Nature is an inspirational source of silica structures that possess unique optical properties. A few classes of organisms fabricate metal oxides with nanoscale features by a bottom-up self assembly process. In particular, diatoms are a prolific class of single-celled algae that possess silica shells or “frustules” with intricate submicron scale...
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...
Continuous microreactor-assisted solution deposition is demonstrated for the deposition
of CdS thin films on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass. The continuous flow
system consists of a microscale T-junction micromixer with the co-axial water circulation
heat exchanger to control the reacting chemical flux and optimize the heterogeneous surface
reaction. Dense,...
A scalable synthesis of the "flat" tridecameric inorganic cluster [Al₁₃(μ₃-OH)₆(μ-OH)₁₈(H₂O)₂₄]¹⁵⁺ has been realized by treating an aqueous aluminum nitrate solution with zinc-metal powder at room temperature. Single crystals and polycrystalline samples are readily obtained in yields exceeding 55% relative to the starting reagent Al(NO₃)₃. Products have been characterized by X-ray...
A comparison was made of Al₂O₃ films deposited on Si via prompt inorganic condensation (PIC)
and atomic layer deposition (ALD). Current–voltage measurements as a function of annealing
temperature indicate that the solution-processed PIC films, annealed at 500°C, exhibit lower
leakage and roughly equivalent breakdown strength in comparison to ALD films....