Effects on Metallization of n+-Poly-Si Layer for N-Type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact Solar Cells.

Thin polysilicon (poly-Si)-based passivating contacts can reduce parasitic absorption and the cost of n-TOPCon solar cells. Herein, n+-poly-Si layers with thicknesses of 30~100 nm were fabricated by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) to create passivating contacts. We investigated the effect of n+-poly-Si layer thickness on the microstructure of the metallization contact formation, passivation, and electronic performance of n-TOPCon solar cells. The thickness of the poly-Si layer significantly affected the passivation of metallization-induced recombination under the metal contact (J0,metal) and the contact resistivity (ρc) of the cells. However, it had a minimal impact on the short-circuit current density (Jsc), which was primarily associated with corroded silver (Ag) at depths of the n+-poly-Si layer exceeding 40 nm. We introduced a thin n+-poly-Si layer with a thickness of 70 nm and a surface concentration of 5 × 1020 atoms/cm3. This layer can meet the requirements for low J0,metal and ρc values, leading to an increase in conversion efficiency of 25.65%. This optimized process of depositing a phosphorus-doped poly-Si layer can be commercially applied in photovoltaics to reduce processing times and lower costs.

Novel self-setting cements based on tricalcium silicate/(ß-tricalcium phosphate/monocalcium phosphate anhydrous)/hydroxypropyl methylcellulose: From hydration mechanism to biological evaluations.

Despite the clinical success of tricalcium silicate (TCS)-based materials in endodontics, the inferior handling characteristic, poor anti-washout property and slow setting kinetics hindered their wider applications. To solve these problems, an injectable fast-setting TCS/ß-tricalcium phosphate/monocalcium phosphate anhydrous (ß-TCP/MCPA) cement was developed for the first time by incorporation of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and ß-TCP/MCPA. The physical-chemical characterization (setting time, anti-washout property, injectability, compressive strength, apatite mineralization and sealing property) of TCS/(ß-TCP/MCPA) were conducted. Its hydration mechanism was also investigated. Furthermore, the cytocompatibility and osteogenic/odontogenic differentiation of stem cells isolated from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) treated with TCS/ß-TCP/MCPA were studied. The results showed that HPMC could provide TCS with good anti-washout ability and injectability but slow hydration process. However, ß-TCP/MCPA effectively enhanced anti-washout characteristics and reduced setting time due to faster hydration kinetics. TCS/(ß-TCP/MCPA) obtained around 90 % of injection rate and high compressive strength whereas excessive additions of ß-TCP/MCPA compromised its injectability and compressive strength. TCS/(ß-TCP/MCPA) can induce apatite deposition and form a tight marginal sealing at the dentin-cement interface. Additionally, TCS/(ß-TCP/MCPA) showed good biocompatibility and promoted osteo/odontogenic differentiation of SHED. In general, our results indicated that TCS/(ß-TCP/MCPA) may be particularly promising as an injectable bioactive cements for endodontic treatment.

Effect of Multi-Path Asynchronous Rolling Process on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of ZK60 Magnesium Alloy.

At the initial rolling temperature of 400 °C, ZK60 magnesium alloy was hot rolled by three different rolling paths with different roll speed ratios (RSR) of 1:1.15, 1:1.2, and 1:1.5, respectively. The effects of different rolling processes on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy were studied. The microstructure, plasticity, strength, hardness, and texture intensity of rolled samples were analyzed in this work. The results show that the microstructure uniformity of the alloy under multi-path asynchronous rolling (MAR) is significantly improved, which improves the mechanical properties of the material to a certain extent, and effectively weakens the texture intensity of the basal plane and reduces the anisotropy. The amount of randomly oriented grains of ZK60 magnesium alloy rolled by the C-1.5 (path C combined with the RSR of 1:1.5) process are significantly increased, which significantly weakens the basal texture and improves the ductility of the alloy, greatly enhancing the processing and formability of ZK60 magnesium alloy.

Model transfer from 2D to 3D study for boxing pose estimation.

