics applications. While most of the studies have focused on its stable β-phase, there are a handful of reports on its metastable polar ε-phase having a spontaneous polarization. Numerous experimental groups have recently attempted to stabilize ε-Ga2O3 using epitaxial strain using substrates such as Al2O3(0001)1, GaN(0001)1, AlN(0001)1, MgO(111)2 and SiC(0001)3. However, due to the lack of an understanding of the stability of various Ga2O3 phases under epitaxial strain, these trial-and-error based attempts have been of limited success. All the films are observed to be of inherently poor quality. There are also diverging reports on the structure and properties of the deposited thin films. A recent experimental report of ε-Ga2O3 grown on Al2O3 substrate has even suggested the film to be ferroelectric, where the direction of the spontaneous polarization could be switched with an external electric field. It implies that the stabilization of ε-Ga2O3 will open new avenue of polarization engineering in Ga2O3 power electronics4. We have used first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) calculations in combination with coincidence site lattice theory to develop a phase-diagram of Ga2O3 under epitaxial strain. We show that all the previously used substrates impose an epitaxial strain over 3% on ε-Ga2O3, which explains the poor structural quality of the deposited thin films. In this presentation, we will discuss promising commercially available substrates that can stabilize ε-Ga2O3 with epitaxial strain < 1 %. We will discuss the electronic structure of ε-Ga2O3 under epitaxial strain, including properties such as the band gap, polarization constants and its ferroelectric nature. We will theoretically demonstrate a way to achieve two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in ε-Ga2O3 heterostructure simply by using polarization engineering. The formation of 2DEG is due to the polar catastrophe, and the formation and sheet charge density 2DEG can be controlled by thickness of ε-Ga2O3 and its polarization direction. Our study highlights the potential of the polar behavior of ε-Ga2O3 and suggest pathway to realize its stabilize epitaxial growth. Y. Oshima, E.G. Víllora, Y. Matsushita, S. Yamamoto and K. Shimamura: Journal of Applied Physics 118, 085301 (2015).2. H. Nishinaka, D. Tahara and M. Yoshimoto: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 55, 1202BC (2016).X. Xia, Y. Chen, Q. Feng, H. Liang, P. Tao, M. Xu and G. Du: Applied Physics Letters 108, 202103 (2016).F. Mezzadri, G. Calestani, F. Boschi, D. Delmonte, M. Bosi and R. Fornari: Inorganic Chemistry 55, 12079 (2016).

Photovoltaics literature survey (no. 142)

AbstractIn order to help readers stay up‐to‐date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions, please e‐mail Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au.

Bi-induced highly n-type carbon-doped InGaAsBi films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Carbon-doped InGaAsBi films on InP/Fe (100) substrates have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). It has been found that Bismuth incorporation induces extremely high n-type carbon-doped InGaAsBi films, and its electron concentration increases linearly up to 10(21) cm(-3) (highest reported to date for n-type III-V semiconductor materials) with increased CBr4 supply pressure, implying InGaAsBi to be a prospective ohmic contact material for InP-based terahertz transistors. It also has been proved by secondary ion mass spectroscopy that the alloy composition of carbon-doped InGaAsBi is altered by the preferential etching effect of CBr4, but the etching effect on the Bi content is negligible. ERNATHY CR, 1995, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, V66, P1632

Q-switched fiber laser with tungsten disulfide saturable absorber prepared by drop casting method

