Binary Layer Research Articles

Ponte: Represent Totally Binary Neural Network Toward Efficiency

In the quest for computational efficiency, binary neural networks (BNNs) have emerged as a promising paradigm, offering significant reductions in memory footprint and computational latency. In traditional BNN implementation, the first and last layers are typically full-precision, which causes higher logic usage in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation. To solve these issues, we introduce a novel approach named Ponte (Represent Totally Binary Neural Network Toward Efficiency) that extends the binarization process to the first and last layers of BNNs. We challenge the convention by proposing a fully binary layer replacement that mitigates the computational overhead without compromising accuracy. Our method leverages a unique encoding technique, Ponte::encoding, and a channel duplication strategy, Ponte::dispatch, and Ponte::sharing, to address the non-linearity and capacity constraints posed by binary layers. Surprisingly, all of them are back-propagation-supported, which allows our work to be implemented in the last layer through extensive experimentation on benchmark datasets, including CIFAR-10 and ImageNet. We demonstrate that Ponte not only preserves the integrity of input data but also enhances the representational capacity of BNNs. The proposed architecture achieves comparable, if not superior, performance metrics while significantly reducing the computational demands, thereby marking a step forward in the practical deployment of BNNs in resource-constrained environments.

Homogeneous Integration of Polyoxometalates and Titania into Crumpled Layers.

The crumpling and buckling in nanosheets are anticipated to provide new characteristics that could not be observed in ideal flat layers. However, the rigid lattice structure of inorganic metal oxides limits their assembly into well-defined crumpled layers. Here, this study demonstrates that at the sub-nm scale, polyoxometalates (POMs) clusters having well-defined structures can intercede during the nucleation process of titania and co-assemble with nuclei to form uniform, large-sized crumpled binary 2D layers with a thickness of 2nm. The obtained crumpled layers are then used as a support material to immobilize Pd nanoclusters with an average size of 2nm. Pd-immobilized crumpled layers are employed as heterogeneous catalysts for the partial hydrogenation of acetylene. This structurally and compositionally unique heterogeneous catalyst manifests exceptional selectivity to cis-alkene with almost 100% yield as compared to commercially available titania which only exhibits 10% diphenylacetylene conversion and 42% selectivity in the given period of time.

Ionized Phenanthroline Derivatives Suppressing Interface Chemical Interactions with Active Layer for High-efficiency Organic Solar Cells with Exceptional Device Stability.

The contact interface between the charge transport interlayer and the active layer is crucial for the non-fullerene organic solar cells (NF OSCs) to achieve high efficiency and long-term stability. In this study, two novel phenanthroline (Phen) derivatives, tbp-Phen and tbp-PhenBr, are developed as efficient cathode interfacial materials (CIMs). The larger steric hindrance substituents and the ionization of nitrogen atoms on the Phen framework jointly enable the tbp-PhenBr CIM with a stable film morphology and immensely suppress the detrimental interface chemical interactions with the NF active layer. Consequently, tbp-PhenBr-based OSC achieves a higher efficiency (PCE=16.34%) than bathocuproine (BCP)-based control device (PCE=13.70%) using PM6:Y6 as the active layer. More importantly, the tbp-PhenBr-based device maintains 80% of its initial efficiency (T80) for 3264 h in dark conditions and 220 h after being heated at 85°C, significantly outperforming the BCP-based device. The tbp-PhenBr CIM also shows broad applicability across various binary and ternary active layer systems, affording a notable PCE of 19.49%. Additionally, the tbp-PhenBr CIM can be processed via a thermal evaporation technique and the prepared devices exhibit high reproducibility. This work provides innovative insights into the molecular design of the CIMs for stable and efficient NF OSCs.

Effect of Cr on microstructure and high temperature oxidation resistance of Ti-Al-Si composite coatings prepared by two-step hot-dipping + pre-oxidation method on Ti65 alloy

Titanium alloys have a thermal barrier temperature of 600℃, however, the preparation of Ti-Al-Si coating is one of the effective methods to improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of titanium alloys. Due to the preferential combination of Si and Ti, it is difficult to form a Ti-Al alloy phase layer with excellent oxidation resistance at high temperature. In order to solve this problem, the two-step hot-dipping + pre-oxidation method was creatively used to prepare Ti-Al-Si composite coatings, and a small amount of Cr was added to improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of the coatings. The phase structure of the coating was analyzed by XRD. The microstructure of the coating was characterized by SEM. EDS was used to analyze the content and distribution of elements in the coating. The results shown that the Cr-added Ti-Al-Si composite coatings were in the sequence of Ti3Al layer, TiAl layer, TiAl2 + Ti5Si3 layer, Ti(Al,Si,Cr)3 layer, L-(Al,Si) layer, and Al2O3 layer from the substrate. Cr segregated on the Ti(Al,Si,Cr)3 phase boundary, and promoted the selective oxidation of Al to form Al2O3. The dense and continuous Ti-Al binary intermetallic layer can prevent cracks from spreading to the substrate, which further improves the high temperature oxidation resistance.

