Showing papers on "Ternary operation published in 2022"

Single-junction organic solar cells with over 19% efficiency enabled by a refined double-fibril network morphology

Abstract: In organic photovoltaics, morphological control of donor and acceptor domains on the nanoscale is the key for enabling efficient exciton diffusion and dissociation, carrier transport and suppression of recombination losses. To realize this, here, we demonstrated a double-fibril network based on a ternary donor-acceptor morphology with multi-length scales constructed by combining ancillary conjugated polymer crystallizers and a non-fullerene acceptor filament assembly. Using this approach, we achieved an average power conversion efficiency of 19.3% (certified 19.2%). The success lies in the good match between the photoelectric parameters and the morphological characteristic lengths, which utilizes the excitons and free charges efficiently. This strategy leads to an enhanced exciton diffusion length and a reduced recombination rate, hence minimizing photon-to-electron losses in the ternary devices as compared to their binary counterparts. The double-fibril network morphology strategy minimizes losses and maximizes the power output, offering the possibility of 20% power conversion efficiencies in single-junction organic photovoltaics.

Realizing 19.05% Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells by Progressively Improving Charge Extraction and Suppressing Charge Recombination

Abstract: Improving charge extraction and suppressing charge recombination are critically important to minimize the loss of absorbed photons and improve the device performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this work, highly efficient PSCs are demonstrated by progressively improving the charge extraction and suppressing the charge recombination through the combination of side‐chain engineering of new nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs), adopting ternary blends, and introducing volatilizable solid additives. The 2D side chains on BTP‐Th induce a certain steric hindrance for molecular packing and phase separation, which is mitigated by fluorination of side chains on BTP‐FTh. Moreover, by introducing two highly crystalline molecules as the second acceptor and volatilizable solid additive, respectively, into the BTP‐FTh‐based host blend, the molecular crystallinity is significantly improved and the blend morphology is finely optimized. As expected, enhanced charge extraction and suppressed charge recombination are progressively realized, contributing to the largely improved fill factor (FF) of the resultant devices. Accompanied by the enhanced open‐circuit voltage (Voc) and short‐circuit current density (Jsc), a record high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.05% is realized finally.

Single‐Junction Organic Solar Cells with 19.17% Efficiency Enabled by Introducing One Asymmetric Guest Acceptor

Abstract: The ternary strategy has been widely identified as an effective approach to obtain high‐efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs). However, for most ternary OSCs, the nonradiative voltage loss lies between those of the two binary devices, which limits further efficiency improvements. Herein, an asymmetric guest acceptor BTP‐2F2Cl is designed and incorporated into a PM1:L8‐BO host blend. Compared with the L8‐BO neat film, the L8‐BO:BTP‐2F2Cl blend film shows higher photoluminescence quantum yield and larger exciton diffusion length. Introducing BTP‐2F2Cl into the host blend extends its absorption spectrum, improves the molecular packing of host materials, and suppresses the nonradiative charge recombination of the ternary OSCs. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency is improved up to 19.17% (certified value 18.7%), which represents the highest efficiency value reported for single‐junction OSCs so far. The results show that improving the exciton behaviors is a promising approach to reducing the nonradiative voltage loss and realizing high‐performance OSCs.

Manipulating the D:A Interfacial Energetics and Intermolecular Packing for 19.2% Efficiency Organic Photovoltaics

Abstract: Manipulating the donor:acceptor (D:A) energetics, e.g. the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) offset, is the key to balancing the charge separation and charge recombination for high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs)....

Realizing Negatively Charged Metal Atoms through Controllable d‐Electron Transfer in Ternary Ir1−xRhxSb Intermetallic Alloy for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract: Alloying noble metals with non‐noble metals is a promising method to fabricate catalysts, with the advantages of reduced noble metal usage and excellent activity. In this work, electron‐abundant Ir/Rh sites, as highly active centers for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), are realized by fabricating Ir1−xRhxSb alloys through the arc‐melting method. The electron transfer from Sb to Ir/Rh makes the latter negatively charged, leading to considerably optimized adsorption for active H species during HER. As a result, the Ir1−xRhxSb alloy exhibits outstanding activity for HER, with an optimized overpotential of 22 mV at 10 mA cm–2 and a Tafel slope of 47.6 mV dec–1. This work provides insights into highly active alloys and sheds light on the utilization of electron‐abundant metal atoms.

