To increase the responsivity is one of the vital issues for a photodetector. By employing ZnO as a representative material of ultraviolet photodetectors and Si as a representative material of visible photodetectors, an impact ionization process, in which additional carriers can be generated in an insulating layer at a relatively large electric field, has been employed to increase the responsivity of a semiconductor photodetector. It is found that the responsivity of the photodetectors can be enhanced by tens of times via this impact ionization process. The results reported in this paper provide a general route to enhance the responsivity of a photodetector, thus may represent a step towards high-performance photodetectors.

Near-infrared bioimaging and medical X-ray imaging have been realized by hot-pressed CH ₃ NH ₃ PbI ₃ polycrystalline wafers.

To improve the performance of a Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe0_0.2O_3−δ (BSCF) oxygen electrode in a solid-oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC), Ag particles were added to increase its conductivity and thus its electrochemical performance. The experiment results showed that the polarization resistance of Ag decorated BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode with the appropriate amount of Ag particles was lower than that of BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode. Especially, the polarization resistance of Ag decorated BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode with 1.3 wt.% Ag particles (noted as 1.3Ag-BSCF-SDC) was as low as 0.006 Ω cm². The 1.3Ag-BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode showed good stability in the short-term electrolysis durability test. The electrolysis cell based on 1.3Ag-BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode showed better performance than that based on BSCF-SDC oxygen electrode. Therefore, this method is an effective way to improve the performance of a BSCF-based oxygen electrode for an SOEC.