Abstract For oxide semiconductors for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), titanium dioxide conjugated with zinc oxide thin films was synthesized and characterized. The UV (ultraviolet) spectrum characterization showed a peak of absorbance at around 355 nm, with a band gap of 3.25 eV and reflectance around 85%. Such characteristics allowed the fabrication of DSSCs with N719 dye, under simulated light of 100 mW/cm2. The highest efficiency of 1.17% was at 5% titanium dioxide and 4 h of dye immersion.

Abstract In a recent paper, I have shown that the electric field at the surface of a charged conducting sphere evaluates to half the field discontinuity across the surface of the sphere. This exact result has been found by solving an improper integral, which has been criticized by Assad in a very recent paper in this journal [6]. In this note, I present a simpler approach that yields a proper integral for that field. This integral also evaluates to exactly half the field discontinuity, contrarily to Assad's objections.

A composição cristalina das fases do clínquer de cimento Portland é comumente avaliada pelas equações de Bogue, que se baseiam em alguns princípios que podem ser aplicados aos cimentos para cimentação de poços de petróleo. Isto se deve provavelmente à presença de diversos óxidos e reconversões de fase durante o resfriamento do clínquer levado à altas temperaturas. Entretanto, diferenças importantes são observadas entre os valores numéricos obtidos nas equações e a quantificação de fases por imagem. Neste estudo, a quantidade das fases cristalinas do clínquer de um cimento especial para poço de petróleo foi determinada empregando o procedimento de Taylor, que consiste na resolução de um sistema de equações lineares correspondente a cada uma das quatro principais fases do clínquer. Os resultados revelam uma adequada inter-relação entre este método e a quantificação das fases por microscopia ótica, principalmente no que se refere à determinação dos teores de alumínio e ferro.

The crystalline composition of Portland cement clinker is commonly established by Bogue's equations, which are based on a series of assumptions that seldom apply to oilwell cements. This is probably due to the presence of additional oxides and phase reconversion upon cooling of the clinker from the calcination temperature. Important differences are therefore observed between the numerical values yielded by the mathematical equations and image analysis quantification. In this study, the concentration of crystalline phases in oilwell cement was determined using Taylor's procedure, which consists in a system of linear equations corresponding to each one of the four main clinker phases. The results revealed an adequate relationship between this method and phase quantification by optical micrography, especially concerning the contents of aluminate and ferrite.

The results of an accurate theoretical study on the effects of non-abrupt doping and interfacial profiles on the electron sheet density in one-side modulation-doped wurtzite GaN/AlGaN single quantum wells at low temperatures are presented. We solve coupled Schrödinger and Poisson equations self-consistently via the finite difference method. By employing a proper discretization on a nonuniform grid and taking into account the strong piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization fields exhibited by the wurtzite III-nitride heterostructures, a substantial increase in the 2DEG density is predicted with the increase of the donor diffusion length and the reduction of the spacer thickness.

The low-temperature electron mobility is investigated here for electrons confined in modulation-doped In0.53Ga0.47As/InP single symmetric quantum wells. The subband structure calculation is developed via variational method, both Schrödinger and Poisson equations being solved simultaneously with adequate heterointerface matching conditions. With this in hands, the main electron scattering rates are computed, namely alloy disorder, remote ionized impurity, and interface roughness. As a result, interesting interchanges in these scattering rates were found by varying the well width and the spacer width, which show that some scattering mechanisms can surpass the alloy disorder scattering rate and come to limit the electron mobility, a behavior not reported in the literature.