Cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose nanofibers with I and II crystalline allomorphs (designated as CNC I, CNC II, CNF I, and CNF II) were isolated from bleached wood fibers by alkaline pretreatment and acid hydrolysis. The effects of concentration, particle size, surface charge, and crystal structure on the lyophilization-induced self-assembly of cellulose particles in aqueous suspensions were studied. Within the concentration range of 0.5 to 1.0 wt %, cellulose particles self-organized into lamellar structured foam composed of aligned membrane layers with widths between 0.5 and 3 μm. At 0.05 wt %, CNC I, CNF I, CNC II, and CNF II self-assembled into oriented ultrafine fibers with mean diameters of 0.57, 1.02, 1.50, and 1.00 μm, respectively. The size of self-assembled fibers became larger when more hydroxyl groups and fewer sulfates (weaker electrostatic repulsion) were on cellulose surfaces. Possible formation mechanism was inferred from ice growth and interaction between cellulose nanoparticles in liquid-crystalline suspensions.

Kesterite Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) thin-film solar cells have drawn worldwide attention because of outstanding performance and earth-abundant constituents. However, problems such as coexistence of complex secondary phases, the band tailing issue, short minority lifetime, bulk defects, and undesirable band alignment at p−n interfaces need to be addressed for further efficiency improvement. In this regard, Cd alloying shows promise for dealing with some of these problems. In this work, a beyond 11% efficient Cd-alloyed CZTS solar cell is achieved, and the effects of Cd-alloying and mechanism underpinning the performance improvement have been investigated. The introduction of Cd can significantly reduce the band tailing issue, which is confirmed by the reduction in the difference between the photoluminescence peak and optical band gap (E g ) as well as decreased Urbach energy. The microstructure, minority lifetime, and electrical properties of CZTS absorber are greatly improved by Cd alloying. Further XPS analyses show that the partial Cd alloying slightly reduces the band gap of CZTS via elevating the valence band maximum of CZTS. This suggests that there are opportunities for further efficiency improvement by engineering the absorber and the associated interface with the buffer.

Two-dimensional MoS2 nanosheets (NSs) with high active site density were designed for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) through a microdomain reaction method. The effect of the annealing temperature on the microstructure and the HER performance of MoS2 NSs was examined, and a plausible relation between the stack structures of the MoS2 catalysts and their HER performance was also explored. The MoS2 NS electrocatalyst obtained at 550 °C reveals the best HER performance with a relatively small Tafel slope of 68 mV/dec. Both the exposed surface area and active site density are very important for providing a large amount of active sites. The present work has been proved to be an efficient route to achieve a high active site density and a relatively large surface area, which might have potential use in photoelectrocatalytic water splitting.

Kesterite-based solar cells are attracting considerable attention in recent years, owing to the reduced toxicity and greater abundance of their constituent elements. In this brief review, we discuss the current status of this important technology by focusing on three key aspects of the device: (i) the interface between the kesterite absorber and the Mo back contact, (ii) the kesterite absorber bulk defects and grain boundaries and (iii) the interface between the kesterite absorber and the buffer layer. By identifying key issues to be addressed, we provide suggestions for their potential improvement and future research.