WS2 Layers Research Articles

Enhanced catalytic activity of noble metal@borophene/WS2 heterojunction for hydrogen evolution reaction

Borophene is a promising two dimensional (2D) functional material due to the high surface area and good catalytic properties. However, the instability of borophene limits the large-scale application. In addition, the borophene as the van der Waals material is usually considered to have inert surfaces, which is difficult to capture hydrogen protons stably due to the absence of dangling bonds. To solve this problem, we construct a heterojunction structure using two up and coming 2D materials (borophene and WS2) and explore the interlayer catalytic activity of the borophene χ3/WS2 heterojunction by using the ab initio calculations. Four possible hydrogen adsorption sites are designed. The calculated result shows that this borophene χ3/WS2 heterojunction is found to exhibit excellent catalytic hydrogen evolution with the hydrogen adsorption ΔGH about −0.022 eV for H4 site and −0.053 eV for H1 site, respectively. Furthermore, we have doped the upper and low layers with the single atom of noble metals (Pt and Pd) to further enhance the catalytic activity of this χ3/WS2 heterojunction. When noble metal is doped in WS2 layer, it is found that the noble metal@borophene/WS2 exhibits good catalytic activity while the calculated ΔGH decreased to 0.005 eV in Pt@borophene/WS2 heterojunction. According to the Sabatier principle, this value is very close to zero, which means excellent catalytic properties in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared to pure Pt, the nature of low cost and high efficiency make Pt@borophene/WS2 heterojunction to become the promising catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction.

Robust Growth of 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Vertical Heterostructures via Ammonium-Assisted CVD Strategy.

Two dimension (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) heterostructures have opened unparalleled prospects for next-generation electronic and optoelectronic applications due to their atomic-scale thickness and distinct physical properties. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method is the most feasible approach to prepare 2D TMD heterostructures. However, the synthesis of 2D vertical heterostructures faces competition between in-plane and out-of-plane growth, which makes it difficult to precisely control the growth of vertical heterostructures. Here, a universal and controllable strategy is reported to grow various 2D TMD vertical heterostructures through an ammonium-assisted CVD process. The ammonium-assisted strategy shows excellent controllability and operational simplicity to prevent interlayer diffusion/alloying and thermal decomposition of the existed TMD templates. Ab initio simulations demonstrate that the reaction between NH4Cl and MoS2 leads to the formation of MoS3 clusters, promoting the nucleation and growth of 2D MoS2 on existed 2D WS2 layer, thereby leading to the growth of vertical heterostructure. The resulting 2D WSe2/WS2 vertical heterostructure photodetectors demonstrate an outstanding optoelectronic performance, which are comparable to the performances of photodetectors fabricated from mechanically exfoliated and stacked vertical heterostructures. The ammonium-assisted strategy for robust growth of high-quality vertical van der Waals heterostructures will facilitate fundamental physics investigations and device applications in electronics and optoelectronics.

Introducing 2D layered WS2 and MoS2 as an active catalyst to enhance the hydrogen storage properties of MgH2

The current work describes how 2D layered materials, such as MoS2 and WS2, might improve the de/re-hydrogenation kinetics of MgH2. In the presence of WS2 catalyst, desorption of MgH2 begins at 277 °C, with a hydrogen storage capacity of 5.95 wt%, while the onset desorption temperature of MgH2 catalyzed by MoS2 is 330 °C. In just 1.3 min at 300 °C under 13 atm hydrogen pressure, the MgH2-WS2 absorbed approximately 3.72 wt% of hydrogen, and in 20 min at 300 °C under 1 atm hydrogen pressure, it desorbed around ∼5.57 wt% of hydrogen. To ensure the cyclic stability up to 25 cycles of de/re-hydrogenation of the catalyzed MgH2, a continuously 25 cycles of dehydrogenation (under 1 atm hydrogen pressure at 300 °C) and rehydrogenation (under 13 atm hydrogen pressure at 300 °C) were carried out. As a result, MgH2-WS2 exhibits superior cyclic stability than MgH2–MoS2. In addition, with the de/re-hydrogenation kinetics, MgH2-WS2 has a lower reaction activation energy (∼117 kJ/mol) than to other catalyzed and pristine samples. Conversely, the thermodynamical parameters, specifically the change in enthalpy of MgH2, are unaffected by addition of these layered WS2 and MoS2 catalysts.

