| 1. |
- Abdi-Jalebi, Mojtaba, et al.
(författare)
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Dedoping of Lead Halide Perovskites Incorporating Monovalent Cations
- 2018
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Ingår i: ACS Nano. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1936-0851 .- 1936-086X. ; 12:7, s. 7301-7311
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report significant improvements in the optoelectronic properties of lead halide perovskites with the addition of monovalent ions with ionic radii close to Pb2+. We investigate the chemical distribution and electronic structure of solution processed CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite structures containing Na+, Cu+, and Ag+, which are lower valence metal ions than Pb2+ but have similar ionic radii. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction reveals a pronounced shift in the main perovskite peaks for the monovalent cation-based films, suggesting incorporation of these cations into the perovskite lattice as well as a preferential crystal growth in Ag+ containing perovskite structures. Furthermore, the synchrotron X-ray photoelectron measurements show a significant change in the valence band position for Cu- and Ag-doped films, although the perovskite bandgap remains the same, indicating a shift in the Fermi level position toward the middle of the bandgap. Such a shift infers that incorporation of these monovalent cations dedope the n-type perovskite films when formed without added cations. This dedoping effect leads to cleaner bandgaps as reflected by the lower energetic disorder in the monovalent cation-doped perovskite thin films as compared to pristine films. We also find that in contrast to Ag+ and Cu+, Na+ locates mainly at the grain boundaries and surfaces. Our theoretical calculations confirm the observed shifts in X-ray diffraction peaks and Fermi level as well as absence of intrabandgap states upon energetically favorable doping of perovskite lattice by the monovalent cations. We also model a significant change in the local structure, chemical bonding of metal-halide, and the electronic structure in the doped perovskites. In summary, our work highlights the local chemistry and influence of monovalent cation dopants on crystallization and the electronic structure in the doped perovskite thin films.
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| 2. |
- Behrouznejad, F., et al.
(författare)
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Metal-based bracken-like single-sided dye-sensitized solar cells with horizontal separation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 18:7, s. 5244-5252
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the drawbacks of typical dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is their high cost and the high electrical resistance of the transparent conducting substrate. In conventional sandwich-type DSCs, only one of the FTO substrates can be replaced by a metal substrate. We investigated an all-metal-electrode single-sided DSC in which interpenetrated bracken-like Cr electrodes were created using photolithography; mesoporous TiO2 and Pt films were deposited on the laterally separated electrodes. Thermal Pt deposition and electrodeposition methods were investigated and it was found that a cyclic electrodeposition method resulted in selective Pt deposition at room temperature with a higher device performance. Cu or ZnO sacrificial layers and TiO2 or TiO2/SiO2 porous layers were used for the spacer layer that keeps the Pt electrode away from the TiO2 mesoporous layer and the optimum results were obtained when a TiO2/SiO2 layer was used. The best device had a current density of 8.47 mA cm(-2), an open circuit voltage of 0.685 V and an efficiency of 2.44%. The results of open circuit voltage decay and electrochemical impedance spectrometry showed the formation of a high-resistivity blocking layer, which was attributed to the Cr oxide formed during thermal treatment. The efficiency may be improved further by developing low-temperature fabrication processes.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Freitag, Marina, et al.
