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Inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with PEDOT:PSS as hole transporting layers exhibit tremendous prospects for flexible photovoltaic applications owing to their characteristics of low-temperatu...

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been attracting tremendous attention due to ease of processing, flexibility, and high performance. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) are the two most widely used solvents to dissolve perovskite precursors. Here, we investigate the impact of residual amount and evaporation rate of the DMSO inside the precursor films on the microstructure of the ultimate perovskite films. We decouple the DMSO and DMF solvents and demonstrate that DMSO component exhibits great and dominant influence on the final film morphology by using quasi in-situ photoluminescence (PL) measurement and X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterization of the wet films after spin-coating. Much more smooth and uniform perovskite films are obtained by careful management of remanent solvent, including decreasing residual amount by shelving the precursor films prior to heating and retarding the evaporation of the solvent via adopting a gradient annealing (GA) process. In consequence, the as-prepared PEDOT: PSS-based inverted PSCs yield a champion efficiency of 15.59% with high reproducibility. This work shows great potential in preparing high-quality perovskite films through a simple remanent solvent management engineering.

The sensitivity of practical solid quantum sensing can be boosted up by increasing the number of probes. However, the effects of spin dephasing caused by inhomogeneous broadening and imperfect quan...

Scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with high reliability is one of the most pivotal concerns that must be addressed before they get into the photovoltaic (PV) market. Scaling large-area high-quality perovskite films is of great importance in this process. Here, gaseous therapy has been proposed for the post-treatment of perovskite films with high scalability and low cost. An inspiring evolvement from poor perovskite films to high quality ones is demonstrated under a joint treatment of methylamine gas and hot solvent vapors. The perovskite films are completely reconstructed and repaired regardless of the morphology of the original films. As a consequence, small-area (0.09 cm2) and large-area (4 cm2) PSCs based on the healed MAPbI3 films can afford J-V scanned efficiencies of 19.2 and 16.5% under a reverse sweep, respectively. Furthermore, stabilized power outputs of 18.5 and 15.2% are obtained from the small one and large one under continuous maximum power point tracking.

In this work, an improved 4H-SiC insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), or CTH-IGBT, with a trench p-polySi/p-SiC heterojunction on the backside of the device is proposed to reduce the turn-off energy loss (Eoff) and turn-off time (Toff). The electrical properties of the proposed and contrast structures are all simulated using the ATLAS simulation software to research the working mechanism of this improved structure. For the static performance, the specific ON-resistance (Ron,sp) and the figure of merit (FOM = VBR2/Ron,sp) are not influenced much as compared to the traditional structure at the same breakdown voltage (VBR) of 12 kV. However, with a prominent electron current path formed by the heterojunction region of CTH-IGBT, a very available conduction path to discharge the electrons during turn-off process is proved in this article. The simulation results demonstrate that compared with the traditional structure, the turn-off energy loss of the CTH-IGBT is reduced by 76.4%, while the turn-off time is reduced by 85.0%.

Single-atom catalysts have found considerable applications in the field of electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) due to their unique coordination environments. However, during the preparat...

We describe the one-pot syntheses of an azobenzene- and pyridine-functionalized benzoxazine monomer (PAPBZ) and a main chain-type polybenzoxazine (BAPBZ) through Mannich condensations of a diamino-...

Carbosilane side chain-equipped isoindigo–bithiophene semiconducting polymers (PII2T) have been designed and synthesized for stretchable electronics applications. Systematically tailoring the lengt...

First-principles based on density functional theory (DFT) are used to calculate the structural and electronic properties of InSe/arsenene heterostructure. The results show that the InSe/arsenene bilayer forms a type-II van der Waals heterostructure with a direct band gap of 0.876 eV, which is favorable for the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The properties of InSe/arsenene heterojunction can be effectively regulated by applying an external electric field and uniaxial strain. When an external electric field is applied, the heterostructure experiences a transition from semiconductor to metal. In addition, due to the presence of built-in electric field, the positive and negative electric fields have different effects on the electronic properties of heterostructure. When uniaxial strain is applied, the heterostructure can withstand larger tensile strain than compression strain without damaging the structure and the band gap is more easily decreased by X-direction strain. In addition, the heterostructure undergoes a direct-indirect bandgap transition under strain. When compressive strain is applied in the Y direction, especially e

In this paper, we study polarization-dependent optical absorption of a graphene on the top of one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC), which offer a method to accurately count the number of graphene layers. The 1DPC is composed of 10 pairs of (SiO2/TiO2), and the two kinds of material is transparent, which is different from the commonly substrate with significant contrast to graphene. The absorption difference fitting formula is given by the 0–10 graphene layer. It may be applicable to other two-dimensional materials optically counting layers.

