Organic photovoltaic cells (OPV’s), renewable energy devices that can convert sunlight into electricity, have a bright future. Most OPV’s are made of conjugated polymers since they can absorb light and have semiconducting properties. However, the low power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OPV’s is a challenge in their development. The main structure of OPV’s includes three main parts: an electron donor, an electron acceptor, and electrodes. To improve the PCE of an OPV, many factors need to be considered, such as light absorption, the fundamental gap, the optical gap, and the OPV’s film thickness. The addition of heteroatoms to conjugated polymers is a way to change the electronic properties of the donors and may improve the PCE. This thesis describes the use of computational methods to determine how oxygen and sulfur atoms affect the electronic properties of a conjugated polymer. The data suggest that the fundamental gaps and binding energies decrease after replacing oxygen with sulfur. Additionally, the results also suggest that incorporating a sulfur atom into the conjugated polymer can increase the dipole moment change, which may lead to accelerated charge dissociation and may reduce charge recombination.

In the present work I study temperature dependence of magnetic penetration depth in superconductors which allows us to determine the symetry of the order parameter, important for theoretical models. In conventional superconductors we talk about s-symetry. Energy gap is isotropic and as a consequence of this fact penetration depth grows exponencialy with the temperature. On the other hand, in unconventional superconductors with d-symetry we find the power dependence on the temperature. Anyway the exponent depends on impurities and structure of the material and the influence of these parametrs is not completely clear at the moment.

The first-principles calculation method has been used to obtain electronic and structural properties of few-layer-graphenes (FLG) with and without an external electric potential Vext. For Vext=0, the AB stacked two-layer FLG has a band overlapping of 9meV. However, an energy gap (Eg) emerges when Vext is greater than about 0.04Volts. Beyond this threshold, Eg increases monotonically with the increase of Vext. The Eg vs. Vext result suggests a semi-metal-semiconductor transition in the AB stacked two-layer FLG, which can be utilized as a nanoscale electronic switch. Three- and four-layer AB stacked FLG¡¦s don¡¦t have a similar dependence of Eg on Vext

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Physics. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

To serve well as luminescent labels in biological applications, complexes of the lanthanide ions need to fulfil many criteria, including the requirement of high quantum yields, stability towards dissociation in biological media and preferably, excitation at wavelengths over 350 nm. Herein, a number of aspects regarding the sensitization of europium(III) and terbium(III) ions are discussed with respect to the design and development of novel complexes. The effect of the addition of anions such as fluoride and phosphate to the Eu(III) and Tb(III) complexes of a known tris(bipyridyl) cryptate, are studied with a view to gaining a better understanding of non-radiative deactivation pathways of the lanthanide excited state. Enhancements of Eu3+ emission within the cryptate are noted whilst with the Tb3+ analogue, emission is significantly reduced upon displacement of OH by these ions. A new ligand based on a polyaminocarboxylate structure with a single bipyridyl chromophore is then reported, which displays nine-coordination around the enclosed lanthanide ion. The luminescence properties of the europium complex are very good but the terbium complex shows more complex behaviour, suggestive of a back energy transfer mechanism from the terbium excited state to the ligand triplet level. The development of ligands with mixed N,O pyrido-phenol chromophoric groups, which are expected to be better sensitizers of terbium(III) luminescence, is also outlined. Finally, in the quest to sensitize europium using longer wavelengths, acridone is incorporated into an azamacrocyclic structure and luminescence is observed from the complexed Eu3+. The quantum yield of luminescence is found to increase with decreasing distance between the sensitizer and the ion, and in the presence of coordinating donor atoms.

Den här studien handlar om att undersöka värmemotståndet för ett vattenrutschbaneelement för att se om det finns en skillnad mellan schablonmässiga och uppmätta värden för värmekonduktiviteten hos materialen men även undersöka hur stor påverkan de längsgåendeflänsarna har på transmissionsförlusten. Det finns ofta en skillnad mellan det schablonmässiga och faktiska värden när matningar genomförs på färdigställda konstruktioner. Syftet med studien är att undersöka riktigheten av schablonmässigt bestämt värmemotståndet för ett vattenrutschbaneelement (banmodell typ-1000) som produceras av Hydro Sport AB. Studien kommer även att undersöka materialens temperaturberoende utifrån värmekonduktivitet. En laboratoriemätning utfördes i ett klimatkammarskåp med värmeflödesmätare och termoelement för att bestämma värmekonduktiviteten för glasfiberlaminatet (GFRP) och mäta värmemotståndet för den sammansatta konstruktionen och genom att subtrahera glasfiberlaminatet värmemotstånd för att erhålla värmekonduktiviteten för Armaflex isoleringen. De framtagna värmekonduktiviteterna användes som parametrar i Comsol Multiphysics simuleringarna för att undersöka hur stor skillnad schablonmässiga och uppmätta värden har för denna specifika vattenrutschbana. Handberäkningar gjordes för att säkerställa att Comsol Multiphysics simuleringarna var pålitliga. Resultaten som framtagits i studien visar på att båda materialen men framför allt glasfiberlaminatet hade ett lägre värmekonduktivitetsvärde än det schablonmässiga som används i beräkningar i dagsläget. / This study is about examining the thermal resistance of a water slide element to see if it’s a difference between standard values and measured values for the materials thermal conductivity and also see how big an impact the horizontal flanges have for the heat balance of the structure. There is often a difference between the theoretical and actual values that is measured when the construction is finished.The purpose of this study is to validate the accuracy of the thermal resistance of a water slide element (track model typ-1000) that is produced by Hydro Sport AB. This study also covers thermal conductivity temperature dependent for the materials. A laboratory measurement was performed in a climate chamber with heat flux meters and thermocouples to obtain the thermal conductivity for the glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and measure the heat resistance for the whole composite construction and from there substract the GFRP heat resistance to obtain the thermal conductivity for the Armaflex insulation. The obtained thermal conductivity was used as parameters for the simulations in Comsol Multiphysics to investigate how big the impacts are between standard values and measured for this particular water slide type. To make sure that the Comsol Multiphysics simulations were trustworthy a hand calculation was made for this purpose.The results in this study revealed that both materials but especially GFRP had a better thermal conductivity than the standard value that is used today.

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