Hydrophilic Surface Modification of Amorphous Hydrogenated Carbon Nanocomposite Films via Atmospheric Oxygen Plasma Treatment.

Herein we investigated hydrophilic surface modification of SiOx containing amorphous hydrogenated carbon nanocomposite films (DLC:SiOx) via the use of atmospheric oxygen plasma treatment. The modified films exhibited effective hydrophilic properties with complete surface wetting. More detailed water droplet contact angle (CA) measurements revealed that oxygen plasma treated DLC:SiOx films maintained good wetting properties with CA of up to 28 ± 1° after 20 days of aging in ambient air at room temperature. This treatment process also increased surface root mean square roughness from 0.27 nm to 1.26 nm. Analysis of the surface chemical states suggested that the hydrophilic behavior of DLC:SiOx treated with oxygen plasma is attributed to surface enrichment with C-O-C, SiO2, and Si-Si chemical bonds as well as significant removal of hydrophobic Si-CHx functional groups. The latter functional groups are prone to restoration and are mainly responsible for the increase in CA with aging. Possible applications of the modified DLC:SiOx nanocomposite films could include biocompatible coatings for biomedical applications, antifogging coatings for optical components, and protective coatings to prevent against corrosion and wear.

Multitarget Reactive Magnetron Sputtering towards the Production of Strontium Molybdate Thin Films.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to study the direct synthesis of strontium and molybdenum oxide thin films deposited by multitarget reactive magnetron sputtering (MT-RMS). Sr and Mo targets with a purity of 99.9% and 99.5%, respectively, were co-sputtered in an argon-oxygen gas mixture. The chamber was provided with an oxygen background flow plus an additional controlled oxygen supply to each of the targets. We demonstrate that variation in the power applied to the Mo target during MT-RMS enables the production of strontium and molybdenum oxide films with variable concentrations of Mo atoms. Both molybdenum and strontium were found in the oxidized state, and no metallic peaks were detected. The deconvoluted high-resolution XPS spectra of molybdenum revealed the presence of several Mo 3d peaks, which indicates molybdenum bonds in a lower valence state. Contrary to the Mo spectra, the high-resolution strontium Sr 3d spectra for the same samples were very similar, and no additional peaks were detected.

Trilayer Composite System Based on SiO2, Thiol-Ene, and PEDOT:PSS. Focus on Stability after Thermal Treatment and Solar Irradiance.

The trilayer composite was fabricated by combining functional layers of fumed SiO2, thiol-ene, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT-PSS). Optical, scratch-healing, non-wetting, and electrical stability was investigated at different instances of time after thermal and solar irradiance treatment. The trilayer composite was found to be optically stable and highly transparent for visible light after thermal and irradiance treatment for 25 h. Both treatment processes had a minor effect on the shape-memory assisted scratch-healing performance of the trilayer composite. Thermal treatment and solar irradiance did not affect the superhydrophobic properties (contact angle 170 ± 1°) of the trilayer composite. The sheet resistance increased from 90 ± 3 Ω/square (initial) to 109 ± 3 Ω/square (thermal) and 149 ± 3 Ω/square (irradiance) after 25 h of treatment, which was considered as not significant change.

Modification of Graphene Oxide/V2O5·nH2O Nanocomposite Films via Direct Laser Irradiation.

Herein, photothermal modification of nanocomposite films consisting of hydrated vanadium pentoxide (V2O5·nH2O) nanoribbons wrapped with graphene oxide (GO) flakes was performed via 405 nm direct laser irradiation. The combination of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy allowed comprehensive characterization of physical and chemical changes of GO/V2O5·nH2O nanocomposite films upon photothermal modification. The modified nanocomposite films exhibited porous surface morphology (17.27 m2 g-1) consisting of randomly distributed pillarlike protrusions. The photothermal modification process of GO/V2O5·nH2O enhanced the electrical conductivity of nanocomposite from 1.6 to 6.8 S/m. It was also determined that the direct laser irradiation of GO/V2O5·nH2O resulted in considerable decrease of C-O bounds as well as O-H functional groups with an increase of the laser power density.

Diamond Like Carbon Films Containing Si: Structure and Nonlinear Optical Properties.

In the present research diamond-like carbon (DLC) films containing 4-29 at.% of silicon were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering of carbon target. Study by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the presence of Si-C bonds in the films. Nevertheless, a significant amount of Si-O-C and Si-Ox bonds was present too. The shape of the Raman scattering spectra of all studied diamond-like carbon containing silicon (DLC:Si) films was typical for diamond-like carbon. However, some peculiarities related to silicon doping were found. Studies on the dependence of DLC:Si of the optical transmittance spectra on the Si atomic concentration have shown that doping by silicon affects linear, as well as nonlinear, optical properties of the films. It is shown that the normalized reflectance of DLC:Si films decreased with the increased exciting light fluence. No clear relation between the normalized reflectance and photoexcited charge carrier relaxation time was found. It was suggested that that the normalized reflectance decrease with fluence can be related to nonlinear optical properties of the hydrogenated diamond-like carbon phase in DLC:Si film.

