A new approach by inserting a layer of ZnSe QDs was studied to enhance the adsorption of CdS/CdSe QDs resulting in much improved power conversion efficiency. ZnSe, CdS and CdSe QDs were sequentially assembled on a nanocrystalline TiO2 film to prepare a ZnSe/CdS/CdSe sensitized photoelectrode for QD-sensitized solar cell (QDSSC) applications. The results show that the performance of QDSSCs is strongly dependent on the order of the QDs with respect to TiO2. The pre-assembled ZnSe QD layer acts as a seed layer in the subsequent SILAR process, inducing both the nucleation and growth of CdS QDs, whereas CdS and CdSe QDs have a complementary effect in light harvesting. In the cascade structure of TiO2/ZnSe/CdS/CdSe electrode, a high efficiency of 4.94% and a long electron lifetime of 87.4 ms were achieved, which can be attributed to the following factors: the higher intensity and red shift of light absorption in 400-700 nm range increase the electron concentration in TiO2 substrate sensitized by ZnSe/CdS/CdSe compared to the others, which directly accelerate electron transport in TiO2 and their transfer to FTO glass; the re-organization of energy levels among ZnSe, CdS and CdSe forms a stepwise structure of band-edge levels, which is advantageous to the electron injection and hole recovery of QDs.

The temperature coefficient of permittivity (TC") of BaTiO 3 -Bi(Me)O 3 solid solutions were investigated. It was determined that as the tolerance factor was decreased with the addition of Bi(Me)O 3 , the TC" shifted from large negative values to TC" values approaching zero. It is proposed that the different bonding nature of the dopant cation affects the magnitude and temperature stability of the permittivity. This study suggests that the relationship between tolerance factor and TC" can be used as a guide to design new dielectric compounds exhibiting temperature-stable high permittivity characteristics, which is similar to past research on perovskite and pyrochlore-based microwave dielectrics.