Our investigations with silane-modified TiO2 have revealed a beneficial effect of functionalization on the photoelectrochemical performance on spin-coated electrodes. However, in order to produce large area photoelectrodes, a more scalable manufacturing technology is required. Inkjet printing can fulfil this role and furthermore allow a finer control over coating morphologies. In this work, inkjet-printed photoelectrodes were prepared with silane-functionalized TiO2 nanoparticles, and investigated as electrodes for photoactivated water splitting. The catalyst layers, having thickness around 700 nm, were printed on FTO-coated glass supports, from cellulose stabilized dispersions. For comparison, electrodes of similar thicknesses were also prepared by spin-coating. After removing the stabilizer at 300 °C under air atmosphere, the electrodes were characterized in photoelectrochemical cells containing 0.5 M H2SO4 as electrolyte and a platinum ring as counter electrode. Under simulated sunlight, the best photocurrent densities for the oxygen evolution reaction were obtained for the inkjet-printed electrodes prepared with functionalized particles (up to 0.26 mA cm-2 at 1.2 V against the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), compared to 0.18 mA cm-2 for spin coated). Microscopy of the printed electrodes shows structurally homogenous coatings with evenly distributed roughness. Under continuous illumination at 0.7 V (SHE), the electrodes showed no significant drop in photocurrent within five hours.

Dihydroxy telechelics are precursors for the synthesis of multiblock copolymers. In order to synthesize high molecular weight polymers with good elastic properties it is necessary to gain detailed knowledge of the reaction behavior of these precursors. Therefore it was explored whether the polyaddition reaction of polyester-diols can be established in a robotic synthesizer platform to facilitate the elucidation of reaction characteristics. A series of 16 reactions was performed using a telechelic polyester and trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate. The chain extension behavior of the building block was compared with respect to the Carothers equation. It was found, that the chain extension behavior follows the expected trend. The molecular weight of the polymers increased when the optimal ratio of reactive groups was approached.

In order to integrate porous dielectric materials into the next generation of Cu/low-k interconnect, the porous material has to be sealed against metal barrier precursor. We have reported pore sealants which forms ultra-thin (< 3 nm-thick) layer on top of the surface of porous low-k film while the pore sealant does not diffuse into pores. In this study, it was investigated how pore seal layer is formed on the surface of porous material and how pore mouths are sealed by pore seal layer. It was found that 1) thickness of the pore seal layer is well-controlled in the range < 5 nm, by varying spin rate and concentration of solid, 2) minimal thicknesses of the pore seal layer needed to achieve an efficient sealing for porous low-k films whose pore radius is 1.5 nm was 2.6 nm. 3) Larger pores, whose pore radius is 4.2 nm, were sealed completely with an expansion of our technology.

The main objective of this research work was to study the influence of glassy additives on the formation of crystalline phases in sintered red ceramic bodies used for the fabrication of ceramic floor tiles, whose composition is a mixture of quartz (SiO2), kaolinite [Al2Si2O5(OH)4], albite (NaAlSi3O8), muscovite [KAl2(Si3Al)O10(OH)2] and calcite (CaCO3). The additives used were: fly ash, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, glass frit, Na2P3O10 and cryolite (Na3AlF6). These were added in variable proportions to the nominal composition of the red ceramic bodies, either as single or as combined additions, aiming to accelerate the densification of the materials during their sintering process. For all the additive types used, the crystalline phases formed in the samples sintered using a peak temperature ranging from 950 to 1030 °C were: quartz (SiO2), anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), and hematite (Fe2O3). It is known that the presence of anorthite is particularly beneficial for the mechanical properties, chemical stability and densification of the sintered red ceramic bodies. However, some of the considered additions tended to be detrimental for the formation of this phase in the studied materials, especially at the lowest peak sintering temperature employed. This was verified by means of XRD and SEM analysis.

Silicon (Si) nanowires offer great potential for field ionization (FI) applications due to well-established Si microfabrication methods combined with favorable ionizing properties of Si. Band bending of semiconductors under applied electric fields increases the FI probability, which is not possible with metal-based counterparts. While it has been demonstrated that scaling down the active material geometry can increase the FI efficiency, maximum electric field at the tip of a single nanowire decreases by quenching effect of nearby nanowires. In this work, optimization of Si nanowire geometries for improved FI efficiencies is explored.

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules with 9.5% (25 cm2) and 8.7% (802 cm2) have been demonstrated. This PCE of the module exceeded our previous world records of 8.5% (25 cm2) and 6.8% (396 cm2) that were listed in the latest Solar Cell Efficiency Tables ver.43 [1]. Both module design and coating/patterning technique were consistently studied for module development. In order to achieve highly efficient modules, we increased the ratio of photo-active area to designated illumination area to 94% without any scribing process and placed insulating layers in order to decrease the leakage current. The meniscus coating method was used for the fabrication of both buffer and photoactive layers. This technique ensures the fabrication of uniform and nanometer order thickness layers with thickness variation less than 3%. Furthermore, the PCE of the OPV under indoor illumination was found to be higher than that of the conventional Si type solar cells. This indicates that OPVs are promising as electrical power supplies for indoor applications. Therefore, we have also developed several prototypes for electronics integrated photovoltaics (EIPV) such as electrical shelf labels and wireless sensors embedded with our OPV modules, which can be operated by indoor lights.