High-Performance Visible-to-SWIR Photodetector Based on the Layered WS2 Heterojunction with Light-Trapping Pyramidal Black Germanium.

This study presents a layered transition metal dichalcogenide/black germanium (b-Ge) heterojunction photodetector that exhibits superior performance across a broad spectrum of wavelengths spanning from visible (vis) to shortwave infrared (SWIR). The photodetector includes a thin layer of b-Ge, which is created by wet etching of germanium (Ge) wafer to form submicrometer pyramidal structures. On top of this b-Ge layer, the WS2 thin film is deposited using pulsed laser deposition. In comparison to conventional germanium, b-Ge absorbs about 25% more light between 850 and 1750 nm wavelengths. The WS2/b-Ge photodetector has a peak photoresponsivity of 0.65 A/W, which is more than twice the photoresponsivity of the WS2/Ge photodetector at 1540 nm. Additionally, it shows better responsivity and response speed compared with other similar state-of-the-art photodetectors. Such an improvement in the performance of the device is credited to the light-trapping effect enabled by the germanium pyramids. Theoretical simulations employing the finite-difference time-domain technique help validate the concept. This novel photodetector holds promise for efficient detection of light across the vis to SWIR spectrum.

Theoretical study of adsorption of gas (CO, CO2, NH3) by metal (Au, Ag, Cu)-doped single-layer WS2.

The adsorptions of gas (CO, CO2, NH3) by metal (Au, Ag, Cu)-doped single layer WS2 are studied by density functional theory. The doping of metal atoms makes WS2 behave as n-type semiconductors. The final adsorption sites for CO, CO2, and NH3 are close to the atomic sites of the doped metal. The adsorptions of CO and NH3 gases on Cu/WS2, Ag/WS2, and Au/WS2 are dominated by chemisorption. The doped metal atoms enhance the hybridization of the substrate with the gas molecular orbitals, which contributes to the charge transfer and enhances the adsorption of the gas with the material surface. The adsorptions of CO and NH3 on Cu/WS2 and Ag/WS2 allow favorable desorption in a short time after heating. The single-layer Cu/WS2 is proved to have the potential to be used as a reliable recyclable sensor for CO. This work provides a theoretical basis for developing high-performance WS2-based gas sensors. In this paper, the adsorption energy, electronic structure, charge transfer, and recovery time of CO, CO2, and NH3 in the doped system have been investigated based on the CASTEP code of density functional theory. The exchange correlation function used is the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The TS (Tkatchenko-Scheffler) dispersion correction method was used to involve the effects of van der Waals interaction on the adsorption energies for all adsorption system. The ultrasoft pseudopotentials are chosen and the plane-wave cut-off energies are set to 500eV. The k-point mesh generated by the Monkhorst package scheme is used to perform the numerical integration of the Brillouin zone and 5 × 5 × 1k-point grid is used. The tolerances of total energy convergence, maximum ionic force, ionic displacement, and stress component are 1.0 × 10-5eV/atom, 0.03eV/Å, 0.001Å, and 0.05 GPa, respectively.

