Category

Renewable energy

ApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGIWAXSInorganic materialMaterialOrientation analysisOtherRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Fine Multi-Phase Alignments in 2D Perovskite Solar Cells with Efficiency over 17% via Slow Post-Annealing

Wu, Guangbao; Li, Xing; Zhou, Jiyu; Zhang, Jianqi; Zhang, Xuning; Leng, Xuanye; Wang, Peijun; Chen, Ming; Zhang, Dongyang; Zhao, Kui; Liu, Shengzhong (Frank); Zhou, Huiqiong; Zhang, Yuan

Layered Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) phase (2D) halide perovskites have attracted tremendous attention due to the wide tunability on their optoelectronic properties and excellent robustness in photovoltaic devices. However, charge extraction/transport and ultimate power conversion efficiency (PCE) in 2D perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are still limited by the non-eliminable quantum well effect.…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialRenewable energySAXSTechniqueThin films

Lignin@Nafion Membranes Forming Zn Solid–Electrolyte Interfaces Enhance the Cycle Life for Rechargeable Zinc-Ion Batteries

Yuan, Du; Manalastas, William; Zhang, Liping; Chan, Jun Jie; Meng, Shizhe; Chen, Yingqian; Srinivasan, Madhavi

Metallic zinc is an ideal anode material for rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), taking us beyond the lithium-ion era. In-depth understanding of the Zn metal surface is currently required owing to diverse but uncorrelated data about the Zn surface in mild environments. Herein, the surface chemistry of Zn is elucidated and…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGIWAXSMaterialOrientation analysisRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechnique

Relation Between Charge Transport and the Number of Interconnected Lamellar Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Crystals

Wang, Binghua; Chen, Jingbo; Shen, Changyu; Reiter, Günter; Zhang, Bin

We have investigated the lateral charge transport in a multilamellar network of crystalline structures of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) embedded in a matrix of small crystallites and amorphous polymers resulting from crystallization at temperatures close to the melting point. Removing the matrix by an appropriate washing process allowed us to observe a…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialRenewable energySAXSTechniqueTemperature

Ion Transport in Pendant and Backbone Polymerized Ionic Liquids

Kuray, Preeya; Noda, Takeru; Matsumoto, Atsushi; Iacob, Ciprian; Inoue, Tadashi; Hickner, Michael A.; Runt, James

Polymerized ionic liquids (PILs) are single-ion conductors in which one of the ionic species is tethered to the polymer chain while the other is free to be transported. The ionic species can either be directly incorporated into the polymeric backbone (backbone PILs) or placed as pendant groups to the chain…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialRenewable energySAXSTechnique

Direct modification of polyketone resin for anion exchange membrane of alkaline fuel cells

Zhou, Yi-Cun; Zhou, Ling; Feng, Chang-Ping; Wu, Xiao-Tian; Bao, Rui-Ying; Liu, Zheng-Ying; Yang, Ming-Bo; Yang, Wei

A kind of side-chain type anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with high ionic conductivity and good comprehensive stability was prepared via direct modification of commercial engineering plastic polyketone with diamines through Paal-Knorr reaction and quaternization reaction. It was found that the amount of diamine can effectively tune the microphase morphology and…
27 January 2020
ApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPorous materialRenewable energySAXSTechnique

CO2 capture with polyamine-based protic ionic liquid functionalized mesoporous silica

Zhang, Wei; Gao, Erhao; Li, Yu; Bernards, Matthew T.; He, Yi; Shi, Yao

A mesoporous silica supported polyamine-based protic ionic liquid (PIL) sorbent has been prepared by impregnating tetraethylenepentammonium nitrate onto the surface of SBA-15. This innovative hybrid adsorbent exhibits an excellent CO2 adsorption rate in the rate-controlling step of 147?×?10?3 mmol g?1 s?0.5, at least threefold better than other IL-functionalized and amine-modified…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGISAXSGIWAXSMaterialRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

A top-down strategy identifying molecular phase stabilizers to overcome microstructure instabilities in organic solar cells

Zhang, Chaohong; Heumueller, Thomas; Leon, Salvador; Gruber, Wolfgang; Burlafinger, Klaus; Tang, Xiaofeng; Perea, Jose D.; Wabra, Isabell; Hirsch, Andreas; Unruh, Tobias; Li, Ning; Brabec, Christoph J.

The operational stability of organic solar cells (OSCs) is the essential barrier to commercialization. Compared to thermally-induced degradation, photo-stability of OSCs is far away from being resolved. Here, we demonstrate that the thermal- and photo-degradation of metastable bulk-heterojunction OSCs are governed by the same mechanism. Understanding the fundamental principles behind…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCrystalline fractionCustomer publicationsGISAXSGIWAXSMaterialOrientation analysisRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Comprehensive Investigation and Analysis of Bulk-Heterojunction Microstructure of High-Performance PCE11:PCBM Solar Cells

Zhang, Chaohong; Heumueller, Thomas; Gruber, Wolfgang; Almora, Osbel; Du, Xiaoyan; Ying, Lei; Chen, Junwu; Unruh, Tobias; Cao, Yong; Li, Ning; Brabec, Christoph J.

Worldwide research efforts have been devoted to organic photovoltaics in the hope of a large-scale commercial application in the near future. To meet the industrial production requirements, organic photovoltaics that can reach power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 10% along with promising operational device stability are of utmost interest. In…
27 January 2020
ApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialParticlesRenewable energySAXSSizeTechnique

Harnessing Heat Beyond 200 °C from Unconcentrated Sunlight with Nonevacuated Transparent Aerogels

Zhao, Lin; Bhatia, Bikram; Yang, Sungwoo; Strobach, Elise; Weinstein, Lee A.; Cooper, Thomas A.; Chen, Gang; Wang, Evelyn N.

Heat at intermediate temperatures (120-220 °C) is in significant demand in both industrial and domestic sectors for applications such as water and space heating, steam generation, sterilization, and other industrial processes. Harnessing heat from solar energy at these temperatures, however, requires costly optical and mechanical components to concentrate the dilute…
27 January 2020
ApplicationCharacterizationCompositesCustomer publicationsMaterialParticlesRenewable energySAXSSizeTechnique

Synergistic effects from super-small sized TiO2 and SiOx nanoparticles within TiO2/SiOx/carbon nanohybrid lithium-ion battery anode

Wang, Xiaoyan; Xia, Yonggao; Zuo, Xiuxia; Schaper, Simon J.; Yin, Shanshan; Ji, Qing; Liang, Suzhe; Yang, Zhaohui; Xia, Senlin; Xiao, Ying; Zhu, Jin; Müller-Buschbaum, Peter; Cheng, Ya-Jun

TiO2/SiOx/carbon nanohybrid consisting of super-small sized TiO2 and SiOx nanoparticles is in situ formed within the in situ formed carbon matrix using difunctional methacrylate monomers as solvent and carbon source. The relative composition of TiO2 and SiOx is systematically tuned by varying the feeding mass ratio of the precursors (TEOS/TTIP)…
27 January 2020