A novel Cu(I)-cluster based coordination compound formulated as {(Cu2I2)2[Cu6(dmpymt)6]}n (Hdmpymt = 4,6-dimethylpyrimidine-2-thione) was synthesized under solvo-thermal condition and characterized by single-crystal X ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 is an infinite 3D structure composed of Cu2I2 and Cu6S6 binary Cu(I) clusters with 66 topology, and displays high thermal stability and good solvent stability. Fluorescence experiments illustrate that compound 1 displays apparently red luminescence emission and selectively turn-off fluorescence response for CrO42− and Cr2O72− in water, showing potential luminescent probes for detecting Cr(VI) ions.

The nonlinear fluorescence emission has been widely applied for high spatial resolution optical imaging. Here, we studied the fluorescence anomalous saturating effect of the nitrogen vacancy defect in diamond. The fluorescence reduction was observed with high power laser excitation. It increased the nonlinearity of the fluorescence emission, and changed the spatial frequency distribution of the fluorescence image. We used a differential excitation protocol to extract the high spatial frequency information. By modulating the excitation laser’s power, the spatial resolution of imaging was improved approximately 1.6 times in comparison with the confocal microscopy. Due to the simplicity of the experimental setup and data processing, we expect this method can be used for improving the spatial resolution of sensing and biological labeling with the defects in solids.

In this study, the InSb/InSe heterostructure is systematically examined in terms of its electronic properties through first-principles calculations. According to our findings, the InSb/InSe heterostructure is a kind of unique direct band gap semiconductor, which has inherent type-II band alignment, resulting in significant photogenerated electron–hole pair separation in space. When the external electric field is applied, the Stark effect is observed in the band gap. Interestingly, in the application of the −0.3 V A−1 electric field, such a heterostructure is transformed into type-I from type-II. Simultaneously, the band gap is also effectively controlled by uniaxial strain. In particular, high carrier mobility is obtained at a compressive strain of 4% on the Y-axis. To sum up, based on the results in the present work, the InSb/InSe heterostructure can be potentially used in nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices.

Cesium (Cs) contained triple-cation and mixed halide perovskite (CsFAMA) is broadly employed as light absorption layers for efficient and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs) fabrication with high reproducibility. On the other hand, thermal annealing is a universal post-treatment method for perovskite films preparation. Moreover, thermal management highly depends on perovskite materials. However, no specialized study has been reported on CsFAMA perovskite to date. Herein, we have systematically investigated the influence of thermal annealing and annealing time on CsFAMA films and their solar cells. We demonstrated that heating time of 45 or 60 min at 100 °C is desirable. More interestingly, we found that the unannealed CsFAMA films exhibit ultrahigh photoluminescence (PL) intensities, much stronger than that of annealed films. Note that PL intensities gradually weaken as a function of annealing time. In particular, the PL intensities of fresh films (after antisolvent dripping) are at least 200 times higher than that of 60 min annealed films. To our knowledge, it is the first time to report this PL behavior. We speculate that it is due to quantum confinement effect of perovskite crystal nuclei and "cage effect" of DMSO intermediates in the fresh films. To this point, the unannealed CsFAMA films may have great potential in PL emission applications.

Mechanical properties of the rock in the cold regions are often affected by freeze-thaw cycles and loads. It is of great theoretical significance and engineering value to establish a uniaxial compression damage constitutive model of the rock under freeze-thaw cycles that can reflect the relationship between macroscopic and mesoscopic structural damage. In this paper, macroscopic and mesoscopic methods are combined with statistical methods to quantitatively analyze the damage degree of rock under freeze-thaw cycles and loads. Combined with the fractal features of the macroscopic image of the section, a fractal damage constitutive model considering the residual strength of rock is established. In addition, the model is subsequently verified by the experiment. The experiment shows that the mechanical properties of rocks subjected to freeze-thaw cycles and loads are determined by freeze-thaw damage variables, load damage variables, and their coupling effects. As the number of freeze-thaw cycles increases, the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of rocks decrease, and peak strain increases. By using the fractal dimension of the compression fracture surface as a bridge considering the residual strength of the rock, the constitutive model can better reflect the compaction stage, elastic deformation stage and plastic deformation stage of the uniaxial compression process of the freeze-thaw rocks.

