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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

High-specific-power flexible transition metal dichalcogenide solar cells

Abstract Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising for flexible high-specific-power photovoltaics due to their ultrahigh optical absorption coefficients, desirable band gaps and self-passivated surfaces. However, challenges such as Fermi-level pinning at the metal contact–TMD interface and the inapplicability of traditional doping schemes have prevented most TMD solar cells from exceeding 2% power conversion efficiency (PCE). In addition, fabrication on flexible substrates tends to contaminate or damage TMD interfaces, further reducing performance. Here, we address these fundamental issues by employing: (1) transparent graphene contacts to mitigate Fermi-level pinning, (2) MoO x capping for doping, passivation and anti-reflection, and (3) a clean, non-damaging direct transfer method to realize devices on lightweight flexible polyimide substrates. These lead to record PCE of 5.1% and record specific power of 4.4 W g −1 for flexible TMD (WSe 2 ) solar cells, the latter on par with prevailing thin-film solar technologies cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium selenide, amorphous silicon and III-Vs. We further project that TMD solar cells could achieve specific power up to 46 W g −1 , creating unprecedented opportunities in a broad range of industries from aerospace to wearable and implantable electronics.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bridging Nano- and Microscale X-Ray Tomography for Battery Research by Leveraging Artificial Intelligence

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive imaging technique in which contrast originates from the materials' absorption coefficient. The recent development of laboratory nanoscale CT (nano-CT) systems has pushed the spatial resolution for battery material imaging to voxel sizes of 50 nm, a limit previously achievable only with synchrotron facilities. Given the non-destructive nature of CT, in situ and operando studies have emerged as powerful methods to quantify morphological parameters, such as tortuosity factor, porosity, surface area and volume expansion, during battery operation or cycling. Combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning analysis techniques, nano-CT has enabled the development of predictive models to analyse the impact of the electrode microstructure on cell performances or the influence of material heterogeneities on electrochemical responses. In this Review, we discuss the role of X-ray CT and nano-CT experimentation in the battery field, discuss the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning analyses and provide a perspective on how the combination of multiscale CT imaging techniques can expand the development of predictive multiscale battery behavioural models.

diagnostics↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fabrication of Single Crystal Gallium Phosphide Thin Films on Glass

Due to its high refractive index and low absorption coefficient, gallium phosphide is an ideal material for photonic structures targeted at the visible wavelengths. However, these properties are only realized with high quality epitaxial growth, which limits substrate choice and thus possible photonic applications. In this work, we report the fabrication of single crystal gallium phosphide thin films on transparent glass substrates via transfer bonding. GaP thin films on Si (001) and (112) grown by MOCVD are bonded to glass, and then the growth substrate is removed with a XeF 2 vapor etch. The resulting GaP films have surface roughnesses below 1 nm RMS and exhibit room temperature band edge photoluminescence. Magnesium doping yielded p-type films with a carrier density of 1.6 × 10 17 cm -3 that exhibited mobilities as high as 16 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . Therefore, due to their unique optical properties, these films hold much promise for use in advanced optical devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

A DFT analysis of the ground and charge-transfer excited states of Sc 3 N@I h –C 80 fullerene coupled with metal-free and zinc-phthalocyanine

Endohedral metallofullerenes and phthalocyanine derivatives are recognized as excellent active materials in organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The tri-metallic nitride endohedral C 80 fullerenes have greater absorption coefficients in the visible region and electron-accepting abilities similar to C 60 , which can allow for higher efficiencies in OPV devices. Here, we have investigated the ground and charge transfer excited states of two co-facial donor–acceptor (D–A) molecular conjugates formed by the non-covalent coupling of trimetallic nitride endohedral fullerene (Sc 3 N@I h –C 80 ) with metal-free (H 2 Pc) and zinc-phthalocyanine (ZnPc) chromophores using DFT calculations. The charge transfer (CT) excitation energies are calculated using the perturbative delta-SCF method that enforces orthogonality between the ground and excited states. The binding energies calculated using the PBE and DFT-D3 methods indicate that the dispersion effects play an important role in the stabilization of these complexes. The ground state dipole moment of the Sc 3 N@C 80 –H 2 Pc dyad is much larger than that of Sc 3 N@C 80 –ZnPc, but this is reversed in the excited state where the dipole moment of Sc 3 N@C 80 –ZnPc increases significantly. The lowest few excitation energies in the gas phase for the two complexes are very close, in the range of 1.51–2.66 eV for Sc 3 N@C 80 –ZnPc and 1.51–2.71 eV for the Sc 3 N@C 80 –H 2 Pc complex. However, the lower ionization potential and lower exciton binding energy make the Sc 3 N@C 80 –ZnPc dyad a better candidate for OPVs as compared to the Sc 3 N@C 80 –H 2 Pc dyad.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Multimodal characterization of solution-processed Cu3SbS4 absorbers for thin film solar cells