A binary particle swarm optimization-based pruning approach for environmentally sustainable and robust CNNs

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), continue to demonstrate remarkable performance across various tasks. However, their computational demands and energy consumption present significant drawbacks, restricting their practical deployment and contributing to a substantial carbon footprint. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a novel method named Binary Particle Swarm Optimization Layer Pruner (BPSO-LPruner), aimed at achieving substantial computational reduction and mitigating environmental impact during CNN inference. BPSO-LPruner utilizes a constrained Binary Particle Swarm Optimization for CNN layer pruning, integrating a masked-bit strategy and a new population initialization strategy to enhance search performance. We illustrate the effectiveness of our method in reducing model computational costs and carbon footprint emissions while improving performance across multiple models (VGG16, VGG19, DenseNet-40, ResNet18, ResNet20, ResNet34, ResNet44, ResNet56, ResNet110, ResNet50, and MobileNetv2) and diverse datasets (CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, Tiny-ImageNet, COVID-19 X-ray dataset). Promising results underscore the performance of the proposed method. Additionally, we demonstrate that layer pruning yields benefits beyond enhanced computational performance. Our experimentation reveals that BPSO-LPruner enhances the model’s reliability and robustness by effectively addressing variations in input data, inherent ambiguity in model parameters, and adversarial images.

Optimizing Data Flow in Binary Neural Networks.

Binary neural networks (BNNs) can substantially accelerate a neural network's inference time by substituting its costly floating-point arithmetic with bit-wise operations. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art approaches reduce the efficiency of the data flow in the BNN layers by introducing intermediate conversions from 1 to 16/32 bits. We propose a novel training scheme, denoted as BNN-Clip, that can increase the parallelism and data flow of the BNN pipeline; specifically, we introduce a clipping block that reduces the data width from 32 bits to 8. Furthermore, we decrease the internal accumulator size of a binary layer, usually kept using 32 bits to prevent data overflow, with no accuracy loss. Moreover, we propose an optimization of the batch normalization layer that reduces latency and simplifies deployment. Finally, we present an optimized implementation of the binary direct convolution for ARM NEON instruction sets. Our experiments show a consistent inference latency speed-up (up to 1.3 and 2.4× compared to two state-of-the-art BNN frameworks) while reaching an accuracy comparable with state-of-the-art approaches on datasets like CIFAR-10, SVHN, and ImageNet.

In‐Situ Removable Solid Additive Optimizing Active Layer and Cathode Interlayer of Organic Solar Cells

AbstractIn situ removable (ISR) solid additive can employ cold sublimation process to optimize active layer morphology for organic solar cells (OSCs), thus remaining unique potential. Herein, a feasible guideline is proposed to discover a new ISR solid additive 1‐bromo‐4‐chlorobenzene (CBB), whose removing time (TR) is between those of reported ISR solid additives 1,4‐dichlorobenzene (DCB) and 1‐chloro‐4‐iodobenzene (CIB). The CBB with a moderate TR is beneficial for affording the optimal active layer morphology and achieving the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.58% for D18:L8‐BO binary active layer, as supported by the most efficient exciton splitting, the fastest exciton transfer, and the most balanced carrier transports. Due to the unique ISR ability, DCB, CBB, and CIB are further proposed to optimize the aggregation of PDINN cathode interlayer. Particularly, the CBB‐ and CIB‐treated PDINN interlayers afforded the D18:L8‐BO based binary OSCs with excellent PCEs of 19.38% and 19.26%, along with remarkable fill factors of 80.98% and 81.37%, respectively. The CBB‐ and CIB‐treated PDINN interlayers can suppress non‐radiative recombination of the devices, resulting in higher open‐circuit voltage. This work not only provides an effective approach to flourish ISR solid additives but also expands the application of the ISR solid additive in OSCs.