Antifreezing Hydrogel Electrolyte with Ternary Hydrogen Bonding for High‐Performance Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Abstract: The new‐generation flexible aqueous zinc‐ion batteries require enhanced mechanical properties and ionic conductivities at low temperature for practical applications. This fundamentally means that it is desired that the hydrogel electrolyte possesses antifreezing merits to resist flexibility loss and performance decrease at subzero temperatures. Herein, a highly flexible polysaccharide hydrogel is realized in situ and is regulated in zinc‐ion batteries through the Hofmeister effect with low‐concentration Zn(ClO4)2 salts to satisfy the abovementioned requirements. The chaotropic ClO4− anions, water, and polymer chains can form ternary and weak hydrogen bonding (HB), which enables the polymer chains to have improved mechanical properties, breaks the HB of water to remarkably decrease the electrolyte freezing point, and reduces the amounts of free water for effective side reactions and dendrite inhibition. Consequently, even at −30 °C, the Zn(ClO4)2 in situ optimized hydrogel electrolyte features a high ionic conductivity of 7.8 mS cm−1 and excellent flexibility, which enables a Zn/polyaniline (PANI) battery with a reversible capacity of 70 mA h g−1 under 5 A g−1 for 2500 cycles, and renderd the flexible full battery with excellent cycling performances under different bending angles. This work provides a new pathway for designing high‐performance antifreezing flexible batteries via the Hofmeister effect.

Immobilization of Lewis Basic Sites into a Stable Ethane-Selective MOF Enabling One-Step Separation of Ethylene from a Ternary Mixture.

Abstract: Purification of C2H4 from a ternary C2H2/C2H6/C2H4 mixture by one-step adsorption separation is of prime importance but challenging in the petrochemical industry; however, effective strategies to design high-performance adsorbents are lacking. We herein report for the first time the incorporation of Lewis basic sites into a C2H6-selective MOF, enabling efficient one-step production of polymer-grade C2H4 from ternary mixtures. Introduction of amino groups into highly stable C2H6-selective UiO-67 can not only partition large pores into smaller cagelike pockets to provide suitable pore confinement but also offer additional binding sites to simultaneously enhance C2H2 and C2H6 adsorption capacities over C2H4. The amino-functionalized UiO-67-(NH2)2 thus exhibits exceptionally high C2H2 and C2H6 uptakes as well as benchmark C2H2/C2H4 and C2H6/C2H4 selectivities, surpassing all of the C2H2/C2H6-selective materials reported so far. Theoretical calculations combined with in situ infrared spectroscopy indicate that the synergetic effect of suitable pore confinement and functional surfaces decorated with amino groups provides overall stronger multipoint van der Waals interactions with C2H2 and C2H6 over C2H4. The exceptional performance of UiO-67-(NH2)2 was evidenced by breakthrough experiments for C2H2/C2H6/C2H4 mixtures under dry and wet conditions, providing a remarkable C2H4 productivity of 0.55 mmol g-1 at ambient conditions.

Construction of ternary CuO/CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 composite and its enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride with persulfate under simulated sunlight

Abstract: In this study, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based ternary catalyst CuO/CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 (CCCN) is successfully prepared thorough calcination method. After confirming the structure and composition of CCCN, the as-synthesized composites are utilized to activate persulfate (PS) for the degradation of organic contaminant. While using tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) as pollutant surrogate, the effects of initial pH, PS and catalyst concentration on the degradation rate are systematically studied. Under the optimized reaction condition, CCCN/PS is able to give 99% degradation extent and 74% chemical oxygen demand removal in assistance of simulated solar light, both of which are apparently greater than that of either CuO/CuFe2O4 and pristine g-C3N4. The great improvement in degradation can be assignable to the effective separation of photoinduced carriers thanks to the integration between CuO/CuFe2O4 and g-C3N4, as well as the increased reaction sites given by the g-C3N4 substrate. Moreover, the scavenging trials imply that the major oxidative matters involved in the decomposition are hydroxyl radicals (•OH), superoxide radicals (•O2−) and photo-induced holes (h+).