The most efficient inorganic thin film chalcogenide-based solar cells use CdTe or CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) as absorber layers, which rely on toxic (Cd) and/or scarce elements (In, Te). The desire for more sustainable solar cells has led to the development of Earth abundant and non-hazardous chalcogenide absorbers. Cu3SbS4 (famatinite) is a promising Earth abundant p-type semiconductor that has a low direct band gap (0.9–1.05 eV), is a superabsorber (absorption coefficient 104–105 cm1), and has potential in low-cost, thin-film solar cells. Although these properties make the Cu3SbS4 phase stand out as a promising material for photovoltaics, to date Cu3SbS4 solar cells have only achieved low efficiencies. In this study, we demonstrate a method for synthesizing Cu3SbS4 nanocrystals and formation of thin-films by coating nanocrystal precursors onto substrates. Optical, structural, and chemical state characterization were performed before and after thermal processing of the Cu3SbS4 films. A detailed experimental analysis of the bulk and surfaces of the Cu3SbS4 absorber films indicate that phase stability and preferential copper oxidation at the surface may limit device performance for Cu3SbS4 based solar cells. These findings may provide significant insight on how to improve Cu3SbS4 based solar cell performance by controlling processing conditions. This research was funded by the United States National Science Foundation – Scalable Nanomanufacturing program (Grant CBET-1449383). A portion of this research was performed at the Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS- 1542101). The acquisition of the OSU Titan TEM was supported by the National Science Foundation via the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program under Grant No. 1040588, the Murdock Charitable Trust, and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI). XANES spectra were obtained through an approved program user proposal at the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The ALS approved program user proposal beam time was obtained through the chemical imaging initiative, an LDRD program at PNNL. We acknowledge Trey Diulus and Dr Igor Lyubinetsky for their assistance with the XPS experiments.

Albuquerque, Gustavo H.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Influence of Hydrogen and Oxygen on the Structure and Properties of Sputtered Magnesium Zirconium Oxynitride Thin Films

Nitride materials with mixed ionic and covalent bonding character and resulting good charge transport properties are attractive for optoelectronic devices. Recently, Mg-based ternary nitride materials were found to have large dielectric constants and high absorption coefficients with bandgaps appropriate for photovoltaic applications. However, their degenerate carrier concentrations still hinder their possible applications in solar cells and related optoelectronic devices. Therefore, further understanding and engineering of the parameters controlling the material properties of these ternary nitrides is highly desirable. In this paper we report that the structural, optical and electrical properties of magnesium zirconium oxynitride (MZNO) thin films synthesized by combinatorial sputtering with a wide range of cation compositions can be affected by incorporation of oxygen and hydrogen. Excess oxygen improved the crystallinity of MZNO thin films whereas hydrogen attracted oxygen and formed Mg-rich oxide layers at the grain boundaries which in turn reduced the conductivity. On the other hand, optical properties are more sensitive to the composition – both cation and anion ratios – rather than the presence of hydrogen. Compared to cation-stoichiometric MZNO (10 19 –10 20 cm -3 ), substantial reduction of carrier concentration down to ~10 14 cm -3 was achieved under Mg-rich conditions by supplying hydrogen during growth. Photoluminescence measurements showed that the films prepared with hydrogen were optoelectronically active. Overall, this study demonstrates that the material properties of MZN thin films can be significantly influenced by incorporation of oxygen and hydrogen.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bandgap engineering of SrZrS 3 chalcogenide perovskite via substitutional doping for photovoltaic applications: a first-principles DFT study

