Improved Electron Transport Research Articles

Enhanced performances of dye-sensitized solar cells based on Au-TiO2 and Ag-TiO2 plasmonic hybrid nanocomposites

Novel double-layer films were prepared and applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using commercial TiO2 nanoparticles as a bonding underlayer and noble metal (Au and Ag) nanoparticles (NP) and nanowires (NW) incorporated to hybrid TiO2 composites, consisting of 3 dimensional (3D) hierarchical microspheres, 3D hollow spheres, 2 dimensional (2D) nanosheets and commercial P25 nanoparticles, as multifunctional light scattering overlayer. The influence of Au NP, Ag NP, Au NW, and Ag NW on of microstructures of the film electrodes and the photovoltaic (PV) performances of DSSCs was investigated. The result revealed that the ranges and intensity of sunlight absorption, the photo capture ability for dye molecules of the hybrid nanocomposite film electrodes, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cells were all significantly enhanced due to the plasmonic effect of the noble metal nanostructures. All composite DSSCs with noble metal nanostructures have higher PCE than the pure TiO2 solar cell. This is attributed the improved electron transport of the noble metal nanostructures, and the improvement of light absorption because of their local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. Under optical conditions, a PCE of 5.74% was obtained in the TiO2-AgNW DSSC, representing a 25.3% enhancement compared to a reference solar cell based on pure TiO2 film (4.58%). The main reason of the advancement is the improved electron transport of AgNW, the light absorption enhancement on account of the LSPR effect of AgNW, and increased light scattering due to the incorporation of the large one dimensional AgNWs within the photo-anode.

Mitochondrial biogenesis and neural differentiation of human iPSC is modulated by idebenone in a developmental stage-dependent manner

Idebenone, the synthetic analog of coenzyme Q10 can improve electron transport in mitochondria. Therefore, it is used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairments. However, the mechanism of its action on neurodevelopment is still to be elucidated. Here we demonstrate that the cellular response of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) to idebenone depends on the stage of neural differentiation. When: neural stem cells (NSC), early neural progenitors (eNP) and advanced neural progenitors (NP) have been studied a significant stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis was observed only at the eNP stage of development. This coexists with the enhancement of cell viability and increase in total cell number. In addition, we report novel idebenone properties in a possible regulation of neural stem cells fate decision: only eNP stage responded with up-regulation of both neuronal (MAP2), astrocytic (GFAP) markers, while at NSC and NP stages significant down-regulation of MAP2 expression was observed, promoting astrocyte differentiation. Thus, idebenone targets specific stages of hiPSC differentiation and may influence the neural stem cell fate decision.

Nanocellulose-Photoactive Oxide Composites for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Large porous nanostructures based electrode with high electrochemical activity are attracting a great interest in various energy conversion and storage applications. Recently, three dimensional nanostructured composites have been extensively utilized for high performance photoelectrodes of photoelectrochemical water splitting because of their large surface area and improved electron transport properties. In this work, we fabricated high porous semiconducting transition metal oxides, such as TiO2 (anatase phase) and Fe2O3 (hematite) nanostructures through soft-templating methods using sol-gel process. The cellulose nanofiber was used as template, which exhibits low thermal expansion, high surface area and good mechanical and optical properties. We investigated photoelectrochemical performances for nanocellulose- templated TiO2 and Fe2O3 nanostructures and thermal treated nanostructures. We found that thermal treatments enable rapid photogenerated electron-hole separation and transport, leading to higher photoelectrochemical efficiency, which are associated with carbonization of cellulose nanofibers. Nanocelluose-photoactive oxide composites are promising candidate for high efficient photoelectrode for solar water splitting.

