• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.467-471
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• 2016

New electron deficient moiety, 6,7-difluoro-2,3-dihexylquinoxaline, was developed for the push-pull type copolymer for organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The PFDTQxF with lower HOMO energy level was synthesized using fluorene and 6,7-difluoro- 2,3-dihexylquinoxaline by Suzuki polymerization. The PFDTQxF thin film shows two absorption peaks at 368 and 493 nm. The HOMO and LUMO energy levels of PFDTQxF are calculated -5.55 and -3.91 eV, respectively. The device comprising PFDTQxF showed a $V_{OC}$ value of 0.47 V, a $J_{SC}$ value of $4.48mA/cm^2$, and a FF of 0.32, which yielded PCE of 0.78%, under the illumination of AM 1.5.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.253-260
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• 2024

Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is an efficient method for utilizing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar powers to produce green hydrogen. For PEMWE powered by renewable energy sources, its durability is a crucial factor in its performance since irregular and fluctuating characteristics of renewable energy sources, especially for wind power, can deteriorate the stability of PEMWE. Triangular voltage cycle is well able to simulate fluctuating wind power, but its effect on the durability has not been investigated extensively. In this study, the performance degradation of the PEMWE cell operated with the triangular voltage cycling was investigated at different ramping rates. The measured current responses during the cycling gradually decreased for both ramping rates, and I-V curve measurements before and after the cycling confirmed the degradation of the performances of PEMWE. For both measurements, the degradation rate was larger for 300 mV s^-1 than 30 mV s^-1, and they were determined as 0.36 and 1.26 mV h^-1 (at the current density of 2 A cm^-2) at the ramping rates of 30 and 300 mV s^-1, respectively. The comparison with other studies on triangular voltage cycling also indicate that an increase in the ramping rate accelerates the deterioration of the PEMWE performance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy results showed that the Ir catalyst was oxidized and did not dissolve during the voltage cycling. This study suggests that the ramping rate of the triangular voltage cycling is an important factor for the evaluation of the durability of PEMWE cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.454-454
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• 2014

Silicon microwire array is one of the promising platforms as a means for developing highly efficient solar cells thanks to the enhanced light trapping efficiency. Among the various fabrication methods of microstructures, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process has been extensively used in fabrication of high aspect ratio microwire arrays. In this presentation, we show precisely controlled Si microwire arrays by tuning the DRIE process conditions. A periodic microdisk arrays were patterned on 4-inch Si wafer (p-type, $1{\sim}10{\Omega}cm$) using photolithography. After developing the pattern, 150-nm-thick Al was deposited and lifted-off to leave Al microdisk arrays on the starting Si wafer. Periodic Al microdisk arrays (diameter of $2{\mu}m$ and periodic distance of $2{\mu}m$) were used as an etch mask. A DRIE process (Tegal 200) is used for anisotropic deep silicon etching at room temperature. During the process, $SF_6$ and $C_4F_8$ gases were used for the etching and surface passivation, respectively. The length and shape of microwire arrays were controlled by etching time and $SF_6/C_4F_8$ ratio. By adjusting $SF_6/C_4F_8$ gas ratio, the shape of Si microwire can be controlled, resulting in the formation of tapered or vertical microwires. After DRIE process, the residual polymer and etching damage on the surface of the microwires were removed using piranha solution ($H_2SO_4:H_2O_2=4:1$) followed by thermal oxidation ($900^{\circ}C$, 40 min). The oxide layer formed through the thermal oxidation was etched by diluted hydrofluoric acid (1 wt% HF). The surface morphology of a Si microwire arrays was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, Hitachi S-4800). Optical reflection measurements were performed over 300~1100 nm wavelengths using a UV-Vis/NIR spectrophotometer (Cary 5000, Agilent) in which a 60 mm integrating sphere (Labsphere) is equipped to account for total light (diffuse and specular) reflected from the samples. The total reflection by the microwire arrays sample was reduced from 20 % to 10 % of the incident light over the visible region when the length of the microwire was increased from $10{\mu}m$ to $30{\mu}m$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.275-279
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• 2015