A novel pillared-layer coordination polymer containing -Pb-O-Pb-Cu-Cl- inorganic sheets, [PbCuCl(3.5-pydc)]n (1) (3.5-H2pydc = pyridine-3,5-dicarboxylic acid), was obtained through the hydrothermal method. In compound 1, two symmetry-related Pb centers are bridged into a Pb2O2 dimer by two symmetrically carboxyl oxygen atoms from 3,5-pydc2− anions, each Pb2O2 dimer links four equivalent units into a 2D puckered Pb-O-Pb layer. Two symmetry-related Cu ions are bridged into a Cu2Cl2 dimer by two chlorine ions. Thus the -Pb-O-Pb- layer and Cu2Cl2 dimers are joined into a novel 2D puckered -Pb-O-Pb-Cu-Cl- inorganic layer. The 2D -Pb-O-Pb-Cu-Cl- inorganic layers are further pillared to form a 3D network through 3,5-pydc2− anions. To the best of our knowledge, the pillared-layer framework based on -Pb-O-Pb-Cu-Cl- inorganic layers has never been reported previously. Compound 1 exhibits weak blue light emission with the maximum at 383 nm upon excitation at 260 nm.

The development of super-resolution imaging has driven research into biological labeling, new materials’ characterization, and nanoscale sensing. Here, we studied the photoinduced charge state conversion of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds (NDs), which show the potential for multifunction sensing and labeling at the nanoscale. Charge state depletion (CSD) nanoscopy is subsequently demonstrated for the diffraction-unlimited imaging of NDs in biological cells. A resolution of 77 nm is obtained with 50 nm NDs. The depletion laser power of CSD nanoscopy is approximately 1/16 of stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy with the same resolution. The results can be used to improve the spatial resolution of biological labeling and sensing with NDs and other nanoparticles.

The performance of organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells depends largely on the quality of perovskite film. Currently, various methods are applied to prepare the perovskite film. Among them, the two-step method is counted as a promising candidate to obtain high-quality perovskite film. In this study, we attain a special platelet-like PbI2 films by applying pure water to cover wet PbI2 film and standing for a period of time. The unique morphology contributes to the entry of organic cations solution into the PbI2 and promoting its reaction with PbI2, which reducing the residual amount of PbI2 in the perovskite film. Compared to the traditional two-step method, water processing method can obtain a high-quality perovskite film with enlarged grain size, improved crystallization, and prolonged carrier lifetime. As a result, the efficiency of the prepared device based on the film has increased from 17.90% without water processing to 20.14% of water processing. Which demonstrates that this solvent engineering for PbI2 film opens up a possibility to prepare high-quality perovskite in a two-step method and obtain highly efficient perovskite solar cells.

Antimony has emerged as a promising candidate for electrode materials attributed to tempting specific capacity and low cost. Nevertheless, the notorious volume fluctuation and unstable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) film give rise to structural degradation and rapid capacity decay. Herein, a remarkable dual-modification approach is investigated on Sb-based anode by Fe doping and double carbon coatings via self-assembling of novel Fe/Sb–hexamine bimetal–organic frameworks strategy followed by thermal treatment and chemical vapor deposition simultaneously. In the as-prepared composite, Fe-doped Sb nanoparticles decorated with in-situ formed amorphous carbon coating are dispersed in interconnected carbon matrices with robust contact (Fe-Sb@NSC). Fe-doping would effectively enhance the electric conductivity, regulate the dispersion of Sb particles, and act as buffer layer to hinder the aggregation of Sb during repeated discharge/charge process. Meanwhile, double carbon layers not only reduce electrolytic corrosion and enhance electric conductivity, but also provide robust shelter layer to restrict the volume variation and coarsening of Sb-based materials. Therefore, the dual-modified sample shows enhanced lithium storage performance with high reversible capacity, outstanding long-term stability and stable structure. Moreover, the kinetics analysis of Li+ storage indicates that the increased pseudocapacitive contribution and decreased charge transfer barriers after cycling may account for the promoted performance.

