Institute for Materials Science-Chair for Multicomponent Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Kiel University, Kaiserstraße 2, D-24143 Kiel, Germany.
Nanotechnology. 2019 Jun 7;30(23):235603. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab0837. Epub 2019 Feb 19.
Morphology is a critical parameter for various thin film applications, influencing properties like wetting, catalytic performance and sensing efficiency. In this work, we report on the impact of oxygen partial flow on the morphology of ceramic thin films deposited by pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of O/Ar ratio was studied on three different model systems, namely AlO, CuO and TiO. The availability of oxygen during reactive sputtering is a key parameter for a versatile tailoring of thin film morphology over a broad range of nanostructures. TiO thin films with high photocatalytic performance (up to 95% conversion in 7 h) were prepared, exhibiting a network of nanoscopic cracks between columnar anatase structures. In contrast, amorphous thin films without such crack networks and with high resiliency to crystallization even up to 950 °C were obtained for AlO. Finally, we report on CuO thin films with well aligned crystalline nanocolumns and outstanding gas sensing performance for volatile organic compounds as well as hydrogen gas, showing gas responses up to 35% and fast response in the range of a few seconds.
形态是各种薄膜应用的关键参数，影响润湿性、催化性能和传感效率等性质。在这项工作中，我们报告了氧分压对通过脉冲直流反应磁控溅射沉积的陶瓷薄膜形态的影响。研究了 O/Ar 比在三种不同模型体系中的影响，即 AlO、CuO 和 TiO。在反应溅射过程中氧气的可用性是在广泛的纳米结构范围内对薄膜形态进行多功能定制的关键参数。制备了具有高光催化性能（7 小时内转化率高达 95%）的 TiO 薄膜，在柱状锐钛矿结构之间呈现出纳米级裂纹的网络。相比之下，对于 AlO，获得了没有这种裂纹网络的非晶态薄膜，并且即使在 950°C 下也具有很高的抗结晶能力。最后，我们报告了具有良好排列的结晶纳米柱的 CuO 薄膜，以及对挥发性有机化合物和氢气的出色气体传感性能，其气体响应高达 35%，并且在几秒钟的范围内快速响应。
