Luminescent Amorphous Silicon Oxynitride Systems: High Quantum Efficiencies in the Visible Range.

In recent years, researchers have placed great importance on the use of silicon (Si)-related materials as efficient light sources for the purpose of realizing Si-based monolithic optoelectronic integration. Previous works were mostly focused on Si nanostructured materials, and, so far, exciting results from Si-based compounds are still lacking. In this paper, we have systematically demonstrated the high photoluminescence external quantum efficiency (PL EQE) and internal quantum efficiency (PL IQE) of amorphous silicon oxynitride (a-SiNxOy) systems. Within an integration sphere, we directly measured the PL EQE values of a-SiNxOy, which ranged from approximately 2% to 10% in the visible range at room temperature. Then, we calculated the related PL IQE through temperature-dependent PL measurements. The obtained PL IQE values (~84% at 480 nm emission peak wavelength) were very high compared with those of reported Si-based luminescent thin films. We also calculated the temperature-dependent PL EQE values of a-SiNxOy systems, and discussed the related PL mechanisms.

A comparative study of interfacial thermal conductance between metal and semiconductor.

To understand and control thermal conductance of interface between metal and semiconductor has now become a crucial task for the thermal design and management of nano-electronic and micro-electronic devices. The interfacial alignments and electronic characteristics of the interfaces between metal and semiconductor are studied using a first-principles calculation based on hybrid density functional theory. The thermal conductance of interfaces between metal and semiconductor were calculated and analyzed using diffuse mismatch model, acoustic mismatch model and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics methods. Especially, according to nonequilibrium molecular dynamics, the values of thermal conductance were obtained to be 32.55 MW m-2 K-1 and 341.87 MW m-2 K-1 at C-Cu and Si-Cu interfaces, respectively. These results of theoretical simulation calculations are basically consistent with the current experimental data, which indicates that phonon-phonon interaction play a more important role than electron-phonon interaction during heat transport. It may be effective way to improve the interfacial thermal conductance through enhancing the interface coupling strength at the metal-semiconductor interface because the strong interfacial scattering plays a role in suppressing in the weaker interface coupling heterostructure, leading to the lower thermal conductance of interfaces. This could provide a beneficial reference for the design of the Schottky diode and thermal management at the interfaces between metal and semiconductor.

Performance improvement in flexible polymer solar cells based on modified silver nanowire electrode.

In this work, an efficient flexible polymer solar cell was achieved by controlling the UV-ozone treatment time of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) used in the electrode and combined with other modification materials. Through optimizing the time of UV-ozone treatment, it is shown that Ag NWs electrode treated by UV-ozone for 10 s improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device based on the blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT): [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) from 0.76% to 1.34%. After treatment by UV-ozone, Ag NWs electrodes exhibit several promising characteristics, including high optical transparency, low sheet resistance and superior surface work function. As a consequence, the performance of devices utilizing 10 s UV-ozone-treated Ag NWs with PEDOT: PSS or MoO3 as composite anode showed higher PCEs of 2.77% (2.73%) compared with that for Ag NW electrodes without UV-ozone treatment. In addition, a PCE of 5.97% in flexible polymer solar cells based on poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b0]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl](PBDTTT-EFT):[6, 6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as a photoactive layer was obtained.

Copper Mesh Templated by Breath-Figure Polymer Films as Flexible Transparent Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaic Devices.

UNLABELLED: Metal mesh is a significant candidate of flexible transparent electrodes to substitute the current state-of-the-art material indium tin oxide (ITO) for future flexible electronics. However, there remains a challenge to fabricate metal mesh with order patterns by a bottom-up approach. In this work, high-quality Cu mesh transparent electrodes with ordered pore arrays are prepared by using breath-figure polymer films as template. The optimal Cu mesh films present a sheet resistance of 28.7 Ω·sq(-1) at a transparency of 83.5%. The work function of Cu mesh electrode is tuned from 4.6 to 5.1 eV by Ag deposition and the following short-time UV-ozone treatment, matching well with the PEDOT: PSS (5.2 eV) hole extraction layer. The modified Cu mesh electrodes show remarkable potential as a substitute of ITO/PET in the flexible OPV and OLED devices. The OPV cells constructed on our Cu mesh electrodes present a similar power conversion efficiency of 2.04% as those on ITO/PET electrodes. The flexible OLED prototype devices can achieve a brightness of 10 000 cd at an operation voltage of 8 V.