The optical properties of defects in Ib diamond prepared by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) methods are studied by photoluminescence in a temperature range of 77– 297 K. The temperature dependence of color centers in diamond of 2.65 eV center, NV0, NV-, SiV-, 3H is studied. The zero-phonon line (ZPL) shift, intensity and full width at half maxima (FWHM) have a strong temperature dependence. The study shows that, due to the expansion of the lattice and the enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling strength, the ZPL shift can be described by the modified Varshni model which shows great potential in temperature sensing. The FWHM of ZPL matches a cubic function of temperature, this model can be employed to well describe the broadening of ZPLs in the defect-rich diamond. And the thermal quenching of absolute PL intensity can be described by the Arrhenius equation. Meanwhile, the difference of variable PL signal between CVD and HPHT samples is analyzed.

Poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) side chain equipped isoindigo-bithiophene (II2T) conjugated polymers have been designed and synthesized for stretchable electronic applications. The PBA segment possesses low glass transition temperature and high softness, offering a great opportunity to improve the mechanical property of semiconducting polymer thin films that typically contain lots of rigid conjugated rings. Polymers with 0, 5, 10, 20 and 100% of PBA side chains, named PII2T, PII2T-PBA5, PII2T-PBA10, PII2T-PBA20, and PII2T-PBA100, were explored, and their polymer properties, surface morphology, electrical characteristics, and strain-dependent performance were investigated systematically. The series polymers showed a charge carrier mobility of 0.06–0.8 cm2 V–1 s–1 with an on/off current ratio over 105 dependent on different amounts of PBA chains as probed using a top-contact transistor device. Moreover, we can still achieve a mobility higher than 0.2 cm2 V–1 s–1 even if 10% of PBA side chains were added (i.e., P...

Although the diamond has the similar structure (diamond cubic) and symmetry (Oh) as many other conventional semiconductor materials, the extraordinary large Debye temperature and small lattice expansion coefficient make the temperature dependence of energy gaps in diamond to be totally different from those in other semiconductors. Here we propose a modified Varshni formula to describe the temperature dependent zero field splitting and zero phonon line of the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond. The shift of energy gaps shows a T4 scaling at low temperature and a T2 scaling at high temperature. The crossover between these two regimes is determined by two positive parameters in the modified formula. This empirical formula can give an excellent prediction of the temperature dependent energy gaps up to 700 K. We experimentally verify this temperature dependent behavior with single negatively charged nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond. These observations demonstrate the leading role of electron-acoustic phonon interaction in the temperature dependent shift of energy gaps in diamond. This empirical equation can benefit the diamond-based applications such as quantum sensing and computing.

High spatial resolution and low perturbation are required for mapping the electromagnetic field at the nanoscale, to provide crucial information about local light-matter interaction. Using optical superresolution microscopy for detection via a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, this work demonstrates far-field noninvasive sensing of the local electromagnetic field with high accuracy and a spatial resolution of approximately 50 nm. As the nitrogen-vacancy center is sensitive to various physical quantities, a multifunctional far-field quantum nanoscope is anticipated.

For renewable and sustainable energy, developing cut-price and high-efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by alkaline water electrolysis is of paramount importance. In this study, a compound electrocatalyst composed of nickel-vanadium sesquioxide nanoparticles supported on porous nickel foam (Ni-V2 O3 /NF) is found to exhibit electrocatalytic performance towards HER that is superior to that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst, with nearly zero onset overpotential, an extremely low overpotential of 25 mV to obtain a current density of -10 mA cm-2 , a Tafel slope of 58 mV dec-1 , and a good durability for 24 h in 1.0 m KOH. Theoretical calculations reveal that the presence of V2 O3 optimizes the electronic structure of active Ni components and continuously accelerates the dissociation of water molecules, which in turn improves the HER kinetics. The present work will advance the development of highly efficient nanocomposite electrocatalysts for alkaline water electrocatalysis.

Live working is an important method to improve the reliability of the power distribution network. In order to protect the safety of worker, the insulating protective tool, such as insulating blanket, is used to wrap the high voltage conductor. The temperature rise characteristics of the insulating blanket have been researched in this paper. The thermal-fluid coupled calculation is used to simulate the temperature rise and heat dissipation process of the insulating blanket in the live working of 10 kV distribution line (type is JL/G1A-70/10). The simplify method of the steel core aluminum stranded conductor is put forward. The effect of length and thinness of the insulating blanket, wind speed, and sunshine intensity on the temperature distribution of the insulating blanket is analyzed. Results show that the temperature distribution is basically the same when the stranded conductor is simplified to a single conductor. The maximum temperature difference between inside and outside of the insulating blanket is about 22 K under the natural convection environment. The effect of thickness on temperature rise is greater than that of length for this insulating blanket. The wind speed and sunshine have a large influence on the temperature distribution of the insulating blanket.

