A series of advances by researchers at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has seen their papers published as cover stories or feature stories in leading academic journals. Associate Professor Chun Cheng (Materials Science and Engineering) has led his research team to publish a series of vital research papers in micro-nano functional materials and devices.

The group published a paper in Chemistry of Materials (IF = 10.159), under the title, “Multiple Regulation over Growth Direction, Band Structure, and Dimension of Monolayer WS2 by a Quartz Substrate.” The article focused on the potential novel applications in electrocatalysts, field-effect transistors, and optoelectronics. The research group adjusted the reaction conditions for quartz and tungsten disulfide (WS2) to create a one-dimensional structure. Their new structure results in reduced thermal strain and improved structural properties.

The paper published in Nano Energy (IF = 15.548) was titled, “Single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator based on economical graphite coated paper for harvesting waste environmental energy.” Their paper assessed the function of a single-electrode friction generator that converts dispersed mechanical energy into electrical energy. Single-electrode mode triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), as an emerging and efficient sustainable power source, is highly sought to develop a low-cost fabrication process for the mass production at the commercial level. The group used an inexpensive graphite-covered printing paper as the electrode before combining it with a polytetrafluoroethylene film to form the single-electrode friction generator (GCP-TENG). The simple structure of the device offers many commercial applications. It can be used on many different surfaces to power light-emitting diode (LED) arrays or liquid crystal displays (LCD).

The group’s paper in Advanced Materials Interfaces (Adv. Mater. Interfaces) was titled “Thermal Contact Resistance: Impact of Nanoscale Roughness on Heat Transport across the Solid–Solid Interface.”  This paper studied heat transfer at the solid-solid interface at the micro-nano scale. By examining the roughness, or smoothness, or a surface, the research team decided to add a layer of graphene to reduce the level of thermal interface resistance. The excellent thermal conductivity of a single layer of graphene also offers excellent mechanical properties, while providing increased heat transmission channels.

The paper published in Advanced Functional Materials (Adv. Funct. Mater.) was titled “Towards the Simplest Structure of High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells.” It summarized the work being conducted in the field of perovskite solar energy while focusing on new ideas for simple configuration devices to make high-performance, low-cost batteries. The researchers summarized the conventional methods of reducing defect density and optimizing energy levels in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). They also examined the development of different electron-free or hole-free transport PSCs. This discussion assessed the working principles, implementation technologies, remaining challenges, and prospects of the field.

Other papers were published in AIP Applied Physics Review (IF = 12.750), Nano-Micro Letters (IF = 9.043), Solar RRL, and Energy & Environmental Materials.

ACS Chemistry of Materials paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b05124

Nano Energy paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211285519308481

Advanced Functional Materials paper (just accepted): https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202000863

Advanced Materials Interface paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/admi.202070018

Applied Physics Review paper: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.5124672

Nano-Micro Letters paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40820-020-0372-z

Solar RRL paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/solr.201900331?af=R

Energy & Environmental Materials paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eem2.12063