We experimentally demonstrate a passively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) operation by using a saturable absorber (SA) based on tungsten disulfide (WS2). By depositing WS2 thin film layer at the end of optical fiber ferrule, we fabricated a SA device. The SA is incorporated into an Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) cavity to generate a Q-switching pulses train operating at 1559.8 nm. As a result, stable passively Q-switched EDFL pulses with maximum output pulse energy of 123.2 nJ, repetition rate of 104.1 kHz, and pulse width of 9.61 us are achieved when the input pump power is 142.1 mW at the wavelength of 980 nm. Full Text: PDF ReferencesC. Gao, W. Zhao, Y. Wang, S. Zhu, G. Chen, and Y. Wang, "Passive Q-switched fiber laser with SESAM in ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber", in 27th International congress on High-Speed Photography and Photonics (International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2007). CrossRef M. Ahmed, N. Ali, Z. Salleh, A. Rahman, S. Harun, M. Manaf, et al., "Q-switched erbium doped fiber laser based on single and multiple walled carbon nanotubes embedded in polyethylene oxide film as saturable absorber", Optics &amp; Laser Technology 65, 25 (2015). CrossRef M. A. Ismail, F. Ahmad, S. W. Harun, H. Arof and H. Ahmad, "A Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with a graphene saturable absorber", Laser Phys. Lett. 10, 025102 (2013). CrossRef G. Sobon, J. Sotor, J. Jagiello, R. Kozinski, K. Librant, M. Zdrojek, L. Lipinska, and K. M. Abramski, "Linearly polarized, Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser based on reduced graphene oxide saturable absorber", Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 241106 (2012). CrossRef N. H. M. Apandi, F. Ahmad, S. N. F. Zuikafly, M. H. Ibrahim, S. W. Harun, "Bismuth (III) Telluride (Bi2Te3) topological insulator embed in PVA as passive Q-switcher at 2 micron region", Photon. Lett. of Poland 8, 101 (2016). CrossRef J. Bogusławski, G. Soboń, K. Tarnowski, R. Zybała, K. Mars, A. Mikuła, K. M. Abramski and J. Sotor, "All-polarization-maintaining-fiber laser Q-switched by evanescent field interaction with Sb2Te3 saturable absorber", Optical Engineering 55, 081316 (2016). CrossRef Z. Luo, Y. Huang, M. Zhong, Y. Li, J. Wu, B. Xu, H. Xu, Z. Cai, J. Peng, and J. Weng, "1-, 1.5-, and 2-um fiber lasers Q-switched by a broadband few-layer MoS2 saturable absorber", J. Lightwave Technol. 32, 4679 (2014). CrossRef N. N. Razak, A. A. Latiff, Z. Zakaria and S. W. Harun, "Q-switched Erbium-doped Fiber Laser with a Black Phosphorus Saturable Absorber", Photon. Lett. of Poland 9, 72 (2017). CrossRef D. Mao, Y. Wang, C. Ma, L. Han, B. Jiang, X. Gan, S. Hua, W. Zhang, T. Mei, and J. Zhao, "WS2 mode-locked ultrafast fiber laser", Sci Rep 5, 7965 (2015). CrossRef K. Wu, X. Zhang, J. Wang, X. Li, and J. Chen, "WS2 as a saturable absorber for ultrafast photonic applications of mode-locked and Q-switched lasers", Optics Express 23, 11453 (2015). CrossRef K. Lau, A. Latif, M. A. Bakar, F. Muhammad, M. Omar, and M. Mahdi, "Mechanically deposited tungsten disulfide saturable absorber for low-threshold Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser", Applied Physics B 123, 221 (2017). CrossRef H. Chen, Y. Chen, J. Yin, X. Zhang, T. Guo, and P. Yan, "High-damage-resistant tungsten disulfide saturable absorber mirror for passively Q-switched fiber laser", Optics Express 24, 16287 (2016). CrossRef J. Lin, K. Yan, Y. Zhou, L. Xu, C. Gu, and Q. Zhan, "Tungsten disulphide based all fiber Q-switching cylindrical-vector beam generation", Applied Physics Letters 107, 191108 (2015). CrossRef H. Chen, Y. Chen, J. Yin, X. Zhang, T. Guo, and P. Yan, "High-damage-resistant tungsten disulfide saturable absorber mirror for passively Q-switched fiber laser", Optics Express 24, 16287 (2016). CrossRef K. Mohamed, B. Hamida, S. Khan, L. Hussein, M. Ahmat, E. Ismail, N. Kadir, A. Latif, S. Harun, "Q-switched erbium-doped fibre laser based on molybdenum disulfide and tungsten disulfide as saturable absorbers," Ukrainian Journal of Physical Optics, 18 (2017). CrossRef

(Invited) Electrodeposition for Large Scale Photovoltaic Deployment : A Prospective Trial

