Performance Enhancement of Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes by Using Ultrathin Fluorinated Polyimide Modifying the Surface of Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):Poly(styrenesulfonate)

Herein, an insulating fluorinated polyimide (F-PI) is utilized as an ultrathin buffer layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) in polymer light-emitting diodes to enhance the device performance. The selective solubility of F-PI in common solvents avoids typical intermixing interfacial problems during the sequential multilayer spin-coating process. Compared to the control device, the F-PI modification causes the luminous and power efficiencies of the devices to be increased by a factor of 1.1 and 4.7, respectively, along with almost 3-fold device lifetime enhancement. Photovoltaic measurement, single-hole devices, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, are utilized to investigate the underlying, mechanisms, and it is found that the hole injection barrier is lowered owing to the interactions between the PEDOT:PSS and F-PI. The F-PI modified PEDOT:PSS layer demonstrates step-up ionization potential profiles from the intrinsic bulk PEDOT:PSS side toward the F-PI-modified PEDOT:PSS surface, which facilitate the hole injection.

Solvent-vapor treatment induced performance enhancement of poly(3-hexylthiophene): methanofullerene bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic cells

The authors report enhanced poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):methanofullerene (PCBM) bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic cells via 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB) vapor treatment and thermal annealing. DCB vapor treatment can induce P3HT self-organizing into ordered structure leading to enhanced absorption and high hole mobility. Further annealing the device at a high temperature, PCBM molecules begin to diffuse into aggregates and together with the ordered P3HT phase form bicontinuous pathways in the entire layer for efficient charge separation and transport. Compared to the control device that is merely annealed, optical absorption, short-circuit current, and power conversion efficiency are increased for the DCB vapor-treated cell.

Enhancement of the catalytic performance of supported-metal catalysts by pretreatment of the support

We report an interesting finding that the catalytic performance of supported Ag/SiO2 catalysts toward selective catalytic oxidation of CO in hydrogen at low temperatures can be greatly enhanced by pretreatment of the SiO2 support before catalyst preparation. Calcination of SiO2 at appropriate temperatures preferentially removes the H-bonded SiOH, which results in the highly dispersive Ag/SiO2 catalyst and thus improves the catalytic performance. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of external electron-beam enhancement of the Penning ionization gauge ion source

To study the injection of additional electrons from an external electron gun into the plasma of a Penning ionization gauge (PIG) ion source, a test bench for the external electron-beam enhancement of the PIG (E-PIG) ion source was set up. A source magnet assembly was built to satisfy the request for magnetic field configuration of the E-PIG ion source. Numerical calculations have been done to optimize the magnetic field configuration so as to fit the primary electrons to be fed into the PIG discharge chamber along the spreading magnetic field lines. Many possible methods for improving the performance and stability of the PIG ion source have been used in the E-PIG ion source, including the use of multicrystal LaB6 cathode and optimized axial magnetic field. This article presents a detailed design of the E-PIG ion source. Substantial enhancement of ion charge state is expected to be observed which demonstrates that the E-PIG is a viable alternative to other much more costly and difficult to operate devices for the production of intense ion beams of higher charge state.

Enhancement of stability of polymer light-emitting diodes by post annealing

We investigate the effect of thermal annealing before and after cathode deposition on the stability of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on green fluorescent polyfluorene derivative. The annealed PLEDs exhibit improved charge transport and red-shift emission compared to the as-fabricated device. The stability of the PLEDs is largely enhanced by post-annealing before and after Ca deposition, which is attributed to the enhanced charge transport and the intimate contact between the cathode and the emissive layer.

Enhancement of the electrooxidation of ethanol on Pt-Sn-P/C catalysts prepared by chemical deposition process

In this paper, five Pt3Sn1/C catalysts have been prepared using three different methods. It was found that phosphorus deposited on the surface of carbon with Pt and Sn when sodium hypophosphite was used as reducing agent by optimization of synthetic conditions such as pH in the synthetic solution and temperature. The deposition of phosphorus should be effective on the size reduction and markedly reduces PtSn nanoparticle size, and raise electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst and improve the catalytic performance. TEM images show PtSnP nanoparticles are highly dispersed on the carbon surface with average diameters of 2 nm. The optimum composition is Pt3Sn1P2/C (note PtSn/C-3) catalyst in my work. With this composition, it shows very high activity for the electrooxidation of ethanol and exhibit enhanced performance compared with other two Pt3Sn1/C catalysts that prepared using ethylene glycol reduction method (note PtSn/C-EG) and borohydride reduction method (note PtSn/-B). The maximum power densities of direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) were 61 mW cm(-2) that is 150 and 170% higher than that of the PtSn/C-EG and PtSn/C-B catalyst.