TCNQ-induced in-situ electrochemical deposition for the synthesis of silver nanodendrites as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts

Sliver (Ag) nanodendrites (AgNDs) directly growing on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were obtained by an in-situ electrodepositing route under the induction of organic semiconductor 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). The morphology of the Ag nanostructures can be controlled by the electrodepositing time, applied potentials, and the concentrations of Ag ions. The AgNDs/TCNQ/GCE obtained at the optimized conditions displays the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) onset potential of 0.98V, which is the same as that over Pt/C-JM catalyst (0.98V). It demonstrated that AgNDs possessed the highest electrocatalytic activity for ORR among the various Ag-based electrocatalysts reported in literature in alkaline electrolyte. At the same time, the performance of AgNDs/TCNQ/GCE toward hydrogen peroxide detection was investigated in a range of the concentration from 10μM to 17mM. It also showed the higher catalytic activity for hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction with the hydrogen peroxide detection limit reaching 0.47μM level. The Tafel polarization curve, electrochemically active surface area, and the electrochemical impedance were measured to understand and explore the catalytic behavior of the prepared AgNDs/TCNQ/GCE. The enhanced performance of AgNDs for ORR and hydrogen peroxide detection can be ascribed to the special tree-like morphology with highly-exposed surface and the improved electron transportation capacity of interface between AgNDs and GCE.

Transient energy relaxation in scattering-assisted terahertz quantum cascade lasers

We adopt a self-consistent Maxwell–Bloch method to investigate the energy relaxation process from unsaturated to saturated in the scattering-assisted terahertz quantum cascade laser. In the lasing-establishment process, more nonequilibrium LO phonons are accumulated and more electrons are thermalized. At the same time, more efficient energy relaxation of the saturated situation can be found compared with the unsaturated situation. These phenomena stem from the improved electron transport efficiency across the active region, due to the lasing-induced lifetime reduction of electrons in the upper lasing subband. The simulation results are qualitatively identical with previous experimental results.

Trichoderma lixii ID11D seed biopriming mitigates dose dependent salt toxicity in maize

Certain number of commercial products has been developed to grow stress resistant plants for the sustainability of agriculture in current era with full of energy dependency and hunger besides global warming. Given the risk of these products on the microbial environment in the rhizosphere and food security of mankind due to the accumulated chemical pollution through the food web, organic fungal plant growth promoting agents might be used. Hence, effects of Trichoderma lixii ID11D (TXD), our local fungal isolate on Zea mays L. cv. Samada 07 as a seed biopriming agent was investigated under dose dependent NaCl stress in this study. Fungus was characterized based on ITS (internal transcribed spacer) regions via clustering approach after isolated from tea plantation area. The higher the NaCl concentration, the more effective the TXD was observed. Improved electron transport rate (ETR), maximum quantum efficiency of PS II (Fv/Fm), the effective quantum yield of PS2 (ΦPS2), photochemical quenching (qP) and decreased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) was detected in TXD primed plants after NaCl expose. TXD seed biopriming increased the lengths, fresh and dry weights of root/shoots and decreased the lipid peroxidation (MDA) remarkably. Non-enzymatic pathway was found to be more effective than enzymatic one for seed bioprimed plants proven by higher RWC, soluble protein, proline, chlorophyll, carotenoid, and less H2O2 and MDA levels under each dose of NaCl. Detected phenotypic and biochemical improvements pave the way of the potential usage of the formulated fungus biopreperations as a pre-harvest agent in agriculturally important cereals in the future and going beyond lab-based level.

Mixed-Organic-Cation (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 Planar Perovskite Solar Cells with 16.48% Efficiency via a Low-Pressure Vapor-Assisted Solution Process.

