Transparent and anti-fogging AlPO_(4)-5 films constructed by oblique oriented nano-flake crystals

In the present work,transparent and anti-fogging AlPO_(4)-5 films were prepared on glass substrates using a novel developed process.The process entails a simple in-situ sol–gel followed by vapor phase transport.The in-situ sol–gel process was implemented by coating the precursor sols for the synthesis of AlPO4-5 on the glass substrates successively using the spin-coating method.The films and powders scribed from the films were characterized by X-Ray diffraction(XRD),Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR),scanning electron microscope(SEM),atomic force microscope(AFM),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope(TEM).The unique films were composed of oblique oriented nanoflake AlPO_(4)-5 crystals with the thickness of about 20 nm.The formation of nano-flake crystals can be ascribed to the high concentration of the precursors,resulting in the formation of a supersaturation system.The obtained films showed high antifogging performance due to the superhydrophilicity with a water contact angle of lower than 1.0°.The silicone oil contact angle was also low about 8.2°.In addition,heteroatom-substituted AlPO_(4)-5 films showing different colors can be obtained easily by simply adding transition metal ions in the phosphate acid solution during the preparation that can extend the application of the method for different coating demand.

Highly c-axis Oriented YBCO Thin Films Deposited on Cold Rolling Ag Substrates and Textures of Cold-Rolling and Recrystallization in Ag

By selecting flexible polycrystalline Ag as the metallic substrates, highly c axis (001) textured YBCO thin films were fabricated by using a modified magnetron sputtering equipment which can accomplish dynamic deposition and in-situ anneal treatment. The textures of Ag substrates have important effects on forming YBCO films with high critical current densities. Research on the textures of cold rolling Ag at different deformation degrees and recrystallization textures of Ag at different temperatures shows that in plane alignment of YBCO films is difficult to be obtained directly on cold rolling Ag substrates, because of the texture change of Ag during deposition heating of substrates and the strong dependence of J c of YBCO films on grain boundary misorientation angle of substrates. The recrystallization textures with cube (001) and rotated cube (001) in Ag were obtained. Experiments offer a possible prospect for the further research of fabricating sharp biaxially texture in Ag and the following deposition of high J c YBCO films directly on it.

Morphology Study of Oriented Sm BCO Film Deposited by MOCVD

c-axis-oriented SmBa2Cu3O7（SmBCO） films have been deposited on（100）- LaA1O3（LAO）substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition（MOCVD） technique.The effects of deposition temperature（T（dep）） and total pressure（P（tot）） on the orientation and microstructure of SmBCO films were investigated.The orientation of SmBCO films transformed from α-axis to c-axis with increasing of T（dep） from 900 to 1 100℃.At T（dep）=1 050℃,SmBCO films had c-axis orientation and tetragon surface.At P（tot）^（dep）=400-800 Pa and T（dep）=1 050 ℃,totally c-axis-oriented SmBCO films were obtained.The R（dep） of SmBCO films increased firstly and then decreased with increasing P（tot）.The surface of SmBCO films exhibited tetragon morphology at 1 050 ℃ and400 Pa.Maximum thickness of SmBCO film deposited was 1.2μm at P（tot）= 600 Pa,and the corresponding R（dep）was 7.2 μm·h^（-1）.

Remarkable average thermoelectric performance of the highly oriented Bi(Te,Se)-based thin films and devices

Bi(Te,Se)-based compounds have attracted lots of attention for nearly two centuries as one of the most successful commercial thermoelectric(TE)materials due to their high performance at near room tem-perature.Compared with 3D bulks,2D thin films are more compatible with modern semiconductor technology and have unique advantages in the construction of micro-and nano-devices.For device applications,high average TE performance over the entire operating temperature range is critical.Herein,highly c-axis-oriented N-type Bi(Te,Se)epitaxial thin films have been successfully prepared using the pulsed laser deposition technology by adjusting the deposition temperature.The film deposited at~260℃demonstrate a remarkable average power factor(PFave)of~24.4 mW·cm^(-1)·K^(-2)over the tem-perature range of 305e470 K,higher than most of the state-of-the-art Bi(Te,Se)-based films.Moreover,the estimated average zT value of the film is as high as~0.81.We then constructed thin-film TE devices by using the above oriented Bi(Te,Se)films,and the maximum output power density of the device can reach up to~30.1 W/m^(2)under the temperature difference of 40 K.Predictably,the outstanding average TE performance of the highly oriented Bi(Te,Se)thin films will have an excellent panorama of applications in semiconductor cooling and power generation.