Enhancement of ultrafast four-wave mixing in a polar molecule medium

We investigate the ultrafast four-wave mixing (FWM) with two-color few-cycle ultrashort pulses propagating in a two-level polar molecule medium. It is found that the enhancement of FWM can be achieved even for low intensity pulses due to the effects of permanent dipole moments (PDM) in polar molecules. Moreover, the conversion efficiency of FWM can be controlled by the carrier-envelope phases (CEP) of two ultrashort pulses. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America

Enhancement of four-wave mixing induced by interacting dark resonances

We analyse a four-wave mixing (FWM) scheme in a five-level atomic system in which double-dark resonances are present. It is found that the enhancement of FWM in both electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) windows can be obtained even without the condition of multiphoton resonance. Moreover, the conversion efficiency of FWM in one EIT window can be much larger than that in the other due to the presence of interacting dark resonances.

Enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity with vanishing absorption in a tripod scheme

The giant enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity in a four-level tripod type system is investigated theoretically. By tuning the value of the Rabi frequency of the coherent control field, owing to the double dark resonances, the giant-enhanced Kerr nonlinearity can be achieved within the right transparency window. The in fluence of Doppler broadening is also discussed.

Coherent enhancement of broadband frequency up-conversion in BBO crystal by shaping femtosecond laser pulses

An optimal feedback control of broadband frequency up-conversion in BBO crystal is experimentally demonstrated by shaping femto-second laser pulses based on genetic algorithm, and the frequency up-conversion efficiency can be enhanced by similar to 16%. SPIDER results show that the optimal laser pulses have shorter pulse-width with the little negative chirp than the original pulse with the little positive chirp. By modulating the fundamental spectral phase with periodic square distribution on SLM-256, the frequency up-conversion can be effectively controlled by the factor of about 17%. The experimental results indicate that the broadband frequency up-conversion efficiency is related to both of second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG), where the former depends on the fundamental pulse intensity, and the latter depends on not only the fundamental pulse intensity but also the fundamental pulse spectral phase. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Temporal confinement and enhancement of high-order harmonic emission with a synthesized laser field

We demonstrated that a synthesized laser field consisting of an intense long (45 fs, multi-optical-cycle) laser pulse and a weak short (7 fs, few-optical-cycle) laser pulse can control the electron dynamics and high-order harmonic generation in argon, and generate extreme ultraviolet supercontinuum towards the production of a single strong attosecond pulse. The long pulse offers a large amplitude field, and the short pulse creates a temporally narrow enhancement of the laser field and a gate for the highest energy harmonic emission. This scheme paves the way to generate intense isolated attosecond pulses with strong multi-optical-cycle laser pulses.

Enhancement of three-photon absorption cross-sections in a novel class of symmetrical charge transfer fluorene-based molecules

The three-photon absorption effect (3PA) of two novel symmetrical charge transfer fluorene-based molecules (abbreviated as BASF and BMOSF) has been determined by using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pumped with 38 ps pulses at 1064 nm in DMF. The measured 3PA cross-sections are 84 x 10(-78) and 114 x 10(-78) cm(6) s(2), respectively. The geometries and electronic excitations of these two molecules are systematically studied by PM3 and ZINDO/S methods. The relationships between 3PA cross-sections and intramolecular charge transfer are discussed micromechanically. The experimental and theoretical results have shown that the larger intramolecular charge transfer, which was characterized by the charge density difference between the ground state (SO) and the first excited state (S-I), the greater enhancement of the 3PA cross-sections. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spectroscopic properties of neodymium doped high silica glass and aluminum codoping effects on the enhancement of fluorescence emission

Nd3+ -codoped and Al3+-Nd3+-codoped high silica glasses have been prepared by sintering nanoporous glasses impregnated with Nd3+ stop and Al3+ ions. The Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters Omega(2,4,6) of Nd3+-doped high silica glasses were obtained and used to analyze aluminum codoping effects. Fluorescence properties of Nd3+-doped high silica glasses strongly depend on the Al3+ concentration. While Nd3+ ion absorption and emission intensities of obviously increase when aluminum is added to Nd3+-doped high silica glasses, fluorescence lifetimes decrease and aluminum codoping has almost no influence on the radiative quantum efficiencies. This indicates that aluminum codoping is responsible for an anti-quenching effect through a local modification of rare-earth environments rather than through physical cluster dispersion.

Enhancement of ferromagnetic properties in In1.99Co0.01O3 by additional Cu doping

This paper reports room-temperature ferromagnetism in Co- and Cu-doped In2O3 samples synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. Structure and composition analyses revealed that Co and Cu were incorporated into the In2O3 lattices. Photoluminescence measurement revealed an additional emission at 520 urn from these doped samples. The magnetic measurement showed that additional Cu doping greatly enhanced the ferromagnetism of In1.99Co0.01O3 bulk samples. The implication of the effects of additional Cu doping is also discussed. (c) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.