A hybrid colloidal ZnS nanoparticles/Si nanotips p-n active layer has been demonstrated to have promising potential for efficient solar spectrum utilization in crystalline silicon-based solar cells. The hybrid solar cell shows an enhancement of 20% in the short-circuit current and approximately 10% in power conversion efficiency compared to its counterpart without integrating ZnS nanoparticles. The enhancement has been investigated by external quantum efficiency, photoluminescence excitation spectrum, photoluminescence, and reflectance to distinct the role of ZnS quantum dots for light harvesting. It is concluded that ZnS nanoparticles not only act as frequency downconversion centers in the ultraviolet region but also serve as antireflection coating for light trapping in the measured spectral regime. Our approach is ready to be extended to many other material systems for the creation of highly efficient photovoltaic devices.

BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated functional and structural temporal lobe abnormalities located close to the auditory cortical regions in schizophrenia. The goal of this study was to determine whether functional abnormalities exist in the cortical processing of musical sound in schizophrenia.MethodsTwelve schizophrenic patients and twelve age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited, and participants listened to a random sequence of two kinds of sonic entities, intervals (tritones and perfect fifths) and chords (atonal chords, diminished chords, and major triads), of varying degrees of complexity and consonance. The perception of musical sound was investigated by the auditory evoked potentials technique.ResultsOur results showed that schizophrenic patients exhibited significant reductions in the amplitudes of the N1 and P2 components elicited by musical stimuli, to which consonant sounds contributed more significantly than dissonant sounds. Schizophrenic patients could not perceive the dissimilarity between interval and chord stimuli based on the evoked potentials responses as compared with the healthy controls.ConclusionThis study provided electrophysiological evidence of functional abnormalities in the cortical processing of sound complexity and music consonance in schizophrenia. The preliminary findings warrant further investigations for the underlying mechanisms.

Due to inherent advantages of both constituent materials, organic/inorganic hybrid composites have attracted increasing attention. One of the fundamental issues needed to be resolved is their band alignment, which governs most of the electrical and optical properties. Here, we report the investigation of optical transition in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/CdSe nano-composites (NCs). It is found that the relaxation dynamics of photo-carriers in NCs is dominated by charge separation effects. Based on the band bending effect and the quantum confinement energy of electrons in the conduction band of CdSe quantum dots, we provide direct evidence of type II band alignment in P3HT/CdSe NCs. The establishment of a type II transition in NCs is very useful for the future design of efficient optoelectronic devices based on conjugated polymer/semiconductor hybrid systems.

A simple approach for field emission enhancement, based on the decoration of nanoparticles on the surface of nanostructures, is reported. To illustrate our working principle, we demonstrate that the field emission performance of ZnO nanorods can be greatly enhanced by decorating ZnO nanoparticles. It is found that the field enhancement factor β can be enhanced from 1488 to 3485 and the turn-on electric field (the electric field at which the current density reaches 10 μA/cm2) can be reduced from 4.98 to 1.84 V/μm. The underlying mechanisms were attributed to the combined effects of both surface passivation and electric potential gradient generated by nanoparticles. Our approach shown here should be very useful for the development of highly efficient field emitters.