Zeitschriftenaufsätze und Buchbeiträge

Tremendous efforts have been made to fabricate large-scale plasmonic nanostructures, which show wide applications in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing, catalytic conversion, photothermal conversion, optoelectronics, photothermal therapy. However, unable to fabricate over 5 cm^2 plasmonic nanostructures with good controllability hinders their further applications. Here, super large-scale (153 cm^2) 3D AgSiO2 hybrid plasmonic nanostructures with adjustable and ultra-broadband light absorption are fabricated by a simple and controllable two-step approach. The metastable atomic layer deposition (MS-ALD) is combined with physical vapor deposition (PVD) to generate these structures in a self-assembly manner. The structures look like coral tentacles. These excellent properties are attributed to multiple forward scatterings and extinction effects produced by Ag@SiO2 nanostructures. Using 3D Ag@SiO2 plasmonic nanostructures as light absorber for bottom-heating-based evaporation, the water evaporation rate remarkably improves seven times under 1 Sun than that in dark condition. Our results pave the avenue for developing super large-scale Ag-based plasmonic nanostructure with potential applications in solar energy conversion.

Reactive multilayer systems represent an innovative approach for potential usage in chip joining applications. As there are several factors governing the energy release rate and the stored chemical energy, the impact of the morphology and the microstructure on the reaction behavior is of great interest. In the current work, 3D reactive microstructures with nanoscale Al/Ni multilayers were produced by alternating deposition of pure Ni and Al films onto nanostructured Si substrates by magnetron sputtering. In order to elucidate the influence of this 3D morphology on the phase transformation process, the microstructure and the morphology of this system were characterized and compared with a flat reactive multilayer system on a flat Si wafer. The characterization of both systems was carried out before and after a rapid thermal annealing treatment by using scanning and transmission electron microscopy of the cross sections, selected area diffraction analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The bent shape of multilayers caused by the complex topography of silicon needles of the nanostructured substrate was found to favor the atomic diffusion at the early stage of phase transformation and the formation of two intermetallic phases Al0.42Ni0.58 and AlNi3, unlike the flat multilayers that formed a single phase AlNi after reaction.

Calendar and cycle ageing affects the performance of the lithium-ion batteries from the moment they are manufactured. An important process that occurs as a part of the ageing is corrosion of the current collectors, especially prominent in the case of the aluminium substrate for the positive electrode. Generally, aluminium resists corrosion due to the formation of a non-permeable film of native aluminium oxide. Nevertheless, at certain electrochemical conditions corrosion affects the interface of the current collector. As a consequence of corrosion, the cathode materials lose electrical and mechanical contact with the current collector, leading to capacity and power fading. Therefore, a deeper understanding of this process and effective corrosion inhibition are necessary to prevent the deterioration of the battery performance. This review provides an updated critical overview of the mechanisms of aluminium corrosion, methodologies for analysing this phenomenon, and approaches for its effective mitigation. As the influence of multiple factors on the corrosion process has a central impact, the review discusses how they specifically affect the undergoing processes. Therefore, appropriate examples of important factors like electrolyte composition, thermal conditions and electrochemical parameters are presented to explain the specific mechanism of aluminium corrosion. Since corrosion inhibition is an important technological issue with a tremendous economic impact the review summarises how to achieve this by adjusting the electrochemical system and enhancing the knowledge on the safe operation of the positive electrode.

Supersaturated Ni-Au solid solution particles were synthesized by rapid solid-state dewetting of bilayer thin films deposited onto c-plane sapphire single-crystals. Rapid thermal annealing above the miscibility gap of the Ni-Au system followed by quenching to room temperature resulted in textured and faceted submicron-sized particles as a function of alloying content in the range of 0-28 at% Au. Morphologically, the observed kinetic crystal shapes are confined by close-packed planes; in addition, high-index facets are identified as a function of alloying content by TEM cross-sectioning and equilibrium crystal shape simulations. All samples exhibit a distinct <111> out-of-plane as well as in-plane texture along densely packed directions. Lattice parameters extracted from independent orthogonal X-ray and electron diffraction techniques prove the formation of a solid solution without tetragonal distortion imposed by the sapphire substrate. At the particle-substrate interface of highly alloyed particles segregation of Au atoms as well as dislocations in stand-off position are found. These observations are in-line with a semi-coherent interface, where Au segregation is triggered by the reduction of the overall strain energy due to: (i) a lower shear modulus on the particle side of the interface, (ii) the shifting of misfit dislocations in stand-off position further away from the stiffer substrate and (iii) a reduction of intrinsic misfit dislocation strain energy on the tensile side. In addition, the mechanical properties of pure and alloyed particles were characterized by in situ compression experiments in the SEM. Typical force-displacement data of defect-free single-crystals were obtained, reaching the theoretical strength of Ni for particles smaller than 400 nm. Alloying changes the mechanical response from an intermittent and discrete plastic flow behavior into a homogeneous deformation regime at large compressive strain.

Low kinetic energy electrons are of interest for probing nanoscale dynamic processes using ultrafast electron microscopy techniques. Their low velocities reduce radiation doses and enhance the interaction with confined electromagnetic fields and, thus, may enable ultrafast spectroscopy of single nanostructures. Recent improvements in the spatial and temporal resolution of ultrafast, low-energy electron microscopy have been achieved by combining nanotip photoemitters and point-projection imaging schemes. Here, we use such an ultrafast point-projection electron microscope (UPEM) to analyze the interaction of low-energy electrons with transient electric fields created by photoemission from a nanogap antenna. By analyzing their kinetic energy distribution, we separate angular deflection due to radial field components from electron energy gain and loss due to their axial acceleration. Our measurements open up a route toward the spatial and temporal characterization of vectorial near-fields by low-energy electron streaking spectroscopy.