Universal and nonuniversal statistics of transmission in thin random layered media

The statistics of transmission through random 1D media are generally presumed to be universal and to depend only upon a single dimensionless parameter-the ratio of the sample length and the mean free path, s = L / ℓ . Here we show in numerical simulations and optical measurements of random binary systems, and most prominently in systems for which s<1, that the statistics of the logarithm of transmission, ln ⁡ T , are universal for transmission near the upper cutoff of unity and depend distinctively upon the reflectivity of the layer interfaces and their number near a lower cutoff. The universal segment of the probability distribution function of the logarithm of transmission, P ( ln ⁡ T ) is manifested with as few as three binary layers. For a given value of s, P ( ln ⁡ T ) evolves towards a universal distribution as the number of layers increases. Optical measurements in stacks of 5 and 20 glass coverslips exhibit statistics at low and moderate values of transmission that are close to those found in simulations for 1D layered media, while differences appear at higher transmission where the transmission time in the medium is longer and the wave explores the transverse nonuniformity of the sample.

Multicomponent organic blend systems: A review of quaternary organic photovoltaics

AbstractEmbedding a third and/or fourth component into a binary blend active layer of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is a promising approach to achieve high‐performance photovoltaic cells and modules. This multicomponent strategy favors absorption broadening via additional components. Quaternary OPV (QOPV) blends have four components in three possible configurations: (i) a donor and three acceptors, (ii) two donors and two acceptors, or (iii) three donors and an acceptor. Although quaternary systems have only been relatively recently studied compared to other systems in OPVs, leveraging the synergistic effects of the four components leads to record power conversion efficiencies, currently approaching 20%. QOPVs provide ample material choices for compatibility and channels for charge transfer mechanisms, possibly leading to optimized morphology and orientation. Reviewing recent progress in advancing QOPVs is essential for understanding their contribution to the OPV field. The review mainly discusses research progress in QOPVs with a keen interest in their various configurations, semitransparency, and outdoor and indoor applications. It describes the not‐well‐understood QOPV's general working mechanism. This review explores high‐performance QOPVs based on the fourth component's contribution as a donor, acceptor, or dye molecule and beyond in photovoltaic applications. Finally, there is a discussion around QOPV's outlook and projected future research directions in this field. This review intends to provide an overview of the quaternary systems approach to OPVs and inform current and future researchers on investigating the full spectrum of OPVs.

Flexible Broadband Organic Photodetectors with Ternary Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Semiconductors and Solution-Processed Polymeric Electrode.

Flexible organic photodetectors (OPDs) hold immense promise in health monitoring sensors, flexible imaging sensors, and portable optical communication. Nevertheless, the actualization of high-performance flexible electronics has been hindered by rigid electrodes such as metals or metal oxides. In this work, we constructed a flexible broadband organic photodetector using a solution-processed polymeric electrode, which exhibits flexibility surpassing that of conventional indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes. Additionally, we employed a planar-mixed heterojunction (PMHJ) through a sequential deposition method and introduced PC71BM as the third constituent into the PM6/Y6 binary active layer, resulting in enhanced photodetection performance and a broadend spectral range. The optimized OPDs demonstrated remarkable detectivity (D*) exceeding 1012 Jones in brodband from 300 to 900 nm, with a champion D* of 6.31 × 1012 Jones at 790 nm. Furthermore, after undergoing 500 cycles of bending, the D* retained approximately 78% of its original performance, highlighting the outstanding mechanical stability. This work presents a promising pathway toward the development of flexible broadband OPDs using a straightforward method, offering enhanced compatibility in diverse application scenarios and propelling the frontier of flexible optoelectronic research.

P-Toluenesulfonic Acid Modified Two-Dimensional ZrSe2 as a Hole Transport Layer for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted attention due to their excellent optoelectronic properties, but their applications are limited by their defects and vacancies. Surface modification is an effective method to restore their performance. Here, ZrSe2 is modified with conductive polymer p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA). It is found that PTSA can obtain electrons of ZrSe2 through the combination of -SO3H and ZrSe2, thus forming interfacial dipoles, which improve the work function of ZrSe2. In addition, -OH in PTSA can effectively fill the Se vacancy in ZrSe2 to form P-type doping, thereby improving its conductivity. ZrSe2 modified by the PTSA material is first used as a hole transport layer (HTL) in organic solar cells (OSCs). The efficiency of OSCs based on the PBDB-T:ITIC and PM6:L8-BO binary active layer with ZrSe2:PTSA as the novel HTL reaches 10.66 and 18.14%, which are obviously higher than the efficiency of OSCs with pure ZrSe2 as the HTL (8.48 and 15.64%). More interestingly, the stability of the device with ZrSe2:PTSA as HTL is significantly better than that of PEDOT:PSS. This study shows that the modification of the organic material can effectively improve the photoelectric performance of ZrSe2 and explores the physical mechanism of the interaction between the organic modifier and 2D materials.

