Search results for " thin films"

Plasmonic layers based on Au-nanoparticle-doped TiO2 for optoelectronics: structural and optical properties.

2013

The anti-reflective effect of dielectric coatings used in silicon solar cells has traditionally been the subject of intensive studies and practical applications. In recent years the interest has permanently grown in plasmonic layers based on metal nanoparticles, which are shown to increase light trapping in the underlying silicon. In the present work we have combined these two concepts by means of in situ synthesis of Au nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix (TiO2), which is commonly used as an anti-reflective coating in silicon solar cells, and added the third element: a 10–20% porosity in the matrix. The porosity is formed by means of a controllable wet etching by low concentration HF. As …

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND ATOMIC/ELECTRONIC STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF HYBRID HALIDE PSEUDO-PEROVSKITES: PERSPECTIVES AND OPEN ISSUES FOR NOVEL THERMOELECTRI…

2022

Stabilizing spin spirals and isolated skyrmions at low magnetic field exploiting vanishing magnetic anisotropy

2018

Skyrmions are topologically protected non-collinear magnetic structures. Their stability is ideally suited to carry information in, e.g., racetrack memories. The success of such a memory critically depends on the ability to stabilize and manipulate skyrmions at low magnetic fields. The non-collinear Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction originating from spin-orbit coupling drives skyrmion formation. It competes with Heisenberg exchange and magnetic anisotropy favoring collinear states. Isolated skyrmions in ultra-thin films so far required magnetic fields as high as several Tesla. Here, we show that isolated skyrmions in a monolayer of Co/Ru(0001) can be stabilized down to vanishing fields. Eve…

Micro/nanostructured thin films : synthesis by ALD of composites associating TiO2 inverse opals and gold nanoparticles for photocatalysis applications

2021

The aim of this work was to improve the photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films, a semiconductor that is widely used for photocatalysis applications, particularly for the treatment of polluted water. For this purpose, two complementary approaches were studied: increasing the surface area available for photocalatytic reactions and coupling between TiO2 and gold nanoparticles.. For the first approach, TiO2 thin films with different morphological structures were fabricated by Atomic Layer Deposition: dense and porous flat films, and inverse opals films.In order to evaluate photocatalytic activity of the different films, the degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solut…

Nonlinear Absorption and Refraction of Picosecond and Femtosecond Pulses in HgTe Quantum Dot Films

2021

We report measurements of the saturated intensities, saturable absorption, and nonlinear refraction in 70-nm thick films containing 4 nm HgTe quantum dots. We demonstrate strong nonlinear refraction and saturable absorption in the thin films using tunable picosecond and femtosecond pulses. Studies were carried out using tunable laser pulses in the range of 400–1100 nm. A significant variation of the nonlinear refraction along this spectral range was demonstrated. The maximal values of the nonlinear absorption coefficients and nonlinear refractive indices determined within the studied wavelength range were −2.4 × 10−5 cm2 W−1 (in the case of 28 ps, 700 nm probe pulses) and −3 × 10−9 cm2 W−1 …

Bulk heterojunctions by boramers for plastic photovoltaics

2009

A facile semi-open method for synthesis of non-centrosymmetric superconducting Li2(Pd,Pt)3B bulks and thin films

2010

Abstract Non-centrosymmetric superconductor Li 2 (Pd 1− x Pt x ) 3 B, x  = 0–1 was synthesized from mixtures of the elements. A simple semi-open method is proposed using endings-pressed stainless steel tubes placed in a high-vacuum furnace. Heating regime employed a short-time overheating at 900 °C and a slow cooling step between T s and 550 °C within 3 h. To adequately compensate Li-losses and attain maximum critical temperature, the optimum T s and starting Li-content were found to change from 720 to 740 °C and from Li 2.4 to Li 2.6 , respectively, when x was changing from 0 to 1. It was shown that placing Li separately in the tube also produces superconducting samples, Li being supplied …

Dissociative adsorption of water on Au/MgO/Ag(001) from first principles calculations

2015

Abstract The molecular and dissociative adsorption of water on a Ag-supported 1 ML, 2 ML and 3 ML-a six atomic layer-thick MgO films with a single Au adatom is investigated using density functional theory calculations. The obtained results are compared to a bulk MgO(001) surface with an Au atom. On thin films the negatively charged Au strengthens the binding of the polar water molecule due to the attractive Au–H interaction. The adsorption energy trends of OH and H with respect to the film thickness depend on an adsorption site. In the case OH or H binds atop Au on MgO/Ag(001), the adsorption becomes more exothermic with the increasing film thickness, while the reverse trend is seen when th…

Rayleigh-instability-driven dewetting of thin Au and Ag films on indium-tin-oxide surface under nanosecond laser irradiations

2013

Investigations have been carried out on laser-beam-induced nanoparticle (NP) formation in thin (5 nm) Au and Ag films on indium-tin-oxide substrate. After the irradiation the films were observed to break-up into NPs through a dewetting mechanism. This mechanism was investigated as a Rayleigh-instability- driven process. In fact, for each used laser fluence, the resulting Au and Ag NPs' mean size and surface-to-surface mean distance were quantified and correlated between them in the framework of the Rayleigh-instability theory showing an excellent agreement. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013.

Si:O Alloys for Photovoltaics: Optical and Electrical Properties from Quantum Dots to Thin Films

2010

In current Si based PV devices the sun-light-electricity conversion rarely exceeds the 20% in efficiency, stimulating significant efforts towards new solutions and technologies for giving a boost to Si for PV. One of the most promising routes for the 21st century is exploiting the quantum confinement effect in reduced dimensionality systems, with the aim to harvest the full solar spectrum. Recently, it has been proposed that a certain modulation of the optical bandgap (EG OPT) can be attained by changing the size of Si quantum dots (QDs), which should allow for a large absorption of the solar photon flux [1]. By this way, an “all-Si” tandem solar cell could be fabricated, by stacking solar …