Schwartzkopf Matthias, Wöhnert Sven-Jannik, Waclawek Vivian, Carstens Niko, Rothkirch André, Rubeck Jan, Gensch Marc, Drewes Jonas, Polonskyi Oleksandr, Strunskus Thomas, Hinz Alexander M, Schaper Simon J, Körstgens Volker, Müller-Buschbaum Peter, Faupel Franz, Roth Stephan V
Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestr. 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany.
Nanoscale Horiz. 2021 Feb 1;6(2):132-138. doi: 10.1039/d0nh00538j. Epub 2020 Dec 8.
Ultra-thin metal layers on polymer thin films attract tremendous research interest for advanced flexible optoelectronic applications, including organic photovoltaics, light emitting diodes and sensors. To realize the large-scale production of such metal-polymer hybrid materials, high rate sputter deposition is of particular interest. Here, we witness the birth of a metal-polymer hybrid material by quantifying in situ with unprecedented time-resolution of 0.5 ms the temporal evolution of interfacial morphology during the rapid formation of ultra-thin gold layers on thin polystyrene films. We monitor average non-equilibrium cluster geometries, transient interface morphologies and the effective near-surface gold diffusion. At 1 s sputter deposition, the polymer matrix has already been enriched with 1% gold and an intermixing layer has formed with a depth of over 3.5 nm. Furthermore, we experimentally observe unexpected changes in aspect ratios of ultra-small gold clusters growing in the vicinity of polymer chains. For the first time, this approach enables four-dimensional insights at atomic scales during the gold growth under non-equilibrium conditions.
聚合物薄膜上的超薄金属层在包括有机光伏、发光二极管和传感器在内的先进柔性光电子应用中引起了巨大的研究兴趣。为了实现此类金属 - 聚合物杂化材料的大规模生产，高速溅射沉积尤为重要。在此，我们通过以0.5毫秒前所未有的时间分辨率对超薄金层在聚苯乙烯薄膜上快速形成过程中界面形态的时间演变进行原位量化，见证了一种金属 - 聚合物杂化材料的诞生。我们监测平均非平衡团簇几何形状、瞬态界面形态以及有效的近表面金扩散。在1秒的溅射沉积过程中，聚合物基体中已富集了1%的金，并且形成了一个深度超过3.5纳米的混合层。此外，我们通过实验观察到在聚合物链附近生长的超小金团簇的纵横比发生了意想不到的变化。这种方法首次能够在非平衡条件下金生长过程中在原子尺度上实现四维洞察。
