Growth and characterization of epitaxial anatase TiO2(001) on SrTiO3-buffered Si(001) using atomic layer deposition

Epitaxial anatase titanium dioxide (TiO₂) films have been grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on Si(001) substrates using a strontium titanate (STO) buffer layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to serve as a surface template. The growth of TiO₂ was achieved using titanium isopropoxide and water as the co-reactants at a substrate temperature of 225-250 °C. To preserve the quality of the MBE-grown STO, the samples were transferred in-situ from the MBE chamber to the ALD chamber. After ALD growth, the samples were annealed in-situ at 600 °C in vacuum (10^− 7 Pa) for 1-2 h. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction was performed during the MBE growth of STO on Si(001), as well as after deposition of TiO₂ by ALD. The ALD films were shown to be highly ordered with the substrate. At least four unit cells of STO must be present to create a stable template on the Si(001) substrate for epitaxial anatase TiO₂ growth. X-ray diffraction revealed that the TiO₂ films were anatase with only the (004) reflection present at 2θ = 38.2°, indicating that the c-axis is slightly reduced from that of anatase powder (2θ = 37.9°). Anatase TiO₂ films up to 100 nm thick have been grown that remain highly ordered in the (001) direction on STO-buffered Si(001) substrates.     

Finite element analysis of postbuckling and delamination of composite laminates using virtual crack closure technique

The two-dimensional and three-dimensional parametric finite element analysis (FEA) of composite flat laminates with two through-the-width delamination types: 0₄/(±θ)₆//0₄ and 0₄//(±θ)₆//0₄ (θ = 0°, 45°, and “//” denotes the delaminated interface) under compressive load are performed to explore the effects of multiple delaminations on the postbuckling properties. The virtual crack closure technique which is employed to calculate the energy release rate (ERR) for crack propagation is used to deal with the delamination growth. Three typical failure criteria: B-K law, Reeder law and Power law are comparatively studied for predicting the crack propagation. Effects of different mesh sizes and pre-existing crack length on the delamination growth and postbuckling properties of composite laminates are discussed. Interaction between the delamination growth mechanisms for multiple cracks for 0₄//(±θ)₆//0₄ composite laminates is also investigated. Numerical results using FEA are also compared with those by existing models and experiments.     

Conductivity and adhesion enhancement in low-temperature processed indium tin oxide/polymer nanocomposites

We report on the conductivity and adhesion enhancement of indium tin oxide (In₂O₃:Sn; ITO) nanoparticle films by the application of polymers as matrix material. We fabricated ITO layers at a maximum process temperature of 130 °C by modifying and spin-coating nanoparticulate ITO dispersions. Dispersions containing the organic film-forming agent polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and the organofunctional coupling agent 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS) have been developed to obtain transparent and conducting coatings on substrates which do not withstand high process temperatures like polymers or already processed glasses. The layers were cured by UV-irradiation as well as by low-temperature heat treatment (T = 130 °C) in air and under forming gas atmosphere (N₂/H₂). The influence of the additives on the electrical, optical, morphological and mechanical layer properties is reported. Compared to best pure ITO layers (3.1 Ω^− 1 cm^− 1), the ITO-MPTS-PVP nanocomposite coatings exhibit a conductance of 9.8 Ω^− 1 cm^− 1. Stable sheet resistances of 750 Ω/□ at a coexistent transmittance of 86% at 550 nm for a layer thickness of about 1.3 µm were achieved. The conductance enhancement is a consequence of the consolidation of the ITO nanoparticle network due to the acting shrinkage forces caused either by drying in the case of PVP or UV-irradiation induced condensation and polymerization reactions in the case of MPTS.     

Synthesis of epitaxial BaZrO3 thin films by chemical solution deposition

This work reports on the low temperature preparation and characterization of BaZrO₃ (BZO) epitaxial thin films by chemical solution deposition (CSD). The X-ray θ-2θ scan and φ-scan measurements have demonstrated that the BZO films exhibit cube-on-cube epitaxy on (100) MgO substrates, with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the ω-scan and φ-scan of 0.35° and 0.46°, respectively. The SEM and AFM analyses revealed that the morphology of the films is strongly correlated with annealing temperature. The root mean square roughness for the film annealed at 600 °C is 3.63 nm, while for the film grown at 1000 °C is 5.25 nm.     

Effects of additives on the photo-induced grafting polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide gel onto PET film and PP nonwoven fabric surface

In this study, the thermosensitive gels were grafted onto plasma-activated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film and polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric surface. The Ar* plasma pretreatment was carried out and subsequent photo-induced surface graft polymerization was employed to graft the N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm). The effects of additives during the grafting were accessed. The additives used were ammonium peroxodisulfate (APS, initiator), N,N,N′,N′-tetra-methylethylene-diamine (TEMED, promoter) and N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA, cross-linking agent). The results indicate that the additives of APS, TEMED and NMBA will be beneficial in promoting the grafting. The additives, including all three, will give the best result. These grafted gels exhibit a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at about 32 °C, which shows that the temperature-responsive behavior of bulk P (NIPAAm) hydrogel was preserved.     

