박종혁

The photocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar light is a potentially clean and renewable source for hydrogen fuel.(1,2) There has been extensive investigation into metal-oxide semiconductors such as TiO(2), WO(3), and Fe(2)O(3), which can be used as photoanodes in thin-film form.(3-5) Of the materials being developed for photoanodes, TiO(2) remains one of the most promising because of its low cost, chemical inertness, and photostability.(6) However, the widespread te

Golden solar cells: Several positive effects arise from the addition of truncated octahedral Au nanoparticles (ca. 70 nm diameter) to bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells fabricated from a variety of donor polymers and PC70BM as acceptor (see picture). At the optimized blend ratio of Au nanoparticles (5 wt %) in the active layer, the power conversion efficiency increased for all polymer/PC70BM systems under study.

The use of size-controlled Ag nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by a polyol process in the BHJ shows improved values of Jsc, FF, and the EQE. These results are due to an enhanced light absorption caused by the plasmonic field effect of Ag cluster from NPs and improved charge transport in the active layer. Ag clusters reduce the series resistance and induce an efficient charge transport system in the BHJ active layer.

Zn(II)–porphyrin sensitizers, coded as SGT‐020 and SGT‐021 , are designed and synthesized through donor structural engineering. The photovoltaic (PV) performances of SGT sensitizer‐based dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are systematically evaluated in a thorough SM315 as a reference sensitizer. The effect of the donor ability and the donor bulkiness on photovoltaic performances is investigated for establishing the structure–performance relationship in the platform of porphyrin‐triple bond‐benz

In the present work, we report a simple method of making glass-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with individual free-standing TiO2 nanotube arrays.

Alleviating charge recombination at the electrode/electrolyte interface by introducing an overlayer is considered an efficient approach to improve photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation. A WO3 overlayer with dual oxygen and tungsten vacancies was prepared by using a solution-based reducing agent, LEDA (lithium dissolved in ethylenediamine), which improved the PEC performance of the mesoporous WO3 photoanode dramatically. In comparison to the pristine samples, the interconnected WO3 nanoparti

In order to enhance energy density, a hybrid type pseudocapacitor/electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) was considered and its electrochemical properties were investigated. At various current densities, stable charge/discharge behaviors were observed with much higher specific capacitance values of 530 F/g compared with that of EDLC (230 F/g), by introducing as a cathode material. By using the modified cathode of a /activated carbon composite electrode, the specific capacitance was less sensitiv

Electrochemical characteristics of electrodes for supercapacitors built from /multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites have been investigated. Capacitances have been estimated by cyclic voltammetry at different scan rates from 5-50 mV/s. Electrostatic charge storage as well as pseudofaradaic reactions of nanoparticles have been affected by the surface functionality of CNTs due to the increased hydrophilicity. Such hydrophilicity enables easy access of the solvated ions to the electrode/e

The potential use of polymer light-emitting diodes is ultimately limited by their low quantum efficiency as well as by their poor stability due to oxygen. We report experiments on polymer light-emitting diodes made with poly(9,9'-dioctylfluorene)/gold nanocomposites to solve these drawbacks. Blue polymer light-emitting diodes with enhanced luminescent stability were obtained by incorporating 5−10-nm gold nanoparticles as the quenchers of the triplet states of blue emitting polymer. The nanocompo

We prepared vertically aligned nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a rigid glass substrate or flexible plastic substrate via a 'growth-detachment-transfer' process and the vertically aligned N-doped CNT arrays are employed as counter electrodes for novel dye-sensitized solar cells.

Here for the first time, we demonstrate novel DSSCs with a Pt- and TCO-free counter electrode, which have a highly conductive polymer exhibiting high catalytic ability and charge transport, and the photovoltaic performance increases as we increase the PEDOT film conductivity.

Abstract Commercialized lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) with a liquid electrolyte have a high potential for combustion or explosion. The use of solid electrolytes in LIBs is a promising way to overcome the drawbacks of conventional liquid electrolyte‐based systems, but they generally have a lower ionic conductivity and lithium ion mobility. Here, a UV‐crosslinked composite polymer‐clay electrolyte (U‐CPCE) that is composed of a durable semi‐interpenetrating polymer network (semi‐IPN) ion transporti

Methane is an important fossil fuel and widely available on the earth's crust. It is a greenhouse gas that has more severe warming effect than CO₂. Unfortunately, the emission of methane into the atmosphere has long been ignored and considered as a trivial matter. Therefore, emphatic effort must be put into decreasing the concentration of methane in the atmosphere of the earth. At the same time, the conversion of less valuable methane into value-added chemicals is of significant impor