Strontium zirconium sulfide (SrZrS 3 ) has garnered significant attention for photovoltaic (PV) applications due to its excellent optoelectronic properties, high chemical and moisture stability, and non-toxicity. However, the bandgaps of both the α- and β-phases lie outside the optimum ranges for both single-junction solar cells (SJSCs) and tandem solar cells (TSCs), thereby limiting their applications in PV technologies. In this study, we employed hybrid density functional theory to engineer the band gaps of α- and β-SrZrS 3 through substitutional doping. We considered three dopants (Hf, Sn, and Ti) at the Zr site of SrZrS 3 with varying doping concentrations and investigated their effects on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of the materials. We found that Sn and Ti doping effectively lowers the band gaps of both α- and β-SrZrS 3 , whereas Hf doping increases them. For x values up to 0.25, the band gaps of the α-SrZr 1−x Sn x S 3 and α-SrZr 1−x Ti x S 3 are within the optimum range for SJSCs, and those of β-SrZr 1−x Sn x S 3 and β-SrZr 1−x Ti x S 3 lie within the optimum range for Si/perovskite as well as perovskite/perovskite TSCs. The three dopants exhibited significant effects on the optical properties of both α- and β-SrZrS 3 , including the absorption coefficient, energy-loss functions, reflectivity, and refractivity spectra. Thermodynamic stability analysis revealed that for both phases, SrZr 1−x Hf x S 3 can be synthesized via exothermic processes, whereas the formation of SrZr 1−x Ti x S 3 and SrZr1−xSn x S 3 is endothermic and hence, not thermodynamically favorable. Further analysis showed that SrZr 1−x Ti x S 3 in both α- and β-phases are stable under thermodynamic equilibrium conditions, whereas SrZr 1−x Sn x S 3 is prone to dissociation into ternary phases (SrZrS 3 and SrSnS 3 ), especially at higher doping concentrations. These results show that Ti doping is effective in tuning the band gaps of α- and β-SrZrS 3 toward the optimal values for PV applications.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Recent efforts of vapour-phase strategies for EUV resist toward high- and hyper-NA extreme ultraviolet lithography

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL, λ = 13.5 nm) is critical for sub-1 nm technology nodes but remains constrained by inherent trade-offs among resolution, line-edge roughness (LER), and sensitivity. Stochastic effects originating from photon shot noise, low-energy secondary electron blur, and the random distribution of resist components further limit its advancement toward high numerical-aperture (NA, NA = 0.55) and hyper-NA (NA ≥0.75) EUVL. While the optimization of spin-on chemically amplified resists (CARs) continues, metal-oxide resists (MORs) have emerged as strong candidates for next-generation EUVL by incorporating metals with high EUV absorption coefficients, which enhances both resist sensitivity and etch resistance during pattern transfer. Besides spin-coating, recent advances in vapour-phase techniques, such as vapour-phase infiltration (VPI), chemical vapour deposition (CVD), and molecular atomic layer deposition (MALD), offer promising pathways to achieve new resist platforms, such as dry resists, that satisfy the stringent thickness and uniformity requirements of next-generation EUVL. These methods enable the direct incorporation of metal species into existing resist matrices or the formation of hybrid inorganic–organic resist platforms, thereby improving film uniformity, etch durability, and pattern fidelity while mitigating stochastic defects. This review highlights the latest advancements in vapour-phase-synthesized EUV resists, emphasizing material design, lithographic performance, and the underlying exposure mechanisms. Although still emerging, vapour-phase strategies are paving the way for an all-dry integration framework that could improve EUV patterning workflows and meet the demands of future technology nodes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Calcium manganate: A promising candidate as buffer layer for hybrid halide perovskite photovoltaic-thermoelectric systems

We have systematically studied the feasibility of CaMnO{sub 3} thin film, an n-type perovskite, to be utilized as the buffer layer for hybrid halide perovskite photovoltaic-thermoelectric device. Locations of the conduction band and the valence band, spontaneous polarization performance, and optical properties were investigated. Results indicate the energy band of CaMnO{sub 3} can match up well with that of CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}PbI{sub 3} on separating electron-hole pairs. In addition, the consistent polarization angle helps enlarge the open circuit voltage of the composite system. Besides, CaMnO{sub 3} film shows large absorption coefficient and low extinction coefficient under visible irradiation, demonstrating high carrier concentration, which is beneficial to the current density. More importantly, benign thermoelectric properties enable CaMnO{sub 3} film to assimilate phonon vibration from CH{sub 3}NH3PbI{sub 3}. All the above features lead to a bright future of CaMnO{sub 3} film, which can be a promising candidate as a buffer layer for hybrid halide perovskite photovoltaic-thermoelectric systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Single crystalline Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}:sapphire films as potentially high-gain amplifiers at telecommunication wavelength

Single crystalline thin films of Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}, demonstrating efficient 1.5 μm luminescence of Er{sup 3+} at room temperature were grown on Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The absorption coefficient at 1.536 μm was found to reach 270 cm{sup −1} translating in a maximal possible gain of 1390 dBcm{sup −1}. In conjunction with the 10% higher refractive index as compared to Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, this opens the possibility to use Er{sub 2}O{sub 3}:sapphire films as short-length waveguide amplifiers in telecommunication.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Positron accumulation effect in particles embedded in a low-density matrix

