Function Of Surface State Research Articles

Understanding the Role of Surface States on Mesoporous NiO Films.

Surface states of mesoporous NiO semiconductor films have particular properties differing from the bulk and are able to dramatically influence the interfacial electron transfer and adsorption of chemical species. To achieve a better performance of NiO-based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs), the function of the surface states has to be understood. In this paper, we applied a modified atomic layer deposition procedure that is able to passivate 72% of the surface states on NiO by depositing a monolayer of Al2O3. This provides us with representative control samples to study the functions of the surface states on NiO films. A main conclusion is that surface states, rather than the bulk, are mainly responsible for the conductivity in mesoporous NiO films. Furthermore, surface states significantly affect dye regeneration (with I–/I3– as redox couple) and hole transport in NiO-based p-DSCs. A new dye regeneration mechanism is proposed in which electrons are transferred from reduced dye molecules to intra-bandgap states, and then to I3– species. The intra-bandgap states here act as catalysts to assist I3– reduction. A more complete mechanism is suggested to understand the particular hole transport behavior in p-DSCs, in which the hole transport time is independent of light intensity. This is ascribed to the percolation hole hopping on the surface states. When the concentration of surface states was significantly reduced, the light-independent charge transport behavior in pristine NiO-based p-DSCs transformed into having an exponential dependence on light intensity, similar to that observed in TiO2-based n-type DSCs. These conclusions on the function of surface states provide new insight into the electronic properties of mesoporous NiO films.

The influence of furnace wall emissivity on steel charge heating

Radiation heat transfer is one of the most important heat transfer modes in high-temperature applications. It is a strongly non-linear process, which depends on the temperature and emissivity of heat exchange surfaces, their geometrical configuration and properties of the surrounding atmosphere. Heat exchange intensity between the surfaces depends mainly on their temperature differences. However, their emissivities influence significantly the radiation heat transfer process as well. Emissivity is a function of surface state or atmospheric chemical reactions, temperature and wavelengths. Because of these non-linearities, it is very complicated to evaluate such a real problem by numerical simulation, and experimental work seems to be the most reliable evaluation procedure. We applied special high-temperature coatings of different emissivities on furnace walls to evaluate the dependence between the furnace wall emissivity and steel charge heating. The emissivity analyses of the coatings used and emissivity measurement results in dependence on wavelength are presented in this paper. The dependence of the charge heating on the furnace wall emissivity, the importance of emissivity wavelength dependence and significant differences of the emissivity effect in electrical and gas heated furnaces are shown. The possible consequences and practical benefits are also discussed in this paper.

Climate model sensitivity to sea ice albedo parameterization

Three one-year experimental simulations with the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model (NCAR CCM) were performed with three sea ice albedo parameterizations and compared with control run results to examine their impact on polar surface temperature, planetary albedo and clouds. The first integration utilized sea ice albedos of the Arctic Basin for the spring and summer of 1977 derived from defence Meteorological Satellite Imagery (DMSP). The second simulation employed prescribed lead and melt pond fractions and an albedo weighting scheme. The third simulation involved the coupling of an interactive sea ice/snow albedo parameterization made a function of surface state.

RELAXATION EFFECTS OF THE (111) SURFACE OF Si AND GaAs

The method of linear combination of pseudoatomic orbitals is applied to calculated the surface electronic structure of semiconductors- Besides the form factors of pseudo-potential, the method does not introduce any adjustable parameters. The electronic states and wave functions of the ideal and relaxed (111) surfaces of Si and GaAs arc calculated. The results of Si is compared with Appelbaum and Hamann's results of self-consistent calculation, it is found that both results are consistent well about the position of surface energy levels and distribution of surface electronic charges. It is shown that the surface energy levels shift upward when the Si or Ga atoms at the surface move inward, and shift downwarol when the As atoms at the surface move outward. At the same time the properties of the wave function of surface states often show more obvious changes.