Structure and magnetic properties of Fe epitaxial thin films prepared by UHV rf magnetron sputtering on GaAs single-crystal substrates

Fe thin films were prepared on GaAs single-crystal substrates of (100)_B3, (110)_B3, and (111)_B3 orientations by ultra high vacuum rf magnetron sputtering. The effects of substrate orientation and substrate temperature on the film growth, the structure, and the magnetic properties were investigated. On GaAs(100)_B3 substrates, Fe(100)_bcc single-crystal films are obtained at 300 °C, whereas Fe films consisting of bcc(100) and bcc(221) crystals epitaxially grow at room temperature (RT). Fe(110)_bcc and Fe(111)_bcc single-crystal films are respectively obtained on GaAs(110)_B3 and GaAs(111)_B3 substrates at RT-300 °C. The in-plane lattice spacings of these Fe epitaxial films are 0-9% larger than the out-of-plane lattice spacings due to accommodation of lattice mismatch between the films and the substrates. The film strain is decreased by employing an elevated substrate temperature of 300 °C. The in-plane magnetization properties are reflecting the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of bulk bcc-Fe crystal.     

Growth of silicon carbide nanorods from the hybrid of lignin and polysiloxane using sol-gel process and polymer blend technique

We report here the formation of silicon carbide (SiC) nanorods from organic-inorganic hybrid of the commercially available lignin and sol-gel derived nanosized silica. The SiC nanorods were identified by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The surface morphology shows the formation of continuous nanorods of diameter in the range of 50-200 nm. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern show peaks at 2θ = 35.5° and 60.2° indicate the formation of β-SiC and a sharp peak at 2θ = 22.1° suggests the presence of unreacted crystalline silica (crystoballite). The characteristic vibration of SiC at 791 cm^− 1 in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was also observed.     

Epitaxial orientation and morphology of β-FeSi2 produced on a flat and a patterned Si(001) substrates

The epitaxial growth of β-FeSi₂ films produced on flat and patterned Si(001) substrates under various substrate temperatures (T_s) with deposition rates of Fe (V_Fe) was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the film deposited on the flat Si(001) substrate, precipitates of flat-bottom shaped β-FeSi₂ and those of round-bottom shaped α-FeSi₂ were formed at T_s = 500 °C and V_Fe = 0.02 nm/s. The β-FeSi₂ adopted the epitaxy to (001)_Si plane, while α-FeSi₂ selected the epitaxy to {111}_Si planes inside the Si matrix. At T_s = 350 °C and V_Fe = 0.01 nm/s, a continuous β-FeSi₂ layer were formed epitaxially on the Si(001) substrate without forming α-FeSi₂. It was found that the lower temperature and the higher Fe-concentration suppress the formation of α-FeSi₂ and promote the formation of β-FeSi₂. In addition, the morphology of β-FeSi₂ changed from fine isolated precipitates (islands) to a continuous layer with increasing the deposition rate and the substrate temperature. In the film deposited on the patterned Si(001) substrate at T_s = 500 °C and V_Fe = 0.02 nm/s, on the other hand, both β- and α-FeSi₂ precipitates were formed on the top-hills and the valleys of the patterned substrate, while only α-FeSi₂ precipitates were formed on the sidewalls. These results demonstrate that not only the growth conditions but also geometric situations affect strongly the epitaxial growth of FeSi₂ precipitates.     

Epitaxial film growth of chromium dioxide by low pressure chemical vapor deposition using chromium carbonyl

Epitaxial chromium dioxide (CrO₂) thin films have been deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) on (100) TiO₂ substrates using the precursor chromium hexacarbonyl (Cr(CO)₆) within a narrow temperature window of 380-400 °C. Normal θ-2θ Bragg x-ray diffraction results show that the predominant phase is CrO₂ with only a small amount of Cr₂O₃ present, mostly at the film surface. The LPCVD films have a reasonably smooth surface morphology with a root mean square roughness of 4 nm on a scale of 5 μm. Raman spectroscopy confirms the existence of rutile CrO₂ in the deposited films, while transmission electron microscopy confirms the single-crystalline nature of the films. The LPCVD films showing a dominant CrO₂ phase exhibit clear uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis oriented along the c direction.     

Novel temperature-responsive polymer brushes with carbohydrate residues facilitate selective adhesion and collection of hepatocytes

Temperature-responsive glycopolymer brushes were designed to investigate the effects of grafting architectures of the copolymers on the selective adhesion and collection of hypatocytes. Homo, random and block sequences of N-isopropylacrylamide and 2-lactobionamidoethyl methacrylate were grafted on glass substrates via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The galactose/lactose-specific lectin RCA₁₂₀ and HepG2 cells were used to test for specific recognition of the polymer brushes containing galactose residues over the lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs). RCA₁₂₀ showed a specific binding to the brush surfaces at 37 °C. These brush surfaces also facilitated the adhesion of HepG2 cells at 37 °C under nonserum conditions, whereas no adhesion was observed for NIH-3T3 fibroblasts. When the temperature was decreased to 25 °C, almost all the HepG2 cells detached from the block copolymer brush, whereas the random copolymer brush did not release the cells. The difference in releasing kinetics of cells from the surfaces with different grafting architectures can be explained by the correlated effects of significant changes in LCST, mobility, hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the grafted polymer chains. These findings are important for designing ‘on–off’ cell capture/release substrates for various biomedical applications such as selective cell separation.