Effects of UV ozone treatment on the photoresponse of the Pt nanoparticles decorated WS2

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown and Pt nanoparticles (NPs) decorated multilayer WS2 is treated by ultraviolet (UV) ozone for the modification of the surface roughness to realize the enhanced hot carriers injection via the internal photoemission (IPE). The morphology, structure and photophysical properties as well as the dependence of the photoresponse on the UV ozone treatment are investigated. The UV ozone treatment demonstrates obvious effect on the WS2 surface roughness (Sa), which reaches the maximum around 14 nm after 2 min exposure and subsequently decrease with the extension of treatment duration. UV ozone treatment also leads to obviously diminished photoluminescence (PL) and shortened excitons lifetime for bare WS2 while its influence on the electronic structure is negligible. The diminished PL, shortened PL decaying lifetime and increased Sa are all originated from the formation of WOx due to the consumption of top WS2 layer by the severe oxidation, and such effects will be greatly alleviated when the fresh and undisturbed underlying WS2 layer appears with the treatment duration extended to 4 min. The 2 min UV ozone treated WS2/Pt exhibits optimal wide spectrum photoresponse (400–900 nm) with the near infrared (NIR) responsivity around 18 A/W at 750 nm, about 60 % higher compared to that of untreated one while the 4 min overtreated WS2/Pt demonstrates much deteriorated photoresponse. Such behavior can be ascribed to the enhanced hot electrons injection from Pt to WS2 due to the formation of rough Schottky contact as well as the separation of photo-excited electron-hole pairs by Schottky junction. Our study proves that the Sa is a key factor not only for the exciton dynamics but also for the hot electron injection from Pt to WS2.

WS2 with Controllable Layer Number Grown Directly on W Film.

As a layered material with single/multi-atom thickness, two-dimensional transition metal sulfide WS2 has attracted extensive attention in the field of science for its excellent physical, chemical, optical, and electrical properties. The photoelectric properties of WS2 are even more promising than graphene. However, there are many existing preparation methods for WS2, but few reports on its direct growth on tungsten films. Therefore, this paper studies its preparation method and proposes an innovative two-dimensional material preparation method to grow large-sized WS2 with higher quality on metal film. In this experiment, it was found that the reaction temperature could regulate the growth direction of WS2. When the temperature was below 950 °C, the film showed horizontal growth, while when the temperature was above 1000 °C, the film showed vertical growth. At the same time, through Raman and band gap measurements, it is found that the different thicknesses of precursor film will lead to a difference in the number of layers of WS2. The number of layers of WS2 can be controlled by adjusting the thickness of the precursor.

DFT and SCAPS-1D based optimization study of double perovskite Cs2AuBiCl6 solar cells utilizing different charge transport layers

In this work, halide double perovskite (HDP) Cs2AuBiCl6 is investigated as potential absorber material in the perovskite solar cell (PSC) using the SCAPS-1D tool. WIEN2K code is utilized for computation to study the structural, and optoelectronic properties of Cs2AuBiCl6. The calculated bandgap of the Cs2AuBiCl6 is found to be ∼1.09 eV using TB-mBJ (Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson) potential. Performance of the Cs2AuBiCl6-based PSC is enhanced by improving the properties of charge transport layers and the perovskite (PVSK) absorber layer. Combination of Electron Transport Layers (ETLs) such as WS2, PCBM, ZnO, TiO2, and C60 and Hole Transport Layers (HTLs) such as Cu2O, P3HT, CuSCN, PEDOT: PSS, Spiro-OMeTAD, CuSbS2 are evaluated to find the best ETLs and HTLs among the above-mentioned materials. Also, further study is performed on the five best devices with five different ETLs using CuSbS2 as the HTL. Apart from that, the energy band diagrams of the best five devices are investigated. Further, a performance study is done on those best five devices through the impact of the variations in thickness of ETL, defect density, thickness of Cs2AuBiCl6 layer, shunt, and series resistances of device. After all the optimizations, the best PCEs of these five optimized devices are found to be 21.16 %, 21.14 %, 20.84 %, 20.79 %, and 14.75 % with CuSbS2 as HTL, and C60, WS2, TiO2, PCBM, and ZnO as ETLs, respectively. Furthermore, current density-voltage (J-V) and quantum efficiency (QE) characteristics of the five devices are analyzed to determine the potential of Cs2AuBiCl6 as a viable material for non-leaded PSCs.