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT : PSS) has attracted a great deal of attention as a transparent conductive material for organic solar cells or organic light-emitting diodes due to its high electrical conductivity, optical transparency, and excellent mechanical flexibility. It is well known that a solvent doping for PEDOT : PSS thin-films significantly increases the conductivity of films. In this paper, the effect of various kinds of solvent doping and post-treatment on the electrical and structural properties of PEDOT : PSS thin-films is investigated. The solvent doping greatly increases the conductivity of PEDOT : PSS thin-films up to 884 S/cm. A further enhancement of the conductivity of PEDOT : PSS thin-films is achieved by the solvent post-treatment which raises the conductivity up to 1131 S/cm. The enhancement is mainly caused by the depletion of insulating PSS and forming conducting PEDOT-rich granular networks. Strong optical absorption peaks at the wavelength of 225 nm of PEDOT : PSS thin-films indicate the depletion of insulating PSS by post-treatment. We believe that the solvent post-treatment is a promising method to achieve highly conductive transparent PEDOT : PSS thin-films for applications in efficient, low-cost and flexible organic devices.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2010

Graphene is one of the most promising materials for many applications. It can be used in a variety of applications not only as a reinforcement material for polymer to obtain a combination of desirable mechanical, electrical, thermal, and barrier properties in the resulting nanocomposite but also as a component in energy storage, fuel cells, solar cells, sensors, and batteries. Recent research at Michigan State University has shown that it is possible to exfoliate natural graphite into graphite nanoplatelets composed entirely of stacks of graphene. The size of the platelets can be controlled from less than 10 nm in thickness and diameters of any size from sub-micron to 15 microns or greater. In this study we have investigated the influence of melt compounding processing on the physical properties of a polyamide 6 (PA6) nanocomposite reinforced with exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP). The morphology, electrical conductivity, and mechanical properties of xGnP-PA6 nanocomposite were characterized with electrical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, AC impedance, and mechanical properties. It was found that counter rotation (CNR) twins crew processed xGnP/PA6 nanocomposite had similar mechanical properties with co-rotation (CoR) twin screw processed or with CoR conducted with a screw design modified for nanoparticles (MCoR). Microscopy showed that the CNR processed nanocomposite had better xGnP dispersion than the (CoR) twin screw processed and modified screw (MCoR) processed ones. It was also found that the CNR processed nanocomposite at a given xGnP content showed the lowest graphite X-ray diffraction peak at $26.5^{\circ}$ indicating better xGnP dispersion in the nanocomposite. In addition, it was also found that the electrical conductivity of the CNR processed 12 wt.% xGnP-PA6 nanocomposite is more than ten times higher than the CoR and MCoR processed ones. These results indicate that better dispersion of an xGnP-PA6 nanocomposite is attainable in CNR twins crew processing than conventional CoR processing.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.145-152
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• 2011

Since the discovery of fullerenes as a class of nanostructure compounds, many potential applications have been suggested for their unusual structures and properties. The isolated pentagon rule (IPR) states that all pentagonal carbon rings are isolated in the most stable fullerene. Fullerenes $C_n$ are a class of spherical carbon allotrope group with unique properties. Electron transfer between fullerenes and other molecules is thought to involve the transfer of electrons between the molecules surrounding the fullerene cage. One class of electron transfer molecules is the methanofullerene derivatives ([6,6]-phenyl $C_{61}$-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), 4-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-[6,6]-phenyl $C_{61}$-butyric acid methyl ester (p-EHO-PCBM), and 4-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-[6,6]-phenyl $C_{61}$-butyric acid (p-EHO-PCBA), 10-12). It has been determined that $C_{60}$ does not obey IPR. Supramolecular complexes 1-9 and 10-12 are shown to possess a previously unreported host.guest interaction for electron transfer processes. The unsaturated, cis-geometry, thiocrown ethers, (1-9) (described as [X-UT-Y], where X and Y indicate the numbers of carbon and sulfur atoms, respectively), are a group of crown ethers that display interesting physiochemical properties in the light of their conformational restriction compared with a corresponding saturated system, as well as the sizes of their cavities. Topological indices have been successfully used to construct mathematical methods that relate structural data to various chemical and physical properties. To establish a good relationship between the structures of 1-9 with 10-12, a new index is introduced, ${\mu}_{cs}$. This index is the ratio of the sum of the number of carbon atoms ($n_c$) and the number of sulfur atoms ($n_s$) to the product of these two numbers for 1-9. In this study, the relationships between this index and oxidation potential ($^{ox}E_1$) of 1-9, as well as the first to third free energies of electron transfer (${\Delta}G_{et(n)}$, for n = 1-3, which is given by the Rehm-Weller equation) between 1-9 and PCBM, p-EHO-PCBM, and p-EHO-PCBA (10-12) as [X-UT-Y]@R(where R is the adduct PCBM, p-EHO-PCBM, and p-EHO-PCBA group) (13-15) supramolecular complexes are presented and investigated.