Southwest University

About: Southwest University is a education organization based out in Chongqing, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Bombyx mori. The organization has 29772 authors who have published 27755 publications receiving 409441 citations. The organization is also known as: Southwest University in Chongqing & SWU.

Interface Functionalization of Photoelectrodes with Graphene for High Performance Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract: The microstructures of photo- and counter-electrodes play critical roles in the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In particular, various interfaces, such as fluorinated-tin oxide (FTO)/TiO2, TiO2/TiO2, and TiO2/electrolyte, in DSSCs significantly affect the final power conversion efficiency (PCE). However, research has generally focused more on the design of various nanostructured semiconducting materials with emphasis on optimizing chemical or/and physical properties, and less on these interface functionalizations for performance improvement. This work explores a new application of graphene to modify the interface of FTO/TiO2 to suppress charge recombination. In combination with interfaces functionalization of TiO2/TiO2 for low charge-transport resistance and high charge-transfer rate, the final PCE of DSSC is remarkably improved from 5.80% to 8.13%, achieving the highest efficiency in comparison to reported graphene/TiO2-based DSSCs. The method of using graphene to functionalize the surface of FTO substrate provides a better alternative method to the conventional pre-treatment through hydrolyzing TiCl4 and an approach to reduce the adverse effect of microstructural defect of conducting glass substrate for electronic devices.

In Situ DNA-Templated Synthesis of Silver Nanoclusters for Ultrasensitive and Label-Free Electrochemical Detection of MicroRNA

Abstract: On the basis of the use of silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) in situ synthesized by cytosine (C)-rich loop DNA templates as signal amplification labels, the development of a label-free and highly sensitive method for electrochemical detection of microRNA (miRNA-199a) is described. The target miRNA-199a hybridizes with the partial dsDNA probes to initiate the target-assisted polymerization nicking reaction (TAPNR) amplification to produce massive intermediate sequences, which can be captured on the sensing electrode by the self-assembled DNA secondary probes. These surface-captured intermediate sequences further trigger the hybridization chain reaction (HCR) amplification to form dsDNA polymers with numerous C-rich loop DNA templates on the electrode surface. DNA-templated synthesis of AgNCs can be realized by subsequent incubation of the dsDNA polymer-modified electrode with AgNO3 and sodium borohydride. With this integrated TAPNR and HCR dual amplification strategy, the amount of in situ synthesized AgNCs is d...

Second-Order Continuous-Time Algorithms for Economic Power Dispatch in Smart Grids

Abstract: This paper proposes two second-order continuous-time algorithms to solve the economic power dispatch problem in smart grids. The collective aim is to minimize a sum of generation cost function subject to the power demand and individual generator constraints. First, in the framework of nonsmooth analysis and algebraic graph theory, one distributed second-order algorithm is developed and guaranteed to find an optimal solution. As a result, the power demand constraints can be kept all the time under appropriate initial condition. The second algorithm is under a centralized framework, and the optimal solution is robust in the sense that different initial power conditions do not change the convergence of the optimal solution. Finally, simulation results based on five-unit system, IEEE 30-bus system, and IEEE 300-bus system show the effectiveness and performance of the proposed continuous-time algorithms. The examples also show that the convergence rate of second-order algorithm is faster than that of first-order distributed algorithm.