Sharif Digital Repository

TiO2 layers were grown via pulse type microarc oxidation process under different applied voltages, frequencies, and duty cycles. Surface chemical composition and phase structure of the synthesized layers were studied utilizing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) were employed to investigate surface morphology and topography of the layers. It was revealed that the layers had a porous structure with both anatase and rutile phases. The anatase relative content in the layers increased with the applied frequency; meanwhile, it decreased with duty cycle at low applied voltages, but... 

Epitaxial formation of CoSi2 nanolayer by solid state reaction of Co-Si in refractory metal intermediate-layer and cap-layer systems was investigated. Thin films of Ta and W, as the refractory metal intermediate or cap layers of the Co film, were deposited on Si(100) substrate and then heat-treated. The both interlayers resulted in formation of epitaxial CoSi 2 with (100) crystallographic orientation at 900°C. However, in the Ta intermediated system, the grown CoSi2 layer was thermally unstable at 1000°C, unlike the W system with a stable silicide layer. We found that use of W cap-layer cannot yield an epitaxial CoSi2 phase. But, a Ta cap-layer resulted in formation of epitaxial CoSi2(100)... 

Thermal stability of Ag layer on Ti coated Si substrate for different thicknesses of the Ag layer have been studied. To do this, after sputter-deposition of a 10 nm Ti buffer layer on the Si(1 0 0) substrate, an Ag layer with different thicknesses (150-5 nm) was sputtered on the buffer layer. Post annealing process of the samples was performed in an N 2 ambient at a flow rate of 200 ml/min in a temperature range from 500 to 700 °C for 30 min. The electrical property of the heat-treated multilayer with the different thicknesses of Ag layer was examined by four-point-probe sheet resistance measurement at the room temperature. Phase formation and crystallographic orientation of the silver... 

In this investigation, the crystalline structure of a nanometric CoSi 2 layer, formed in heat treated Co/W x Ta (1-x) /Si(1 0 0) systems, has been studied by XRD analysis. Careful measurements of the diffraction intensities revealed that temporary formation of a metastable diamond cubic structure of CoSi 2 phase, rather than its usual CaF 2 structure, was occurred. It has been shown that formation of this metastable structure depends on the kind of the applied interlayer in addition to the annealing temperature. Among the studied systems with x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1, the second and the last systems resulted in growing a (1 0 0) single-texture CoSi 2 layer with the preferred usual CaF 2... 

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures of two-dimensional monolayers are a relatively new class of materials with highly tunable band alignment, bandgap energy, and bandgap transition type. In this study, we performed density functional theory calculations to investigate how a vdW heterostructure of heptazine-based graphitic carbon nitride (hg-C3N4) and graphitic zinc oxide (g-ZnO) monolayers is formed (hg-C3N4/g-ZnO). This heterostructure is a potential solar-driven photocatalyst for the water-splitting reaction. Upon the formation of the heterostructure, a type-I indirect bandgap (Eg = 2.08 eV) is created with appropriate conduction band minimum and valence band maximum levels relative to... 

Electrospinning is a simple and cheap process for forming one-dimensional (1D) nanofibers with controllable size, morphology, and chemistry. Besides these, the ultrahigh surface area with industrialization capability has attracted extensive interest in the research community. On the other hand, a photocatalytic process is a promising method for degrading organic pollutants that cannot be removed by conventional wastewater treatment. This review focuses on the recent progress of electrospun nanofibers for the photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants. The linkage between the electrospinning technique and the photocatalytic process is classified into two main categories: (1) polymeric... 

(ZnO)1-x(CdO)x nanofibers were fabricated via electrospinning of polymer precursor by subsequent annealing in air. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) showed the smooth and beadless nanofibers and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed the ZnO hexagonal and the CdO cubic structure. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) showed the band gap energy reduction by increasing the amount of CdO in (ZnO)1-x(CdO)x nanofibers that resulted in the photocatalytic activity under the visible light for dye degradation. Under the UV light CdO acted as both electron and hole sink in the (ZnO) 1-x(CdO)x nanofibers and a possible photocatalytic activity... 

In this research, we have used glancing angle deposition (GLAD) RF sputtering technique with various angular speeds ranging from 5 to 30 RPM to fabricate polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon) coated Tungsten on glass substrate for producing hydrophobic surface. According to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations, Tungsten nanorods were formed on the substrate with average diameter and length of about ∼50 nm and 300 nm, respectively. Hydrophobic property of W/Glass and PTFE/W/Glass systems was investigated by water contact angle measurements and we have found that the contact angle varied with the substrate angular speed. Maximum contact angle of 121 was measured for the... 

A simple method for synthesising W17O47 nanowires on tungsten oxide thin films deposited by sol-gel method on mica substrate has been reported. After thermally annealing thin films at 700 C in H2 ambient for different durations and subsequently in N2 ambient for 60 min, single-crystalline W17O47 nanowires along h0 01i direction were formed on the surface. Experimental results revealed that annealing under H2 ambient has an important effect on the growth of W17O47 nanowires. According to scanning electron microscopic observations, the synthesised nanowires have ∼70 nm in width and a few microns in length after annealing under H2 ambient for 30min and subsequently under N2 ambient for 60min. A... 

A simple method for synthesis of W17O47 nanothick plates by annealing sol-gel-deposited tungsten oxide thin films on soda lime substrate has been reported. After heat treatment of the dried thin films at 700 °C in N2 ambient for 60 min, W17O47 nanothick plates with [100] orientation were obtained. The synthesized product was characterized and analyzed by, X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, XPS and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometery. According to SEM observations, nanothick plates grew with random orientations on the surface. In addition, it was observed that some of the nanothick plates were constituted from several nanosheets. XRD analysis determined that the nanothick plates were mainly... 

