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Band Electrons (band + electron)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Polymers and Materials Science	50%

Selected Abstracts

PbS and CdS Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solid-State Solar Cells: "Old Concepts, New Results"

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 17 2009
HyoJoong Lee
Abstract Lead sulfide (PbS) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) are prepared over mesoporous TiO2 films by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) process. These QDs are exploited as a sensitizer in solid-state solar cells with 2,2,,7,7,-tetrakis(N,N -di- p -methoxyphenylamine)-9,9,-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) as a hole conductor. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal that PbS QDs of around 3,nm in size are distributed homogeneously over the TiO2 surface and are well separated from each other if prepared under common SILAR deposition conditions. The pore size of the TiO2 films and the deposition medium are found to be very critical in determining the overall performance of the solid-state QD cells. By incorporating promising inorganic QDs (PbS) and an organic hole conductor spiro-OMeTAD into the solid-state cells, it is possible to attain an efficiency of over 1% for PbS-sensitized solid-state cells after some optimizations. The optimized deposition cycle of the SILAR process for PbS QDs has also been confirmed by transient spectroscopic studies on the hole generation of spiro-OMeTAD. In addition, it is established that the PbS QD layer plays a role in mediating the interfacial recombination between the spiro-OMeTAD+ cation and the TiO2 conduction band electron, and that the lifetime of these species can change by around 2 orders of magnitude by varying the number of SILAR cycles used. When a near infrared (NIR)-absorbing zinc carboxyphthalocyanine dye (TT1) is added on top of the PbS-sensitized electrode to obtain a panchromatic response, two signals from each component are observed, which results in an improved efficiency. In particular, when a CdS-sensitized electrode is first prepared, and then co-sensitized with a squarine dye (SQ1), the resulting color change is clearly an addition of each component and the overall efficiencies are also added in a more synergistic way than those in PbS/TT1-modified cells because of favorable charge-transfer energetics. [source]

Gold Nanorods: From Synthesis and Properties to Biological and Biomedical Applications

ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 48 2009
Xiaohua Huang
Abstract Noble metal nanoparticles are capable of confining resonant photons in such a manner as to induce coherent surface plasmon oscillation of their conduction band electrons, a phenomenon leading to two important properties. Firstly, the confinement of the photon to the nanoparticle's dimensions leads to a large increase in its electromagnetic field and consequently great enhancement of all the nanoparticle's radiative properties, such as absorption and scattering. Moreover, by confining the photon's wavelength to the nanoparticle's small dimensions, there exists enhanced imaging resolving powers, which extend well below the diffraction limit, a property of considerable importance in potential device applications. Secondly, the strongly absorbed light by the nanoparticles is followed by a rapid dephasing of the coherent electron motion in tandem with an equally rapid energy transfer to the lattice, a process integral to the technologically relevant photothermal properties of plasmonic nanoparticles. Of all the possible nanoparticle shapes, gold nanorods are especially intriguing as they offer strong plasmonic fields while exhibiting excellent tunability and biocompatibility. We begin this review of gold nanorods by summarizing their radiative and nonradiative properties. Their various synthetic methods are then outlined with an emphasis on the seed-mediated chemical growth. In particular, we describe nanorod spontaneous self-assembly, chemically driven assembly, and polymer-based alignment. The final section details current studies aimed at applications in the biological and biomedical fields. [source]

Fabrication of dendrite-like Au nanostructures and their enhanced photoluminescence emission

PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 10 2007
Ying Hu
Abstract Special hierarchical dendrite-like Au (DLAu) nanostructures were fabricated facilely between the gaps of Au electrodes by an electrochemical method. The composition, morphology and crystallinity of the DLAu nanostructures were characterized using energy dispersive spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The formation of these nanostructures is attributed to the distribution of the local electrical field between the Au electrodes and a diffusion-limited aggregation process. Photoluminescence (PL) having an emission peak near 530 nm is observed from these nanostructures, which is attributed to the recombination of the s,p band electrons near the Fermi energy with the d band holes in the DLAu nanostructures generated by optical excitation. We believe that such PL enhancement compared to a smooth Au film is due to the local-field enhancement from the surface plasmon resonance of the DLAu nanostructures. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]

Comparison of Trap-state Distribution and Carrier Transport in Nanotubular and Nanoparticulate TiO2 Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

CHEMPHYSCHEM, Issue 10 2010
Raheleh Mohammadpour
Abstract Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) with nanotubular TiO2 electrodes of varying thicknesses are compared to DSCs based on conventional nanoparticulate electrodes. Despite the higher degree of order in one-dimensional nanotubular electrodes, electron transport times and diffusion coefficients, determined under short-circuit conditions, are comparable to those of nanoparticulate electrodes. The quasi-Fermi level, however, is much lower in the nanotubes, suggesting a lower concentration of conduction band electrons. This provides evidence for a much higher diffusion coefficient for conduction band electrons in nanotubes than in nanoparticulate films. The electron lifetime and the diffusion length are significantly longer in nanotubular TiO2 electrodes than in nanoparticulate films. Nanotubular electrodes have a trap distribution that differs significantly from nanoparticulate electrodes; they possess relatively deeper traps and have a characteristic energy of the exponential distribution that is more than two times that of nanoparticulate electrodes. [source]