Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cell is one of the most promising thin-film solar cells due to its low cost, small temperature coefficient and excellent weak light performance. It is rapidly developed for industrialization, especially in the field of photovoltaic building integration. This review represented recent studies on the major breakthrough and industrialization for CdTe thin film solar cells modules. The basic structure and work principles of CdTe solar cells were briefly introduced, the latest research achievement of each functional layer was highlighted, and the future development and prospects of CdTe solar cells were also pointed out.

To meet the growing demand for electrochemical performance of batteries in electronic devices and electric vehicles, high-performance lithium ion batteries and their electrode materials have attracted recent attention. Silicon oxide (SiO_x, 0<x<2) is considered as a promising anode material for lithium ion battery because of its high theoretical capacity, low voltage platform and abundant natural resources. However, SiO_x has some severe challenges, such as poor cycle performance, low Coulombic efficiency and low rate properties, seriously hindering its commercial development. In this review, the lithium storage mechanism of SiO_x was introduced from its structural characteristics. The research progress of SiO_x and its composite was represented in detail from three aspects, i.e., the selection of silicon source, the design of binder and electrolyte. Furthermore, the effects of organosilicon sources such as esters, silanes and biomass and inorganic silicon sources on the structure and electrochemical properties of SiO_x and its composites were summarized. Finally, some challenges in the process of commercialization of SiO_x and its composites were analyzed. It is indicated that the challenges can be solved by comprehensively adopting modification strategies and approaches such as the design of special structure, element doping, pre-lithiation and the introduction of good conductive carriers, which can effectively promote the commercialization of SiO_x anode materials.

Tellurite glass can be used in fiber lasers, amplifiers, nonlinear effects and biochemical sensors due to its excellent features of wide transmission window, low transition temperature, high nonlinear refractive index and good rare-earth solubility. In this review, the composition and manufacturing process of tellurite glass were introduced. The thermal stability, optical transmission limit, temperature-viscosity characteristics and mechanical properties were analyzed. The preparation methods of step-index and microstructure optical fiber preforms and the drawing process of tellurite optical fibers were summarized. According to the measurement classification of temperature, magnetic field, strain, solution refractive index and gas concentration, the sensing applications of tellurite glass and its optical fibers in biochemistry, medical equipment and power system were represented, and their application prospects were also given.

Seven methods of modeling glass properties were briefly reviewed, i.e., covering additive method, phase diagram method, Priven method, topological theory, molecular dynamics simulation, machine learning, and mathematical statistical modeling (composition-property, structure-property, and composition-structure-property). The principle, theoretical basis, procedure of each method and their application were highlighted. The additive method demonstrates its application modeling multiple glass properties. The phase diagram approach is suitable for binary, ternary and quaternary systems of silicate, borate and borosilicate glass systems. The Priven method combines glass structure, thermodynamic equations and computer simulation; topological theory is used to simulate several properties of simple oxide and sulfide glass. The molecular dynamics simulation provides insight of molecular structures of glass of various compositions. The machine learning method is utilized based on a large database from the literature to predict properties of complex glass systems. The statistical modeling methodology is applied to bridge mathematical interrelationships of composition (C) - structure (S) - property (P) of multicomponent systems of silicate, borosilicate, and phosphate glasses. The C-S-P statistical modeling approach shows the improvement in accuracy and precision rather than the conventional C-P statistical modeling in the design of new glasses.

Amorphous carbonas one of disordered carbon materials usually exhibits different mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties from crystalline carbon materials. Exploring high-performance amorphous carbon materials is always a research hotspot. In this paper, a high-strength amorphous carbon composed of onion-like structural elements was reported. This kind of amorphous carbon was obtained via treating carbon black at high temperature and high pressure (i.e., 1 700-2 000 ℃ and 6 GPa), which shows excellent mechanical properties. The nano indentation hardness, indentation elastic recovery, uniaxial compressive and flexural strength of the sample with best performance are 5.1 GPa, 80.1%, 956.4 MPa and 216.0 MPa, respectively. The compressive and flexural strengths of the amorphous carbon are 5.6 times and 2.8 times greater than those of Toyo Tanso ISO-68 graphite, respectively. This kind of amorphous carbon also has a good conductivity, and its room-temperature resistivity can be as low as 75.7 μΩ·m. This high-strength conductive amorphous carbon can be widely used as electrode and mold materials.

