Gold-silver@TiO nanocomposite-modified plasmonic photoanodes for higher efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells.

In the present investigation, gold-silver@titania (Au-Ag@TiO) plasmonic nanocomposite materials with different Au and Ag compositions were prepared using a simple one-step chemical reduction method and used as photoanodes in high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The Au-Ag incorporated TiO photoanode demonstrated an enhanced solar-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency of 7.33%, which is ∼230% higher than the unmodified TiO photoanode (2.

Piezoresistive effects in controllable defective HFTCVD graphene-based flexible pressure sensor.

In this work, the piezoresistive effects of defective graphene used on a flexible pressure sensor are demonstrated. The graphene used was deposited at substrate temperatures of 750, 850 and 1000 °C using the hot-filament thermal chemical vapor deposition method in which the resultant graphene had different defect densities. Incorporation of the graphene as the sensing materials in sensor device showed that a linear variation in the resistance change with the applied gas pressure was obtained in the range of 0 to 50 kPa.

Highly sensitive integrated pressure sensor with horizontally oriented carbon nanotube network.

This paper presents a functionalized, horizontally oriented carbon nanotube network as a sensing element to enhance the sensitivity of a pressure sensor. The synthesis of horizontally oriented nanotubes from the AuFe catalyst and their deposition onto a mechanically flexible substrate via transfer printing are studied. Nanotube formation on thermally oxidized Si (100) substrates via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition controls the nanotube coverage and orientation on the flexible substrate.