Effect of Solvent Vapor Annealing on Diblock Copolymer-Templated Mesoporous Si/Ge/C Thin Films : Implications for Li-Ion Batteries

• Although amphiphilic diblock copolymer templating of inorganic materials such as TiO2 is already well investigated, sol-gel synthesis routines for porous silicon and germanium are relatively rare. Therefore, especially in the field of Li-ion batteries, novel synthesis routines with the possibility to tune the silicon and germanium ratio and the morphology in the nanometer regime are of high interest. Here, we demonstrate a synthesis method that allows a change of morphology and elemental composition with minimal effort. We evidence a morphological transformation in the nanometer regime with real space (scanning electron microscopy) and complementary reciprocal space analysis methods (grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering). Although energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) reveals a considerable amount of oxygen in the thin film, crystalline Ge in the bulk is detected with powder Xray diffraction (PXRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Due to the system's simplicity, chemical mass production options such as roll-to-roll or slot-die printing can also be considered high-yield methods compared to standard synthesis routines.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Nanoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Nano-technology (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide)

diblock copolymer

solvent vapor annealing

silicon

germanium

GISAXS

sol-gel

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)