Controllable Formation of (004)-Orientated Nb:TiO2 for High-Performance Transparent Conductive Oxide Thin Films with Tunable Near-Infrared Transmittance

Preparation of High-Performance Metal-Free UV/Near Infrared-Shielding Films for Human Skin Protection

A series of metal-free UV/near infrared (NIR)-shielding coatings are successfully fabricated by shielded cathodic arc plasma evaporation (CAPE) and substrate-biased RF magnetron sputtering processes. The UV/NIR-shielding coatings comprising quarter-wave stacks of TiO2/SiO2 multilayers and high-conductivity sputter-deposited ITO films with a thickness in the range of 200-600 nm could block IRA and IRB radiations, respectively. The total thicknesses of UV/near infrared-shielding films are in the range from 375 nm to 1513.8 nm. The anatase-phase TiO2 films with absorption edge located at ∼375 nm were deposited by shielded CAPE at ∼100 °C. Further, the well-crystallized ITO films were found to have high free-electron concentrations (1.12 × 1021 cm-3), resulting in strong absorption of IRB due to the plasmon resonance absorption. The optimal optical design and ITO film thickness were investigated, and the TiO2(SiO2/TiO2)3 multilayer combined with an ITO film thickness of 400 nm was found to provide a high NIR-shielding rate of 94.8%, UVB to UVA-shielding rate of 92.7%, and average visible light transmittance of 68.1%. Further, human skin cells protected by a UV/NIR-shielding coating showed significantly decreased reactive oxygen species generation and inflammatory cytokine expression as compared to those of unprotected cells. The results demonstrate that the development of multifunction coatings have potential for transparent heat insulation windows and human skin protection against UV/IR radiations.

High-throughput HSE study on the doping effect in anatase TiO2

Systematic study on the doping effects of anatase TiO₂ doped with 40 kinds of elements by high-throughput HSE06 calculations.

Tuning mixed-phase Nb-doped titania films for high-performance photocatalysts with enhanced whole-spectrum light absorption

Heterojunction of rutile and anatase phase enhanced photocatalytic performance of mixed-phase Nb doped titania films to degrade pollutants under visible (vis) light.

Highly crystalline Nb-doped TiO2 nanospindles as superior electron transporting materials for high-performance planar structured perovskite solar cells

Planar-structured perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have received tremendous attention due to their high power conversion efficiency (PCE), simple process and low-cost fabrication. A compact thin film of electron transport materials (ETMs) plays a key role in these PSCs. However, the traditional ETMs of PSCs, TiO₂ nanoparticulate films, suffer from low conductivity and high trap state density. Herein, we exploited TiO₂ nanospindles as a compact ETM in planar PSCs for the first time, and achieved an efficient device with a PCE of 19.1%. By optimization with Nb doping into the TiO₂ nanospindles, the PCE of the PSC was further improved up to 20.8%. The carrier transfer and collection efficiency were significantly improved after Nb⁵⁺ doping, revealed by Mott–Schottky (MS) analysis, space charge limited current (SCLC), photoluminence (PL), time-resolved photoluminence (TRPL) spectra, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and so forth. Moreover, the hysteresis behavior was effectively inhibited and the stability was significantly enhanced. This work may provide a new avenue towards the rational design of efficient ETMs for perovskite solar cells.

Highly crystalline Nb:TiO₂ nanospindles have been successfully exploited as efficient ETMs in planar perovskite solar cells, achieving a power conversion efficiency of 20.8%, superior to that of the undoped one (19.1%).

Conductive Nb-doped TiO2 thin films with whole visible absorption to degrade pollutants

Niobium-doping makes both intrinsic UV absorption and UV-vis-IR free-carrier absorption occur in TiO₂ and improves the photocatalytic performance.