Photovoltaics is entering a new age. With more than 300 GW of cumulative capacity by the end of 2016, while it was almost zero ten years ago, which represents about 1.5% of the world electricity production, photovoltaics is becoming a key component in the energy transition. The situation is even more evident when considering the contribution of photovoltaics country by country, reaching about 8% in Germany, Italy, Greece. it is also emerging very rapidly in USA, China, India, Chile for instance. It is anticipated that the level of 500 GW will be reached by 2020 and the symbolic one of one TW in the next decade. The reason is that photovoltaics is becoming economically competitive with the traditional energy sector with negociated prices as low as 3 cents per kWh in some regions. However to go futher in this direction will need an disruptive evolution of all the production chain to lower the costs, increase the efficiency and increase the throughput. Up to now the photovoltaic industrial sector is mostly based on wafer based silicon technology and on vaccuum based thin film solar cells of cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS). Electrodeposition is almost absent in this industrial lanscape, excepted for the emerging copper plating technology for the contact in silicon solar cells, and the other experiences for implementing the electrodeposition in thin film technologies failed. Our vision is that in the new context there will be a unique opportunity to demonstrate that electrodeposition can be implemented as a disruptive technology for larger scale PV depoyment. We will recall the results obtained for the electrodeposition of CIGS solar cells from the laboratory to the industrial pilot line in Nexcis ( a spin off of our laboratory). Using a two stage approach from the electrodeposition of metallic precursors followed by thermal selenization, a record cell efficiency of 17.3 % was reached, and modules with full size (120 x60 cm2) at 14% efficiency in 2015, which was equivalent to the state of the art for CIGS modules prepared by vaccuum methods. Unfortunately for economic reasons, as many CIGS companies at that time, the company was stopped in 2015. However the unique features of the CIGS electrodeposition technology for large area and high throughput and robustness was successfully demonstrated. This research line has been maintained in our laboratory and is presently reactivated taking the lessons of the Nexcis experience. We will discuss a new process for the electrodeposition of CIGS absorbers, via an intermediate step consisting in single bath electrodeposition of mixed oxide hydroxyde copper indium gallium layers followed by thermal hydrogen reduction to form the metallic layer before selenization. The deposition of transparent conductive oxide layers by photoelectrodeposition has been successfully developped too and may become a new standard to replace more costly sputtering methods [2-4. We will also present applications and devices which specifically take benefit from a unique advantage electrodeposition approach, that is localized deposition on structured substrates. Two examples will be given: one for the electrodeposition for photovoltaic semitransparent windows and the second one for the deposition of microcells and microlines for a new concept of PV modules working under concentration. In that case we will also discuss of the mechanisms of electrodeposition of multicomponent CIGS films in conditions of microelectrode array configurations, and the challenges for upscaling. We will conclude with some prospective views at longer term as for instance for using electrodeposition in the next generation of PV modules with higher efficiencies (>30%) based on tandem devives, in that case electrodeposition of thin film solar cells could be combined with classical silicon bottom cells. References F. Tsin, et al. Electrodeposition of ZnO window layer for an all-atmospheric fabrication process of chalcogenide solar cell, Scientific Reports 5(2015)8961A. Duchatelet, G. Savidand, N. Loones, E. Chassaing, D. Lincot, Mechanism of Electrochemical Deposition of Cu-In-Ga Mixed Oxide/Hydroxide Thin Films for Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 Solar Cells, J. Electrochem. Soc. 161(2014)D3120 F. Tsin, D. Hariskos, D. Lincot, J. Rousset, Photo-assisted electrodeposition of a ZnO front contact on a p/n junction, Electrochimica Acta 220(2016)176 A. Duchatelet, K. Nguyen, PP Grand, D. Lincot, M. Paire, Self-aligned growth of thin film Cu(In, Ga)Se-2 solar cells on various micropatterns, Applied Physics Letters, 109 (2016) 253901J. Rousset, F. Tsin, M. Guc, J. Vidal, A. Lebris, A. Thomere, V. Izquerdo Roca, D. Lincot, Perchlorate-Induced Doping of Electrodeposited ZnO Films for Optoelectronic Applications J. Physical Chem. C 120(2016)18953 F. Tsin, J. Rousset, A. Lebris, D. Lincot, Electrodeposited zinc grid as low-cost solar cell front contact, Progress in Photovoltaics 24(2016)1123

