Pan Xuanzhao, Zhao Jiangbo, Qian Gujie, Zhang Xiaozhou, Ruan Yinlan, Abell Andrew, Ebendorff-Heidepriem Heike
Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, University of Adelaide Adelaide SA Australia.
RSC Adv. 2020 Jan 13;10(4):2404-2415. doi: 10.1039/c9ra10731b. eCollection 2020 Jan 8.
The development of amorphous films with a wide transmission window and high refractive index is of growing significance due to the strong demand of integrating functional nanoparticles for the next-generation hybrid optoelectronic films. High-index TeO-based glass films made the sol-gel process are particularly suitable as their low temperature preparation process promises high compatibility with a large variety of nanoparticles and substrates that suffer from low thermal stability. However, due to the lack of in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of the formation of undesired metallic-Te (highly absorbing species) in the films, the preparation of high-transmission TeO-based sol-gel films has been severely hampered. Here, by gaining insight into the mechanistic chemistry of metallic-Te formation at different stages during the non-hydrolytic sol-gel process, we identify the chemical route to prevent the generation of metallic-Te in a TeO-based film. The as-prepared TeO-based film exhibits a high transmission that is close to the theoretical limit. This opens up a new avenue for advancing the performance of hybrid optoelectronic films incorporating a large variety of unique nanoparticles.
由于下一代混合光电薄膜对集成功能纳米颗粒的强烈需求，开发具有宽透射窗口和高折射率的非晶薄膜变得越来越重要。通过溶胶-凝胶工艺制备的高折射率碲酸盐基玻璃薄膜特别合适，因为其低温制备工艺保证了与多种热稳定性低的纳米颗粒和衬底具有高兼容性。然而，由于对薄膜中不期望的金属碲（高吸收物种）形成机制缺乏深入了解，高透射率碲酸盐基溶胶-凝胶薄膜的制备受到了严重阻碍。在这里，通过深入了解非水解溶胶-凝胶过程中不同阶段金属碲形成的机理化学，我们确定了防止碲酸盐基薄膜中产生金属碲的化学途径。所制备的碲酸盐基薄膜表现出接近理论极限的高透射率。这为提高包含各种独特纳米颗粒的混合光电薄膜的性能开辟了一条新途径。
