A significantly enhanced refractive index sensor with a maximum figure of merit (FOM*) value of about 1337 has been demonstrated based on a hybrid plasmonic–photonic absorberviautilizing substantial absorption contrast between a perfect absorber (∼99% at normal incidence) and a non-perfect absorber when there are changes in the surrounding.

One-process fabrication of highly active and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates via ion beam deposition is reported. The fabricated metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) hierarchical nanostructure possesses rich nanogaps and a tunable resonant cavity. Raman scattering signals of analytes are dramatically strengthened due to the strong near-field coupling of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) and the strong interaction of LSPRs of metal NPs with surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on the underlying metal film by crossing over the dielectric spacer. The maximum Raman enhancement for the highest Raman peak at 1650 cm(-1) is 13.5 times greater than that of a single metal nanoparticle (NP) array. Moreover, the SERS activity can be efficiently tailored by varying the size and number of voids between adjacent metal NPs and the thickness of the dielectric spacer. These findings may broaden the scope of SERS applications of MDM hierarchical nanostructures in biomedical and analytical chemistry.

Peer reviewed versionCyswllt i'r cyhoeddiad / Link to publication Dyfyniad o'r fersiwn a gyhoeddwyd / Citation for published version (APA): S. (2018). Enhancing photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells with silica nanosphere antireflection coatings. Solar Energy, 169, 128-135. A B S T R A C TOrganic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells have enormous potential to impact the existing photovoltaic industry. As realizing higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cell is still the most crucial task, a great number of schemes were proposed to minimize the carrier loss by optimizing the electrical properties of the perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, we focus on another significant aspect that is to minimize the light loss by using an antireflection coating (ARC) component to gain a high PCE for PSC devices. In our scheme, silica nanosphere based ARCs are employed to CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 PSCs for enhancing the device efficiency. SiO 2 nanosphere based ARCs were grown by spin-coating of an aged silica sol. The microstructure and the thickness of the SiO 2 nanosphere based ARC were controlled by changing the spin-coating speed from 400 to 4000 rpm. The effect of SiO 2 nanosphere based ARCs on the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells is systematically investigated. The optimized SiO 2 nanosphere ARC coating on cleaned glass substrate exhibited a maximum transmittance of 96.1% at λ = 550 nm wavelength, and averagely increased the transmittance by about 3.8% in a broadband of 400-800 nm. The optimized antireflection coating strongly suppressed broadband and wideangle reflectance in typical PSC solar cells, significantly enhancing the omnidirectional photovoltaic (PV) performance of PSCs. As a result, the power conversion efficiency was improved from 14.81% for reference device without SiO 2 nanospheres to 15.82% for the PSC device with the optimized ARC. Also, the PV performance of the PSC device with the optimized SiO 2 nanosphere ARC revealed less angular dependence for incident light.

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The production of construction projects is carbon-intensive and interrelated to multiple other industries that provide related materials and services. Thus, the calculations of carbon emissions are relatively complex, and the consideration of other factors becomes necessary, especially in China, which has a massive land area and regions with greatly uneven development. To improve the accuracy of the calculations and illustrate the impacts of the various factors at the provincial level in the construction industry, this study separated carbon emissions into two categories, the direct category and the indirect category. The features of carbon emissions in this industry across 30 provinces in China were analysed, and the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model was employed to decompose the major factors, including direct energy proportion, unit value energy consumption, value creation effect, indirect carbon intensity, and scale effect of output. It was concluded that carbon emissions increased, whereas carbon intensity decreased dramatically, and indirect emissions accounted for 90% to 95% of the total emissions from the majority of the provinces between 2005 and 2014. The carbon intensities were high in the underdeveloped western and central regions, especially in Shanxi, Inner-Mongolia and Qinghai, whereas they were low in the well-developed eastern and southern regions, represented by Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong. The value creation effect and indirect carbon intensity had significant negative effects on carbon emissions, whereas the scale effect of output was the primary factor creating emissions. The factors of direct energy proportion and unit value energy consumption had relatively limited, albeit varying, effects. Accordingly, this study reveals that the evolving trends of these factors vary in different provinces; therefore, overall, our research results and insights support government policy and decision maker’s decisions to minimize the carbon emissions in the construction industry.