Polarization property characterization of the microwave (MW) field with high speed and resolution is vitally beneficial as the circularly-polarized MW field plays an important role in the development of quantum technologies and satellite communication technologies. In this work, we propose a scheme to detect the axial ratio of the MW field with optical diffraction limit resolution with a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Firstly, the idea of polarization selective detection of the MW magnetic field is carried out using a single NV center implanted in a type-IIa CVD diamond with a confocal microscope system achieving a sensitivity of 1.7 &mu, T/ Hz . Then, high speed wide-field characterization of the MW magnetic field at the submillimeter scale is realized by combining wide-field microscopy and ensemble NV centers inherent in a general CVD diamond. The precision axial ratio can be detected by measuring the magnitudes of two counter-rotating circularly-polarized MW magnetic fields. The wide-field detection of the axial ratio and strength parameters of microwave fields enables high speed testing of small-scale microwave devices.

Precise detection of surface plasmons is crucial for the research of nanophotonics and quantum optics. In this Letter, we used a single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond as a probe to detect the surface plasmon that was tuned by the thickness of a metallic film. The fluorescence intensity and lifetime of the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center were measured to obtain the information of local light–matter interaction. A nonlinear thickness dependent change of the surface plasmon was observed, with the maximum at the thickness of approximately 30 nm. With optimized thickness of silver film, the fluorescence intensity of a single NV center was enhanced 2.6 times, and the lifetime was reduced by a factor of 3, without affecting the coherence time of the NV spin state. The results proved that this system can quantitatively detect the light–matter interaction at nanoscale, and it provides an approach to enhance the fluorescence intensity of a quantum emitter.

The nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond has been broadly applied in quantum sensing since it is sensitive to different physical quantities. Meanwhile, it is difficult to isolate disturbances from unwanted physical quantities in practical applications. Here, we present a robust fiber-based quantum thermometer which can significantly isolate the magnetic field noise and microwave power shift. With a frequency modulation scheme, we realize the temperature measurement by detecting the variation of the sharp-dip in the zero-field optically detected magnetic resonance spectrum in a high-density nitrogen-vacancy ensemble. Thanks to its simplicity and compatibility in implementation and robustness in the isolation of magnetic and microwave noise, this quantum thermometer is then applied to the surface temperature imaging of an electronic chip with a sensitivity of $18$ $\rm{mK}/\sqrt{\rm{Hz}}$. It paves the way to high sensitive temperature measurement in ambiguous environments., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

To construct a preeminent photoelectric appliance, effective carrier separation is the critical question. In this study, a novel inherent staggered type-II van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure composed of zinc oxide (ZnO) and boron phosphide (BP) is designed with being simulated by a first-principle calculation. In the heterostructure, electrons and holes are localized in the monolayer of BP and ZnO respectively. That leads to the separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, it shows a prominent absorption coefficient of 104 cm−1 from the ultraviolet to infrared region. Interestingly, the band edges can be regulated and changed to a direct band gap at K point when applying an external electric field donating further separation of carriers. Besides, the heterostructure displays a robust type-II band alignment under −2% ~ +2% strain. These results suggest that two-dimensional (2D) ZnO/BP heterostructure will exhibit widespread application prospects in future photovoltaic and optoelectronic nanodevices.

LiMnPO 4 has been considered as one of the most promising high voltage cathode materials for next-generation lithium ion batteries. However, LiMnPO 4 suffers from intrinsic drawbacks of extremely low electronic conductivity and ionic diffusivity between LiMnPO 4 /MnPO 4 . In this paper, mesoporous LiMnPO 4 nanoparticles are synthesized successfully via a facile glycine-assisted solvothermal rout. The as-prepared mesoporous LiMnPO 4 /C nanoparticles present well-defined abundant mesoporous structure (diameter of 3 ∼ 10 nm), uniform carbon layer (thickness of 3 ∼ 4 nm), high specific surface area (90.1 m 2 /g). As a result, the mesoporous LiMnPO 4 /C nanoparticles achieve excellent electrochemical performance as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. It demonstrates a high discharge capacity of 167.7, 161.6, 156.4, 148.4 and 128.7 mAh/g at 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2 and 5C, and maintains a discharge capacity of 130.0 mAh/g after 100 cycles at 1C. The good electrochemical performance is attributed to its special interpenetrating mesoporous structure in LiMnPO 4 nanoparticles, which significantly enhances the ionic and electronic transport and additional capacitive behavior to compensate the sluggish kinetics.