A high-performance room temperature benzene gas sensor based on CoTiO3 covered TiO2 nanospheres decorated with Pd nanoparticles

Abstract: A benzene sensor based on Pd doped CoTiO3/TiO2 (Pd-CTT) nanocomposite was reported in this paper. The surface morphology and structure composition of the samples were investigated by SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS. The benzene sensing performance of the sensors with different ratios of CoTiO3 and TiO2 was studied at room temperature (RT) of 25 °C. The gas sensing performance of the sensor was further improved by the construction of Pd-CTT ternary composite sensing material. The results show that the sensor has remarkable sensing performance for benzene, including excellent linear response, rapid detection speed, good repeatability and stability. The Pd-CTT sensor showed a high response (Rg/Ra = 33.46 @ 50 ppm) to benzene, with detection limit as low as 100 ppb. The excellent benzene sensing properties of Pd-CTT sensor are attributed to the formation of CoTiO3/TiO2 p-n heterojunction and catalytic action of Pd. This work highlights the unique advantage of Pd-CTT nanocomposite for benzene sensor.

A high-performance room temperature benzene gas sensor based on CoTiO3 covered TiO2 nanospheres decorated with Pd nanoparticles

Abstract: A benzene sensor based on Pd doped CoTiO3/TiO2 (Pd-CTT) nanocomposite was reported in this paper. The surface morphology and structure composition of the samples were investigated by SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS. The benzene sensing performance of the sensors with different ratios of CoTiO3 and TiO2 was studied at room temperature (RT) of 25 °C. The gas sensing performance of the sensor was further improved by the construction of Pd-CTT ternary composite sensing material. The results show that the sensor has remarkable sensing performance for benzene, including excellent linear response, rapid detection speed, good repeatability and stability. The Pd-CTT sensor showed a high response (Rg/Ra = 33.46 @ 50 ppm) to benzene, with detection limit as low as 100 ppb. The excellent benzene sensing properties of Pd-CTT sensor are attributed to the formation of CoTiO3/TiO2 p-n heterojunction and catalytic action of Pd. This work highlights the unique advantage of Pd-CTT nanocomposite for benzene sensor.

Visible-light degradation of antibiotics catalyzed by titania/zirconia/graphitic carbon nitride ternary nanocomposites: a combined experimental and theoretical study

Abstract: Development of low-cost, high-performance photocatalysts for the effective degradation of antibiotics in wastewater is critical for environmental remediation. In this work, titanium dioxide/zirconium dioxide/graphitic carbon nitride (TiO2/ZrO2/g-C3N4) ternary composites are fabricated via a facile hydrothermal procedure, and photocatalytically active towards the degradation of berberine hydrochloride under visible light illumination. The performance is found to increase with the Ti:Zr atomic ratio in the nanocomposites, and obviously enhanced in comparison to that of the binary TiO2/g-C3N4 counterpart, due to the formation of type I/II heterojunctions that help separate the photogenerated electron-hole pairs and produce superoxide and hydroxy radicals. The mechanistic pathways are unraveled by a deliberate integration of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry measurements with theoretical calculations of the condensed Fukui index. Furthermore, the ecotoxicity of the reaction intermediates is examined by utilizing the Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (TEST) and quantitative structure activity relationship calculations (QSAR).

Construction of ternary CuO/CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 composite and its enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride with persulfate under simulated sunlight

Abstract: In this study, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based ternary catalyst CuO/CuFe2O4/g-C3N4 (CCCN) is successfully prepared thorough calcination method. After confirming the structure and composition of CCCN, the as-synthesized composites are utilized to activate persulfate (PS) for the degradation of organic contaminant. While using tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) as pollutant surrogate, the effects of initial pH, PS and catalyst concentration on the degradation rate are systematically studied. Under the optimized reaction condition, CCCN/PS is able to give 99% degradation extent and 74% chemical oxygen demand removal in assistance of simulated solar light, both of which are apparently greater than that of either CuO/CuFe2O4 and pristine g-C3N4. The great improvement in degradation can be assignable to the effective separation of photoinduced carriers thanks to the integration between CuO/CuFe2O4 and g-C3N4, as well as the increased reaction sites given by the g-C3N4 substrate. Moreover, the scavenging trials imply that the major oxidative matters involved in the decomposition are hydroxyl radicals (•OH), superoxide radicals (•O2-) and photo-induced holes (h+).

An asymmetric wide-bandgap acceptor simultaneously enabling highly efficient single-junction and tandem organic solar cells

Abstract: The ternary and tandem strategies are effective methods for improving the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). Here an asymmetric wide-bandgap nonfullerene acceptor named AITC is synthesized. AITC with...