Systematic studies of the so-called positron accumulation effect for samples with particles embedded in a matrix are reported. This effect is related to energetic positrons which penetrate inhomogeneous medium. Due to differences in the linear absorption coefficient, different amounts of positrons are accumulated and annihilate in the identical volume of both materials. Positron lifetime spectroscopy and Doppler broadening of the annihilation line using Na-22 positrons were applied to the studies of the epoxy resin samples with embedded micro-sized particles of transition metals, i.e., Ni, Sn, Mo, W, and nonmetal particles, i.e., Si and NaF. The significant difference between the determined fraction of positrons annihilating in the particles and the particle volume fraction indicates the positron accumulation effect. The simple phenomenological model and Monte Carlo simulations are able to describe the main features of the obtained dependencies. The aluminum alloy with embedded Sn nanoparticles is also considered for demonstration differences between the accumulation and another related effect, i.e., the positron affinity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Ablation and cone formation mechanism on CR-39 by ArF laser irradiation

In this work, chemical properties, surface modification, and micro structures formation on ablated polyallyl di-glycol carbonate (CR-39) polymer by ArF laser irradiation (λ = 193 nm) at various fluences and pulse number were investigated. CR-39 samples have been irradiated with an ArF laser (193 nm) at a repetition rate of 1 Hz. Threshold fluence of ablation and effective absorption coefficient of CR-39 were determined. Conical microstructures (Taylor cone) formed on laser-ablated CR-39 exhibit: smooth, Taylor cone shape walls and sharp tips together with interference and well defined fringe-structure with a period of 230 nm, around cone base. Mechanism of cone formation and cone evolution of CR-39 ablated surface were investigated by change of fluences (at a given pulse number) and pulse number (at a given fluence). Cone height, cone base, and region of interface were increased in micrometer steps by increasing the total fluence. Depression on the base of the cone and the circular fringe were simulated. FTIR spectra were measured and energy dispersive x-ray analysis of irradiated and un-irradiated samples was performed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Image segmentation of nanoscale Zernike phase contrast X-ray computed tomography images

Zernike phase contrast is a useful technique for nanoscale X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging of materials with a low X-ray absorption coefficient. It enhances the image contrast by phase shifting X-ray waves to create changes in amplitude. However, it creates artifacts that hinder the use of traditional image segmentation techniques. We propose an image restoration method that models the X-ray phase contrast optics and the three-dimensional image reconstruction method. We generate artifact-free images through an optimization problem that inverts this model. Though similar approaches have been used for Zernike phase contrast in visible light microscopy, this optimization employs an effective edge detection method tailored to handle Zernike phase contrast artifacts. We characterize this optics-based restoration method by removing the artifacts in and thresholding multiple Zernike phase contrast X-ray CT images to produce segmented results that are consistent with the physical specimens. We quantitatively evaluate and compare our method to other segmentation techniques to demonstrate its high accuracy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Optical properties of amorphous and crystalline Sb-doped SnO{sub 2} thin films studied with spectroscopic ellipsometry: Optical gap energy and effective mass

We investigated the optical properties of amorphous and crystalline antimony (Sb)-doped tin dioxide (SnO{sub 2}) thin films grown using the co-sputtering deposition method at room temperature. We used undoped and Sb-doped (8 wt. %) SnO{sub 2} targets. Varying the relative power ratio of the two targets, we controlled the Sb-composition of the SnO{sub 2}:Sb thin films up to 2.3 at. % of Sb contents. Through annealing, the as-grown amorphous SnO{sub 2}:Sb thin films were transformed to crystalline thin films. Dielectric functions were obtained from the measured ellipsometry angles, Ψ and Δ, using the Drude and parametric optical constant models. We determined the absorption coefficients and optical gap energies of the SnO{sub 2}:Sb thin films from the dielectric functions. We found increasing optical gap energy with increasing Sb composition. Increases in the Drude tail amplitudes, a signature of free carrier concentrations, were found in annealed, crystalline thin films with increasing Sb composition. The increase in the optical gap energy with increasing Sb composition was mainly attributed to the Burstein-Moss effect. Using Hall effect measurements, we obtained Hall carrier concentrations (N{sub Hall}) and electron Hall mobilities (μ{sub Hall}). The carrier concentrations and mobilities increased from 2.6 × 10{sup 19 }cm{sup −3} and 1.0 cm{sup 2}/(V s) to 2.0 × 10{sup 20 }cm{sup −1} and 7.2 cm{sup 2}/(V s), respectively, with increasing Sb contents. This result suggests that the nominally undoped SnO{sub 2} films are unintentionally n-type doped. Assuming that the N{sub Hall} and optical carrier concentrations (N{sub opt}) were the same, we obtained the effective masses of the SnO{sub 2}:Sb thin films with increasing Sb compositions. The effective masses of the SnO{sub 2}:Sb thin films increased from 0.245 m{sub 0} to 0.4 m{sub 0} with increasing Sb doping contents, and the nonparabolicity of the conduction band was estimated. We discussed the relation between the optical (μ{sub opt}) and Hall (μ{sub Hall}) mobilities as a function of Sb contents and grain sizes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Ambient CdCl{sub 2} treatment on CdS buffer layer for improved performance of Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin film photovoltaics