(författare)
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Copper Phenanthroline as a Fast and High-Performance Redox Mediator for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
- 2016
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 120:18, s. 9595-9603
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The most commonly used redox mediators in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), iodide/triiodide and cobalt trisbipyridine ([Co(bpy)(3)](2+/3+)), were successfully replaced by bis (2,9-dimethy1-1,10-phenanthroline) copp er (I/H) ([Cu(dmp)(2)](1+/2+)). The use of the copper complex based electrolyte led to an exceptionally high photovoltaic performance of 8.3% for LEG4-sensitized TiO2 solar cells, with a remarkably high open-circuit potential of above 1.0 V at 1000 W m(-2) under AM1.5G conditions. The copper complex based redox electrolyte has higher diffusion coefficients and is considerably faster in dye regeneration than comparable cobalt trisbipyridine based electrolytes. A driving force for dye regeneration of only 0.2 eV is sufficient to obtain unit yield, pointing to new possibilities for improvement in DSC efficiencies. The interaction of the excited dye with components of the electrolyte was monitored using steady-state emission measurements and time-correlated single-photon counting (TC-SPC). Our results indicate bimolecular reductive quenching of the excited LEG4 dye by the [Cu(dmp)(2)](2+) complex through a dynamic mechanism. Excited-state dye molecules can readily undergo bimolecular electron transfer with a suitable donor molecule. In DSCs this process can occur when the excited dye is unable to inject electrons into the TiO2. With a high electrolyte concentration the excited dye can be intercepted with an electron from the electrolyte resulting in the reduced state of the dye. Quenching of the reduced dye by the electrolyte competes with electron injection and results in a lower photocurrent. Quenching of excited LEG4 by complexes of [Cu(dmp)(2)](+), [Co(bpy)(3)](2+), and [Co(bpy)(3)](3+) followed a static mechanism, due ground-state dye-quencher binding. Inhibition of unwanted quenching processes by structural modifications may open ways to further increase the overall efficiency.
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| 6. |
- Freitag, Marina, et al.
(författare)
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High-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells with molecular copper phenanthroline as solid hole conductor
- 2015
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Ingår i: Energy & Environmental Science. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1754-5692 .- 1754-5706. ; 8:9, s. 2634-2637
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Copper phenanthroline complexes in the solid phase can act as efficient molecular hole transporting material (HTM) for hybrid solar cells. We prepared solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells with the organic dye LEG4 and bis(2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline)copper(I/II) (Cu(dmp)(2)) and achieved power conversion efficiencies of more than 8% under 1000 W m(-2) AM1.5G illumination, with open-circuit potentials of more than 1.0 V. The successful application of a copper-complex based HTM paves the way for low-cost and efficient hybrid solar cells, as well as for other opto-electronic devices.
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| 7. |
- Gao, Jiajia, et al.
(författare)
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Cation-Dependent Photostability of Co(II/III)-Mediated Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
- 2015
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 119:44, s. 24704-24713
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The electrolyte composition has a significant effect on the performance and stability of cobalt-based, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The stability of DSSCs incorporating Co(II/III) tris(bipyridine) redox mediator has been investigated over 1000 h under full solar irradiation (with UV cutoff) at a temperature of 60 °C, the main focus being on monitoring the photovoltaic performance of the device and analyzing the internal charge-transfer dynamics in the presence of different cation coadditives (preferably added as tetracyanoborate salts). A clear cation-dependence is shown, not only of the early light-induced performance but also of the long-term photostability of the photovoltage of the device. These light-induced changes, which are attributed to the promotion of electron injection and less electron recombination loss, by transient spectral and electrochemical studies at the TiO2/dye/electrolyte interface, indicate that the main cation effects involve the TiO2 surface electric field and energy-state distribution. By examining the stability of adsorbed and solvated dye during aging, it has been found that the dye photodegradation is probably responsible for the decline in the photovoltage and that this is extremely dependent on the nature of the cation coadditives in the electrolyte. It is therefore suggested that optimization of the electrolyte cation composition is essential for improving the stability of cobalt-based DSSCs.
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| 8. |
- Imani, Roghayeh, et al.
(författare)
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Band edge engineering of TiO2@DNA nanohybrids and implications for capacitive energy storage devices
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 7:23, s. 10438-10448
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Novel mesoporous TiO2@DNA nanohybrid electrodes, combining covalently encoded DNA with mesoporous TiO2 microbeads using dopamine as a linker, were prepared and characterised for application in supercapacitors. Detailed information about donor density, charge transfer resistance and chemical capacitance, which have an important role in the performance of an electrochemical device, were studied by electrochemical methods. The results indicated the improvement of electrochemical performance of the TiO2 nanohybrid electrode by DNA surface functionalisation. A supercapacitor was constructed from TiO2@DNA nanohybrids with PBS as the electrolyte. From the supercapacitor experiment, it was found that the addition of DNA played an important role in improving the specific capacitance (C-s) of the TiO2 supercapacitor. The highest Cs value of 8 F g(-1) was observed for TiO2@DNA nanohybrids. The nanohybrid electrodes were shown to be stable over long-term cycling, retaining 95% of their initial specific capacitance after 1500 cycles.