Detection of Foodborne Bacteria based on AlGaN/GaN HEMT DNA Sensors

It is of the utmost importance to rapidly detect and identify bacterial pathogens contained in food. Numerous studies have been performed to develop a biosensor to detect the biopathogens contained in food. Due to its high specificity, hybridization-based DNA sensing mechanisms have of high merit. Among the DNA hybridization biosensors, field effect transistor (FET) based sensors are of interest due to its rapidness in detection and label-free use. AlGaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is a special type of a FET which exhibits a high charge sensitivity due to the ample existence of 2 dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the quantum well transistor channel. In our research, we have fabricated AlGaN-based HEMT DNA sensor and has successfully demonstrated the DNA hybridization. In order to enhance specificity maintaining its sensitivity, an amine-based chemistry was used. A DNA with a sequence which represent that of salmonella were used as a probe. A 3 base-pair mismatched DNA was used as a control. A DNA with a complementary sequence was used as a target. The DNA sensor showed a significant current decrease when a complimentary DNA was applied to the gate well while a substantially small current reduction was observed for the introduction of 3 base pair mismatched DNA. Therefore, it was concluded that the AlGaN-based HEMT DNA sensor with amine-based chemistry exhibits high specificity in detection. Ref) Resham Thapa, Siddharth Alur, Kyusang Kim, Fei Tong, Yogesh Sharma, Moonil Kim, Claude Ahyi, Jing Dai, Jong Wook Hong, Michael Bozack, John Williams, Applied Physics Letters 100, 232109 (2012).

Studies on Doping Concentration Variations in 4H-SiC Substrates Using X-ray Contour Mapping

4H-SiC is one of the promising wide bandgap material that attracts considerable attention in power electronics industry. Several applications have benefited from the improved performances of devices made of 4H-SiC in terms of its higher breakdown fields, efficiency and reliability as well as excellent physical properties. However, the widespread commercialization of this material is still being hindered by the various defects introduced during the crystal growth which is found to degrade the device performance and lifetime. Stacking faults, for example, have been considered to be one of the most detrimental structural defects. It has been predicted theoretically that high nitrogen doping concentration level (above 2 x 1019cm-3) inside 4H-SiC crystal will increase propensity for formation of stacking faults. These can create quantum wells which can lower the free energy of the whole crystal once the barrier for partial dislocation motion is overcome by thermal energy (achieved by annealing above 1000o C) [1-2]. Moreover, from a perspective of high power electronic applications, other severe issues, such as inhomogeneous resistivity and a large {0001} surface roughness of substrate are characteristic of heavily nitrogen doped SiC crystal [3]. It is known that, the nitrogen incorporation kinetic is anisotropic in different crystallographic directions during PVT growth of SiC. Therefore, better understanding the nitrogen doping distribution inside the material is important. In our experiments, we conducted X-ray topographic contour mapping [4] using synchrotron monochromatic X-ray beam by rocking the heavily doped wafer surface successively with a fixed angular step size around the near-surface diffraction vectors 0008 and -0008 respectively. From these measurements, a strain map can be derived by deconvoluting the lattice parameter variations from the lattice tilt. The nitrogen doping concentration can be calculated from the isotropic lattice strain due to the incorporation of dopants according to the equation from H. Jacobson [5]. [1] Y. Yang, J. Guo, Ouloide Goue, B. Raghothamachar, M. Dudley, G. Chung, E. Sanchez, J. Quast, I. Manning, and D. Hansen, J. Crystal Growth, 452, 32 (2016). [2] T.A. Kuhr, J. Liu, H. J. Chung et al., Journal of Applied Physics,92, 5863 (2002). [3] N. Ohtani, M. Katsuno, M. Nakabayashi, T. Fujimoto et al., J. Crystal Growth, 311, 1475 (2009). [4] S. R. Stock, Haydn Chen and H. K. Birnbaum, Philosophical Magzine A, 53(1), 73(1986). [5] H. Jacobson, J. Birch, C. Hallin, A. Henry, R. Yakimova, T. Tuomi, E. Janzén, and U. Lindefelt, Applied Physics Letters 82 (21), 3689 (2003). Figure 1

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Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 135)

In order to help keep readers stay up-to-date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist the reader, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also, note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions, please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trap Densities at Gate Dielectric/2D Channel Interface By Capacitance Measurements