Hydrogen-Free Diamond Like Carbon Films with Embedded Cu Nanoparticles: Structure, Composition and Reverse Saturable Absorption Effect.

In the present research, hydrogen-free diamond like carbon films with embedded copper nanoparticles (DLC:Cu) were grown by simultaneous DC magnetron sputtering of the graphite and copper targets. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to define the composition of the samples. Atomic force microscopy studies of diamond, like carbon films containing different amount of copper, revealed wide range of the surface morphologies as well as sizes and shapes of the embedded copper nanoclusters. Raman scattering spectra of all the DLC:Cu films investigated were typical for diamond-like carbon (including samples containing more than 60 at.% of copper). sp3/sp2 carbon bond ratio in the films decreased with the increase of the Cu amount in the films. According to the optical absorbance measurements, the surface plasmon resonance related absorption peak of DLC:Cu films was only detected in the films containing 28.45 at.% Cu. For the diamond like carbon films containing more than 40 at.% Cu, a further increase of Cu amount in the nanocomposite resulted in minor changes of the absorbance spectra. Some correlation between the changes of the samples surface morphology as well as phase structure and optical absorbance spectra of the films was found. In all cases, reverse-saturable absorption of the DLC:Cu films was observed. For some DLC:Cu films damage of the sample occurred at higher light fluences that can be related to the heating that is caused by the surface plasmon resonance effect.

Highly Active Wood-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

In this recent decade, great interest has risen to develop metal-free and cheap, biomass-derived electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report a facile strategy to synthesize an electrochemically active nanocarbon material from the renewable and biological resource, wood biomass. The ORR activity of the catalyst material was investigated in 0.1 M KOH solution by employing the rotating disc electrode method. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were employed to obtain more information about the catalyst material's morphology and composition. The material exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic activity with low onset potential and high current density, similar to that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst in an alkaline medium. The results clearly ascertain that wooden biomass can be easily transformed into novel carbon nanostructures with superior ORR activity and possibility to be used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.

Shape-Memory Assisted Scratch-Healing of Transparent Thiol-Ene Coatings.

A photopolymerizable thiol-ene composition was prepared as a mixture of pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PETMP) and 1,3,5-triallyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione (TTT), with 1 wt. % of 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA) photoinitiator. A systematic analytical analysis that investigated the crosslinked PETMP-TTT polymer coatings employed Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet⁻visible spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, pencil hardness, thermo-mechanical cyclic tensile, scratch testing, and atomic force microscopy. These coatings exhibited high optical transparency and shape-memory that assisted scratch-healing properties. Scratches produced on the PETMP-TTT polymer coatings with different constant loadings (1.2 N, 1.5 N, and 2.7 N) were completely healed after the external stimulus was applied. The strain recovery ratio and total strain recovery ratio for PETMP-TTT polymer were found to be better than 94 ± 1% and 97 ± 1%, respectively. The crosslinked PETMP-TTT polymer network was also capable of initiating scratch recovery at ambient temperature conditions.

Giant Negative Piezoresistive Effect in Diamond-like Carbon and Diamond-like Carbon-Based Nickel Nanocomposite Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering of Ni Target.

Piezoresistive properties of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) and DLC-based nickel nanocomposite (DLC:Ni) films were studied in the range of low concentration of nickel nanoparticles. The films were deposited by reactive high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) of Ni target, and some samples were deposited by direct current (dc) reactive magnetron sputtering for comparison purposes. Raman scattering spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to study the structure and chemical composition of the films. A four-point bending test was applied to study piezoresistive properties of the films. For some samples containing less than 4 at. % Ni and for the samples containing no Ni (as defined by both EDS and XPS), a giant negative piezoresistive effect was observed. The giant negative piezoresistive effect in DLC films deposited by either reactive HIPIMS or dc magnetron sputtering of Ni target was explained by possible clustering of the sp2-bonded carbon and/or formation of areas with the decreased hydrogen content. It was suggested that the tensile stress-induced rearrangements of these conglomerations have resulted in the increased conductivity paths.

Nitrogen-doped twisted graphene grown on copper by atmospheric pressure CVD from a decane precursor.

We present Raman studies of graphene films grown on copper foil by atmospheric pressure CVD with n-decane as a precursor, a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen as the carrier gas, under different hydrogen flow rates. A novel approach for the processing of the Raman spectroscopy data was employed. It was found that in particular cases, the various parameters of the Raman spectra can be assigned to fractions of the films with different thicknesses. In particular, such quantities as the full width at half maximum of the 2D peak and the position of the 2D graphene band were successfully applied for the elaborated approach. Both the G- and 2D-band positions of single layer fractions were blue-shifted, which could be associated with the nitrogen doping of studied films. The XPS study revealed the characteristics of incorporated nitrogen, which was found to have a binding energy around 402 eV. Moreover, based on the statistical analysis of spectral parameters and the observation of a G-resonance, the twisted nature of the double-layer fraction of graphene grown with a lower hydrogen feeding rate was demonstrated. The impact of the varied hydrogen flow rate on the structural properties of graphene and the nitrogen concentration is also discussed.