Despite the remarkable rise in efficiencies of solar cells containing the lead-halide perovskite absorbers RPbX3 (R = organic cation; X = Br(-) or I(-)), the toxicity of lead remains a concern for the large-scale implementation of this technology. This has spurred the search for lead-free materials with similar optoelectronic properties. Here, we use the double-perovskite structure to incorpora...

This article describes an improvement on a previous model proposed by Ba~ant and Najjar, in which moisture diffusivity and moisture capacity are treated as separate parameters. These parameters are evaluated from independent test results, and are shown to depend on the water:cement ratio, curing time, temperature, and cement type. The moisture capacity is obtained as the slope of the adsorption...

The purpose of the study was to develop a facile method for the fabrication of a stable and reusable magnetic graphene composite absorbent to remove trace levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in water treatment. The poly cationic Fe₃O₄@PDDA (poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA)) core-shell structured nanoparticles were first synthesized, and then, DNA was laid on the surface of gr...

A multi-scale approach is devoted to the analysis of hygro-elastic internal stresses in porous composite materials. Voids in composite materials are known to cause a significant reduction of mechanical properties. Moreover, in a humid environment they also affect the moisture absorption and the induced internal stresses. In this work, a self-consistent approach is used to estimate internal stre...

X-ray absorption (or more properly, x-ray attenuation) techniques have been applied to study the moisture movement in and moisture content of materials like cement paste, mortar, and wood. An increase in the number of x-ray counts with time at a location in a specimen may indicate a decrease in moisture content. The uncertainty of measurements from an x-ray absorption system, which must be know...