| 1. |
- Alvi, Sajid Ali, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptive nanolaminate coating by atomic layer deposition
- 2019
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Ingår i: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 692
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to deposit ZnO/Al2O3/V2O5 nanolaminate coatings to demonstrate a coating system with temperature adaptive frictional behaviour. The nanolaminate coating exhibited excellent conformity and crack-free coating of thickness 110 nm over Inconel 718 substrate. The ALD trilayer coating showed a hardness and elastic modulus of 12 GPa and 193 GPa, respectively. High-temperature tribology of the nanolaminate trilayer was tested against steel ball in dry sliding condition at 25 °C (room temperature, RT), 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C. It was found that the nanolaminate coating showed a low coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate at RT and 300 °C. The trilayer coating was found intact and stable at all temperatures during the friction tests. The adaptability of nanolaminate coating with the temperature was verified by performing the cyclic friction test at 300 °C and RT. The low COF and wear rate had been attributed to the (100) and (002) basal plane sliding of ZnO top layer, and the interlayer sliding of weakly bonded planes parallel to (001) plane in V2O5 bottom layer. Furthermore, even after the removal of ZnO coating during the tribotest, the bottom V2O5 layer coating stabilized the COF and wear rate at RT and 300 °C.
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| 2. |
- Ghamgosar, Pedram, 1979-
(författare)
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Advanced Nanostructured Transition Metal Oxide Semiconductors for Solar Energy Applications
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Increasing energy consumption and its environmental impacts make it necessary to look for alternative energy sources. Solar energy as huge energy source that can cover the terms sustainability is considered as a favorable alternative. Optoelectronic devices like solar cells and photoelectrochemical cells are in very high interest to provide the energy that we need. They can convert solar energy, as a sustainable energy source, to electricity and fuel. Transition metal oxides (TMOs) due to high chemical stability, abundance, facile production and low cost are favorable materials to be used in these optoelectronic applications. In TMOs, d orbitals electrons contribute in forming bonds that gives special magnetic, electronic and geometric characteristics to these materials. They can be synthesized with different types of chemical and physical deposition methods.The electronic properties of TMOs varies from metallic characteristics to electrical insulators. Transition metal oxide semiconductors (TMOSs) are mostly used in optoelectronic devices. Tuning the properties of TMOSs like, composition, morphology, dimensions, crystal structure, improves the performance of the optoelectronic devices. The light absorption, charge carrier mobility, the time scale between charge injection, regeneration and recombination processes are some of the properties critical to exploitation of TMOSs in solar cells and solar fuel technology.In this thesis, we explore the use of nanostructured TMOSs in all-oxide solar cells, photodetectors and photoelectrochemical cells. 1-dimentional heterojunctions of n-type transparent semi-conductive metal oxides (ZnO and TiO2) in conjunction to p-type light absorbing semi-conductive metal oxides (Cu2O and Co3O4) have been tested in all-oxide photodetectors and solar cells. It is shown that the 1-dimentional nanostructured geometry (nanowires, nanotubes) improves the charge separation and charge transport properties. Increasing the surface to volume aspect ratio in nanowires and nanotubes improves the light absorption compare to the thin film geometry. Our ZnO-Cu2O core-shell nanowire photodetector is the fastest visible light photodetector reported till now. Mesoporous NiO photocathode, sensitized with a biomimetic FeFe-catalyst and coumarin C343 dye, was tested in a photoelectrochemical cell for hydrogen production. This system is the first solar fuel device based on a biomimetic FeFe-catalyst and it shows a Faradic efficiency of 50% in hydrogen production. Cobalt catalysts have higher Faradic efficiency but their performance due to hydrolysis in low pH condition is limited. Nanostructured hematite/magnetite film as a photoanode was tested in a photoelectrochemical cell for water splitting. This hybrid electrode improved the photoactivity of the photoelectrochemical cell for water splitting. The main mechanism for the improvement of the functional properties relies with the role of the magnetite phase, which improves the charge carrier mobility of the composite system, compared to pure hematite, which acts as good light absorbing semiconductor.