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| 9. |
- Imani, Roghayeh, et al.
(författare)
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Biocompatibility of different nanostructured TiO2 scaffolds and their potential for urologic applications
- 2016
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Ingår i: Protoplasma. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0033-183X .- 1615-6102. ; 253:6, s. 1439-1447
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite great efforts in tissue engineering of the ureter, urinary bladder, and urethra, further research is needed in order to improve the patient's quality of life and minimize the economic burden of different lower urinary tract disorders. The nanostructured titanium dioxide (TiO2) scaffolds have a wide range of clinical applications and are already widely used in orthopedic or dental medicine. The current study was conducted to synthesize TiO2 nanotubes by the anodization method and TiO2 nanowires and nanospheres by the chemical vapor deposition method. These scaffolds were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. In order to test the urologic applicability of generated TiO2 scaffolds, we seeded the normal porcine urothelial (NPU) cells on TiO2 nanotubes, TiO2 nanowires, TiO2 nanospheres, and on the standard porous membrane. The viability and growth of the cells were monitored everyday, and after 3 weeks of culturing, the analysis with scanning electron microscope (SEM) was performed. Our results showed that the NPU cells were attached on all scaffolds; they were viable and formed a multilayered epithelium, i.e., urothelium. The apical plasma membrane of the majority of superficial NPU cells, grown on all three different TiO2 scaffolds and on the porous membrane, exhibited microvilli; thus, indicating that they were at a similar differentiation stage. The maximal caliper diameter measurements of superficial NPU cells revealed significant alterations, with the largest cells being observed on nanowires and the smallest ones on the porous membrane. Our findings indicate that different nanostructured TiO2 scaffolds, especially nanowires, have a great potential for tissue engineering and should be further investigated for various urologic applications.
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| 10. |
- Imani, Roghayeh, et al.
(författare)
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Combined cytotoxic effect of UV-irradiation and TiO2 microbeads in normal urothelial cells, low-grade and high-grade urothelial cancer cells
- 2015
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Ingår i: Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1474-905X .- 1474-9092. ; 14:3, s. 583-590
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The differentiation of urothelial cells results in normal terminally differentiated cells or by alternative pathways in low-grade or high-grade urothelial carcinomas. Treatments with traditional surgical and chemotherapeutical approaches are still inadequate and expensive, as bladder tumours are generally highly recurrent. In such situations, alternative approaches, using irradiation of the cells and nanoparticles, are promising. The ways in which urothelial cells, at different differentiation levels, respond to UV-irradiation (photolytic treatment) or to the combination of UV-irradiation and nanoparticles (photocatalytic treatment), are unknown. Here we tested cytotoxicity of UV-irradiation on (i) normal porcine urothelial cells (NPU), (ii) human low-grade urothelial cancer cells (RT4), and (iii) human high-grade urothelial cancer cells (T24). The results have shown that 1 minute of UV-irradiation is enough to kill 90% of the cells in NPU and RT4 cultures, as determined by the live/dead viability assay. On the other hand, the majority of T24 cells survived 1 minute of UV-irradiation. Moreover, even a prolonged UV-irradiation for 30 minutes killed <50% of T24 cells. When T24 cells were pre-supplemented with mesoporous TiO2 microbeads and then UV-irradiated, the viability of these high-grade urothelial cancer cells was reduced to < 10%, which points to the highly efficient cytotoxic effects of TiO2 photocatalysis. Using electron microscopy, we confirmed that the mesoporous TiO2 microbeads were internalized into T24 cells, and that the cell's ultrastructure was heavily compromised after UV-irradiation. In conclusion, our results show major differences in the sensitivity to UV-irradiation among the urothelial cells with respect to cell differentiation. To achieve an increased cytotoxicity of urothelial cancer cells, the photocatalytic approach is recommended.
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