Compared to that of methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI3), formamidinium lead iodide perovskite (FAPbI3) has a smaller energy band gap and greater potential efficiency. To prevent the transformation of α-FAPbI3 to δ-FAPbI3, preparation of (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 was regarded as an effective route. Usually, the planar (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 perovskite solar cells are fabricated by a solution process. Herein, we report a low-pressure vapor-assisted solution process (LP-VASP) for the growth of (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 perovskite solar cells that features improved electron transportation, uniform morphology, high power conversion efficiency (PCE), and better crystal stability. In LP-VASP, the (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 films were formed by the reaction between the PbI2 film with FAI and MAI vapor in a very simple vacuum oven. LP-VASP is an inexpensive way to batch-process solar cells, avoiding the repeated deposition solution process for PbI2 films, and the device had a low cost. We demonstrate that, with an increase in the MAI content, the (101) peak position of FAPbI3 shifts toward the (110) peak position of MAPbI3, the (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 perovskites are stable, and no decomposition or phase transition is observed after 14 days. The photovoltaic performance was effectively improved by the introduction of MA+ with the highest efficiency being 16.48% under conditions of 40 wt % MAI. The carrier lifetime of (FA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 perovskite films is approximately three times longer than that of pure FAPbI3. Using this process, solar cells with a large area of 1.00 cm2 were fabricated with the PCE of 8.0%.

A Synthetic Biology Approach to Engineering Living Photovoltaics.

The ability to electronically interface living cells with electron accepting scaffolds is crucial for the development of next-generation biophotovoltaic technologies. Although recent studies have focused on engineering synthetic interfaces that can maximize electronic communication between the cell and scaffold, the efficiency of such devices is limited by the low conductivity of the cell membrane. This review provides a materials science perspective on applying a complementary, synthetic biology approach to engineering membrane-electrode interfaces. It focuses on the technical challenges behind the introduction of foreign extracellular electron transfer pathways in bacterial host cells and the past and future efforts to engineer photosynthetic organisms with artificial electron-export capabilities for biophotovoltaic applications. The article highlights advances in engineering protein-based, electron-exporting conduits in a model host organism, E. coli, before reviewing state-of-the-art biophotovoltaic technologies that use both unmodified and bioengineered photosynthetic bacteria with improved electron transport capabilities. A thermodynamic analysis is used to propose an energetically feasible pathway for extracellular electron transport in engineered cyanobacteria and identify metabolic bottlenecks amenable to protein engineering techniques. Based on this analysis, an engineered photosynthetic organism expressing a foreign, protein-based electron conduit yields a maximum theoretical solar conversion efficiency of 6-10% without accounting for additional bioengineering optimizations for light-harvesting.

Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport coefficients in low temperature streamer discharge plasmas

Streamer is usually present at the initial stage of atmospheric pressure air discharge, which occurs in nature as a precursor to lightning, transient luminous events in upper atmosphere and has much potential applications in industry, such as the treatment of polluted gases/liquids, assisted combustion, plasma enhanced deposition etc. Streamer is a multi-scale problem both in time and in space, which brings much difficulty to the conventional diagnostic approaches. In past decades, fluid or particle-fluid hybrid models have been frequently used for understanding the mechanisms of streamer discharges because of their high efficiencies of calculations. Accuracies of the electron transport coefficients (including drift/diffusion coefficient, ionization/attachment coefficient, electron mean energy and extra) play a key role in ensuring the correctness of the fluid or hybrid simulations. As far as we know, BOLSIG+ and MAGBOLTZ are two typical tools for obtaining the electron transport coefficients and have been widely utilized in previous models. BOLSIG+ uses two-term approximation which is not sufficient for some molecular gases, MAGBOLTZ cannot calculate the bulk transport coefficients:these data are required for some models. METHES is an additional tool for computing electron transport coefficients, however, specific platform is required which is not very user-friendly. As sorts of drawbacks exist in currently available calculating tools, in the paper, a Monte Carlo model is developed for computing the electron transport coefficients in gases, the model is flexible to choose any type of gas mixture and its accuracy has been validated by comparing with BOLSIG+ and METHES. Furthermore, the influences of N2-O2 mixture and three-body attachment process in high gas pressures on the transport coefficient are investigated. It is worth mentioning that three-body attachment process can significantly change the electron transport properties at a relatively low reduced electric field. Thus, specific attention must be paid to the transport coefficients if simulation is performed at a high pressure. In addition, differences between the bulk and flux coefficients are analyzed which are not distinguished in some previous models. Finally, we further validate the present Monte Carlo model by performing simulation of streamer discharge in atmospheric N2, which shows that the improved electron transport coefficient from our Monte Carlo model can improve the simulated plasma properties, in particular at the interior of the streamer channel. The existence of divergence at the tip of the streamer channel might be due to our local field approximation; if a density gradient term is included in the impact ionization term and local electron energy approximation of the electron transport coefficients is used, the accuracy of the fluid can be improved further.

