High-spatial resolution functional chemistry of nitrogen compounds in the observed UK meteorite fall Winchcombe.

Organic matter in extraterrestrial samples is a complex material that might have played an important role in the delivery of prebiotic molecules to the early Earth. We report here on the identification of nitrogen-containing compounds such as amino acids and N-heterocycles within the recent observed meteorite fall Winchcombe by high-spatial resolution spectroscopy techniques. Although nitrogen contents of Winchcombe organic matter are low (N/C ~ 1-3%), we were able to detect the presence of these compounds using a low-noise direct electron detector. These biologically relevant molecules have therefore been tentatively found within a fresh, minimally processed meteorite sample by high spatial resolution techniques conserving the overall petrographic context. Carbon functional chemistry investigations show that sizes of aromatic domains are small and that abundances of carboxylic functional groups are low. Our observations demonstrate that Winchcombe represents an important addition to the collection of carbonaceous chondrites and still preserves pristine extraterrestrial organic matter.

Tuning the 1T'/2H phases in WxMo1-xSe2 nanosheets.

Controlling materials' morphology, crystal phase and chemical composition at the atomic scale has become central in materials research. Wet chemistry approaches have great potential in directing the material crystallisation process to achieve tuneable chemical compositions as well as to target specific crystal phases. Herein, we report the compositional and crystal phase tuneability achieved in the quasi-binary WxMo1-xSe2 system with chemical and crystal phase mixing down to the atomic level. A series of WxMo1-xSe2 solid solutions in the form of nanoflowers with atomically thin petals were obtained via a direct colloidal reaction by systematically varying the ratios of transition metal precursors. We investigate the effect of selenium precursor on the morphology of the WxMo1-xSe2 material and show how using elemental selenium can enable the formation of larger and distinct nanoflowers. While the synthesised materials are compositionally homogeneous, they exhibit crystal phase heterogeneity with the co-existing domains of the 1T' and 2H crystal phases, and with evidence of MoSe2 in the metastable 1T' phase. We show at single atom level of resolution, that tungsten and molybdenum can be found in both the 1T' and 2H lattices. The formation of heterophase 1T'/2H WxMo1-xSe2 electrocatalysts allowed for a considerable improvement in the activity for the acidic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) compared to pristine, 1T'-dominated, WSe2. This work can pave the way towards engineered functional nanomaterials where properties, such as electronic and catalytic, have to be controlled at the atomic scale.

Atomic-Scale Interface Modification Improves the Performance of Cu(In1-xGax)Se2/Zn(O,S) Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Cadmium-free buffer layers deposited by a dry vacuum process are mandatory for low-cost and environmentally friendly Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 (CIGS) photovoltaic in-line production. Zn(O,S) has been identified as an alternative to the chemical bath deposited CdS buffer layer, providing comparable power conversion efficiencies. Recently, a significant efficiency enhancement has been reported for sputtered Zn(O,S) buffers after an annealing treatment of the complete solar cell stack; the enhancement was attributed to interdiffusion at the CIGS/Zn(O,S) interface, resulting in wide-gap ZnSO4 islands formation and reduced interface defects. Here, we exclude interdiffusion or island formation at the absorber/buffer interface after annealing up to 200 °C using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR-STEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Interestingly, HR-STEM imaging reveals an epitaxial relationship between a part of the Zn(O,S) buffer layer grains and the CIGS grains induced by annealing at such a low temperature. This alteration of the CIGS/buffer interface is expected to lead to a lower density of interface defects, and could explain the efficiency enhancement observed upon annealing the solar cell stack, although other causes cannot be excluded.

Micro-sized thin-film solar cells via area-selective electrochemical deposition for concentrator photovoltaics application.

