Enhancing Thermoelectric Properties of (Cu2Te)1-x-(BiCuTeO)x Composites by Optimizing Carrier Concentration.

Because of the high carrier concentration, copper telluride (Cu2Te) has a relatively low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity, which are not good for its thermoelectric performance. To simultaneously optimize carrier concentration, lower thermal conductivity and improve the stability, BiCuTeO, an oxygen containing compound with lower carrier concentration, is in situ formed in Cu2Te by a method of combining self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) with spark plasma sintering (SPS). With the incorporation of BiCuTeO, the carrier concentration decreased from 8.1 × 1020 to 3.8 × 1020 cm-3, bringing the increase of power factor from ~1.91 to ~2.97 µW cm-1 K-2 at normal temperature. At the same time, thermal conductivity reduced from 2.61 to 1.48 W m-1 K-1 at 623 K. Consequently, (Cu2Te)0.95-(BiCuTeO)0.05 composite sample reached a relatively high ZT value of 0.13 at 723 K, which is 41% higher than that of Cu2Te.

Carbon Quantum Dots Modified (002) Oriented Bi2O2CO3 Composites with Enhanced Photocatalytic Removal of Toluene in Air.

In work, (002) oriented flower-like Bi2O2CO3(BOC) composites are synthesized by a facile chemical route and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are modified on their surfaces through a hydrothermal method. The synthesized samples (CQD/BOC) are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffuser reflectances (DRS), BET and TEM/HRTEM. The morphologies of CQD/BOC composites are the flower-like shapes, the irregular flaky structures and the fine spherical particles of CQDs attached. Photocatalytic performances were investigated in terms of removing gaseous toluene at a concentration of 94.3ppm in air, with the assistance of CQD/BOC under artificial irradiation. Our results show that CQDs modified (002) oriented Bi2O2CO3 exhibits good photocatalytic activity for toluene decomposition, which can be attributed to the enhanced efficient charge separation. A certain ratio composite photocatalyst (BOC-CQD-15) shows a toluene removal rate of 96.62% in three hours, as well as great stability. CO2 was verified to be the primary product. The oriented flower-like Bi2O2CO3 with carbon quantum dots on the surface shows great potential in the field of solar driven air purification.

Bright and Color-Stable Blue-Light-Emitting Diodes based on Three-Dimensional Perovskite Polycrystalline Films via Morphology and Interface Engineering.

Substantial progress has been achieved in red and green perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, blue PeLEDs are still inferior in light-emitting efficiency and luminance compared with their green and red counterparts. Herein efficient blue PeLEDs simultaneously achieving high luminance and high color stability are fabricated based on the polycrystalline perovskites with a 3D Rb-Cs alloyed scaffold. The synergistic manipulation of an isopropanol antisolvent treatment and the PEDOT:PSS/blue perovskite interface modification with RbCl effectively improve the photoluminescence properties of the resultant blue polycrystalline 3D perovskite films and the final electroluminescence performance of the blue PeLEDs. The optimized blue PeLEDs show a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.66% with an emission peak at 484 nm and a full width at half-maximum of 18 nm as well as CIE coordinates of (0.08, 0.21). Moreover, the optimized blue PeLEDs not only show superior color stability under various luminances but also achieve high luminances. The obtained maximum luminance of 9243 cd m-2 is one of the highest values among the efficient and color-stable blue PeLEDs.

Tuning defects in oxides at room temperature by lithium reduction.

Defects can greatly influence the properties of oxide materials; however, facile defect engineering of oxides at room temperature remains challenging. The generation of defects in oxides is difficult to control by conventional chemical reduction methods that usually require high temperatures and are time consuming. Here, we develop a facile room-temperature lithium reduction strategy to implant defects into a series of oxide nanoparticles including titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin dioxide (SnO2), and cerium dioxide (CeO2). Our lithium reduction strategy shows advantages including all-room-temperature processing, controllability, time efficiency, versatility and scalability. As a potential application, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of defective TiO2 is examined. The hydrogen evolution rate increases up to 41.8 mmol g-1 h-1 under one solar light irradiation, which is ~3 times higher than that of the pristine nanoparticles. The strategy of tuning defect oxides used in this work may be beneficial for many other related applications.

Ultrathin two-dimensional metals with fully exposed (111) facets.

Large-size ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) metals with a fully exposed (111) surface have been synthesized by a heat-pressing process. As a result of the compact (111) surface arrangement, an ultrathin Pt 5 nm 2D metal exhibits a superior methanol electro-oxidation performance than an as-sputtered Pt 5 nm thin film (1.8, 2.2 and 5.0 times higher specific activity under different scanning cycles).