EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Highly filled particulate metal-dielectric nanocomposites films have unique functional properties with hosts of applications. To explore collective interactions between the particles, we control the particle separation on the nm scale by employing vapor phase deposition, which is a scalable approach permitting, inter alia, excellent control of the filling factor. For polymer films, we have recently used initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to avoid decomposition of the functional groups, e.g. in highly stable electrets for electret microphones and magnetoelectric sensors, 3D superhydrophobic coatings, and nanoscale gradient copolymers. The nanoparticles can form during co-deposition via self-organization or by means of high-rate gas aggregation cluster sources, which provide independent control of filling factor and size. Formation of plasmonic nanoparticles can be monitored in situ via UV-vis spectroscopy. We also demonstrated in situ control of the composition of alloy nanoparticles and the ability to fabricate multiple core-shell particles. Recent examples of nanocomposites range from plasmonic meta-materials through photoswitchable devices to memristors and memsensors for neuromorphic electronics. We also developed a new process for photocatalytic growth of needle-like metallic nanostructures. Research on layered magnetoelectric sensors will be touched only briefly.