The graft polymerization in radio frequency hollow cathode plasma (RFHCP) is suitable for the surface modification of large-area thin film materials. The homogeneity of plasma surface modification of large-area thin film materials has always been paid close attention, and it is also the key factor affecting the industrialized applications of the technique. However, the homogeneity of plasma surface modification is thought to depend greatly on the distribution of discharge gas. In this paper, a finite element model is proposed to discuss the flow of discharge gas in hollow cathode plasma. The concentration distribution of the discharge gas has been discussed by the combination of numerical simulation of fluid distribution and pipe flow theory based on the investigation of the transport property of gas under vacuum. Comparisons between available experiments have also been performed to validate the applicability and practicability of the proposed model.

The nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is studied widely for magnetic field and temperature sensing at the nanoscale. Usually, the fluorescence is recorded to estimate the spin state of the NV center. Here we applied a time-gating technique to improve the contrast of the spin-dependent fluorescence. A NIR pulsed laser pumped the stimulated emission of the NV center and depleted the spontaneous emission that was excited by a green laser. We changed the relative delay between the NIR laser and the green laser. Then the spontaneous emission of the NV center in varied time windows was extracted by comparing the fluorescence intensities with and without the NIR laser. The results showed that the spin-dependent fluorescence contrast could be improved by approximately 1.8 times by applying the time gating. The background of the environment was eliminated due to temporal filtering. This work demonstrates that the stimulated emission assisted time-gating technique can be used to improve the performance of an NV center sensor in a noisy environment.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has recently emerged as a promising candidate for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution, but only showed limited activity owing to its sluggish photogenerated carriers separation and migration. Herein, the carboxyl-functionalized g-C3N4 (O CN) was synthesized by a grafting post-treatment method to alleviate the negative influences from this intrinsic drawback. As a result, the surface carboxyl groups greatly improve charge carrier dynamics to suppress carriers recombination via the driving force originated from its electron-withdrawing effects. The resultant O CN exhibits 52 times higher hydrogen evolution rate than the pristine, and possesses a high apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 15.7 % at 420 ± 15 nm. This work deepens the understanding of the surface group related modifications for photocatalytic materials, further providing a promising approach for rational design of photocatalysts with highly efficient solar energy conversion.

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been widely used for quantum information processing, nanophotonics, and biological imaging. In this work, we experimentally studied the charge-state conversion and stimulated emission of the NV center with a near-infrared (NIR) pumping laser. The competition between these two processes resulted in a nonmonotonic dependence of the NV center’s fluorescence intensity on the NIR laser power. Fluorescence enhancement was observed with a weak NIR laser, while fluorescence depletion was observed with a high-power NIR laser. It led to the nonmonotonic change of the spatial resolution with stimulated emission depletion microscopy, which has been used for subdiffraction imaging of the NV center. Our work can help to further understand the optical mechanism and extend the applications of the NV center.

This work quantitatively analyzes the octahedral crystal-field effect in non-conventional coordinate setting, which is widely used in explaining the emission peak shift of phosphors. The detailed calculation process involves expansion of the crystal-field potential, the ϕ, θ integration, substitution of the radial part and solution of the secular determinant. It provides a deeper understanding of crystal-field effect.

Two-photon charge state conversion has been utilized to improve the spatial resolution of the sensing and imaging with the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamonds. Here, we studied the charge state conversion of the NV center under picosecond pulsed laser excitation. With the same average power, the charge state conversion rate can be improved approximately 24 times by reducing the repetition rate of the laser pulse from 80 to 1 MHz. Subsequently, a pulsed laser with a low repetition rate was applied for the super-resolution charge state depletion microscopy of the NV center. The average power of the depletion laser was reduced approximately 5 times. It can decrease the optical heating, which affects the accuracy and sensitivity of sensing. With the assistance of an additional near-infrared laser, a resolution of 12 nm was obtained with 1 mW depletion laser power. Combined with spin manipulation, we expect our results can be used for the development of a diffraction-unlimited NV center sensing.