The scaling of CMOS technology is reaching its saturation to the point where research for successors to silicon as the channel material has gained a high momentum. Two-dimensional (2-D) materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and black phosphorus can be scaled down to a single atomic layer with uniformity, and without any out-of-plane dangling bond, thereby establishing them as potential candidates for beyond CMOS technologies.,. But the absence of out-of-plane bonds also prevents the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of dielectrics on them. An intermediate layer called the nucleation or seeding layer is required to be deposited on them for high quality uniform ALD of dielectrics as the gate material. However, the seeding layer introduces traps at the interface of the 2D channel and the gate dielectric, causing scattering of carriers and degrading the mobility of the channel. It is crucial to reduce the interface trap density in order to improve the device performance and reliability. Capacitance measurements on a top-gated 2-D field effect transistor (FET) can give valuable insight into the nature and density of the interface traps. We use capacitance-voltage and capacitance-frequency measurements to quantify the interface trap density (Dit ) for various types of nucleation layers for ALD. Also we compare the Dit for various ALD high-k dielectrics, including Al2O3, HfO2 and ZrO2. The change of Dit with the number of layers of 2D material constituting the channel is studied. We use the most commonly studied 2-D material, MoS2 as the channel material for our interface studies. MoS2 flakes are obtained by mechanical exfoliation with scotch tape on a p+ Si substrate with 260 nm thick thermally grown SiO2. Source and drain contacts are patterned on the MoS2 flakes by electron beam lithography followed by the electron-beam evaporation and lift-off of Ni/Au. The under-lapped top gate is patterned by e-beam lithography. The seeding layer for ALD is e-beam evaporated next. Three types of seeding layers are used, viz. Ti (1 nm), Al (1 nm) and SiOx (1 nm). The elemental metals used as seeding layer are allowed to oxidize in air before introducing into the ALD chamber. The high-k dielectrics are deposited by ALD at lower temperatures (~110 oC), which facilitates the lift-off of the resist used in e-beam lithography (PMMA). Then Ni is e-beam evaporated as the gate contact, followed by the lift-off of the gate stack in warm acetone. The characterization of the top-gated FETs is done in several stages. Firstly, the drain current vs. top gate voltage (VTG ) characteristics of an FET is measured at varying back gate voltages (VBG ). At high positive VBG, the underlapped regions in the FET are populated with electrons, and the series resistance is low. The subthreshold swing from the1 ID-VTG curves, gives an idea of the interface trap density. Our devices show an average subthreshold swing of ~70 mV/dec, indicating that interface traps, albeit being low in density, are present. Next, the capacitance is measured in a top-gated 2-D FET by which the interface trap density of 2D material/high-k dielectric stack is extracted. The source/drain electrodes are shorted and the capacitance form the gate to the source/drain electrodes are measured. The gate capacitance is extracted for a known thickness of the high-k dielectric layer in the accumulation region. The dependence of frequency in the C-V characteristics indicates the presence of the interface traps. The Dit is calculated by the conductance method, described by Takei et al.1 This method will be used to identify the seeding layer that contributes to the least Dit . The high-k gate dielectric material will be varied next, to evaluate its effect on the trap density. The interface trap densities in the case of HfO2, ZrO2 and Al2O3 will be extracted and compared. The effect of number of layers in the 2-D channel will be studied. The best combination of channel thickness, seeding layer and high-k gate dielectric producing the lowest Dit will be reported. 1 Kuniharu Takei, Rehan Kapadia, Hui Fang, E. Plis, Sanjay Krishna, and Ali Javey, Applied Physics Letters 102 (15) (2013).

