Undersökning av dopning i organiska dioder och solceller

Organiska solceller har gjort stora framsteg med avseende på effektivitet och stabilitet under det senaste årtiondet. Oavsiktlig dopning är ett ofta förekommande fenomen i organiska halvledare. Orenheter och defekter i halvledarmaterialet kan ge upphov till dopning. Dessutom kan organiska halvledare dopas över tid då de kommer i kontakt med syre eller fukt. I takt med att andra egenskaper optimeras och effektiviteten stiger blir dopningen en allt viktigare förlustprocess att ta i beaktande i organiska solceller. Målet med detta arbete har varit att bättre förstå dopningens inverkan på organiska dioder och solceller. Tanken var att med hjälp av två olika dopningsmolekyler åstadkomma avsiktlig dopning och på så sätt kontrollerat undersöka och skapa en bättre förståelse av hur dopningen påverkar egenskaperna hos organiska halvledare i dioder och solceller. För att undersöka dopningen har en mätmetod som baserar sig på laddningsextraktion med hjälp av en linjärt ökande spänning, kallad CELIV, använts. Teorin för mätmetoden har utvecklats för att analysera godtyckliga dopningsprofiler och för att ta i beaktande dopningsprofilen vid bestämning av mobiliteten. Metoden har, genom de experiment som utförts, bekräftats fungera väl för undersökning av dopning i organiska tunnfilmsdioder. De två dopningsmolekyler som använts har testats framgångsrikt för dopning av polymererna P3HT och PBTTT. Under arbetets gång kunde en viktig orsak till oavsiktlig dopning identifieras. Som selektivt håltransportlager vid anoden är molybdentrioxid ett av de mest använda materialen. I detta arbete visas att molekyler från ett tunt lager av molybdentrioxid diffunderar in i halvledarlagret och orsakar dopning. Dopningen i P3HT:PCBM till följd av ett molybdentrioxidlager är så hög att även tunna solceller, kring 100 nm, kommer att påverkas negativt på grund av ökad rekombination. Dopningen till följd av diffusion av molybdentrioxid är ett resultat som visar på ett behov att hitta nya alternativa material för håltransport. Ett alternativ kunde vara att använda kraftigt dopade organiska halvledare. För detta ändamål kan den avsiktliga dopning som här testats vara relevant. De experimentella resultat som ingår i denna avhandling bekräftar att CELIV-metoden lämpar sig väl för att mäta dopningskoncentration och dopningsprofiler i organiska dioder samtidigt som man kan erhålla information om laddningstransporten i halvledarlagret.

Predicting the concentration of residual methanol in industrial formalin using machine learning

In this thesis, a machine learning approach was used to develop a predictive model for residual methanol concentration in industrial formalin produced at the Akzo Nobel factory in Kristinehamn, Sweden. The MATLABTM computational environment supplemented with the Statistics and Machine LearningTM toolbox from the MathWorks were used to test various machine learning algorithms on the formalin production data from Akzo Nobel. As a result, the Gaussian Process Regression algorithm was found to provide the best results and was used to create the predictive model. The model was compiled to a stand-alone application with a graphical user interface using the MATLAB CompilerTM.

Bland rutschbanebrallor och halkiga stockar : En studie om hur förskollärare tillsammans med barnen arbetar utomhus med fysikaliska begrepp som återkommer i läroplanen för åk 1-3.

The purpose of this study was to find out if preschool teachers use physical concepts included in thecurriculum for grade 1-3 (gravity, center of gravity, equilibrium, balance and friction) with the children in the outdoor environment at the preschool, if preschool teachers believe it is concepts that works to use with children in preschool outdoor environment and if the work could be developed regarding these physical concepts. To conduct the study, observations were done of preschool yards and semi-structured interviewswere conducted with preschool teachers who work in preschool right now. The result shows that it requires little resources to work with these concepts outdoors and teachers are positive to use the concepts but they do not use it to the extent they would like for a variety of reasons. In various ways, the preschool teachers also expresses that it is possible for children to absorb the physical concepts at preschool and it would help to later build a foundation in the form of childrens thinking that science is something fun and exciting that belong in their everyday lives.

Initiation and early crack growth in VHCF of stainless steels : Experimental and theoretical analysis

Mechanical fatigue is a failure phenomenon that occurs due to repeated application of mechanical loads. Very High Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) is considered as the domain of fatigue life greater than 10 million load cycles. Increasing numbers of structural components have service life in the VHCF regime, for instance in automotive and high speed train transportation, gas turbine disks, and components of paper production machinery. Safe and reliable operation of these components depends on the knowledge of their VHCF properties. In this thesis both experimental tools and theoretical modelling were utilized to develop better understanding of the VHCF phenomena. In the experimental part, ultrasonic fatigue testing at 20 kHz of cold rolled and hot rolled stainless steel grades was conducted and fatigue strengths in the VHCF regime were obtained. The mechanisms for fatigue crack initiation and short crack growth were investigated using electron microscopes. For the cold rolled stainless steels crack initiation and early growth occurred through the formation of the Fine Granular Area (FGA) observed on the fracture surface and in TEM observations of cross-sections. The crack growth in the FGA seems to control more than 90% of the total fatigue life. For the hot rolled duplex stainless steels fatigue crack initiation occurred due to accumulation of plastic fatigue damage at the external surface, and early crack growth proceeded through a crystallographic growth mechanism. Theoretical modelling of complex cracks involving kinks and branches in an elastic half-plane under static loading was carried out by using the Distributed Dislocation Dipole Technique (DDDT). The technique was implemented for 2D crack problems. Both fully open and partially closed crack cases were analyzed. The main aim of the development of the DDDT was to compute the stress intensity factors. Accuracy of 2% in the computations was attainable compared to the solutions obtained by the Finite Element Method.

Influence of kaolin addition on the dynamics of oxygen mass transport in polyvinyl alcohol dispersion coatings

The permeability of dispersion barriers produced from polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and kaolin clay blends coated onto polymeric supports has been studied by employing two different measurement methods: the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and the ambient oxygen ingress rate (AOIR). Coatings with different thicknesses and kaolin contents were studied. Structural information of the dispersion-barrier coatings was obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These results showed that the kaolin content influences both the orientation of the kaolin and the degree of crystallinity of the PVOH coating. Increased kaolin content increased the alignment of the kaolin platelets to the basal plane of the coating. Higher kaolin content was accompanied by higher degree of crystallinity of the PVOH. The barrier thickness proved to be less important in the early stages of the mass transport process, whereas it had a significant influence on the steady-state permeability. The results from this study demonstrate the need for better understanding of how permeability is influenced by (chemical and physical) structure.