Room Temperature, Twist Angle Independent, Momentum Direct Interlayer Excitons in van der Waals Heterostructures with Wide Spectral Tunability.

Interlayer excitons (IXs) in van der Waals heterostructures with static out of plane dipole moment and long lifetime show promise in the development of exciton based optoelectronic devices and the exploration of many body physics. However, these IXs are not always observed, as the emission is very sensitive to lattice mismatch and twist angle between the constituent materials. Moreover, their emission intensity is very weak compared to that of corresponding intralayer excitons at room temperature. Here we report the room-temperature realization of twist angle independent momentum direct IX in the heterostructures of bulk PbI2 and bilayer WS2. Momentum conserving transitions combined with the large band offsets between the constituent materials enable intense IX emission at room temperature. A long lifetime (∼100 ns), noticeable Stark shift, and tunability of IX emission from 1.70 to 1.45 eV by varying the number of WS2 layers make these heterostructures promising to develop room temperature exciton based optoelectronic devices.

Atomically thin-layered WS2 based resistive sensors for detection of CO and NO2 at room temperature

The number of layers present in a two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial plays a critical role in applications that involve surface interaction, for example, gas sensing. This paper reports the synthesis of 2D WS2 nanoflakes using the facile liquid exfoliation technique. The nanoflakes were exfoliated using bath sonication (BS-WS2) and probe sonication (PS-WS2). The thickness of the BS-WS2 was found to range between 70 and 200 nm, and that of PS-WS2 varied from 0.6 to 80 nm, indicating the presence of single to few layers of WS2 when characterized using atomic force microscope. All the WS2 samples were thoroughly characterized using electron microscopes, x-ray diffractometer, Raman spectroscopy, UV–Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscope, and thermogravimetric analyser. Both the nanostructured samples were exposed to 2 ppm of NO2 at room temperature. Interestingly, BS-WS2 which comprises of a greater number of WS2 layers exhibited −14.2% response as against −3.4% response of PS-WS2, the atomically thin sample. The BS-WS2 sample was found to be highly selective towards NO2 but was slower (with incomplete recovery) as compared to PS-WS2. The PS-WS2 sample was observed to exhibit −11.9% to −27.4% response to 2–10 ppm of CO and −3.4%–35.2% response to 2–10 ppm of NO2 at room temperature, thereby exhibiting the potential to detect two gases simultaneously. These gases could be accurately predicted and quantified if the response times of the PS-WS2 sample were considered. The atomically thin WS2-based sensor exhibited a limit of detection of 131 and 81 ppb for CO and NO2, respectively.

Bound state in the continuum and polarization-insensitive electric mirror in a low-contrast metasurface.

High-contrast refractive indices are pivotal in dielectric metasurfaces for inducing various exotic phenomena, such as the bound state in the continuum (BIC) and electric mirror (EM). However, the limitations of high-index materials are adverse to practical applications, thus, low-contrast metasurfaces offering comparable performance are highly desired. Here, we present a low-contrast dielectric metasurface composed of radial anisotropic cylinders, which are SiO2 cylinders doped with a small amount of WS2. The cylinder exhibits unidirectional forward superscattering resulting from the overlap of the electric and magnetic dipole resonances. When a near-infrared plane wave incident normally, the metasurface consisting of the superscattering constituents manifests a polarization-insensitive EM. In contrast, when subjected to an in-plane incoming wave, the metasurface generates a symmetry-protected BIC characterized by an ultrahigh Q factor and nearly negligible out-of-plane energy radiation. Notably, the EM response of the metasurface exhibits robustness to deviation in the number and thickness of WS2 layers. Our work highlights the doping approach as an efficient strategy for designing low-contrast functional metasurfaces, thereby shedding new light on the potential applications in photonic integrated circuits and on-chip optical communication.