Polymerizing M-Series Acceptors for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells: Effect of the Molecular Shape.

Currently, high-performance polymerized small-molecule acceptors (PSMAs) based on ADA-type SMAs are still rare and greatly demanded for polymer solar cells (PSCs). Herein, two novel regioregular PSMAs (PW-Se and PS-Se) are designed and synthesized by using centrosymmetric (linear-shaped) and axisymmetric (banana-shaped) ADA-type SMAs as the main building blocks, respectively. It is demonstrated that photovoltaic performance of the PSMAs can be significantly improved by optimizing the configuration of ADA-type SMAs. Compared to the axisymmetric SMA-based polymer (PS-Se), PW-Se using a centrosymmetric SMA as the main building block exhibits better backbone coplanarity thereby resulting in bathochromically shifted absorption with a higher absorption coefficient, tighter interchain π-π stacking, and more favorable blend film morphology. As a result, enhanced and more-balanced charge transport, better exciton dissociation, and reduced charge recombination are achieved for PW-Se-based devices with PM6 as polymer donor. Benefiting from these positive factors, the optimal PM6:PW-Se-based device exhibits a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.65% compared to the PM6:PS-Se-based device (8.90%). Furthermore, incorporation of PW-Se as a third component in the binary active layer of PM6:M36 yields ternary devices with an outstanding PCE of 18.0%, which is the highest value for PSCs based on ADA-type SMAs, to the best of the knowledge.

Binary Li/Na tungstates modified Mg6MnO8 as redox catalysts for enhanced performance of chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane

The present investigation delves into the utilization of Mg6MnO8 modified with binary Li2WO4 and Na2WO4 tungstates as oxygen carriers for the chemical looping oxidative dehydrogenation (CL-ODH) of ethane. The Mg6MnO8-LiNaW2 oxygen carrier demonstrates remarkable performance, achieving up to 77.7 % ethane conversion, 86.5 % ethylene selectivity, and 67.2 % ethylene yield. HRTEM-EDS reveals the formation of a molten binary tungstates layer covering the solid Mg6MnO8 substrate. The molten binary tungstates layer effectively modulates the release of lattice oxygen in a step-wise manner during ODH reactions. XPS analysis reveals that the doping of Li/Na binary tungstates inhibits the formation of OH−/CO32− and Mn4+ species, thus preventing the deep oxidation of ethylene. The Mg6MnO8-LiNaW2 sample maintains stable reactivity and surface morphology throughout 20 redox cycles. DFT calculations further indicate that the modification with Li/Na binary tungstates promotes electron accumulation around the local environment of the Me-O bond, thereby reducing the formation energy (Eo) of oxygen vacancy in Mg6MnO8 and improving the oxygen vacancy concentration within the bulk of the oxygen carriers. The superior ethylene selectivity of the Mg6MnO8-LiNaW2 oxygen carrier can be attributed to the higher oxygen diffusion capability in the bulk of the Mg6MnO8 core, coupled with the lower oxygen transport rate through the molten tungstates layer.

Non-Fully Conjugated Dimerized Giant Acceptors with Different Alkyl-Linked Sites for Stable and 19.13 % Efficiency Organic Solar Cells.

Achieving both high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device stability is a major challenge for the practical development of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, three non-fully conjugated dimerized giant acceptors (named 2Y-sites, including wing-site-linked 2Y-wing, core-site-linked 2Y-core, and end-site-linked 2Y-end) are developed. They share the similar monomer precursors but have different alkyl-linked sites, offering the fine-tuned molecular absorption, packing, glass transition temperature, and carrier mobility. Among their binary active layers, D18/2Y-wing has better miscibility, leading to optimized morphology and more efficient charge transfer compared to D18/2Y-core and D18/2Y-end. Therefore, the D18/2Y-wing-based OSCs achieve a superior PCE of 17.73 %, attributed to enhanced photocurrent and fill factor. Furthermore, the D18/2Y-wing-based OSCs exhibit a balance of high PCE and improved stability, distinguishing them within the 2Y-sites. Building on the success of 2Y-wing in binary systems, we extend its application to ternary OSCs by pairing it with the near-infrared absorbing D18/BS3TSe-4F host. Thanks to the complementary absorption within 300-970 nm and further optimized morphology, ternary OSCs obtain a higher PCE of 19.13 %, setting a new efficiency benchmark for the dimer-derived OSCs. This approach of alkyl-linked site engineering for constructing dimerized giant acceptors presents a promising pathway to improve both PCE and stability of OSCs.

