Flexible pressure sensor with metallic reinforcement and graphene nanowalls for wearable electronics device.

In recent years, flexible pressure sensors have been seen widespread adoption in various fields such as electronic skin, smart wearables, and human-computer interaction systems. Owing to the electrical conductivity and adaptability to flexible substrates, vertical graphene nanowalls (VGNs) have recently been recognized as promising materials for pressure-sensing applications. Our study presented the synthesis of high-quality VGNs via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and the incorporation of a metal layer by electron beam evaporation, forming a stacked structure of VGNs/Metal/VGNs.

An ultrafast and self-powered MoSSe/Si photodetector with high light-trapping structures and a SiO interface layer.

MoSSe nanofilms, as a typical metal dichalcogenide, have attracted great interest, due to their adjustable bandgap and distinctive electronic and optical properties. However, the inherent bandgap of MoSSe and the strong interface recombination impede the actualization of a high-sensitivity photodetector (PD). Few-layer MoSSe nanofilms were prepared with vertically orientation at 450 °C, which would be a less restrictive choice of substrates.

CuSCN/Si heterojunction near-infrared photodetector based on micro/nano light-trapping structure.

In this paper, high-performance CuSCN/Si heterojunction near-infrared photodetectors were successfully prepared using nanoscale light-trapping optical structures. Various light-trapping structures of ortho-pyramids, inverted pyramids and silicon nanowires were prepared on silicon substrates. Then, CuSCN films were spin-coated on silicon substrates with high crystalline properties for the assembly of CuSCN/Si photodetectors.

Direct fabrication of high-quality vertical graphene nanowalls on arbitrary substrates without catalysts for tidal power generation.

The non-catalytic preparation of high-quality vertical graphene nanowalls (VGN) and graphene-based high output power hydrovoltaic effect power generation devices has always been difficult to achieve. In this work, we successfully prepared VGN with defect density, few layers and submicron domain size on a variety of substrates without catalysts through reasonable adjustment of growth conditions by the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) method. The Raman test of the VGN prepared under optimal conditions showed that its / value was less than 1, and / was more than 2.

Synergistic effect of reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotube hybrid papers on cross-plane thermal and mechanical properties.

Graphene paper has attracted great attention as a heat dissipation material due to its excellent thermal conductivity and mechanical properties. However, the thermal conductivity of graphene paper in the normal direction is relatively poor. In this work, the cross-plane thermal conductivities ( ) and mechanical properties of the reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotube papers with different CNT loadings were studied systematically.

Nanostructure Sn/C Composite High-Performance Negative Electrode for Lithium Storage.

Tin-based nanocomposite materials embedded in carbon frameworks can be used as effective negative electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to their high theoretical capacities with stable cycle performance. In this work, a low-cost and productive facile hydrothermal method was employed for the preparation of a Sn/C nanocomposite, in which Sn particles (sized in nanometers) were uniformly dispersed in the conductive carbon matrix. The as-prepared Sn/C nanocomposite displayed a considerable reversible capacity of 877 mAhg at 0.

Heterostructure Silicon Solar Cells with Enhanced Power Conversion Efficiency Based on Si /Ni Self-Doped NiO Passivating Contact.

Developing efficient crystalline silicon/wide-band gap metal-oxide thin-film heterostructure junction-based crystalline silicon (-Si) solar cells has been an attractive alternative to the silicon thin film-based counterparts. Herein, nickel oxide thin films are introduced as the hole-selective layer for -Si solar cells and prepared using the reactive sputtering technique with the target of metallic nickel. An optimal Ni self-doped NiO film is obtained by tuning the reactive oxygen atmosphere to construct the optimized -Si/NiO heterostructure band alignment.

Near Room-Temperature Synthesis of Vertical Graphene Nanowalls on Dielectrics.

Vertical graphene nanowalls (VGNs) with excellent heat-transfer properties are promising to be applied in the thermal management of electronic devices. However, high growth temperature makes VGNs unable to be directly prepared on semiconductors and polymers, which limits the practical application of VGNs. In this work, the near room-temperature growth of VGNs was realized by utilizing the hot filament chemical vapor deposition method.

Stability and fundamental properties of Cu O as optoelectronic functional materials.

Binary Cu O compounds have some advantages as optoelectronic functional materials, but their further development has encountered some bottlenecks, such as inaccurate bandgap values and slow improvement of photoelectric conversion efficiency. In this work, all possible stoichiometric ratios and crystal structures of binary Cu O compounds were comprehensively analyzed based on a high-throughput computing database. Stable and metastable phases with different stoichiometric ratios were obtained.

Synthesis and Characterization of Sn/SnO/C Nano-Composite Structure: High-Performance Negative Electrode for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Tin oxide (SnO) and tin-based composites along with carbon have attracted significant interest as negative electrodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, tin-based composite electrodes have some critical drawbacks, such as high volume expansion, low capacity at high current density due to low ionic conductivity, and poor cycle stability. Moreover, complex preparation methods and high-cost carbon coating procedures are considered main challenges in the commercialization of tin-based electrodes for LIBs.

The effect of near-surface electron trapping layer on the acetone sensing performance of black TiOcapped with ZnO.

In recent years, high-performance acetone gas sensors have attracted great attention for their potential in noninvasive blood glucose monitoring. In this work, black TiO(B-TiO) was introduced as an electron trapping layer between TiOand ZnO to form TiO@B-TiO@ZnO core-shell nanoparticles, through a simple and safe method. The acetone sensing performance of TiO@B-TiO@ZnO varied with the thickness of ZnO.

Solvent Effects on Fluorescence Properties of Carbon Dots: Implications for Multicolor Imaging.