(Invited) Materials Design By Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas for Solar Energy Harvesting

Atmospheric pressure plasmas (APP) have demonstrated exceptional versatility to synthesize and modify a very wide range of materials with varying morphologies, sizes and compositions [1-3]. These include semiconducting, oxide and metal nanoparticles, nanostructured films and ultra-small quantum confined nanostructures. APPs have key features which would make the corresponding processes highly desirable for large scale manufacturing. In recent years we have therefore focused our efforts in developing ad-hoc APP processes with in mind two main objectives. On one side we have developed processes that could be integrated in the fabrication of application devices so that we could demonstrate direct applicability of APPs to relevant device fabrication steps. In particular we have developed APP-based strategies for solar cell device fabrication [4]. At the same time we have tried to work bottom-up, whereby our materials synthesis approach was dictated by desired materials functionalities. Here we will exemplify our efforts with a range of semiconducting nanoparticles and metal oxides to include Cu-, Zn-, Ni-, Mo- and Co-oxides. We will show different synthesis mechanisms and how specific properties such as bandgap, quantum confinement and plasmon resonance can be tailored guided by our materials needs. We will then demonstrate the materials functionalities within photovoltaic devices. [1] Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 43 (2010) 415402 [2] Chemical Physics Letters 478 (2009) 224 [3] Applied Physics Letters 104 (2014) 163103 [4] Plasma Process. Polym. 13 (2016) 70

Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 134)

In order to help readers stay up‐to‐date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 133)

In order to help readers stay up-to-date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the lists is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au.

Photovoltaics Literature Survey (No. 132)

In order to help readers stay up-to-date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Photovoltaics literature survey (No. 131)

In order to help readers stay up‐to‐date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Peer-reviewed publications analysis of chemical engineering faculty at the University of Florida

Purpose A citation analysis was conducted on publications of the faculty from the University of Florida (UF), Department of Chemical Engineering. The analysis was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the research programs in chemical engineering and to examine how the library aligns its research support through resources and journals to the needs of the department’s faculty. The analysis focused on where the faculty published, their most frequently cited resources, and what growth patterns were evident. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Five years of publications (2011-2015) by the UF chemical engineering faculty were included in the analysis. Web of Science was used to compile a list of the articles published in peer-reviewed journals as well as the citations. Findings Faculty were found to have published 279 articles in the last five years, with 27 percent of those articles shared by five journals, and with an average impact factor of 3.459. Applied Physics Letters was the most cited journal and Advanced Materials had the highest impact factor of 17.493. The library owned 95 percent of the publications in which faculty published their work and at least 82 percent of the resources cited in their publications. The pattern of the publications was not consistent and the most articles in one year (69) were published in 2013. Originality/value Since this study focused on the current patterns regarding where the faculty are publishing and citing, it should be a fairly accurate indicator of their future needs. Therefore, the study impacts decisions regarding future directions by enabling the library to maintain a high-quality collection for the faculty.

Photovoltaics literature survey (no. 130)

In order to help readers stay up‐to‐date in the field, each issue of Progress in Photovoltaics will contain a list of recently published journal articles that are most relevant to its aims and scope. This list is drawn from an extremely wide range of journals, including IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Renewable Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Journal of Applied Physics, and Applied Physics Letters. To assist readers, the list is separated into broad categories, but please note that these classifications are by no means strict. Also note that inclusion in the list is not an endorsement of a paper's quality. If you have any suggestions please email Ziv Hameiri at ziv.hameiri@unsw.edu.au.

Prompt gamma ray diagnostics and enhanced hadron-therapy using neutron-free nuclear reactions

We propose a series of simulations about the potential use of Boron isotopes to trigger neutron-free (aneutronic) nuclear reactions in cancer cells through the interaction with an incoming energetic proton beam, thus resulting in the emission of characteristic prompt gamma radiation (429 keV, 718 keV and 1435 keV). Furthermore assuming that the Boron isotopes are absorbed in cancer cells, the three alpha-particles produced in each p-11B aneutronic nuclear fusion reactions can potentially result in the enhancement of the biological dose absorbed in the tumor region since these multi-MeV alpha-particles are stopped inside the single cancer cell, thus allowing to spare the surrounding tissues. Although a similar approach based on the use of 11B nuclei has been proposed in [Yoon et al. Applied Physics Letters 105, 223507 (2014)], our work demonstrate, using Monte Carlo simulations, the crucial importance of the use of 10B nuclei (in a solution containing also 11B) for the generation of prompt gamma-rays, which can be applied to medical imaging. In fact, we demonstrate that the use of 10B nuclei can enhance the intensity of the 718 keV gamma-ray peak more than 30 times compared to the solution containing only 11B nuclei. A detailed explanation of the origin of the different prompt gamma-rays, as well as of their application as real-time diagnostics during a potential cancer treatment, is here discussed.