Using the first principle calculation based on the density functional theory, we have systematically investigated the structure stability, electronic structure and photocatalytic properties of two-dimensional single-layered GeTe crystal structure modified by H and F. The results show that the lattice constant, bond angle and bond length of GeTe increase after being modified. The stability analysis shows that all the materials have excellent dynamical, mechanical, and thermal stabilities. The electronic structure analysis shows that the two-dimensional GeTe is an indirect bandgap semiconductor with an energy gap of 1.797 eV, and its energy band is mainly composed of Ge-4p and Te-5p, while it is converted into a direct bandgap semiconductor by H or F modification and H-F co-modification (F and Ge on one side, H and Te on the other), and their corresponding energy gaps are reduced to 1.847 eV (fH-GeTe), 0.113 eV (fF-GeTe) and 1.613 eV (hF-GeTe-hH). However, hH-GeTe-hF is still an indirect band gap semiconductor, and its energy gap is reduced to 0.706 eV. The results of the density of states show that part of the Ge-4p and Te-5p electrons are transferred to a deeper level due to the adsorption of H or F atoms, resulting in a strong orbital hybridization between them and the adsorbed atoms. The effective mass shows that the effective mass of H or F modified and H-F co-modified GeTe (F and Ge on one side, H and Te on the other) decrease, and their carrier mobilities increase. The carrier recombination rates of all modified GeTe materials are lower than that of the intrinsic GeTe, so the semiconductor will be more durable. The electron density difference shows that due to the electronegativities of atoms being different from each other, when H or F is used to modify GeTe, some electrons transfer to H and F atoms, resulting in the weakening of covalent bond between Ge and Te atoms and the enhancement of ion bond. The results of band-edge potential analysis show that GeTe can produce hydrogen and oxygen by photolysis of water. However, the valence band edge potential of the modified GeTe decreases significantly, and its oxidation ability increases considerably, the photocatalytic water can produce O2, H2, O3, OH·, etc. Optical properties show that the modified GeTe can enhance the absorption of visible and ultraviolet spectrum, which indicates that they have great application prospects in the field of photocatalysis.

The nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been well applied in quantum sensing of electromagnetic field and temperature, where the sensitivity can be enhanced by the number of NV centers. Here, we used electron beam irradiation to increase the generation rate of NV centers by nearly 22 times. We systematically studied the optical and electronic properties of the NV center as a function of an electron irradiation dose, where the detection sensitivity of magnetic fields was improved. With such samples with dense NV centers, a sub-pico-Tesla sensitivity in magnetic fields detection can be achieved with optimal controls and detections.

In this work, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is proposed that introduces a portion of the p-polySi/p-SiC heterojunction on the collector side to reduce the tail current during device turn-offs. By adjusting the doping concentration on both sides of the heterojunction, the turn-off loss is further reduced without sacrificing other characteristics of the device. The electrical characteristics of the device were simulated through the Silvaco ATLAS 2D simulation tool and compared with the traditional structure to verify the design idea. The simulation results show that, compared with the traditional structure, the turn-off loss of the proposed structure was reduced by 58.4%, the breakdown voltage increased by 13.3%, and the forward characteristics sacrificed 8.3%.

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are attractive as quantum sensors owing to their remarkable optical and spin properties under ambient conditions. Here we experimentally demonstrated a hybrid fiber-based thermometer coupled with nitrogen-vacancy center ensemble and a permanent magnet, where the temperature sensitivity was improved by converting the temperature variation to the magnetic field change based on the thermal-demagnetization of the permanent magnet. We have achieved both large temperature working range (room temperature to 373 K) and millikelvin sensitivity (1.6 mK/sqrt(Hz)), nearly 6-fold improvement compared with conventional technique. This stable and compact hybrid thermometer will enable a wide range of applications for large-area detection and imaging with high temperature sensitivity., 5 pages, 5 figures

Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) has been widely used for three-dimensional biological imaging. Here, based on the photon-induced charge state conversion process, we demonstrated a low-power high-resolution MPM with a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Continuous wave green and orange lasers were used to pump and detect the two-photon charge state conversion, respectively. The power of the laser for multiphoton excitation was 40 μW. Both the axial and lateral resolutions were improved approximately 1.5 times compared with confocal microscopy. The results can be used to improve the resolution of the NV center-based quantum sensing and biological imaging.