Two-dimensional transition metal chalcogenides have diverse material species and physical properties, and their lateral and vertical heterostructures provide more freedoms to expand their applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices. Interfacial control, such as the interface structure, coupling strength and epitaxial size, is crucial for the heterostructure design. This paper was to develop an effective method to precisely control the in-plane heteroepitaxial interface structure, and reported the effective synthesis of the antiparallel MoS₂-WS₂ in-plane heterostructure. Based on the multi-scale characterizations, the lattice of the macroscopic antiparallel heterojunction is arranged parallelly in a microscopic scale, resulting in the seamlessly stitching of MoS₂ and WS₂ domains at their interface. MoS₂-WS₂ in-plane heterojunctions with the interface structures was further synthesized, paving an effective way for the precise interfacial control of two-dimensional material heteroepitaxy.

As a carbon resource with abundant nitrogen, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) has been used for the key raw materials to produce carbon materials. However, the direct carbonization will lead to the cementation of PAN particles, which is adverse to the subsequent activation. In this work, a hybrid porous carbon (HPC) was synthesized via dry ball-milling of thermal-reduced graphene and polyacrylonitrile, and subsequent stabilization and KOH activation. The effect of the ratio of graphene and polyacrylonitrile, along with activation treatment on the properties of hybrid porous carbon are systematically studied. The results demonstrate that the existence of graphene nanosheets enable the fast dissipation of heat produced in ball-milling process and avoid the cementation of PAN particles, while PAN particles act as spacers to prevent graphene restacking. The as-obtained polyacrylonitrile/graphene precursor is a loose powder, which favors the dispersion of activation agents within the precursor and results in a more homogeneous and effective activation. Meanwhile, graphene works as a 3D micro-current collector, thus providing a conductive network for convenient charge transfer in HPC. Based on the electrochemical characterization in either water or a non-aqueous electrolyte, HPC exhibits a superior capacitive behavior because of its well-developed porosity, large specific surface area, excellent electrical conductivity as well as nitrogen/oxygen heteroatom induced pseudo-capacitance. Particularly, HPC-4 offers a high energy density of 30.38 W·h/kg at a power density of 337.5 W/kg in TEABF4/EC-DMC electrolyte. This work provides an easy-to-operate and efficient synthesis strategy for developing porous carbon electrode towards supercapacitors with high power and energy density.

Flexible and wearable sensors have attracted wide attention for their potential applications in human health monitoring, telemedicine and human-machine interface systems. Graphene has some advantages of good electrical conductivity, high flexibility, light weight, high thermal stability and potential mass production, as one of promising ideal candidate materials for flexible and wearable sensors. Consequently, recent efforts are made on the controlled fabrication of graphene materials with designed structures towards application in the next generation of flexible electronics. This review represented recent developmenton the preparation of graphene and their applications in flexible and wearable sensors. The preparation methods of graphene materials with different morphologies were introduced. The preparation strategies, working mechanisms, performance and applications of graphene-based flexible sensors, including strain sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors and other sensors were discussed. The multi-mode graphene-based flexible sensors were introduced. It is indicated that graphene-based flexible sensors possess superior sensitivity and stability, having a great potential for applications in temperature monitoring, speech recognition, pulse, motion and respiratory detection. In addition, the existing challenges and the future development of flexible graphene-based sensors were also given.

As a carbon nanomaterial, graphene exhibits the superior mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, indicating an enormous application potential in the field of flexible electronic devices. In flexible devices, interfacial mechanical performance between graphene and flexible substrate can determine the reliability of devices performance. This review represented recent development on the interfacial mechanical performance of graphene/flexible substrate, i.e., experimental technology (by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and pressurized blister test) and theoretical calculation model (shear-lag theory, nonlinear shear-lag analysis, bilinear cohesive law and two-dimensional nonlinear shear-lag mode). In addition, the relevant applications and difficulties of flexible graphene devices based on its interfacial mechanical research were also introduced. Finally, the future research and application were prospected.