Enhanced Ferroelectric Polarization in Laser-ablated Bi4Ti3O12 Thin Films by Controlling Preferred Orientation

Polycrystalline Bi_4Ti_3O_（12） thin films with various fractions of a-axis, c-axis and random orientations have been grown on Pt（111）/Ti/Si O_2/Si substrates by laser-ablation under different kinetic growth conditions. The relationship between the structure and ferroelectric property of the films was investigated, so as to explore the possibility of enhancing ferroelectric polarization by controlling the preferred orientation. The structural characterization indicated that the large growth rate and high oxygen background pressure were both favorable for the growth of non-c-axis oriented grains in the Bi_4Ti_3O_（12） thin films. The films with high fractions of a-axis and random orientations, i e, f（a-sxis） = 28.3% and f（random） = 69.6%, could be obtained at the deposition temperature of 973 K, oxygen partial pressure of 15 Pa and laser fluence of 4.6 J/cm^2, respectively. It was also noted that the variation of ferroelectric polarization was in accordance with the evolution non-c-axis orientation. A large value of remanent polarization（2 Pr = 35.5 μC/cm^2） was obtained for the Bi_4Ti_3O_（12） thin films with significant non-c-axis orientation, even higher than that of rare-earth-doped Bi_4Ti_3O_（12） films.

Practicing the concept of “structuring” processing in the manufacture of polymer films

Polymer processing is a technology used to transfer raw materials into products with different shapes and functionalities and is a key step for polymer application.After years of development,the polymer processing task has changed from traditional processing,which mainly addresses the specific shapes of articles and focuses on the effect of processing on the structures and properties of polymers,to modern processing,which directly transforms a“designed structure”into commercial products via processing.It is the so-called“structuring”processing.Owing to the unique long-chain nature and slow topological relaxation,polymers are always driven and frozen into different nonequilibrium conformations,providing an effective way to design a given polymer material with desired structure and tunable performances via processing.Among the endless number of processing techniques,film casting is a prototypical pathway involving high supercooling or/and a strong flow field,based on which diverse thin polymer films have been successfully developed.In this review,taking isotactic polypropylene(i PP)film as an example,we highlight the strategy of“structuring”processing,in which we transform various crystalline structures of i PP into diverse commercial film products.

Annealing of Oriented PP/PE Double-layer Film within the Melting Range of PE:the Role of Partial Melting and Self-nucleation

Due to the mechanical stability of the PP layer,the oriented PP/PE double-layer film with a row-nucleated crystalline structure can be annealed at a higher temperature than the PE monolayer film.In this work,the effects of annealing temperature within the melting range of PE on the crystalline structure and properties of PP/PE double-layer films were studied.When the annealing temperature is between 100 and 130℃,below the melting point of PE,the crystallinity,the long period,lateral dimension and orientation of the lamellae in the PE layer increase with the annealing temperature due to the melting of thin lamellae and the self-nucleated effect of partially-melted melts during annealing.With the annealing temperature further increasing to 138℃,near the melting ending point of PE,since the lamellae melt completely and the melt memory becomes weak during annealing,some spherulite structures are formed in the annealed sample,resulting in a decrease of orientation.In contrast,the annealing only causes the appearance of a low-temperature endothermic plateau in the PP layer.The improved size and orientation of lamellar structure in the PE layer increase the pore arrangement and porosity of the stretched PP/PE microporous membrane.This study successfully applies the self-nucleation effect of partially-melted polymer melt into the practical annealing process,which is helpful to guide the production of high-performance PP/PE/PP lithium batteries separator and the annealing process of other multilayer products.

Preparation of AlN thin films for film bulk acoustic resonator application by radio frequency sputtering

Aluminum nitride （AlN） thin films with high c-axis orientation have been prepared on a glass substrate with an Al bottom electrode by radio frequency （RF） reactive magnetron sputtering. Based on the analysis of Berg＇s hysteresis model, the improved sputtering system is realized without a hysteresis effect. A new control method for rapidly depositing highly c-axis oriented AlN thin films is proposed. The N2 concentration could be controlled by observing the changes in cathode voltage, to realize the optimum processing condition where the target could be fixed stably in the transition region, and both stoichiometric film composition and a high deposition rate could be obtained. Under a 500 W RF power of a target with a 6 cm diameter, a substrate temperature of 450 ℃, a target-substrate distance of 60 mm and a N2 concentration of 25%, AlN thin film with preferential （002） orientation was deposited at 2.3 μm/h which is a much higher rate than previously achieved. Through X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis, the full width at half maximum （FWHM） of AlN （002） was shown to be about 0.28°, which shows the good crystallinity and crystal orientation of AlN thin film. With other parameters held constant, any increase or decrease in N2 concentration results in an increase in the FWHM of AlN.