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...

Initiated Chemical Vapor deposition (iCVD) is an original technique for the fabrication of polymeric thin films. This method relies on the radical polymerization under vacuum, which takes place on a cooled substrate. The main advantages that render iCVD a very promising method for polymer thin films deposition are the low substrate temperature, the absence of solvent, the large range of...

Oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD) is a solvent-free technique, enabling growth of network polymers with stoichiometric compositions in a single processing step. Deposition proceeds via vapor-phase eliminating limitations of insufficient monomer solubilities of conjugated polymers (CPs) faced by conventional methods. Further, unlike traditional methods, oCVD accommodates mild operation...

By applying ion irradiation it is possible to produce materials at room temperature for which generally high temperatures are needed. If we irradiate a layer structure at the interfaces atomic mixing, or ion mixing happens and compound formation might occur as well. Previously we have shown that this method can be applied to produce SiC-rich protective nano-coatings which are applied in harsh...

In this work, we study the advantages of two advanced sputtering techniques for the preparation of a nanostructured thin-film conductometric gas sensor. We combined tungsten oxide (WO3) thin films with other materials to achieve enhanced sensory behavior towards hydrogen. Thin films of WO3 were prepared by the HiPIMS technique and annealed in air at moderate temperature (350 °C). By tuning the...

This presentation will summarise our recent works on the synthesis of functional nanocomposites thin films based on metal atom clusters by a chemical solution deposition (CSD) process namely electrophoretic deposition (EPD) [1-10]. CSD processing of inorganic nanocolloidal solutions is generally acknowledged to be highly flexible in terms of precursor composition, targeted substrate and...

Metal Organic Frameworks (MOF), hybrid microporous crystalline materials are attractive for a large panel of applications due in part to their high specific surface area and physico-chemical stability. Recently, vapor phase-based routes were reported for the synthesis of MOF thin films. Vapour-phase process are usually preferred to obtain conformal coatings and they present a good...

Metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) are an emerging porous materials class with many applications ranging from catalysis, chemical species separation to electronics. To date, the key synthesis routes for MOFs are predominantly wet chemistry based, resulting in either isolated MOF micro- and nanocrystals or in so-called surface-coordinated MOFs via layer-by-layer assembly. For conformal coating of...

Atmospheric pressure plasma allows for the easy modification of materials surfaces for a wide range of technological applications. Coupling the aerosol injection of precursors with atmospheric pressure plasma largely extends the versatility of this kind of process; in fact solid and , in general, scarcely volatile precursors can be delivered to the plasma, extending the variety of chemical...

The macroscopic properties of the polymer are closely related to the morphology of the material. On the other hand, this morphology depends on the conditions used in the synthesis step. In our work, we present the results of morphological tests of polypyrrole deposited on the surface of a steel electrode and determine their influence on the properties of the obtained materials.

Industrial oil-containing wastewaters, derived from the petrochemical, pharmaceutical industries, etc., have become one of the wide-reaching environmental problems. Commonly conventional methods, such as in situ burning, etc., are used for the separation of oil from water. But high cost and low efficiency discourage the use of such conventional methods, especially for large-scale applications....

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is a solvent-free, cost efficient technique to synthesize highly conformal organic thin films from the vapor phase. The underlying free radical polymerization happens directly on the material to be coated, without additional solvents or post-reactional treatment. In our work we present the highly controllable deposition of photoswitchable copolymers...

The use of polymeric nanostructures in bioapplications is gaining attention due to their large surface area and biocompatible nature. The response of these nanostructures to the external stimuli can be controlled by tuning the geometry and the chemical composition of these structures. Furthermore, additional functionalities can be introduced by coating the surfaces of these nanostructures with...

Gradients of organic materials can be found in many structures that occur in nature. Polymers thus represent an excellent choice to artificially reproduce these gradient structures in form of gradient copolymers. In this talk, we report on the preparation of such gradient copolymers synthesized as thin films using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD). The iCVD process is known for...

Exploring new 2D materials with semi-conductive nature has attracted researcher’s attention especially after the isolation of graphene, aiming to increase the performances in the fabrication of devices.
Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) materials belong to a special class of semi-conductors materials with sizable bandgaps, which they found to be useful in the field of optoelectronics....

