Fang, Tian | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2022

Novel catalysts with multivalence copper for organic pollutants removal from wastewater with excellent selectivity and stability in Fenton‐like process under neutral pH conditions

Abstract Fenton‐like reaction has been widely used for organics degradation. However, most Fenton‐like reaction works at low pH range (pH < 4) with uncontrollable selectivity of hydroxyl radicals from H 2 O 2 activation, and unsatisfied catalyst stability, which is compromised advanced oxidation performance for water/wastewater treatments. In this work, to solve the drawbacks, novel copper catalysts were fabricated via hydrogen reduction/calcination of Cu 2+ ‐supported Al/MCM‐41 with precisely controllable copper valence state. Compared with catalysts with monovalence copper (i.e., CuO, Cu, and Cu 2+ ), the obtained catalysts with multivalence copper present higher selectivity, excellent stability towards •OH radical pathways, and outperformance in p CBA degradation efficiency at neutral state. In addition, the fabricated catalysts also exhibited excellent phenol removal efficiency (75.5%) and H 2 O 2 utilization efficiency (47.9%) within neutral environment. Moreover, the degradation efficiency of phenol approaches to 100% within only 2 h. The catalyst also shows good stability for organic pollutants removal, which shows good potential in catalytic oxidation for phenolic compounds‐containing wastewater in Fenton‐like reaction, especially under neutral pH conditions. Practitioner Points Multivalence copper presents great potentials for organic compounds removal at neutral condition. Multivalence copper shows higher selectivity toward •OH and good stability at neutral condition. Multivalence copper exhibiters outperformed phenol removal efficiency at neutral condition.

Li, Haitao↗

DOE OSTI2022

Utilisation of flavonoids from Lycium barbarum L. leaves cross‐linked with whey protein for the stabilisation and delivery of β ‐carotene emulsions

Summary Although β ‐carotene is an essential nutrient for the maintenance of human health, it is insoluble in water and extremely unstable, which limits its application. Here, we prepared a stable emulsification system of whey protein (WP)‐ Lycium barbarum L. leaves flavonoids (LBLF) complex as a carrier to load β ‐carotene. The rheological properties, antioxidant properties and stability of emulsion were studied, and the effects of emulsion on the biological retention of β ‐carotene and stability were investigated. The results indicate that, compared with WP, the WP‐LBLF emulsion has smaller particles, a smaller creaming index, and significantly enhanced chemical stability under light and heat treatment conditions. The thiobarbituric acid value of the WP‐LBLF emulsion (0.031 ± 0.016 mg/kg) was dramatically lower than that of the WP emulsion (0.045 ± 0.012 mg/kg) ( P < 0.05). In the simulated gastrointestinal digestion experiment, the retention rate of β ‐carotene was higher in WP‐LBLF emulsion. Additionally, the WP‐LBLF emulsion loaded with β ‐carotene has good salt tolerance and heat stability. In our study, WP‐LBLF was used as an emulsifier to load β ‐carotene emulsion to improve its bioavailability and stability, which provides a new preparation and application method for a complex functional emulsifier.

Fan, Yanli↗

DOE OSTI2015

Diffusion-Reaction Modeling of Cu Migration in CdTe Solar Devices

In this work, we report on development of one-dimensional (1D) finite-difference and two-dimensional (2D) finite-element diffusion-reaction simulators to investigate mechanisms behind Cu-related metastabilities observed in CdTe solar cells [1]. The evolution of CdTe solar cells performance has been studied as a function of stress time in response to the evolution of associated acceptor and donor states. To achieve such capability, the simu-lators solve reaction-diffusion equations for the defect states in time-space domain self-consistently with the free carrier transport. Re-sults of 1-D and 2-D simulations have been compared to verify the accuracy of solutions.

Guo, Da↗

DOE OSTI2015

Self-consistent simulation of CdTe solar cells with active defects

We demonstrate a self-consistent numerical scheme for simulating an electronic device which contains active defects. As a specific case, we consider copper defects in cadmium telluride solar cells. The presence of copper has been shown experimentally to play a crucial role in predicting device performance. The primary source of this copper is migration away from the back contact during annealing, which likely occurs predominantly along grain boundaries. We introduce a mathematical scheme for simulating this effect in 2D and explain the numerical implementation of the system. Finally, we will give numerical results comparing our results to known 1D simulations to demonstrate the accuracy of the solver and then show results unique to the 2D case.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2014

One-Dimensional Reaction-Diffusion Simulation of Cu Migration in Polycrystalline CdTe Solar Cells