High Efficiency of Exciton-Polariton Lasing in a 2D Multilayer Structure.

We have placed a van der Waals homostructure, formed by stacking three two-dimensional layers of WS2 separated by insulating hBN, similar to a multiple-quantum well structure, inside a microcavity, which facilitates the formation of quasiparticles known as exciton-polaritons. The polaritons are a combination of light and matter, allowing laser emission to be enhanced by nonlinear scattering, as seen in prior polariton lasers. In the experiments reported here, we have observed laser emission with an ultralow threshold. The threshold was approximately 59 nW/μm2, with a lasing efficiency of 3.82%. These findings suggest a potential for efficient laser operations using such homostructures.

Quadrupolar and dipolar excitons in symmetric trilayer heterostructures: insights from first principles theory

Excitons in van der Waals heterostructures come in many different forms. In bilayer structures, the electron and hole may be localized on the same layer or they may be separated forming an interlayer (IL) exciton with a finite out-of-plane dipole moment. Using first principles calculations, we investigate the excitons in a symmetric WS2/MoS2/WS2 heterostructure in the presence of a vertical electric field. The excitons exhibit a quadratic Stark shift for low field strengths and a linear Stark shift for stronger fields. This behavior is traced to the coupling of IL excitons with opposite dipole moments, which lead to the formation of quadrupolar excitons at small fields. The formation of quadrupolar excitons is determined by the relative size of the electric field-induced splitting of the dipolar excitons and the coupling between them given by the hole tunneling across the MoS2 layer. For the inverted structure, MoS2/WS2/MoS2, the dipolar excitons are coupled by electron tunneling across the WS2 layer. Because this effect is much weaker, the resulting quadrupolar excitons are more fragile and break at a weaker electric field.

Rational Design of Phase-Engineered WS2/WSe2 Heterostructures by Low-Temperature Plasma-Assisted Sulfurization and Selenization toward Enhanced HER Performance.

Efficient hydrogen generation from water splitting underpins chemistry to realize hydrogen economy. The electrocatalytic activity can be effectively modified by two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures, which offer great flexibility. Furthermore, they are useful in enhancing the exposure of the active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Although the 1T-metallic phase of the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is important for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst, its practical application has not yet been much utilized because of the lack of stability of the 1T phase. Here, we introduce a novel approach to create a 1T-WS2/1T-WSe2 heterostructure using a low-temperature plasma-assisted chemical vapor reaction (PACVR), namely plasma-assisted sulfurization and plasma-assisted selenization processes. This heterostructure exhibits superior electrocatalytic performance due to the presence of the metallic 1T phase and the beneficial synergistic effect at the interface, which is attributed to the transfer of electrons from the underlying WS2 layer to the overlying WSe2 layer. The WS2/WSe2 heterostructure catalyst demonstrates remarkable performance in the HER as evidenced by its small Tafel slope of 57 mV dec-1 and exceptional durability. The usage of plasma helps in replacing the top S atoms with Se atoms, and this ion bombardment also increases the roughness of the thin film, thus adding another factor to enhance the HER performance. This plasma-synthesized low-temperature metallic-phase heterostructure brings out a novel method for the discovery of other catalysts.

A Highly Sensitive Plasmonic Graphene-Based Structure for Deoxyribonucleic Acid Detection

In this study, a Kretschmann structure with a hybrid layer of graphene–WS2 is designed to develop a sensitive biosensor for deoxyribonucleic acid detection. The biosensor incorporates a 45 nm gold layer as the active layer and a thin film of chrome as the adhesive layer. Through the optimization of the graphene and WS2 layers, combined with the implementation of a silicon layer, we can enhance the nano-sensor’s sensitivity. The thin silicon layer acts as a protective barrier for the metal, while also increasing the volume of interaction. Consequently, by adjusting the thickness of the active metal and adding a silicon layer, we achieve higher sensitivity and a lower full width at half maximum, leading to sensitivity of 333.33°/RIU. The designed structure is analyzed using numerical techniques and the finite difference time domain method, allowing us to obtain the optical characteristics of the surface plasmon polariton sensor. Various parameters are calculated and evaluated to determine the optimal conditions for the sensor. Furthermore, the total size of the sensor is 2.228 µm2.

