Metal-oxo clusters can be described as soluble pieces of metal-oxide frameworks. Currently, metal-oxo clusters are being considered as solution-based precursors for extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 13.5 nm) photoresist materials, which are a crucial component in the fabrication of microelectronic devices. Two different photoresist precursor systems have been investigated – alkyltin clusters...
This work explores the synthesis and characterization of the metastable alloys Sn1-xCaxCh (Ch= S, Se) and nitride compounds Zn-W-Mo-N, which have recently been predicted by theorists. Single phase thin films of Sn1-xCaxS are prepared by pulsed laser deposition and radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and of Sn1-xCaxSe are prepared by pulsed laser...
Effective storage and release of low-to-moderate temperature thermal energy (e.g. solar thermal or geothermal) could be transformational for applications such as space heating/cooling, domestic hot water, or off-grid cooking. Good candidates for thermal energy storage in this temperature range include latent heat storage (LHS) systems and thermochemical energy storage (TCES)...
In the first part of this work, thin films of Al₂O₃ deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) are demonstrated to improve the thermal stability of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) aerogels. ALD is a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) like method in which sequential precursor exposures and self-limited surface reactions produce a conformal...
Zinc Sulfide (ZnS) thin film, with a wide band gap, has been used for many applications, such as buffer layer for CIGS solar cells, light emitting diodes and thin film electroluminescent devices.
In this work, ZnS thin films were prepared using two different deposition processes. In the first method, ZnS...
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represent an exciting, new class of porous materials. Their hybrid organic-inorganic structure opens up near infinite possibilities to tune and design their structure for specific properties and applications. A new generation of flexible MOFs, following a generation of stiff MOFs, has created additional design space and complexity....
The production of hydrogen has been one of the most heavily studied, energy related fields over the past half century, yet few methods are commercially or economically viable and none are currently sustainable. Of those aiming at the sustainable production of hydrogen using renewable resources, perhaps the most widely studied...
Pb(Zr₀.₅₂Ti₀.₄₈)O₃ (PZT) thin films are of interest for their large dielectric permittivity, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric properties. The material has been widely studied for use in high frequency transducers, multi-layered capacitors, and ferroelectric random access memory. Copper foils are an inexpensive, flexible substrate with a low resistivity which makes them ideal...
CuInGaSe₂ (CIGS), a promising thin film solar cell material, has gained lots of
attention in decades due to its high energy conversion efficiency and potential lower
manufacture cost over conventional Si solar cells. As a cheaper processing method
compared to vacuum-based techniques, solution-based deposition has been
successfully applied to fabricate...
The cross over from batch nanoparticle synthesis to continuous synthesis processes is crucial to the commercialization of these materials. This project reports comparative studies of batch and continuous synthese of copper nanoparticles by the polyol method. Continuous synthesis of copper nanoparticles was done utilizing a stainless steel micro-mixer that yielded...