Electropolymerization Fabrication of Co Phosphate Nanoparticles Encapsulated in N,P-Codoped Mesoporous Carbon Networks as a 3D Integrated Electrode for Full Water Splitting

The development of high-performance nonprecious electrocatalysts toward both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great significance for overall water splitting but remains a grand challenge. In this study, Co phosphate (CP) nanoparticles encapsulated in three-dimensional porous N,P-codoped carbon networks (NPC) were fabricated by direct growth on carbon cloth (CC), which were further used as an integrated three-dimensional (3D) electrode for cost-effective and energy efficient HER and OER both in acid and alkaline medium. Impressively, the as-obtained flexible integrated electrode exhibited excellent activities and robust stability, due to the unique 3D architecture with improved electron transport capability, high number of active sites, and channels for reactant/product transfer. Our experimental results show significantly enhanced performance for such engineered nanostructures due to the synergistic effect from nanoparticles encapsulation and nitrogen and phospho...

Understanding the Role of Phenanthroline as Interlayer in Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Cells

AbstractWe report on significant efficiency enhancement of bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells based on blends of poly(9,9‐dioctylfluorene‐alt‐bithiophene), F8T2, or poly[[4,8‐bis[(2‐ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl][3‐fluoro‐2‐[(2‐ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4‐b]thiophenediyl], PTB7, with [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester, PC61BM, upon thermally depositing a layer of a phenanthroline derivative, 4,7‐diphenyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline, BPhen, or 2,9‐dimethyl‐4,7‐diphenyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline, BCP, and LiF. We found that both phenanthroline derivatives form nanostructured layers and that the introduction of the LiF layer is crucial for the cells performance improvement. The interface between BPhen and LiF was investigated by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This analysis suggested that charge‐transfer doping of BPhen by fluoride is at the origin of improved electron transport throughout the BPhen layer. The best performing cells display power conversion efficiencies of 2.89 % and 5.89 %, for the blend with F8T2 and PTB7, respectively.

One-step synthesis of g-C3N4 hierarchical porous structure nanosheets with dramatic ultraviolet light photocatalytic activity

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with hierarchical porous structure were synthesized via one-step thermal condensation-oxidation process. The microstructure of g-C3N4 was characterized to explain the dramatic ultraviolet light photocatalytic activity. The results showed that g-C3N4 hierarchical aggregates were assembled by nanosheets with a length of 1–2μm and a thickness of 20–30nm. And the N2-adsorption/desorption isotherms further informed the presence of fissure form mesoporous structure. An enhanced photocurrent of 37.2μA was obtained, which is almost 5 times higher than that of P-25. Besides, the g-C3N4 nanosheets displayed the degradation of Rhodamine B with 99.4% removal efficiency in only 9min. Such highly photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the nano platelet morphology which improves electron transport ability along the in-plane direction. In addition, the hierarchical porous structure adapted a wider band gap of C3N4. Therefore, the photoinduced electron-hole pairs have a stronger oxidation-reduction potential for photocatalysis.

Toward Lower Overpotential through Improved Electron Transport Property: Hierarchically Porous CoN Nanorods Prepared by Nitridation for Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.

To lower the overpotential of a lithium-oxygen battery, electron transport at the solid-to-solid interface between the discharge product Li2O2 and the cathode catalyst is of great significance. Here we propose a strategy to enhance electron transport property of the cathode catalyst by the replace of oxygen atoms in the generally used metal oxide-based catalysts with nitrogen atoms to improve electron density at Fermi energy after nitridation. Hierarchically porous CoN nanorods were obtained by thermal treatment of Co3O4 nanorods under ammonia atmosphere at 350 °C. Compared with that of the pristine Co3O4 precursor before nitridation, the overpotential of the obtained CoN cathode was significantly decreased. Moreover, specific capacity and cycling stability of the CoN nanorods were enhanced. It is assumed that the discharged products with different morphologies for Co3O4 and CoN cathodes might be closely associated with the variation in the electronic density induced by occupancy of nitrogen atoms into interstitial sites of metal lattice after nitridation. The nitridation strategy for improved electron density proposed in this work is proved to be a simple but efficient way to improve the electrochemical performance of metal oxide based cathodes for lithium-oxygen batteries.