TiO2/ZnO and ZnO/TiO2 nanolayer thin films were synthesized using sol-gel method. Optical analysis revealed high transmittance of the films in the visible range with almost the same bandgap energy for the both systems. XPS technique shows stoichiometric formation of TiO2 and ZnO on the surface of TiO2/ZnO and ZnO/TiO2 layers, respectively. According to AFM observations and its data analysis, the TiO2/ZnO films exhibited a higher surface roughness and more effective interfaces with electrolyte during redox reactions. Based on photoelectrochemical measurements, TiO2/ZnO nanolayer photoanode possesses a lower charge transfer resistance and higher transient time for charge carriers (e- and h+)... 

In this study, the effects of TiO2 addition on the physical and photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO thin films have been investigated. The (TiO2)x-(ZnO)1-x nanocomposite thin films were dip-coated on both glass and indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated conducting glass substrates with various values of x, specifically 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5. Optical properties of the samples were studied by UV-vis spectrophotometry in the range of 300-1100 nm. The optical spectra of the nanocomposite thin films showed high transparency in the visible region. The optical bandgap energy of the (TiO2)x-(ZnO)1-x films increased slightly with increasing values of x. The crystalline structure of the nanocomposite... 

Thin films of (WO3)1-x-(Fe2O 3)x composition were deposited by thermal evaporation on glass substrates and then all samples were annealed at 200-500 °C in air. Optical properties such as transmittance, reflectance, optical bangap energy, and the optical constants of the "as deposited" and the annealed films were studied using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. It was shown that the annealing process changes the film optical properties which were related to Fe2O3 concentration. Moreover, using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we have indicated that WO3 is stoichiometric, while iron oxide was in both FeO and Fe2O3 compositions so that the FeO composition converted to Fe2O3 after the... 

In this study, pure TiO2 and Au:TiO2 nanocomposite thin films are both synthesized using sol-gel and RF reactive co-sputtering methods. Physical and photoelectrochemical properties of the thin films deposited by each method are compared. The optical density spectra and scanning electron microscopy images of the Au:TiO2 films reveal formation of gold nanoparticles in the all nanocomposite films synthesized by two methods. Moreover, the optical bandgap energy of the thin films decreases with addition of Au nanoparticles. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that the presence of gold in metallic state and the formation of TiO2 is stoichiometric. The photoelectrochemical properties of the... 

In this research, facile and low cost synthesis methods, electrodeposition at constant current density and anodization at various applied voltages, were used to produce hierarchical cobalt oxide/hydroxide nanoflakes on top of porous anodized cobalt layer. The maximum electrochemical capacitance of 601 mF cm-2 at scan rate of 2 mV s-1 was achieved for 30 V optimized anodization applied voltage with high stability. Morphology and surface chemical composition were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The size, thickness, and density of nanoflakes, as well as length of the porous anodized Co layer were measured about 460 ± 45 nm,... 

Sulfur doped TiO2 layers containing nano/micro-sized pores were synthesized by micro-arc oxidation process. Effect of the applied voltage and the electrolyte composition on physical and chemical properties of the layers was investigated using SEM, AFM, XRD, XPS, and EDS techniques. A UV-vis spectrophotometer was also used to study optical properties of the layers. It was found that the doped layers were porous with a pore size of 40-170 nm. They consisted of anatase and rutile phases with varying fraction depending on the applied voltage and electrolyte concentration. Our XPS investigations revealed the existence of sulfur in the forms of S4+ and S6+ states which substituted Ti4+ in the... 

S-doped TiO2 layers were grown on titanium substrates by MAO process. SEM results revealed a porous morphology with a pore size of 40-100 nm. Our XRD analysis showed that the anatase relative content reached its maximum value at the voltage of 500 V. The existence of sulfur in the states of S 4+ and S6+ which substituted Ti4+ in the titania crystalline lattice was confirmed by XPS results; meanwhile, no S 2- was detected. That is, a cationic doping was observed. EDS results showed that sulfur concentration in the layers increased with the voltage. The band gap energy was also calculated as 2.29 eV employing a UV-Vis spectrophotometer  

Titania thin film system containing noble metallic nanoparticles such as Au, Ag, and Cu have been prepared by utilizing radio frequency reactive magnetron cosputtering method. The structural and morphological properties of the thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Surface chemical composition of the films was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Optical properties of the TiO 2 annealed films containing Au, Ag, and Cu metallic nanoparticles were investigated by UV-visible spectrophotometry showing surface plasmon resonance of the metals. The photocatalytic activity of all synthesized samples annealed at 600 °C in an Ar +... 

WO3-TiO2 nano porous layers were synthesized by micro arc oxidation (MAO) process under different applied voltages in electrolytes containing sodium tungstate and phosphate salts with various concentrations. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques were employed to study phase structure and chemical composition of the layers. According to our data analysis, the nano porous layers consisted of anatase, rutile, and tungsten oxide phases with a varying fraction depending on the voltage and electrolyte concentration. Moreover, it was found that WO3 not only dispersed in the TiO2 matrix, but also doped into the TiO2... 

In this research, the effect of applied voltage and electrolyte concentration on structure, chemical composition, optical properties, and especially photo-catalytic activity of the TiO2 layers containing micro/nano-sized pores are discussed. TiO2 layers were synthesized by micro arc oxidation (MAO) process using different electrolyte concentrations and applied voltages. Surface structure of the layers was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM); furthermore, energy dispersive spectrophotometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were employed to determine phase structure and chemical composition of the layers. Photo-activity of the...