Non‐Fully Conjugated Dimerized Giant Acceptors with Different Alkyl‐Linked Sites for Stable and 19.13 % Efficiency Organic Solar Cells

AbstractAchieving both high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device stability is a major challenge for the practical development of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, three non‐fully conjugated dimerized giant acceptors (named 2Y‐sites, including wing‐site‐linked 2Y‐wing, core‐site‐linked 2Y‐core, and end‐site‐linked 2Y‐end) are developed. They share the similar monomer precursors but have different alkyl‐linked sites, offering the fine‐tuned molecular absorption, packing, glass transition temperature, and carrier mobility. Among their binary active layers, D18/2Y‐wing has better miscibility, leading to optimized morphology and more efficient charge transfer compared to D18/2Y‐core and D18/2Y‐end. Therefore, the D18/2Y‐wing‐based OSCs achieve a superior PCE of 17.73 %, attributed to enhanced photocurrent and fill factor. Furthermore, the D18/2Y‐wing‐based OSCs exhibit a balance of high PCE and improved stability, distinguishing them within the 2Y‐sites. Building on the success of 2Y‐wing in binary systems, we extend its application to ternary OSCs by pairing it with the near‐infrared absorbing D18/BS3TSe‐4F host. Thanks to the complementary absorption within 300–970 nm and further optimized morphology, ternary OSCs obtain a higher PCE of 19.13 %, setting a new efficiency benchmark for the dimer‐derived OSCs. This approach of alkyl‐linked site engineering for constructing dimerized giant acceptors presents a promising pathway to improve both PCE and stability of OSCs.

Amphiphilic Graft Copolymers as Templates for the Generation of Binary Metal Oxide Mesoporous Interfacial Layers for Solid-State Photovoltaic Cells.

The binary metal oxide mesoporous interfacial layers (bi-MO meso IF layer) templated by a graft copolymer are synthesized between a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate and nanocrystalline TiO2 (nc-TiO2). Amphiphilic graft copolymers, Poly(epichlorohydrin)-graft-poly(styrene), PECH-g-PS, were used as a structure-directing agent, and the fabricated bi-MO meso IF layer exhibits good interconnectivity and high porosity. Even if the amount of ZnO in bi-MO meso IF layer increased, it was confirmed that the morphology and porosity of the bi-MO meso IF layer were well-maintained. In addtion, the bi-MO meso IF layer coated onto FTO substrates shows higher transmittance compared with a pristine FTO substrate and dense-TiO2/FTO, due to the reduced surface roughness of FTO. The overall conversion efficiency (η) of solid-state photovoltaic cells, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated with nc-TiO2 layer/bi-MO meso IF layer TZ1 used as a photoanode, reaches 5.0% at 100 mW cm-2, which is higher than that of DSSCs with an nc-TiO2 layer/dense-TiO2 layer (4.2%), resulting from enhanced light harvesting, good interconnectivity, and reduced interfacial resistance. The cell efficiency of the device did not change after 15 days, indicating that the bi-MO meso IF layer with solid-state electrolyte has improved electrode/electrolyte interface and electrochemical stability. Additionally, commercial scattering layer/nc-TiO2 layer/bi-MO meso IF layer TZ1 photoanode-fabricated solid-state photovoltaic cells (DSSCs) achieved an overall conversion efficiency (η) of 6.4% at 100 mW cm-2.

Hybrid Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Single-Crystalline Oxide Membranes with Binary Oxide Sacrificial Layers.

The advancement in thin-film exfoliation for synthesizing oxide membranes has led to possibilities for creating artificially assembled heterostructures with structurally and chemically incompatible materials. The sacrificial layer method is a promising approach to exfoliate as-grown films from a compatible material system, allowing for their integration with dissimilar materials. Nonetheless, the conventional sacrificial layers often possess an intricate stoichiometry, thereby constraining their practicality and adaptability, particularly when considering techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This is where easy-to-grow binary alkaline-earth-metal oxides with a rock salt crystal structure are useful. These oxides, which include (Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba)O, can be used as a sacrificial layer covering a much broader range of lattice parameters compared to conventional sacrificial layers and are easily dissolvable in deionized water. In this study, we show the epitaxial growth of the single-crystalline perovskite SrTiO3 (STO) on sacrificial layers consisting of crystalline SrO, BaO, and Ba1-xCaxO films, employing a hybrid MBE method. Our results highlight the rapid (≤5 min) dissolution of the sacrificial layer when immersed in deionized water, facilitating the fabrication of millimeter-sized STO membranes. Using high-resolution X-ray diffraction, atomic-force microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, impedance spectroscopy, and scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), we demonstrate single-crystalline STO membranes with bulk-like intrinsic dielectric properties. The employment of alkaline earth metal oxides as sacrificial layers is likely to simplify membrane synthesis, particularly with MBE, thus expanding the research and application possibilities.