Oxidative Inactivation of Liver Mitochondria in High Fructose Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats: Effect of Glycyrrhizin Treatment.

Metabolic syndrome is a serious health problem in the present world. Glycyrrhizin, a triterpenoid saponin of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) root, has been reported to ameliorate the primary complications and hepatocellular damage in rats with the syndrome. In this study, we have explored metabolic syndrome-induced changes in liver mitochondrial function and effect of glycyrrhizin against the changes. Metabolic syndrome was induced in rats by high fructose (60%) diet for 6 weeks. The rats were then treated with glycyrrhizin (50 mg/kg body weight) by single intra-peritoneal injection. After 2 weeks of the treatment, the rats were sacrificed to collect liver tissue. Elevated mitochondrial ROS, lipid peroxidation and protein carbonyl, and decreased reduced glutathione content indicated oxidative stress in metabolic syndrome. Loss of mitochondrial inner membrane cardiolipin was observed. Mitochondrial complex I activity did not change but complex IV activity decreased significantly. Mitochondrial MTT reduction ability, membrane potential, phosphate utilisation and oxygen consumption decreased in metabolic syndrome. Reduced mitochondrial aconitase activity and increased aconitase carbonyl content suggested oxidative damage of the enzyme. Elevated Fe(2+) ion level in mitochondria might be associated with increased ROS generation in metabolic syndrome. Glycyrrhizin effectively attenuated mitochondrial oxidative stress and aconitase degradation, and improved electron transport chain activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Longitudinal Hierarchy Co3O4 Mesocrystals with High-dense Exposure Facets and Anisotropic Interfaces for Direct-Ethanol Fuel Cells.

Novel electrodes are needed for direct ethanol fuel cells with improved quality. Hierarchical engineering can produce catalysts composed of mesocrystals with many exposed active planes and multi-diffused voids. Here we report a simple, one-pot, hydrothermal method for fabricating Co3O4/carbon/substrate electrodes that provides control over the catalyst mesocrystal morphology (i.e., corn tubercle pellets or banana clusters oriented along nanotube domains, or layered lamina or multiple cantilevered sheets). These morphologies afforded catalysts with a high density of exposed active facets, a diverse range of mesopores in the cage interior, a window architecture, and vertical alignment to the substrate, which improved efficiency in an ethanol electrooxidation reaction compared with a conventional platinum/carbon electrode. On the atomic scale, the longitudinally aligned architecture of the Co3O4 mesocrystals resulted in exposed low- and high-index single and interface surfaces that had improved electron transport and diffusion compared with currently used electrodes.

In situ loading of Ag2WO4 on ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets with highly enhanced photocatalytic performance

The g-C3N4 nanosheets (g-C3N4NS) exhibit more excellent property than common bulk g-C3N4 (g-C3N4-B) due to their large surface areas, improved electron transport ability and well dispersion in water. In this work, ultrathin g-C3N4NS with a thickness of about 2.7nm have been synthesized by a simple thermal exfoliation of bulk g-C3N4, and then Ag2WO4 nanoparticles are in situ loaded on their surface to construct the Ag2WO4/g-C3N4NS heterostructured photocatalysts. Due to their unique physicochemical properties, the as-prepared heterostructures possess a fast interfacial charge transfer and increased lifetime of photo-excited charge carriers, and exhibit much higher photocatalytic activity. Under visible light irradiation, the optimum photocatalytic activity of Ag2WO4/g-C3N4NS composites is almost 53.6 and 26.5 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4-B and Ag2WO4/g-C3N4-B heterostructures towards the degradation of rhodamine B, respectively, and is almost 30.6 and 9.8 times higher towards the degradation of methyl orange, respectively. In addition, the natural sunlight photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples are also investigated.

