Material Combinations (material + combination)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Origin of Radiation-Induced Degradation in Polymer Solar Cells

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 16 2010
Ankit Kumar
Abstract Polymer solar cells have been shown to degrade under X-rays. Here, in situ polymer photovoltaic performance and recombination lifetimes are measured and it is found that charge accumulation is the primary reason for degradation of solar cells. This is affected by the mixing ratio of donor and acceptor in the bulk heterojunction. Both a quantitative understanding and the physical model of the degradation mechanism are presented. Understanding of the degradation mechanism is extended in polymer donor,acceptor bulk heterojunction systems to propose a material combination for making radiation hard diodes that can find important application in fields ranging from memory arrays to organic X-ray detectors for medical imaging. [source]


New Materials in Memory Development Sub 50,nm: Trends in Flash and DRAM,

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 4 2009
Karl Heinz Kuesters
New materials are of key importance for scaling memories in the sub 50,nm generations. Currently high- k materials and metal gates are investigated for usage in Flash and DRAM memory. However, the requirements in the applications are different, leading to different material combinations. This paper gives an overview on new materials with focus on memory applications. [source]


Reliability Aspects of Microsystems for Automotive Applications,

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 4 2009
Roland Müller-Fiedler
Abstract The implementation of microsystems in automotive applications is certainly one of the driving forces for the success of MEMS as an industrial technology on mass production level. In many cases, automotive systems based on microsensors are critical to safety. Consequently, microsystems have to assure an accurate, reliable, and failsafe operation during the entire lifetime of the vehicle. Since, the car represents a harsh environment for electronic or mechanical systems and components, reliability issues of MEMS have moved more and more into the focus of research and development. In particular, reliability aspects related to packaging and assembly have become a key issue in lifetime investigations. The packaging of microsystems comprises a variety of materials and material combinations, that directly affect the stability of MEMS components. Therefore, sophisticated characterization methods are needed to extract the reliability-relevant material parameters. This paper gives an introduction into investigations of the stability assessment of glass frit bonding as well as new bonding technologies based on metallic sealing of MEMS devices. [source]


Metal/Ceramic Interface Properties and Their Effects on SOFC Development

FUEL CELLS, Issue 6 2009
F. Tietz
Abstract Development of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) involves multidisciplinary research, which needs input from many directions. As an example, this contribution describes the influence of basic metallurgical experiments on the selection or the modification of specific materials used in SOFCs. Wettability studies, although typically regarded as model experiments, give clear indications of the combinations of materials, which show better compatibility and might be more successfully integrated in SOFC designs, especially when metal/ceramic interfaces are involved. Various material combinations, i.e. anode cermets, glass/steel and ceramic/silver/steel compounds, are discussed in more detail showing the impact of fundamental studies on the SOFC development actually applied. This work gives a short overview on the basic aspects of selected material combinations. [source]


Material Solubility-Photovoltaic Performance Relationship in the Design of Novel Fullerene Derivatives for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 5 2009
Pavel A. Troshin
Abstract The preparation of 27 different derivatives of C60 and C70 fullerenes possessing various aryl (heteroaryl) and/or alkyl groups that are appended to the fullerene cage via a cyclopropane moiety and their use in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells is reported. It is shown that even slight variations in the molecular structure of a compound can cause a significant change in its physical properties, in particular its solubility in organic solvents. Furthermore, the solubility of a fullerene derivative strongly affects the morphology of its composite with poly(3-hexylthiophene), which is commonly used as active material in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. As a consequence, the solar cell parameters strongly depend on the structure and the properties of the fullerene-based material. The power conversion efficiencies for solar cells comprising these fullerene derivatives range from negligibly low (0.02%) to considerably high (4.1%) values. The analysis of extensive sets of experimental data reveals a general dependence of all solar cell parameters on the solubility of the fullerene derivative used as acceptor component in the photoactive layer of an organic solar cell. It is concluded that the best material combinations are those where donor and acceptor components are of similar and sufficiently high solubility in the solvent used for the deposition of the active layer. [source]