Micro-concentrator solar cells enable higher power conversion efficiencies and material savings when compared to large-area non-concentrated solar cells. In this study, we use materials-efficient area-selective electrodeposition of the metallic elements, coupled with selenium reactive annealing, to form Cu(In,Ga)Se2 semiconductor absorber layers in patterned microelectrode arrays. This process achieves significant material savings of the low-abundance elements. The resulting copper-poor micro-absorber layers' composition and homogeneity depend on the deposition charge, where higher charge leads to greater inhomogeneity in the Cu/In ratio and to a patchy presence of a CuIn5Se8 OVC phase. Photovoltaic devices show open-circuit voltages of up to 525 mV under a concentration factor of 18 ×, which is larger than other reported Cu(In,Ga)Se2 micro-solar cells fabricated by materials-efficient methods. Furthermore, a single micro-solar cell device, measured under light concentration, displayed a power conversion efficiency of 5% under a concentration factor of 33 ×. These results show the potential of the presented method to assemble micro-concentrator photovoltaic devices, which operate at higher efficiencies while using light concentration.

In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis of Copper-Germanium Nanowire Solid-State Reaction.

A promising approach of making high quality contacts on semiconductors is a silicidation (for silicon) or germanidation (for germanium) annealing process, where the metal enters the semiconductor and creates a low resistance intermetallic phase. In a nanowire, this process allows one to fabricate axial heterostructures with dimensions depending only on the control and understanding of the thermally induced solid-state reaction. In this work, we present the first observation of both germanium and copper diffusion in opposite directions during the solid-state reaction of Cu contacts on Ge nanowires using in situ Joule heating in a transmission electron microscope. The in situ observations allow us to follow the reaction in real time with nanometer spatial resolution. We follow the advancement of the reaction interface over time, which gives precious information on the kinetics of this reaction. We combine the kinetic study with ex situ characterization using model-based energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) indicating that both Ge and Cu diffuse at the surface of the created Cu3Ge segment and the reaction rate is limited by Ge surface diffusion at temperatures between 360 and 600 °C. During the reaction, germanide crystals typically protrude from the reacted NW part. However, their formation can be avoided using a shell around the initial Ge NW. Ha direct Joule heating experiments show slower reaction speeds indicating that the reaction can be initiated at lower temperatures. Moreover, they allow combining electrical measurements and heating in a single contacting scheme, rendering the Cu-Ge NW system promising for applications where very abrupt contacts and a perfectly controlled size of the semiconducting region is required. Clearly, in situ TEM is a powerful technique to better understand the reaction kinetics and mechanism of metal-semiconductor phase formation.

In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis of Aluminum-Germanium Nanowire Solid-State Reaction.

To fully exploit the potential of semiconducting nanowires for devices, high quality electrical contacts are of paramount importance. This work presents a detailed in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of a very promising type of NW contact where aluminum metal enters the germanium semiconducting nanowire to form an extremely abrupt and clean axial metal-semiconductor interface. We study this solid-state reaction between the aluminum contact and germanium nanowire in situ in the TEM using two different local heating methods. Following the reaction interface of the intrusion of Al in the Ge nanowire shows that at temperatures between 250 and 330 °C the position of the interface as a function of time is well fitted by a square root function, indicating that the reaction rate is limited by a diffusion process. Combining both chemical analysis and electron diffraction we find that the Ge of the nanowire core is completely exchanged by the entering Al atoms that form a monocrystalline nanowire with the usual face-centered cubic structure of Al, where the nanowire dimensions are inherited from the initial Ge nanowire. Model-based chemical mapping by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) characterization reveals the three-dimensional chemical cross-section of the transformed nanowire with an Al core, surrounded by a thin pure Ge (∼2 nm), Al2O3 (∼3 nm), and Ge containing Al2O3 (∼1 nm) layer, respectively. The presence of Ge containing shells around the Al core indicates that Ge diffuses back into the metal reservoir by surface diffusion, which was confirmed by the detection of Ge atoms in the Al metal line by EDX analysis. Fitting a diffusion equation to the kinetic data allows the extraction of the diffusion coefficient at two different temperatures, which shows a good agreement with diffusion coefficients from literature for self-diffusion of Al.