Frątczak Ewelina Zofia, Balcerzak Jacek, Rogala Maciej
Department of Molecular Engineering, Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Wólczańska 213, 93-005 Lodz, Poland.
Sub-Department of Physics and Technology of Nanometric Structures, Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics, University of Lodz, Pomorska 149/153, 90-236 Lodz, Poland.
Materials (Basel). 2024 Jan 8;17(2):314. doi: 10.3390/ma17020314.
We report on investigating the structural and electronic properties of semiconducting and insulating layers produced in a process resembling percolation in a unique cold plasma fabrication method (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition-PECVD). Amorphous carbon-tin films (Sn-C) produced from tetramethyl tin (TMT) with an acoustic-frequency glow discharge in a three-electrode reactor were investigated. The layers, after air exposure, oxidized to SnO/Sn-C. Depending on the coupling capacitance applied to the plasma reactor, the films could be obtained in the form of an amorphous semiconductor or an amorphous insulator. We assume that the semiconductor consists of an internal network of channels auto-organized during deposition. The insulator does not demonstrate any internal structure features. An investigation on conductive filaments creating low-dimensional (LD) nanojunctions in the semiconductor and the location of energetic levels in the insulator was performed. The main parameters of the electronic band structure of the insulating film, such as the transport gap E (5.2 eV), optical gap E (3.1 eV), electron affinity Χ (2.1 eV), and ionization potential J (7.3 eV), were determined. We have demonstrated a simple approach for developing a catalyst candidate consisting of amorphous semiconductor-insulator nanojunctions for (photo)catalytic hydrogen evolution or CO reduction.
我们报告了在一种独特的冷等离子体制造方法（等离子体增强化学气相沉积 - PECVD）中，对类似于渗流过程所产生的半导体和绝缘层的结构和电子特性进行的研究。研究了在三电极反应器中通过四甲基锡（TMT）与声频辉光放电制备的非晶碳 - 锡薄膜（Sn - C）。这些层在暴露于空气后氧化为SnO/Sn - C。根据施加到等离子体反应器的耦合电容，可以获得非晶半导体或非晶绝缘体形式的薄膜。我们假设半导体由沉积过程中自动组织的内部通道网络组成。绝缘体没有表现出任何内部结构特征。对在半导体中形成低维（LD）纳米结的导电细丝以及绝缘体中能级的位置进行了研究。确定了绝缘膜电子能带结构的主要参数，如传输能隙E（5.2 eV）、光学能隙E（3.1 eV）、电子亲和能Χ（2.1 eV）和电离势J（7.3 eV）。我们展示了一种简单的方法来开发一种由非晶半导体 - 绝缘体纳米结组成的催化剂候选物，用于（光）催化析氢或CO还原。