Biodegradable Normal Human Osteoblast (NHOst) cells were inoculated into the polymer scaffolds of poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) obtained from a specially developed strain of Azotobacter vinelandii. Cell adhesion is essential to promote growth on scaffolds for tissue engineering. Thus, in this research we focused on the adhesion of osteoblast cells to PHB scaffolds produced by solution casting and electrospinning. Cell viability was also investigated up to 168 hrs. Water contact angle on the PHB scaffolds was determined prior to the cells inoculation. The contact angle is usually related to the ability of different cell strains to adhere to a given material. The as cast film exhibited a contact angle α=72° whereas for the electrospun membrane α=102°, thus in theory cell adhesion would be greater for the cast film. Biological testing was carried out on plates of 24 wells; cell viability was determined by Trypan Blue, cell morphology by optical microscopy, and cell nuclei integrity by staining with Acridine orange. Parallel studies were carried out on control (empty) wells. Microscopy observations 168 hrs after cell inoculation showed larger quantities of osteoblast cells in the wells containing PHB scaffolds and the cell nuclei were still active. Moreover, it was found that the cells grew inside the PHB scaffolds and the cell viability was slightly greater for the electrospun scaffold. Interestingly, the time to remove the cells from the scaffolds (film and membranes) was increasing function of the cell culture time, therefore suggesting that PHB promotes adhesion of Normal Human Osteoblast cells to its surface.

The study of combined single-crystalline and polycrystalline chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond wafers is reported. Combined CVD diamond wafers up to 75 mm in diameter were grown, which consist of great number of single-crystalline diamond sections grafted in a polycrystalline diamond matrix. The grown combined CVD wafers were characterized by the Raman spectroscopy. It was shown that in the grafting process, the single- and polycrystalline areas of the combined wafer undergo insignificant stresses, which can be released during the thermal annealing process. Fabricated combined CVD diamond can be used in various applications that employ unique properties of diamond and potentially suitable for industrial use.

The encapsulation failure is a serious problem which leads to power degradation and life time reduction of silicon based thin film solar module. Therefore, the encapsulation material and related technology research and development become more and more important. This article describes some different junction box and middle foil encapsulation technology of the silicon based thin film solar module, different encapsulation materials and processes are compared and their impact on the manufacturing cost and module performance are discussed. The aim of this study is to find an appropriate solution of module encapsulation failure.

Controlled amounts of colloidal Au nanoparticles (NPs), electrochemically pre-synthesized, were directly deposited on MWCNTs sensor devices by electrophoresis. Pristine and Au-functionalized MWCNT networked films were tested as active layers in resistive gas sensors for detection of pollutant gases. Au-modified CNT-chemiresistor demonstrated higher sensitivity to NO2 detecting up to sub-ppm level compared to pristine one. The investigation of the cross-sensitivity towards other pollutant gases revealed the decrease of the sensitivity to NO2 with the increase of Au content, and, on the other side, the increase of that to H2S; therefore the fine tune of the metal loading on CNTs has allowed to control not only the gas sensitivity but also the selectivity towards a specific gaseous analyte. Finally, the sensing properties of Au-decorated CNT sensor seem to be promising in environmental and automotive gas sensing applications, based on low power consumption and moderate operating temperature.

Laser and oven annealing effects on hydrogen concentration, hydrogen diffusion and material microstructure in hydrogenated amorphous silicon films deposited on crystalline silicon substrates are compared. For laser annealing, a 6 W green (532 nm) continuous wave laser with 100 µm focus diameter was applied and samples of about 1 cm2 were scanned in ambient with a line distance of 50 µm and at a speed of 1 – 100 mm/s. Hydrogen content and microstructure were measured by infrared spectroscopy, and hydrogen diffusion was investigated by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements of depth profiles of deuterium and hydrogen in layered structures of deuterated and hydrogenated material. The results show that in both annealing experiments hydrogen diffuses predominantly in form of atoms although some formation of H2 molecules cannot be excluded. By comparison of laser and oven treatment, an effective temperature describing the laser treated state can be defined. Furthermore, the temperature of the thin silicon film during laser treatment is estimated.