Niobium Doping Enhances Charge Transport in TiO2 Nanorods

AbstractThe charge‐transport behavior of nanostructured titanium dioxide (TiO2) is of great interest because of the wide range of applications. In this work, we demonstrate a facile approach to improve electron transport in TiO2 nanorods (NRs) by introducing niobium (Nb) dopant into the lattice of TiO2. The TiO2‐NRs doped with Nb were grown directly on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates by a facile hydrothermal method and used directly as the photoanodes for water oxidation. The TiO2 nanorod electrode doped with 0.25 % of Nb showed 65 % improvement in photocurrent as compared with the pristine TiO2 nanorod electrode. Furthermore, by simply changing the light illuminating direction, the improvement of charge transport induced by Nb doping could be easily identified.

Influence of anthocyanin co-pigment on electron transport and performance in black rice dye-sensitized solar cell

This work reports the novel contribution of chlorophyll b as natural anthocyanin co-pigment in unpurified black rice extract for improved electron transport and performance of natural dye-sensitized solar cell. The dyes are extracted as prominent photosensitizers by considering the concentration, the dye electronic structure, the extraction, and immersion time. The anthocyanin dye containing 1.92 mM cyanidin-3-O-glucoside structure has been extracted without purification. Interestingly, 0.33 mM chlorophyll b is found as a natural co-sensitizer in unpurified anthocyanin. The role of chlorophyll b supporting the electron transfer of anthocyanin dye will be investigated for improved cell performance. Both purified and unpurified dyes are compared in the same anthocyanin concentration. The combined Tauc plot and voltametric method will be conducted to show the interfacial electronic band edges of TiO2-dye-electrolyte. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy method will investigate electron transfer dynamic in both cell systems. As a result, chlorophyll b has dominantly acted as two intermediate states in boosting electron injection and dye regeneration to improve cell efficiency from 1.31 to 2.17 % due to the narrower LUMO–TiO2 conduction band gap and the narrower HOMO-iodide (I −) potential gap, respectively. According to the electron transport, the co-sensitizer contributes to the smaller transport resistance (R t = 21.9 Ω), the higher chemical diffusion coefficient (Dn = 1.696 × 10−3 cm2/s), the higher chemical capacitance (Cμ = 14.32 μF), and the faster electron transport (τd = 39.88 μs).

Bromination and cyanation for improving electron transport performance of anthra-tetrathiophene

Abstract

Theoretical investigation of fluorination effect on the charge carrier transport properties of fused anthra-tetrathiophene and its derivatives

The crystal structures of known anthra-tetrathiophene (ATT) and its three fluorinated derivatives (ATT1, ATT2 and ATT3) were predicted by the Monte Carlo-simulated annealing method with the embedded electrostatic potential (ESP) charges. The most stable crystal structures were further optimized by the density functional theory with the dispersion energy (DFT-D) method. In addition, the effect of the electron-withdrawing fluorine atoms on the molecular geometry, molecular stacking, electronic and transport properties of title compounds were investigated by the density functional theory and the incoherent charge-hopping model. The calculated results show that the introduction of fluorine atoms does not affect the molecular planarity but decreases the HOMO-LUMO gap, which is beneficial to electron injection and provides more charge carrier stabilization. The improved electron mobility from ATT to ATT3 is attributed to the favorable molecular packing with strong π–π interaction and the short stacking distance. ATT2 and ATT3 exhibit remarkable angular dependence of mobilities and anisotropic behaviors. The band structures reveal that all the paths with larger transfer integrals are along the directions of large dispersions in the valence band (VB) and conduction band (CB). ATT3 has the largest electron mobility (0.48 cm2V−1s−1) among the four compounds, indicating that fluorination is an effective approach to improve electron transport.