Introduction: Boxing as a sport is growing on Chinese campuses, resulting in a coaching shortage. The human pose estimation technology can be employed to estimate boxing poses and teach interns to relieve the shortage. Currently, 3D cameras can provide more depth information than 2D cameras. It can potentially improve the estimation. However, the input channels are inconsistent between 2D and 3D images, and there is a lack of detailed analysis about the key point location, which indicates the network design for improving the human pose estimation technology. Method: Therefore, a model transfer with channel patching was implemented to solve the problems of channel inconsistency. The differences between the key points were analyzed. Three popular and highly structured 2D models of OpenPose (OP), stacked Hourglass (HG), and High Resolution (HR) networks were employed. Ways of reusing RGB channels were investigated to fill up the depth channel. Then, their performances were investigated to find out the limitations of each network structure. Results and discussion: The results show that model transfer learning by the mean way of RGB channels patching the lacking channel can improve the average accuracies of pose key points from 1 to 20% than without transfer. 3D accuracies are 0.3 to 0.5% higher than 2D baselines. The stacked structure of the network shows better on hip and knee points than the parallel structure, although the parallel design shows much better on the residue points. As a result, the model transfer can practically fulfill boxing pose estimation from 2D to 3D.

Efficiency Improvement of Industrial Silicon Solar Cells by the POCl3 Diffusion Process.

To improve the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar cells, process optimization is a key technology in the photovoltaic industry. Despite the efficiency of this technique to be reproducible, economic, and simple, it presents a major inconvenience to have a heavily doped region near the surface which induces a high minority carrier recombination. To limit this effect, an optimization of diffused phosphorous profiles is required. A "low-high-low" temperature step of the POCl3 diffusion process was developed to improve the efficiency of industrial-type polycrystalline silicon solar cells. The low surface concentration of phosphorus doping of 4.54 × 1020 atoms/cm3 and junction depth of 0.31 µm at a dopant concentration of N = 1017 atoms/cm3 were obtained. The open-circuit voltage and fill factor of solar cells increased up to 1 mV and 0.30%, compared with the online low-temperature diffusion process, respectively. The efficiency of solar cells and the power of PV cells were increased by 0.1% and 1 W, respectively. This POCl3 diffusion process effectively improved the overall efficiency of industrial-type polycrystalline silicon solar cells in this solar field.

Incorporation of Al2O3, GO, and Al2O3@GO nanoparticles into water-borne epoxy coatings: abrasion and corrosion resistance.

Nano-Al2O3 particles and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were modified by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH550), and then dispersed in epoxy resin, and finally modified-Al2O3/epoxy, modified-GO/epoxy and modified-Al2O3@GO/epoxy composite coatings were prepared on steel sheets by the scraping stick method. The microstructure, phase identification, surface bonding and composition of the nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The hardness of the coating was assessed by the pencil hardness method. The abrasion resistance of the coating was tested by a sand washing machine. The corrosion resistance of the coating was assessed using salt spray, a long-period immersion test, potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectra. With the addition of a small amount of nanoparticles, the dispersion of nanoparticles in the epoxy resin was good. When the content of nano-Al2O3 particles was equal to 1.5 wt%, the particles in the epoxy exhibited the best dispersion and stability. However, the GO and Al2O3@GO nanofillers in the epoxy resin exhibited poor dispersion and stability. The hardness, abrasion and corrosion resistance of the composite coatings were improved with the addition of a small amount of nanoparticles, but the performance began to decline after exceeding a certain content range of the nanoparticles. A relatively good abrasion resistance for the coatings was obtained when the content of Al2O3, GO and Al2O3@GO after modification was 1.5 wt%, 0.2 wt% and 0.4 wt%, respectively. The corrosion resistance of the coatings doped with nano-Al2O3 particles was better than that of the coatings incorporating GO nanosheets and Al2O3@GO hybrids. The corrosion mechanism of the composite coatings in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution was addressed and studied.

Nanocrystals: The Preparation, Precise Control and Application Toward the Pharmaceutics and Food Industry.

Crystallization is a significant process employed to produce a wide variety of materials in pharmaceutical and food area. The control of crystal dimension, crystallinity, and shape is very important because they will affect the subsequent filtration, drying and grinding performance as well as the physical and chemical properties of the material. This review summarizes the special features of crystallization technology and the preparation methods of nanocrystals, and discusses analytical technology which is used to control crystal quality and performance. The crystallization technology applications in pharmaceutics and foods are also outlined. These illustrated examples further help us to gain a better understanding of the crystallization technology for pharmaceutics and foods.