Antimony selenide (Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3}) is appealing as a promising light absorber because of its intrinsically benign grain boundaries, suitable band gap (∼1.1 eV), strong absorption coefficient, and relatively environmentally friendly constituents. Recently, we achieved a certified 5.6% efficiency Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} thin film solar cell with the assistance of ambient CdCl{sub 2} treatment on the CdS buffer layer. Here, we focused on investigating the underlying mechanism from a combined materials and device physics perspective applying current density-voltage (J-V) fitting analysis, atomic force microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fluorescence, and UV–Vis transmission spectroscopy. Our results indicated that ambient CdCl{sub 2} treatment on CdS film not only improved CdS grain size and quality, but also incorporated Cl and more O into the film, both of which can significantly improve the heterojunction quality and device performance of CdS/Sb{sub 2}Se{sub 3} solar cells.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhancement of two photon absorption with Ni doping in the dilute magnetic semiconductor ZnO crystalline nanorods

In this letter, we have investigated the third-order optical nonlinearities of high-quality Ni doped ZnO nanorods crystallized in wurtzite lattice, prepared by the wet chemical method. In our experiments, we found that the two photon absorption coefficient (β) increases by as much as 14 times, i.e., 7.6 ± 0.4 to 112 ± 6 cm/GW, when the Ni doping is increased from 0% to 10%. The substantial enhancement in β is discussed in terms of the bandgap scaling and Ni doping. Furthermore, we also show that the optical bandgap measured by UV-Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopies, continuously redshift with increasing Ni doping concentration. We envision that the strong nonlinear optical properties together with their dilute magnetic effects, they form an important class of materials for potential applications in magneto-optical and integrated optical chips.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Determination of the electronic, dielectric, and optical properties of sillenite Bi{sub 12}TiO{sub 20} and perovskite-like Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} materials from hybrid first-principle calculations

Density functional theory calculation was conducted to determine the optoelectronic properties of bismuth titanate sillenite (Bi{sub 12}TiO{sub 20}) and perovskite-like (Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}) structures. The lattice parameters were experimentally obtained from Rietveld analysis. The density functional perturbation theory approach was used with the standard Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof functional and screened Coulomb hybrid Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof functional to investigate the electronic structure and absorption coefficient. Both compounds have good carrier transport properties, low effective hole and electron masses, high dielectric constant, and low exciton binding energy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

The effect of oxide shell thickness on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of Si-SiO{sub 2} core-shell nano-crystals: A (time dependent)density functional theory study

Due to their tunable properties, silicon nano-crystals (NC) are currently being investigated. Quantum confinement can generally be employed for size-dependent band-gap tuning at dimensions smaller than the Bohr radius (∼5 nm for silicon). At the nano-meter scale, however, increased surface-to-volume ratio makes the surface effects dominant. Specifically, in Si-SiO{sub 2} core-shell semiconductor NCs the interfacial transition layer causes peculiar electronic and optical properties, because of the co-existence of intermediate oxidation states of silicon (Si{sup n+}, n = 0–4). Due to the presence of the many factors involved, a comprehensive understanding of the optical properties of these NCs has not yet been achieved. In this work, Si-SiO{sub 2} NCs with a diameter of 1.1 nm and covered by amorphous oxide shells with thicknesses between 2.5 and 4.75 Å are comprehensively studied, employing density functional theory calculations. It is shown that with increased oxide shell thickness, the low-energy part of the optical transition spectrum of the NC is red shifted and attenuated. Moreover, the absorption coefficient is increased in the high-energy part of the spectrum which corresponds to SiO{sub 2} transitions. Structural examinations indicate a larger compressive stress on the central silicon cluster with a thicker oxide shell. Examination of the local density of states reveals the migration of frontier molecular orbitals from the oxide shell into the silicon core with the increase of silica shell thickness. The optical and electrical properties are explained through the analysis of the density of states and the spatial distribution of silicon sub-oxide species.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