The Effect of Polymer Optoelectronic Properties on the Performance of Multilayer Hybrid Polymer/TiO2 Solar Cells

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 4 2005
P. Ravirajan
Abstract We report a study of the effects of polymer optoelectronic properties on the performance of photovoltaic devices consisting of nanocrystalline TiO2 and a conjugated polymer. Three different poly(2-methoxy-5-(2,-ethylhexoxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV)-based polymers and a fluorene,bithiophene copolymer are compared. We use photoluminescence quenching, time-of-flight mobility measurements, and optical spectroscopy to characterize the exciton-transport, charge-transport, and light-harvesting properties, respectively, of the polymers, and correlate these material properties with photovoltaic-device performance. We find that photocurrent is primarily limited by the photogeneration rate and by the quality of the interfaces, rather than by hole transport in the polymer. We have also studied the photovoltaic performance of these TiO2/polymer devices as a function of the fabrication route and device design. Including a dip-coating step before spin-coating the polymer leads to excellent polymer penetration into highly structured TiO2 networks, as was confirmed through transient optical measurements of the photoinduced charge-transfer yield and recombination kinetics. Device performance is further improved for all material combinations studied, by introducing a layer of poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) under the top contact. Optimized devices incorporating the additional dip-coated and PEDOT:PSS layers produced a short-circuit current density of about 1,mA,cm,2, a fill factor of 0.50, and an open-circuit voltage of 0.86,V under simulated AM,1.5 illumination (100,mW,cm,2, 1,sun). The corresponding power conversion efficiency under 1,sun was ,,0.4,%. [source]


A novel singular node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) for upper bound solutions of fracture problems

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2010
G. R. Liu
Abstract It is well known that the lower bound to exact solutions in linear fracture problems can be easily obtained by the displacement compatible finite element method (FEM) together with the singular crack tip elements. It is, however, much more difficult to obtain the upper bound solutions for these problems. This paper aims to formulate a novel singular node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) to obtain the upper bound solutions for fracture problems. In the present singular NS-FEM, the calculation of the system stiffness matrix is performed using the strain smoothing technique over the smoothing domains (SDs) associated with nodes, which leads to the line integrations using only the shape function values along the boundaries of the SDs. A five-node singular crack tip element is used within the framework of NS-FEM to construct singular shape functions via direct point interpolation with proper order of fractional basis. The mix-mode stress intensity factors are evaluated using the domain forms of the interaction integrals. The upper bound solutions of the present singular NS-FEM are demonstrated via benchmark examples for a wide range of material combinations and boundary conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


ZrW2O8,ZrO2 Continuous Functionally Graded Materials Fabricated by In Situ Reaction of ZrO2 and WO3

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 3 2010
Li Sun
ZrO2 powder and ZrO2+WO3 powder mixture were stacked, cocompacted, and cosintered in a cylindrical die, the processing steps commonly used to fabricate multilayer materials. The soak duration and the mass ratio among layers in the processing have been varied to yield a wide range of final sintered samples. At appropriate soak durations, the sintered samples resulted in continuous functionally graded materials (FGMs) made of ZrW2O8 and ZrO2. In other words, instead of the expected discrete, multiple-layered materials, the resulting samples are characterized by the axially, continuously varying physical properties. The continuous FGM structure is formed by several mechanisms: the balance between the reaction of ZrO2 and WO3 and the decomposition of ZrW2O8, as well as the sublimation and diffusion of WO3. The continuous FGMs can be utilized to reduce the thermal stress induced from a thermal gradient loading within a material system. This study shows that the processing steps typically used for multilayer FGMs can also be used to create continuous FGMs for some special material combinations. [source]


Materials Selection Process for Compound-Extruded Aluminium Matrix Composites,

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 12 2005
A. Weidenmann
Compound extrusion is a near-net-shape process allowing for the rapid and flexible in-line production of unidirectionally-reinforced profiles. Regarding the use of this technology for the production of reinforced lightweight profiles for structural applications, no materials combination has yet been systematically assessed or examined since the first investigations on compound conductor rails starting in the 1970s. On this account, a materials selection process respecting the compound extrusion demands is mandatory. [source]