In this work, we have developed a multi-stimuli responsive sensor for artificial skin applications. The sensor can detect surrounding changes in pressure, temperature and humidity. The proposed design consists of a hydrogel core, responsive to temperature and humidity changes; and a piezoelectric shell for pressure sensing. Swelling of the hydrogel core upon stimuli results in a mechanical...

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organic molecules have been used for a wide range of applications in medicine, surface protection as well as (bio)electronic devices. Extensive efforts have been dedicated to implement biomolecules in gold based diagnostic tools. The use of SAMs as an interface between metal surfaces and biological moieties allows the covalent attachment of receptors to...

Phenothiazine (PTZ) as a heterocyclic compound contains electron-rich sulfur, and nitrogen atoms play a role of admirable electron-donating (D) moiety in donor-acceptor (D-A) systems. Phenothiazine and particularly its substituted derivatives can be applied in many versatile fields. The synthesis of new compounds based on the donor-acceptor (D-A) system has attracted significant interest and...

Despite more than a century of research to achieve oral delivery insulin, the current clinical reality remains unchanged in terms of therapeutic administration, due to the challenge of overcoming gastrointestinal barriers. It has been recently reported by our group that with the use of dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles (DMSNs) together with a protein-based excipient, succinylated...

The development of new biocompatible materials can lead to new ways to treat diseases in the human brain. By initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD) polymeric thin films can be tailored to fulfill the needed specifications of drug release barriers. This way a local and time-specific drug-release can greatly reduce unwanted side-effects in these special surroundings. In combination with a...

Thermoelectric (TE) materials are called to play a crucial role providing solutions for future sustainable society. One of the most promising applications for the TE technologies is ambient energy harvesting for wireless applications in the booming field of Internet of Things (IoT). Miniaturised IoT sensor nodes need environmentally friendly power sources delivering powers in the range of 0.1...

Smart textiles are defined as textile products where fibers and/or filaments, woven or knitted, can interact with the environment and the user. They are usually based on electrical conductive textiles including metal-based fillers. Nevertheless, most of the metal-based fillers are toxic so the use of graphene sheets is preferred regarding their thermal and chemical stability as well as their...

The main objective of this work is to take advantage of the specificities of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanowires (NWs) array (porosity, specific surface…) for LED lighting. The ZnO NWs were grown by hydrothermal synthesis from a ZnO seed layer directly deposited on the sol-gel derived Ce3+-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Y3Al5O12 :Ce or YAG :Ce) coatings. Highly dense array of vertical ZnO NWs was...

Intrinsically conductive polymers (ICPs) have recently attracted a lot of interest in the field of wearable energy storage devices. However, in their unmodified form, they do not dissolve in common organic solvents, which makes their wet processing challenging. Therefore, they need to be structurally modified (which negatively impacts their conjugation) and later be dissolved in toxic...

Optical cavities have been achieved in different materials and morphologies. However, ZnO stands out due to its optical properties [1]. Nanostructures have attracted much attention because of their necessity in miniaturized devices. ZnO shows unique properties for this purpose. The wurtzite crystal structure leads to long structures formations, which, along with its relative high refractive...

The amount of fresh water in the globe is just around 1% and part of it is trapped in snowfields/glaciers. The lack of hygienic water in mid to low-income countries has created several health concerns like cholera outbreaks in disaster zones. This project focuses on the methodology of capturing solar radiation for heating water so that in combination with a filtration system, pathogen-and...

In this contribution, we address the deposition of iron oxide thin films with different composition and morphology, through RF-sputtering of an iron target in argon/oxygen plasma mixtures, and their application as catalyst for photo-Fenton water remediation. Nanostructured iron films deposited in pure argon were converted to Fe2O3 upon thermal annealing in oxygen atmosphere, obtaining...

As an efficient and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels Hydrogen gas (H2) has emerged to be of great importance for the future of energy generation and storage. However, H2 production from the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) still remains a challenge. Although platinum and its alloys have been the benchmark electrocatalysts for HER, the scarcity, substandard stability...

