Plasma Surface Functionalization of Carbon Nanofibres with Silver, Palladium and Platinum Nanoparticles for Cost-Effective and High-Performance Supercapacitors

Due to their relatively low cost, large surface area and good chemical and physical properties, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are attractive for the fabrication of electrodes for supercapacitors (SCs). However, their relatively low electrical conductivity has impeded their practical application. To this end, a novel active-screen plasma activation and deposition technology has been developed to deposit silver, platinum and palladium nanoparticles on activated CNFs surfaces to increase their specific surface area and electrical conductivity, thus improving the specific capacitance. The functionalised CNFs were fully characterised using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and their electrochemical properties were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results showed a significant improvement in specific capacitance, as well as electrochemical impedance over the untreated CNFs. The functionalisation of CNFs via environmental-friendly active-screen plasma technology provides a promising future for cost-effective supercapacitors with high power and energy density.

All-inorganic inverse perovskite solar cells using zinc oxide nanocolloids on spin coated perovskite layer

We confirmed the influence of ZnO nanoparticle size and residual water on performance of all inorganic perovskite solar cells. By decreasing the size of the ZnO nanoparticles, the short-circuit current density (Jsc) and open circuit photovoltage (Voc) values are increased and the conversion efficiency is improved. Although the Voc value is not affected by the influence of residual water in the solution for preparing the ZnO layer, the Jsc value drops greatly. As a result, it was found that it is important to use the oxide nanoparticles with a small particle diameter and to reduce the water content in the oxide forming material in order to manufacture a highly efficient all inorganic perovskite solar cells.

Modelling of an equivalent circuit for Cu2ZnSnS4- and Cu2ZnSnSe4-based thin film solar cells

The internal resistance and quality of the interface in CZTS solar cells were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Highly stable chemisorption of dyes with pyridyl anchors over TiO2: application in dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical water reduction in aqueous media

The “pyridyl anchoring technique” enables constant photocurrent density in a water reduction dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell with a polypyridyl ruthenium sensitizer having pyridyl anchors (Ru-py).

Novel near-infrared carboxylated 1,3-indandione sensitizers for highly efficient flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

The novel near-infrared organic dyes were designed for use in plastic-substrate dye sensitized solar cells. As a result, η of 5.76% was achieved.