The refractive index profile of a non-bending small-core single-mode fiber was first reconstructed from the measured guided mode intensity profile and its spatial derivatives. By combining a rotating diffuser with a coherent laser source, the resulting partially coherent light source overcomes the speckles on the guided mode image of a straight fiber, and the corresponding refractive index profile was successfully reconstructed. Furthermore, guided mode images of a bent fiber with a fiber coil at midway were also measured under different coherency light excitations for comparison. The slight asymmetry of the reconstructed index profile of a bent fiber measured under coherent light excitation was greatly improved when measured under partially coherent light excitation. The generated additional leaky modes propagating partly in both core and cladding induced by the effects of the fundamental core mode deformation at the intermediate fiber bending structure and the mode transition at the bent-to-straight fiber section were averaged out with a low coherence transformed light source.

Monodisperse spherical La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 inlaid LiFePO 4 /C composites with various La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 content (from 0 wt . % to 3 wt. %) are firstly prepared by an ammonia assisted hydrothermal route. The compositions, morphology and structure of samples are characterized by means of inductively coupled plasma (ICP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), respectively. The results reveal that nano La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 particles inlay on the surface of spherical LiFePO 4 , which is coated by a continuous and uniform carbon layer with the thickness of 1∼2 nm. The charge/discharge tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements indicate that the kinetics of La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 inlaid LiFePO 4 /C is better than that of LiFePO 4 /C. With the change of La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 content, 2 wt. % La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 inlaid LiFePO 4 /C composites reveal a excellent high-rate capability and cycling stability. The initial discharge capacity of the sample is 126.3 and 108.9 mAh/g, and the capacity retention achieves as high as 98.3% and 88.8% till 100 cycles at 5 C and 200 cycles at 10 C, respectively. Furthermore, it still exhibits a high discharge capacity of 62.3 mAh/g even at high rate of 30 C. The improved electrochemical performance of La 0.56 Li 0.33 TiO 3 inlaid LiFePO 4 /C composites can be attributed to reduce the charge transfer resistance and enhance the transfer kinetics of both the lithium ions and electrons.

Dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) has been experimentally investigated in a nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser with a long cavity. The adjustable nonlinear transmission function of the NPR and the relatively large nonlinearity of the long cavity play key roles in the formation of high energy rectangular pulses in the DSR region. The intracavity optical-to-optical efficiency can be as high as 46%, and the maximum pulse energy can reach 54.6 nJ with the relatively low pump power of 299 mW. This is so far the highest efficiency in a DSR laser operated at 1-µm wavelength yet achieved to our knowledge. Furthermore, while maintaining the pulse amplitude almost constant and without the appearance of wave-breaking phenomena, the pulse duration could be tuned from 54 to 91 ns by increasing only the pump power.

An all fiber, wavelength tunable, Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on a graphene saturable absorber (SA) and an unbalanced Mach–Zehnder interferometer (UMZI) has been demonstrated. The wavelengths of the Q-switched laser can be accurately tuned over a range of ~35 nm by inserting into the cavity an UMZI with a variable optical delay line (OVDL) in one arm, which acts as an optical beam filter into the cavity. The Q-switched pulse duration and the pulse energy have all been characterized. The maximum pulse energy of 36.9 nJ was obtained.

The fundamental mode of a small-core step-index few-mode fiber, originally designed for single-mode operation at 1310/1550 nm, was selectively excited at visible wavelengths from a single-mode fiber by adiabatically tapering the fusion splice. A two-dimensional refractive index profile of the few-mode fiber was reconstructed directly from measured guided mode intensity distribution and its spatial partial derivatives with a modified end-fire coupling method using a differential inverse calculation algorithm, which applies only for single-mode guiding.

A series of poly (hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-g-polycarboxybetaine methacrylate ester (PHEMA-g-PCBMAE) hydrogels were synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in the presence of crosslinker. Then differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to characterize PHEMA-g-PCBMAE hydrogels. The compression stresses of these hydrogels were investigated to evaluate the mechanical properties. The mechanical study suggested that PHEMA-g-PCBMAE hydrogels presented improved mechanical strengths comparing with polycarboxybetaine methacrylate ester (PCBMAE) hydrogel. Besides, the antimicrobial properties of PHEMA-g-PCBMAE hydrogels also estimated by usingStaphylococcus aureusas a model bacterial.