Novel pyrochlore type europium stannate – tungsten disulfide heterostructure for light driven carbon dioxide reduction and nitrogen fixation

The reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) to value-added products is a substantial area of research in the fields of sustainable chemistry and renewable energy that aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the production of alternative fuels and chemicals. The current work deals with the synthesis of pyrochlore-type europium stannate (Eu2Sn2O7: EuSnO), tungsten disulfide (WS2:WS), and novel EuSnO/WS heterostructure by a simple and facile co-precipitation-aided hydrothermal method. Using different methods, the morphological and structural analyses of the prepared samples were characterized. It was confirmed that a heterostructure was formed between the cubic EuSnO and the layered WS. Synthesized materials were used for photocatalytic CO2 and N2 reduction under UV and visible light. The amount of CO and CH4 evolved due to CO2 reduction is high in EuSnO/WS (CO = 104, CH4 = 64 μmol h−1 g−1) compared to pure EuSnO (CO = 36, CH4 = 70 μmol h−1 g−1) and WS (CO = 22, CH4 = 1.8 μmol h−1 g−1) under visible light. The same trend was observed even in the N2 fixation reaction under visible light, and the amount of NH4+ produced was found to be 13, 26, and 41 μmol h−1 g−1 in the presence of WS, EuSnO and EuSnO/WS, respectively. Enhanced light-driven activity towards CO2 and N2 reduction reactions in EuSnO/WS is due to the efficient charge separation through the formation of type-II heterostructure, which is in part associated with photocurrent response, photoluminescence, and electrochemical impedence spectroscopic (EIS) results. The EuSnO/WS heterostructure's exceptional stability and reusability may pique the attention of pyrochlore-based composite materials in photocatalytic energy and environmental applications.

Effect of n-type Cl doping on electrical conductivity of few layer WS2

Effect of n-type Cl doping on electrical conductivity of few layer WS2

A numerical approach to optimize the efficiency of a novel HTL-free Sr3Ti2S7 Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite solar cell

The exceptional environmental and structural stability of two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites has made them appealing candidates for high-performance perovskite solar cells. Besides, Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites can be synthesized using low-cost solution processing and have tunable bandgaps as compared to their conventional three-dimensional counterparts. Therefore, a Ruddlesden–Popper perovskite solar cell has been reported in this investigation and the SCAPS program has been used to theoretically study the device performance of the proposed lead-free, environmentally friendly perovskite solar cell. A novel Sr3Ti2S7 material has been utilized as the light absorber for the first time in such a theoretical study. Two different configurations, employing WS2 and C60 electron transport layers have been presented and device simulations have been performed to optimize the solar cell. The utilization of C60 as an electron transport material did not prove to be beneficial for the solar cell as it suffered from major recombination losses. It was also found that higher doping concentration of the electron transport materials could help these cells achieve improved fill factor. The diffusion length of the electrons and holes with respect to absorber defect density was also determined. Mott-Schottky analysis proved that the ITO/C60/Sr3Ti2S7/Au structure had a lower flatband potential compared to ITO/WS2/Sr3Ti2S7/Au. Additionally, from the impedance spectroscopy results, the recombination lifetime of the ITO/WS2/Sr3Ti2S7/Au configuration was found to be 46.7 μs compared to only 12.9 μs for the ITO/C60/Sr3Ti2S7/Au architecture. It was also established that if the thickness of the absorber and the bulk defect concentration were optimized the ITO/WS2/Sr3Ti2S7/Au and ITO/C60/Sr3Ti2S7/Au solar cells could achieve conversion efficiencies close to 11.0 % and 10.0 % respectively.