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| 3. |
- Ghamgosar, Pedram, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Self-Powered Photodetectors Based on Core-Shell ZnO-Co3O4 Nanowire Heterojunctions
- 2019
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 11:26, s. 23454-23462
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Self-powered photodetectors operating in the UV–visible–NIR window made of environmentally friendly, earth abundant, and cheap materials are appealing systems to exploit natural solar radiation without external power sources. In this study, we propose a new p–n junction nanostructure, based on a ZnO–Co3O4 core–shell nanowire (NW) system, with a suitable electronic band structure and improved light absorption, charge transport, and charge collection, to build an efficient UV–visible–NIR p–n heterojunction photodetector. Ultrathin Co3O4 films (in the range 1–15 nm) were sputter-deposited on hydrothermally grown ZnO NW arrays. The effect of a thin layer of the Al2O3 buffer layer between ZnO and Co3O4 was investigated, which may inhibit charge recombination, boosting device performance. The photoresponse of the ZnO–Al2O3–Co3O4 system at zero bias is 6 times higher compared to that of ZnO–Co3O4. The responsivity (R) and specific detectivity (D*) of the best device were 21.80 mA W–1and 4.12 × 1012 Jones, respectively. These results suggest a novel p–n junction structure to develop all-oxide UV–vis photodetectors based on stable, nontoxic, low-cost materials.
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| 4. |
- Leduc, Jennifer, et al.
(författare)
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Electronically-Coupled Phase Boundaries in α‑Fe2O3/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite Photoanodes for Enhanced Water Oxidation
- 2019
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Ingår i: ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2574-0970. ; 2:1, s. 334-342
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splittingreactions are promising for sustainable hydrogen productionfrom renewable sources. We report here, the preparation of α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 composite films via a single-step chemical vapordeposition of [Fe(OtBu)3]2 and their use as efficient photoanode materials in PEC setups. Film thickness and phase segregation was controlled by varying the deposition time and corroborated through cross-section Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The highest water oxidationactivity (0.48 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs RHE) using intermittent AM 1.5 G (100 mW/cm2) standard illumination was found forhybrid films with a thickness of 11 μm. This phenomenon is attributed to an improved electron transport resulting from ahigher magnetite content toward the substrate interface and an increased light absorption due to the hematite layer mainly located at the top surface of the film. The observed high efficiency of α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanocomposite photoanodes is attributed to the close proximity and establishment of 3D interfaces between the weakly ferro- (Fe2O3) and ferrimagnetic (Fe3O4) oxides, which in view of their differential chemical constitution andvalence states of Fe ions (Fe2+/Fe3+) can enhance the charge separation and thus the overall electrical conductivity of the layer.
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| 5. |
- You, Shujie, et al.
(författare)
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Tuning ZnO nanorods photoluminescence through atmospheric plasma treatments
- 2019
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Ingår i: APL Materials. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 2166-532X. ; 7:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Room temperature atmospheric plasma treatments are widely used to activate and control chemical functionalities at surfaces. Here, we investigated the effect of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) treatments in reducing atmosphere (Ar/1‰ H2 mixture) on the photoluminescence (PL) properties of single crystal ZnO nanorods (NRs) grown through hydrothermal synthesis on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates. The results were compared with a standard annealing process in air at 300 °C. Steady-state photoluminescence showed strong suppression of the defect emission in ZnO NRs for both plasma and thermal treatments. On the other side, the APPJ process induced an increase in PL quantum efficiency (QE), while the annealing does not show any improvement. The QE in the plasma treated samples was mainly determined by the near band-edge emission, which increased 5–6 fold compared to the as-prepared samples. This behavior suggests that the quenching of the defect emission is related to the substitution of hydrogen probably in zinc vacancies (VZn), while the enhancement of UV emission is due to doping originated by interstitial hydrogen (Hi), which diffuses out during annealing. Our results demonstrate that atmospheric pressure plasma can induce a similar hydrogen doping as ordinarily used vacuum processes and highlight that the APPJ treatments are not limited to the surfaces but can lead to subsurface modifications. APPJ processes at room temperature and under ambient air conditions are stable, convenient, and efficient methods, compared to thermal treatments to improve the optical and surface properties of ZnO NRs, and remarkably increase the efficiency of UV emission.
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