Design and synthesis of new quantum materials is a high-priority task of modern materials science and condensed matter physics. New classes of high-temperature superconductors, anisotropic magnetic materials and topological insulators may push forward electronics, spintronics, energy-saving technologies and information processing. Of particular interest are inorganic materials that belong to...

Blending polypropylene (PP) with high performance polymers is an efficient way to improve its properties and enlarge its range of applications. Examples of PP and thermostable polymers blends [1] showed a great improvement of mechanical and thermal properties, but presented limitations due to their high processing temperatures. Compared to conventional melt-blending, reactive extrusion...

Living organisms can grow a huge variety of materials with the highest degree of sophistication, and an overall efficiency that remains largely unparalleled by artificial fabrication techniques. Moreover, living materials are adaptive i.e. they exist and perform autonomously under dissipative conditions. These features are made possible by the ability to control complex reactions networks,...

Tin sulfides thin films (SnS, SnS2 and Sn2S3) are promising candidates for low-cost photovoltaic technologies based on non-toxic and earth-abundant elements. [1, 2] The tin sulfide thin films can be prepared by various approaches such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [3] atomic layer deposition (ALD) [4], or sulfurization of a pre-deposited tin oxide layer [5]. In general, elemental sulfur...

Selective recovery of Pd from complex aqueous industrial waste and process streams is of increasing interest due to its high economic value and supply disruptions. Given the low pH and high anion concentrations encountered in these streams, the development of hydrolytic stable Pd scavenging materials with tailored surface chemistry is envisaged. In this project, titania surfaces are grafted...

An innovative way to improve the electrical and mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polymers is the implementation of CNT-doped veils as the surface finishing. They are lightweight nonwoven materials consisting of randomly distributed fibres, characterized by high flexibility and easy handling during operation. CNT-doped veils were developed and are manufactured by the melt-blowing...

Apatite-type rare-earth silicates are one of the most promising materials as electrolyte for oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) applications, due to their high ionic conductivity along the c-axis apatite structure. Previous studies have shown that this ionic conductivity is about one order of magnitude greater for c-axis-oriented oxyapatite. The aim of this work is to determine the optimal operating...

Among the different CVD techniques to deposit polymer thin films, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) presents a great potential. iCVD involves the injection in the vapor phase of at least two precursors (a monomer and an initiator) into a vacuum chamber. The activation of the initiator occurs selectively through an array of heated filaments, inducing the production of primary radicals...

We show that the control of the composition of CuCrO2 thin films allows the synthesis of highly conductive and transparent oxides by Aerosol Assisted CVD, a low-cost and non-vacuum deposition technique. The compositional, structural, and morphological properties were analyzed to understand the effect of the cationic ratio in the film, Cu/(Cu+Cr), on electrical and optical properties. The...

Monitoring and detection of local over-temperatures in temperature-critical electronic devices is vital to ensure the proper operation and safety of individual components or complex systems. The use of thermo-responsive polymeric coatings is considered as a potential solution to register an overheating of the device. For this purpose, a functional polymer coating must release tracer gases at a...

Flexible electrode membranes and thin films are of broad interest for various technological applications including sports, medicine, sensor developments, and environmental signal monitoring. Medical and sports applications concern for example TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) for the stimulation of nerves or ECG (electrocardiography) for health monitoring under movement. An...

Atomically precise, bottom-up-synthesized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have attracted strong interest from researchers worldwide as they constitute an emerging class of quantum designer materials, ideally suited for future electronic devices. Some of the major challenges towards their exploitation, however, is their reliable contacting due to their small size (<50 nm), as well as the...

Nowadays, molds and plastics companies are aware of markets increasing globalization, which leads to major competition in the industrial environment. This requires the best conditions of productive flexibility in order to overcome the challenges. An example is microfabrication, which was initially applied in integrated circuits production, up to several small-scale components today. Injection...

The large-scale fabrication of nanoporous materials has generated significant research interest on account of the wide range of possible applications, including nanophotonics, optoelectronics, biomedical systems, and environmental sciences. Block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly is one such potential fabrication strategy, owing to its low cost and large-area production of periodic ordered...