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The determination of the order of precursor addition based on the HSAB theory in the synthesis of pure CuInTe2 particles.

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The influence of annealing on the microstructure, mechanical and sliding wear characteristics of Ni-based alloys produced by spark plasma sintering (SPS) was investigated. As-sintered alloys had a lamellar-like microstructure consisting of (γ')-FeNi3 and γ-(NiFe) phases, with the γ' precipitates interconnected by narrow channels of γ phases at the interfaces. Lower Co contents (i.e. 30, 35 wt%) led to the formations of poorly bonded coarse γ precipitate islands. Annealed Ni-5Fe-45Co alloy exhibited the most excellent wear performance with the lowest coefficients of friction (0.142±0.05) and wear rate (0.3±0.02×10−4 mm3/Nm). Annealing resulted in alloys with good strength-ductility combinations due to appreciable γ' precipitation enhancement.

It has been said that substitution of fullerenes with semiconductor nanocrystals in bulk heterojunction solar cells can potentially increase the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of these devices far beyond the 10% mark. However new semiconductor nanocrystals other than the potentially toxic CdSe and PbS are necessary. Herein we report on the synthesis of Cu2Se nanocrystals and their incorporation into polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) to form polymer nanocomposites for use as active layers in hybrid solar cells. Nearly monodispersed 4 nm Cu2Se nanocrystals were synthesized using the conventional colloidal synthesis. Varying weight % of these nanocrystals was added to PVK to form polymer nanocomposites. The 10% polymer nanocomposite showed retention of the properties of the pure polymer whilst the 50% resulted in a complete breakdown of the polymeric structure as evident from the FTIR, TGA, and SEM. The lack of transport channels in the 50% polymer nanocomposite solar cell resulted in a device with no photoresponse whilst the 10% polymer nanocomposite resulted in a device with an open circuit voltage of 0.50 V, a short circuit current of 7.34 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 22.28% resulting in a PCE of 1.02%.