Substantial superheating of single-crystal Si films at and near the bottom Si/SiO2 interface was observed. This was accomplished via back-side irradiation of a (100) single-crystal Si film on a quartz substrate using an excimer-laser pulse. The spatiotemporal details of the melting transition were tracked in situ using surface-side and substrate-side transient reflectance measurements, and the one-dimensional thermal profile evolution within the solid film during the heating period was numerically computed using the experimentally extracted temporal profile of the incident beam and temperature-dependent optical and thermal parameters of the materials. A simple lower-bound estimation identifies that superheating in excess of 100 K was attained within Si along the bottom (100)-Si/SiO2 interface even at moderate beam energy densities.

Ultra thin films of chromia (Cr2O3), less than 3 nm thick, grown epitaxial on α-Al2O3 (sapphire), and are thus compressively strained in-plane. The resulting films show evidence of some magnetic ordering above the Néel temperature of chromia (307 K). The observed higher temperature hysteresis effect observed are very likely a strain effect, and not associated with the typical antiferromagnetic ordering expected of chromia.

Recently, the research team synthesized some scandium- and titanium-based oxide compounds, in order to analyze their thermoluminescent (TL) response [1-2]. The oxides mixture Sc2TiO5:Eu2Ti2O7:Sc2O3 was synthesized in equilibrium phase by solid state reaction at 1100 °C / 48 h. The structural characterization was performed by XRD and SEM. The TL properties of this oxide mixture were examined after exposing it to gamma radiation from a 60Co source. The glow curve showed two main glow peaks at 151 °C and 260 °C, yet the curve shape looks quite complex, revealing that it is composed by overlapped individual TL peaks, which was confirmed with the Tstop preheat method performed [3]. The linear dose-response between 150 to 600 Gy was obtained, followed by a slow saturation stage. The intensity of the glow curves increases as the radiation dose increases, and their maxima remain at the same temperature values, which indicates that the TL phenomenon follows first-order kinetics [4]. After ten irradiation-TL readout cycles at 500 Gy, good stability (SD 2.02 %) between TL integrated response and the exposure dose was found. It is concluded that Sc2TiO5:Eu2Ti2O7:Sc2O3 is a promising material to use as high-dose dosimeter.

The synthesis of biocompatible noble metal nanoparticles dispersible in a wide range of biological media with control of polycrystalinity and nanogeometry, pH sensitivity and salt tolerance has been a challenging requirements. The role of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (3-APTMS) and organic reducing reagents for real time synthesis of amphilic noble metal nanoparticles meeting these requirements are demonstrated justifying the following; (1) 3-APTMS capped noble metal ions are converted into respective metal nanoparticles in the presence of one of organic reducing agents i.e., cyclohexanone, tetrahydrofuran hydroperoxide (THF-HPO), formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, t-buty dimethyl keotone, 3-Glycidoxy-propyltrimethoxysilane (3-GPTMS); (2) 3-APTMS acts as micelle, promotes the interaction of metal ions with organic reducing agent, precisely controls the size of metal nanoparticles, pH sensititvity and salt tolerance and also provides a suitable medium for nanoparticles suspension, (3) the use of suitable organic reagent precisely controls the polarity of as made noble metal nanoparticles allowing specific biological interactions, and (4) 3-APTMS significantly increases the stability and controls the pH sensitivity and salt tolerance of metal nanoparticles. The as synthesized nanomaterials show potential viability in biomedical applications from many angles i.e. (a) as potential bioelectrocatalyst, (b) selective interaction with active proteins and cellular components, and (c) peroxidase mimetic.

AlGaN-based SQW heterostructures grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on c-Al2O3 substrates have been studied with high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR TEM), photoluminescence spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. The high-temperature (780°C) synthesis of the AlN buffer layer nucleated on c-Al2O3 by a migration enhanced epitaxy and including several ultra-thin GaN interlayers grown under moderate N-rich conditions was shown to be the optimum approach for lowering the threading dislocations density down to 108-109 cm-2. HR TEM study has confirmed the fine structure of single quantum wells (SQW) formed by a sub-monolayer digital alloying technique and revealed different kinds of compositional inhomogeneities in the AlxGa1-xN barrier layers of the heterostructures, including the formation of Al-rich barriers induced by the temperature-modulated epitaxy and the spontaneous compositional disordering along the growth axis for x=0.6-0.7. The influence of these phenomena on the parameters of the mid-UV stimulated emission observed in the SQW structures has been studied as well.

Composites of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and titanium nitride (TiN) were obtained by mechanical mixing of commercial powders. High-density samples of (1-x) YSZ / x TiN, with x = 0, 25, 50, and 75 wt.%, were obtained by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1450 °C for 5 min. Surface contamination with carbon from the SPS was eliminated by diamond sawing of parallel surfaces. X-rays diffraction analyses showed that samples are composed by a mixture of the initial phases, without appreciable reaction as inferred from calculated lattice parameters. dc 4-probe electrical measurements in the 100-850°C under showed that samples have a metallic behavior, indicating that the percolation threshold was attained for the sample with the lowest content of the TiN (x=25 wt.%), which corresponds to ∼27 vol.%.