Cost-effective dye-sensitized solar cells based on rutile-phase three-dimensional TiO hierarchical nanostructures.

Specifically engineered three-dimensional (3D) and 1D morphologies are expected to play significant roles in the development of next-generation dye-sensitized solar cells. In this study, using a hydrothermal approach without a surfactant or template, we attempted to synthesize a 3D hierarchical rutile titanium dioxide (TiO ) architecture by varying the growth temperature and time. X-ray diffraction patterns of the synthesized TiO correlated well with rutile TiO .

On the Role of Hollow Aluminium Oxide Microballoons during Machining of AZ31 Magnesium Syntactic Foam.

The role played by hollow ceramic thin-walled aluminium oxide microballoons on the shear deformation characteristics of AZ31 Magnesium syntactic foam is studied through high-speed machining. The ceramic microballoons embedded in the AZ31 matrix provides the necessary stiffness for these novel foams. The effect of hollow ceramic microballoon properties, such as the volume fraction, thin wall thickness to diameter ratio, and microballoon diameter, profoundly affects the chip formation.