Efficient, narrow-band, and stable electroluminescence from organoboron-nitrogen-carbonyl emitter

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) exploiting simple binary emissive layers (EMLs) blending only emitters and hosts have natural advantages in low-cost commercialization. However, previously reported OLEDs based on binary EMLs hardly simultaneously achieved desired comprehensive performances, e.g., high efficiency, low efficiency roll-off, narrow emission bands, and high operation stability. Here, we report a molecular-design strategy. Such a strategy leads to a fast reverse intersystem crossing rate in our designed emitter h-BNCO-1 of 1.79×105 s−1. An OLED exploiting a binary EML with h-BNCO-1 achieves ultrapure emission, a maximum external quantum efficiency of over 40% and a mild roll-off of 14% at 1000 cd·m−2. Moreover, h-BNCO-1 also exhibits promising operational stability in an alternative OLED exploiting a compact binary EML (the lifetime reaching 95% of the initial luminance at 1000 cd m−2 is ~ 137 h). Here, our work has thus provided a molecular-design strategy for OLEDs with promising comprehensive performance.

A comprehensive health diagnosis method for expansive soil slope protection engineering based on supervised and unsupervised learning

ABSTRACT There is a complex multifactorial coupling effect among the damages of various protection structures on slopes. Existing research focused on the health assessment of individual structures is often insufficient in representing the overall health status of the protection engineering system. Considering the characteristics of expansive soil slope protection engineering, this study proposes a health diagnosis method using combined weights and binary K-means clustering algorithm. The method quantifies the damage data of protection structures based on subjective and objective weights, and clusters the data by combining the binary K-means method and target vector layer to obtain the diagnosis results. Furthermore, an XGBoost-based surrogate diagnosis model is constructed to omit the repetitive modelling process in practical applications to achieve dynamic diagnosis. The proposed method is validated to an expansive soil slope in Gaochun district, Nanjing. The results show that the proposed method can accurately evaluate protection engineering with different degrees of damage; the surrogate model follows the same weight assignment process as the diagnostic method to establish reliable prediction. Based on the proposed method, damage coupling effects between individual protection structures are captured, and targeted maintenance and repair can be implemented. The proposed method can be further extended to other slope engineering.

Numerical study of charge transport layers in inverted ternary organic photovoltaic cells

This study investigates the crucial role of charge transport layers in enhancing the performance of inverted organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) through advanced numerical simulations using OghmaNano software. OPVs offer distinct advantages, including lightweight, flexibility, and potential cost-effectiveness compared to traditional silicon-based counterparts, making them pivotal for sustainable energy solutions. We evaluate the efficiency of inverted (iOPVs) employing binary (PM6:L8-BO) and ternary (PM6:D18:L8-BO) active layers, utilizing electron transport layers (ETLs) including ZnO, TiO2, and SnO2, and hole transport layers (HTLs) such as MoO3, PEDOT, and WO3. Results highlight ZnO with a 15 nm-thick layer combined with MoO3 HTL achieving an impressive efficiency of 18.89% in ternary devices, demonstrating the effectiveness of organic materials and ternary blends. The study demonstrates that TiO2 or SnO2 ETLs can compete effectively with ZnO ETLs, particularly when used at thinner thicknesses, and offers alternative fabrication methods. It suggests that employing thin ETL layers (15 ± 2 nm) could significantly enhance the performance of iOPV devices. Simulations are crucial for optimizing iOPV device configurations with thin ETL layers, enabling rapid prototyping and cost-effective exploration of material combinations and device architectures. These layers play a critical role in balancing charge carrier generation and transport efficiency, collectively maximizing device performance. Overall, the study underscores the pivotal role of simulations and optimized layer thicknesses in advancing OPV technology by refining manufacturing processes and accelerating the adoption of OPVs for sustainable energy solutions.