Carbon dots (CDs) are synthesized by the solvothermal method with four kinds of solvents including water, dimethylformamide (DMF), ethanol, and acetic acid (AA). The aqueous solutions of the above CDs emit multiple colors of blue (470 nm), green (500 nm), yellow (539 nm), and orange (595 nm). The structures, sizes, and chemical composition of the CDs are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Improved optical properties of perovskite solar cells by introducing Ag nanopartices and ITO AR layers.

Embedded noble metal nanostructures and surface anti-reflection (AR) layers affect the optical properties of methylammonium lead iodide (CHNHPbI) perovskite solar cells significantly. Herein, by employing a combined finite element method and genetic algorithm approach, we report five different types of CHNHPbI perovskite solar cells by introducing embedded Ag nanoparticles within the CHNHPbI layer and/or top ITO cylinder grating as an AR layer. The maximum photocurrent was optimized to reach 23.

High-performance MoO/n-Si heterojunction NIR photodetector with aluminum oxide as a tunneling passivation interlayer.

The most effective and potential approach to improve the performance of heterojunction photodetectors is to obtain favorable interfacial passivation by adding an insertion layer. In this paper, MoO/AlO/n-Si heterojunction photodetectors with excellent photocurrents, responsivity and detectivity were fabricated, in which alumina acts as a tunneling passivation layer. By optimizing the post-annealing treatment temperature of the MoOand the thickness of the ultra-thin AlO, the photodetector achieved a ratio of photocurrent to dark current of 3.

Air-Stability Improvement of Solar Selective Absorbers Based on TiW-SiO Cermet up to 800 °C.

A high-temperature air-stable solar selective absorber (SSA) based on TiW-SiO cermet is prepared by the co-sputtering method. The obtained SSA shows remarkable stability in spectrum, structure, and chemistry after air-annealing at 700 °C, demonstrating its resistance against air erosion at high temperature. Comparing with W-SiO-based SSA, the addition of the Ti element is proved to be effective in enhancing the thermal stability of SSA.

Improving TiO gas sensing selectivity to acetone and other gases via a molecular imprinting method.

Various gas sensors have made considerable improvements to the quality of people's lives. However, in most cases, changing of materials is necessary to adapt to the changing of the target gas, which limits the further application of gas sensors. To meet this challenge, in this work, molecular imprinting (MI) technology is introduced.

Metal-Free Synthesis of Boron-Doped Graphene Glass by Hot-Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition for Wave Energy Harvesting.

Property modulation of graphene glass by heteroatom doping such as boron (B) and nitrogen (N) is important to extend its practical applications. However, unlike N doping, research studies about the metal-free synthesis of B-doped graphene on glass through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method are rarely reported. Herein, we report a hot-filament CVD approach to prepare B-doped graphene glass using diborane (BH) as the B dopant.

Evolution of Structural and Electrical Properties of Carbon Films from Amorphous Carbon to Nanocrystalline Graphene on Quartz Glass by HFCVD.

Direct growth of graphene films on glass is of great importance but has so far met with limited success. The noncatalytic property of glass results in the low decomposition ability of hydrocarbon precursors, especially at reduced temperatures (<1000 °C), and therefore amorphous carbon (a-C) films are more likely to be obtained. Here, we report the hydrogen influence on the structural and electrical properties of carbon films deposited on quartz glass at 850 °C by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD).

Growth mechanism of Ge-doped CZTSSe thin film by sputtering method and solar cells.

Ge-doped CZTSSe thin films were obtained by covering a thin Ge layer on CZTS precursors, followed by a selenization process. The effect of the Ge layer thickness on the morphologies and structural properties of Ge-doped CZTSSe thin films were studied. It was found that Ge doping could promote grain growth to form a compact thin film.

Structural, Infrared and Magnetic Properties of Nanosized Ni(x)Zn1-xFe2O4 Powders Synthesized by Sol-Gel Technique.

Ni-Zn ferrites Ni(x)Zn1-xFe2O4 (x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.

Restricted Summed-Area Projection for Geographic Atrophy Visualization in SD-OCT Images.

Purpose: To enhance the rapid assessment of geographic atrophy (GA) across the macula in a single projection image generated from three-dimensional (3D) spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans by introducing a novel restricted summed-area projection (RSAP) technique.

Methods: We describe a novel en face GA visualization technique, the RSAP, by restricting the axial projection of SD-OCT images to the regions beneath the Bruch's membrane (BM) boundary and also considering the choroidal vasculature's influence on GA visualization. The technique analyzes the intensity distribution beneath the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) layer to fit a cross-sectional surface in the sub-RPE region.

Automated choroid segmentation based on gradual intensity distance in HD-OCT images.

The choroid is an important structure of the eye and plays a vital role in the pathology of retinal diseases. This paper presents an automated choroid segmentation method for high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) images, including Bruch's membrane (BM) segmentation and choroidal-scleral interface (CSI) segmentation. An improved retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) complex removal algorithm is presented to segment BM by considering the structure characteristics of retinal layers.

Continuous graphene films synthesized at low temperatures by introducing coronene as nucleation seeds.

In this paper, we systematically studied the effects of coronene as nucleation seeds for graphene synthesis at low temperatures by chemical vapor deposition. Naphthalene was used as a solid carbon source which is capable of producing graphene at temperatures down to 300 °C. The experimental results showed clear evidence that coronene seeds work as preferred nucleation sites, through which the nucleation density and graphene domain size could be modulated.

Facile synthesis of Ag interlayer doped graphene by chemical vapor deposition using polystyrene as solid carbon source.

Graphene was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition using polystyrene as the solid carbon source. The number of graphene layers could be controlled by regulating the weight of polystyrene under atmospheric pressure at 1000 °C. Silver nanoparticles were then deposited on the graphene by a citrate reduction method.