Polymer Dielectrics with Outstanding Dielectric Characteristics via Passivation with Oxygen Atoms through C-F Vacancy Carbonylation.

The development of advanced electrical equipment necessitates polymer dielectrics with a higher electric strength. Unfortunately, this bottleneck problem has yet to be solved because current material modification methods do not allow direct control of deep traps. Here, we propose a method for directly passivating deep traps. Measurements of nanoscale microregion charge characteristics and trap parameters reveal a significant reduction in the number of deep traps. The resulting polymer dielectric has an impressively high electrical strength, less surface charge accumulation, and a significantly increased flashover voltage and breakdown strength. In addition, the energy storage density is increased without sacrificing the charge-discharge efficiency. This reveals a new approach to increasing the energy storage density by reducing the trap energy levels at the electrode-dielectric interface. We further calculated and analyzed the microscopic physical mechanism of deep trap passivation based on density functional theory and characterized the contributions of orbital composition and orbital hybridization.

Self-assembled wide bandgap nanocoatings enabled outstanding dielectric characteristics in the sandwich-like structure polymer composites.

Polymer dielectrics are insulators or energy storage materials widely used in electrical and electronic devices. Polymer dielectrics are needed with outstanding dielectric characteristics than current technologies. In this study, the self-assembly of boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) was applied to form an inorganic-organic nanocoating on various common polymer dielectrics. It is inexpensive and easy to fabricate this thin coating on a large scale. The coating has a wide bandgap and thus can significantly improve the breakdown strength of polymer dielectrics. The charge characteristics and trapping parameters of nano-domains on the surfaces of polymer dielectrics were measured, and the coating had shallow trap levels. This facilitated the dissipation of surface charges and thus greatly increased the flashover voltage. The coating also effectively improved the temperature stability and dielectric constant of the polymer dielectric. This nanocoating shows potential as a method to effectively improve the dielectric characteristics of polymer dielectrics and outperform existing composite polymer dielectrics, which are crucial for large-scale applications in energy storage and power and electronic devices.

Insights Into to the KX (X = Cl, Br, I) Adsorption-Assisted Stabilization of CsPbI2 Br Surface.

Despite the excellent optoelectronic properties, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) still present significant challenges in terms of ambient stability. CsPbI2 Br, a member of all-inorganic perovskites, may respond to this challenge because of its inherent high stability against light, moisture, and heat, and therefore has gained tremendous attraction recently. However, the practical application of CsPbI2 Br is still impeded by the notorious phenomenon of photoinduced halide segregation. Herein, by applying first-principles calculations, the stability, electronic structure, defect properties, and ion-diffusion properties of the stoichiometric CsPbI2 Br (110) surface and that with the adsorption of KX (X = Cl, Br, I) are systematically investigated. It is found that the adsorbed KX can serve as an external substitute of the halogen vacancies on the surface, therefore inhibiting halogen segregation and improving the stability of the CsPbI2 Br surface. The KX can also eliminate deep-level defect states caused by antisites, thereby contributing to the promoted optoelectronic properties of CsPbI2 Br. The mechanistic understanding of surface passivation in this work can lay the foundation for the future design of CsPbI2 Br PSCs with optimized optoelectronic performance.

Green Emission Induced by Intrinsic Defects in All-Inorganic Perovskite CsPb2Br5.

All-inorganic perovskites with improved stability are expected to be better candidates for optoelectronics, compared to organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites. A new member of all-inorganic perovskites, CsPb2Br5, has attracted great attention for its promising applications in optoelectronic devices. However, the origins of the green emission in CsPb2Br5 have been actively debated. By using first-principles calculations, we find that CsPb and VBr are dominant intrinsic defects independent of the growth conditions within the stable region of CsPb2Br5. Interestingly, we suggest that individual intrinsic defects do not lead to the green emission of CsPb2Br5, while the donor-acceptor pair recombination of CsPb and VBr possibly does. Our findings provide new insights into the experimental controversy about the green emission and its origins in CsPb2Br5 from the perspective of intrinsic defects, which help to extend the application of CsPb2Br5 in optoelectronic devices.

Intrinsic Defect Physics in Indium-based Lead-free Halide Double Perovskites.

Lead-free halide double perovskites (HDPs) are expected to be promising photovoltaic (PV) materials beyond organic-inorganic halide perovskite, which is hindered by its structural instability and toxicity. The defect- and stability-related properties of HDPs are critical for the use of HDPs as important PV absorbers, yet their reliability is still unclear. Taking Cs2AgInBr6 as a representative, we have systemically investigated the defect properties of HDPs by theoretical calculations. First, we have determined the stable chemical potential regions to grow stoichiometric Cs2AgInBr6 without structural decomposition. Second, we reveal that Ag-rich and Br-poor are the ideal chemical potential conditions to grow n-type Cs2AgInBr6 with shallow defect levels. Third, we find the conductivity of Cs2AgInBr6 can change from good n-type, to poorer n-type, to intrinsic semiconducting depending on the growth conditions. Our studies provided important guidance for experiments to fabricate Pb-free perovskite-based solar cell devices with superior PV performances.

Self-healing properties of nanocrystalline materials: a first-principles analysis of the role of grain boundaries.

Understanding the self-healing mechanisms of defects in nanocrystalline materials is of particular importance for developing structural materials that can support the extended lifetime of components under extremely hostile conditions in nuclear reactors. Since grain boundaries are prevalent in nanocrystalline materials, they must affect, to some extent, the overall self-healing properties and the resultant mechanical responses. In the present work, first principles calculations are carried out to investigate the energetic landscape of point defects (i.e. self-interstitials, He-interstitials, and vacancies) induced by the irradiation damage and the kinetics of the self-healing process in the vicinity of grain boundaries (GBs) in copper, focusing on six symmetric tilt grain boundaries that vary in their energies. Our results indicate that the interaction of vacancies with the self-interstitial- and He-interstitial-loaded GBs is very sensitive to the GB character. Low-energy GBs are generally accompanied by a higher propensity for self-healing behavior, in which the inter-granular interstitials and intra-granular vacancies recombine with each other. The recombination process is proved to be regulated by two mechanisms: the interstitial emission mechanism and the vacancy mediated mechanism. For low-energy GBs, the former mechanism demonstrates its efficiency in describing the atomic motion, while for the high-energy ones, the latter turns out to be superior. With the aid of these mechanisms, we conclude that low-energy GBs are comparatively more radiation-resistant than the high-energy counterparts, which may shed light on the rational design of high-performance structural materials based on nanocrystalline alloys.