Analysis of lead free CsSnBr3 based perovskite solar cells utilizing numerical modeling

In this study, we propose several CsSnBr3-based PSC configurations using the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS-1D), incorporating various efficient Electron transport layers (ETLs) such as TiO2, PCBM, WS2, SnO2, ZnO, IGZO, C60, and Hole transport layers (HTLs) like CBTS, CFTS, CuO, CuI, Spiro-OMeTAD, PEDOT:PSS, P3HT, CuSbS2, CuSCN, and Cu2O. Numerical simulation results reveal that the device structure ITO/WS2/CsSnBr3/Cu2O/Au exhibits outstanding power conversion efficiency (PCE), retaining the closest photovoltaic parameter values among 70 different configurations. In this configuration, WS2 served as the ETL, and Cu2O acted as the HTL. This device achieved an outstanding peak PCE of 20.02%. It also boasted a high open circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.23 V, a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 19.32 mA cm−2, and an impressive fill factor (FF) of 84.18%. In comparison, devices utilizing materials like TiO2, PCBM, SnO2, ZnO, IGZO, and C60 yielded PCE values of 19.72, 19.73, 19.72, 19.73, 19.72, and 15.60%, respectively. Furthermore, for the seven best-performing configurations, we investigated the effects of CsSnBr3 absorber thickness, absorber-acceptor doping density (NA), conduction band offset (CBO), ETL doping density (ND), Capacitance–Voltage (C-V), Mott–Schottky (M-S) characteristics, generation and recombination rates, series resistance (Rse), shunt resistance (Rsh), temperature, current–voltage characteristics (J-V), and quantum efficiency (QE) on performance metrics. Our findings indicate that all seven ETLs, when combined with Cu2O HTL, can serve as excellent materials for fabricating high-efficiency CsSnBr3-based PSCs with the ITO/ETL/CsSnBr3/Cu2O/Au structure. To validate our results, we compared the simulation outcomes obtained with SCAPS-1D for the best seven CsSnBr3-PSC configurations with previously published research works. This comprehensive simulation study opens a promising avenue for the cost-effective production of high-performance, lead-free CsSnBr3-based PSCs, contributing to a greener and pollution-free environment.

Mechanism of WS2 Nanotube Formation Revealed by in Situ/ex Situ Imaging.

Multiwall WS2 nanotubes have been synthesized from W18O49 nanowhiskers in substantial amounts for more than a decade. The established growth model is based on the "surface-inward" mechanism, whereby the high-temperature reaction with H2S starts on the nanowhisker surface, and the oxide-to-sulfide conversion progresses inward until hollow-core multiwall WS2 nanotubes are obtained. In the present work, an upgraded in situ SEM μReactor with H2 and H2S sources has been conceived to study the growth mechanism in detail. A hitherto undescribed growth mechanism, named "receding oxide core", which complements the "surface-inward" model, is observed and kinetically evaluated. Initially, the nanowhisker is passivated by several WS2 layers via the surface-inward reaction. At this point, the diffusion of H2S through the already existing outer layers becomes exceedingly sluggish, and the surface-inward reaction is slowed down appreciably. Subsequently, the tungsten suboxide core is anisotropically volatilized within the core close to its tips. The oxide vapors within the core lead to its partial out-diffusion, partially forming a cavity that expands with reaction time. Additionally, the oxide vapors react with the internalized H2S gas, forming fresh WS2 layers in the cavity of the nascent nanotube. The rate of the receding oxide core mode increases with temperatures above 900 °C. The growth of nanotubes in the atmospheric pressure flow reactor is carried out as well, showing that the proposed growth model (receding oxide core) is also relevant under regular reaction parameters. The current study comprehensively explains the WS2 nanotube growth mechanism, combining the known model with contemporary insight.