Electric-field regulated crystallization process for enhanced performance of perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have received tremendous attention because of their advantages of low fabrication cost and rising power conversion efficiency (PCE). However, the poor crystalline quality of perovskite materials...

Implementation of 3D Printing Technology in the Food Industry

This project involves the implementation of 3D printing technology on designing and fabricating food holders in the food industry. Food holders are designed to hold the food packages in the filling line for food manufacturing industries that apply retort technology. Therefore, this study aims to implement the 3D printing technology in particular FDM to fabricate food holders for the food processing industry. The approach of using this technology is focused on giving more view on the capability of 3D printing technology, aiming at reducing the overall process fabrication cost and fabrication time. Hence, the fabrication cost and time between FDM and conventional machining methods were compared. This study revealed that Organic Gain food industry was able to reduce the cost and fabrication time for the food holder up to approximately 96.3% and 72% respectively. This project gives an insight into the ability of 3D printing technology in delivering the demands of the industry in producing parts as well as the adaptability of the technology to the industry in new product development. The project was carried out successfully and the 3D printed food holder has been tested and functions smoothly.

A Review on Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells

The tandem Solar cell has high power conversion efficiency (PCE), so they are taken as the next step in photovoltaic evolution. The tandem solar cell also overcome the limitations of Single-junction solar cells by reducing thermalization losses and also reduce the fabrication cost. The fabrication of tandem solar cells is highly efficient after the origination of halide perovskite absorber material, this material will shape the future of tandem solar cells. Researchers have already shown that this material can convert light more efficiently than standalone sub cell. Today, researchers around the world are keeping the configuration of a tandem solar cell as their agenda. A Tandem solar cell is a stacking of multiple layers having different bandgaps with specific maximum absorption and width. We reviewed perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells with different sub-module configurations. Move forward, we discuss the tandem module technology, sub cell of a tandem can be wired in several ways two terminals 2T monolithic and mechanically stacked, a four-terminal 4T mechanically stacked, and three-terminal 3T monolithic stack devices. This review paper provides a side-by-side comparison of theoretical efficiencies of multijunction solar cells. The highest efficiency has been evaluated at 39.4% for a three-level structure.

Investigation of Composite Structure with Dual Fabry–Perot Cavities for Temperature and Pressure Sensing

To deeply analyze the influence of diaphragm materials on the temperature and pressure sensitivity of Fabry–Perot interferometer-based dual-parameter fiber sensors, the multiple transfer method was used to fabricate the dual Fabry–Perot cavities, respectively, consisting of the following combinations: epoxy resin AB/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Ecoflex0030 silicone rubber /PDMS, and PDMS/Ecoflex0030 silicone rubber. Experimental results show that the temperature sensitivities are, respectively, 528, 540, and 1033 pm/°C in the range of 40–100 °C. Within the applied pressure range of 100–400 kPa, the pressure sensitivities are, respectively, 16.0, 34.6, and 30.2 pm/kPa. The proposed sensors have advantages of proper sensitivity, simple fabrication, cost-effectiveness, controllable cavity length, and suitability for practical sensing applications.

Secure Air Traffic Control at the Hub of Multiplexing on the Centrifugo-Pneumatic Lab-on-a-Disc Platform

Larger-scale integration (LSI) resides at the heart of comprehensive sample-to-answer automation and parallelisation of assay panels for frequent and ubiquitous bioanalytical testing in decentralised the point-of-use / point-of-care settings. With an emphasis on rotational, centrifugo-pneumatic flow control, this paper employs a virtual “digital twin” strategy, considering experimental tolerances, to efficiently design such “Lab-on-a-Disc” systems featuring high packing density, reliability, configurability, modularity, manufacturability, performance while minimizing development and fabrication cost.

ESD Design and Analysis by Drain Electrode-Embedded Horizontal Schottky Elements for HV nLDMOSs

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) events can severely damage miniature components. Therefore, ESD protection is critical in integrated circuits. In this study, drain-electrode-embedded horizontal Schottky diode contact modulation and Schottky length reduction modulation were performed on a high-voltage 60-V n-channel laterally diffused metal-oxide–semiconductor transistor (nLDMOS) element. The effect of the on-voltage characteristics of cascade Schottky diodes on ESD protection was investigated. By using a transmission-line pulse tester, the trigger voltage, holding voltage, and secondary breakdown current (It2) of the nLDMOS element were determined using the I–V characteristic. As the N+ area was gradually replaced by the parasitic Schottky area at the drain electrode, an equivalent circuit of series Schottky diodes formed, which increased the on-resistance. The larger the Schottky area was the higher the It2 value was. This characteristic can considerably improve the ESD immunity of nLDMOS components (highest improvement of 104%). This is a good strategy for improving ESD reliability without increasing the production steps and fabrication cost.

Formamide iodide: A new cation additive for inhibiting δ-phase formation of formamidinium lead iodide perovskite

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) employing organic-inorganic hybrid lead perovskite have attracted much attention as promising next generation solar cells because of their low fabrication cost and extremely high power conversion...

Highly sensitive, foldable and wearable pressure sensor based on MXene-coated airlaid paper for electronic skin

Electronic textiles (E-textile) have been receiving extensive attention in human motion detection, wearable electronics, and artificial intelligence. However, the fabrication cost and methodology are still key issues for the commercialization...

Broadband High-Efficiency Grating Couplers for Perfectly Vertical Fiber-to-Chip Coupling Enhanced by Fabry-Perot-like Cavity

We propose a broadband high-efficiency grating coupler for perfectly vertical fiber-to-chip coupling. The up-reflection is reduced, hence enhanced coupling efficiency is achieved with the help of a Fabry-Perot-like cavity composed of a silicon nitride reflector and the grating itself. With the theory of the Fabry-Perot cavity, the dimensional parameters of the coupler are investigated. With the optimized parameters, up-reflection in the C-band is reduced from 10.6% to 5%, resulting in an enhanced coupling efficiency of 80.3%, with a 1-dB bandwidth of 58 nm, which covers the entire C-band. The minimum feature size of the proposed structure is over 219 nm, which makes our design easy to fabricate through 248 nm deep-UV lithography, and lowers the fabrication cost. The proposed design has potential in efficient and fabrication-tolerant interfacing applications, between off-chip light sources and integrated chips that can be mass-produced.

Preparing Ambient-Processed Perovskite Solar Cells with Better Electronic Properties via Preheating Assisted One-Step Deposition Method

Although the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) increases rapidly, there are still some issues that limit their commercialization. The perovskite is sensitive to the water molecules, increasing the difficulty in the preparation of perovskite films in ambient condition. Most high-performance PSCs based on conventional method are required to be prepared in inert atmosphere condition, which increase the fabrication cost. To fabricate the high-quality perovskite in ambient condition, we preheated the substrates and selected the proper anti-solvent. As a result, the target perovskite films show a better crystallinity compared with perovskite film prepared via the conventional one-step deposition method in ambient condition. The PSCs prepared in ambient condition yield the improved PCE of 16.89% from a PCE of 11.59%. Compared with the reference devices, the performance stability of target PSCs is much better than that of reference PSCs.