In this work, we report on developing 1D reaction-diffusion solver to understand the kinetics of p-type doping formation in CdTe absorbers and to shine some light on underlying causes of metastabilities observed in CdTe PV devices. Evolution of intrinsic and Cu-related defects in CdTe solar cell has been studied in time-space domain self-consistently with free carrier transport and Poisson equation. Resulting device performance was simulated as a function of Cu diffusion anneal time showing pronounced effect the evolution of associated acceptor and donor states can cause on device characteristics. Although 1D simulation has intrinsic limitations when applied to poly-crystalline films, the results suggest strong potential of the approach in better understanding of the performance and metastabilities of CdTe photovoltaic device.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Extracting Cu Diffusion Parameters in Polycrystalline CdTe

It is well known that Cu plays an important role in CdTe solar cell performance as a dopant. In this work, a finite-difference method is developed and used to simulate Cu diffusion in CdTe solar cells. In the simulations, which are done on a two-dimensional (2D) domain, the CdTe is assumed to be polycrystal-line, with the individual grains separated by grain boundaries. When used to fit experimental Cu concentration data, bulk and grain boundary diffusion coefficients and activation energies for CdTe can be extracted. In the past, diffusion coefficients have been typically obtained by fitting data to simple functional forms of limited validity. By doing full simulations, the simplifying assumptions used in those analytical models are avoided and diffusion parameters can thus be determined more accurately.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Book of Extended Abstracts IWCE 2014

It is well known that Cu plays an important role in CdTe solar cell performance as a dopant. In this work, a finitedifference method is developed and used to simulate Cu diffusion in CdTe solar cells. In the simulations, which are done on a twodimensional (2D) domain, the CdTe is assumed to be polycrystalline, with the individual grains separated by grain boundaries. When used to fit experimental Cu concentration data, bulk and grain boundary diffusion coefficients and activation energies for CdTe can be extracted. In the past, diffusion coefficients have been typically obtained by fitting data to simple functional forms of limited validity. By doing full simulations, the simplifying assumptions used in those analytical models are avoided and diffusion parameters can thus be determined more accurately.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Book of Extended Abstracts IWCE 2014

In this work, we report on developing 1D reaction-diffusion solver to understand the kinetics of p-type doping formation in CdTe absorbers and to shine some light on underlying causes of metastabilities observed in CdTe PV devices. Evolution of intrinsic and Cu-related defects in CdTe solar cell has been studied in time-space domain self-consistently with free carrier transport and Poisson equation. Resulting device performance was simulated as a function of Cu diffusion anneal time showing pronounced effect the evolution of associated acceptor and donor states can cause on device characteristics. Although 1D simulation has intrinsic limitations when applied to poly-crystalline films, the results suggest strong potential of the approach in better understanding of the performance and metastabilities of CdTe photovoltaic device.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Modeling Copper Diffusion in Polycrystalline CdTe Solar Cells

It is well known that Cu plays an important role in CdTe solar cell performance as a dopant. In this work, a finite-difference method is developed and used to simulate Cu diffusion in CdTe solar cells. In the simulations, which are done on a two-dimensional (2D) domain, the CdTe is assumed to be polycrystalline, with the individual grains separated by grain boundaries. When used to fit experimental Cu concentration data, bulk and grain boundary diffusion coefficients and activation energies for CdTe can be extracted. In the past, diffusion coefficients have been typically obtained by fitting data to simple functional forms of limited validity. By doing full simulations, the simplifying assumptions used in those analytical models are avoided and diffusion parameters can thus be determined more accurately

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

CdTe Solar Cells: The Role of Copper

In this work, we report on developing 1D reaction-diffusion solver to understand the kinetics of p-type doping formation in CdTe absorbers and to shine some light on underlying causes of metastabilities observed in CdTe PV devices. Evolution of intrinsic and Cu-related defects in CdTe solar cell has been studied in time-space domain self-consistently with free carrier transport and Poisson equation. Resulting device performance was simulated as a function of Cu diffusion anneal time showing pronounced effect the evolution of associated acceptor and donor states can cause on device characteristics. Although 1D simulation has intrinsic limitations when applied to poly-crystalline films, the results suggest strong potential of the approach in better understanding of the performance and metastabilities of CdTe photovoltaic device.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Cu Migration in Polycrystalline CdTe Solar Cells

An impurity reaction-diffusion model is applied to Cu defects and related intrinsic defects in polycrystalline CdTe for a better understanding of Cu’s role in the cell level reliability of CdTe PV devices. The simulation yields transient Cu distributions in polycrystalline CdTe during solar cell processing and stressing. Preliminary results for Cu migration using available diffusivity and solubility data show that Cu accumulates near the back contact, a phenomena that is commonly observed in devices after back-contact processing or stress conditions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