Yes / Reactions have been carried out using the titanium(IV) precursors TiCl4 and Ti(OiPr)4, with addition of two equivalents of a functionalized picolinamide ligand. The reactions with TiCl4 led to the formation of either a mononuclear titanium species, [Ti(N,O)Cl2X2] or a dinuclear titanium species [Ti(N,O)X3]2[l- O] (X = OMe or Cl), with incorporation of one picolinamide ligand. The ligand is bound to the titanium centre as the protonated amide. The reactions with Ti(OiPr)4 resulted in the formation of mononuclear titanium bis-picolinamide species [Ti(N,O)2(OiPr)2], and also dinuclear and trinuclear products, [(N,O)Ti (OiPr)2][l-OiPr]2 and [(N,O)Ti(OiPr)2]2[l-OiPr]2[(OiPr)2Ti][l3-O] respectively. In these cases the picolinamide ligand was found to be deprotonated and bound to the titanium as the iminolate. These molecules have been characterized by X-ray crystallographic analysis and structural characteristics are discussed.

This thesis describes the synthesis of yttrium oxide nanoparticles in an AOT/isooctane reverse micelle solution. Two synthetic methods are compared. First is the precipitation reaction between yttrium nitrate and ammonia, second is the hydrolysis of yttrium isopropoxide. The effects of annealing of the resulting the yttrium oxide nanoparticles are also described. The nitrate method produced network-like aggregates of yttrium oxide nanoparticles ranging from 10 nm to 40 nm in diameter. Reaction conditions, including the water/AOT ratio (1 to 15), the nitrate concentration (0.02 M to 1.0 M), the ammonia concentration (2 M to 14.8 M), the AOT concentration (0.1 M and 0.5 M), the aging time (1 h to 5 d), and the washing method, were varied to investigate their influence on nanoparticle formation. The optimized synthetic conditions were: a water/AOT ratio of 7.5, [NO₃⁻] = 0.5 M, [NH₃] = 2 M, and [AOT] = 0.1 M. The as-prepared yttrium oxide nanoparticles had highly distorted structures related to the cubic Y2O3 phase. Annealing improved the crystallinity of the as-prepared nanoparticle products and led to larger particles. As annealing temperatures increased, the yttrium oxide nanoparticles gradually evolved into the cubic Y₂O₃ phase. However, an unknown intermediate phase was also observed during the annealing process, which disappeared when the annealing temperature was sufficiently high and the annealing time was long enough (>1000 °C and 4 h). As-prepared products from the isopropoxide hydrolysis also contained network-like nanoparticle aggregates. Particle sizes ranged from 10 nm to 20 nm. Some experimental conditions were varied; they were the water/AOT ratio (10 to 40), the isopropoxide concentration (0.0001 M to 0.003 M), the aqueous phase pH (7.0 and 12.0), the aging temperature (room temperature, approximately 25 °C, and refluxing temperature, approximately, 100 °C), and the aging time (1 h to 5 d). Transmission Electronic Micrographs showed that products of desirable morphology could be produced in a much wider range of experimental conditions by this method compared to those produced by nitrate hydrolysis. / Master of Science

No description available.

Les matériaux utilisés dans le domaine de l’emballage sont parfois revêtus d’une couche barrière afin de réduire les interactions entre le contenant et son contenu. Sur les flacons en verre, le dépôt de ces couches permet de limiter la dégradation de leur surface interne, de réduire le lessivage des cations du verre et d’améliorer la stabilité des propriétés du produit au contact. Dans ce contexte, un procédé de dépôt chimique en phase vapeur (CVD) à partir de tri-isopropoxyde d’aluminium (TIA) par injection liquide directe est mis en œuvre pour appliquer des revêtements d’alumine amorphe sur les parois internes de flacons en verre. Etant donné le nombre important de paramètres expérimentaux et la complexité de la géométrie à revêtir (une cavité avec un seul orifice étroit), le procédé de dépôt est modélisé avec le code de Mécanique des Fluides Numériques Fluent. Le modèle représente les profils locaux de vitesse d’écoulement, de température et de concentration des espèces gazeuses dans l’enceinte réactionnelle, ainsi que les vitesses locales de croissance, s’appuyant sur une loi cinétique hétérogène apparente de décomposition du TIA en alumine. Il permet une meilleure compréhension des phénomènes physico-chimiques se produisant à l’intérieur du corps creux et conduit ainsi à l’amélioration de la configuration du réacteur pour obtenir une couche mince transparente et d’épaisseur relativement uniforme. Le modèle est ensuite utilisé comme guide dans le choix des conditions opératoires pour revêtir la surface interne du flacon à pressions élevées, se rapprochant des conditions de fonctionnement à pression atmosphérique sur les lignes de production industrielle. Une interaction entre expériences et simulations est nécessaire pour adapter la configuration du réacteur aux dépôts à hautes pressions. Des films submicroniques sont déposés à différentes pressions de 666 Pa àt 97,3 kPa, pour un profil prédéterminé de températures le long des parois du flacon comprises entre 480 et 650 °C. Les films obtenus sont amorphes, stœchiométriques, sans traces de carbone et présentent une microstructure dense et légèrement rugueuse. Les flacons revêtus sont soumis à un essai de vieillissement hydrothermal lors d’un cycle de stérilisation pendant une heure à 121 °C et 200 kPa en contact avec de l’eau ultra-pure. La résistance hydrolytique, qui correspond à la résistance du verre à la cession de substances minérales solubles au contact de l’eau est évaluée pour des revêtements de différentes épaisseurs comprises entre 45 et 650 nm en moyenne. Les mécanismes de diffusion et d’extraction des cations sont analysés par spectroscopie de photoélectrons induits par rayons X et spectrométrie par torche plasma. Les effets du vieillissement sur l’adhérence, la nature et la microstructure en surface de la couche d’alumine amorphe sont étudiés. Une synthèse évaluant entre autre la robustesse du procédé, les vitesses de dépôt, les performances barrières et la résistance au vieillissement hydrothermal des couches minces d’alumine, en vis-à-vis des solutions de traitements de surface sur flacon déjà existantes, permet de conclure sur la maturité industrielle et la valeur ajoutée de ce procédé. / Materials for packaging applications are sometimes coated with a barrier film in order to decrease the interactions between the content and the container. Deposition of such coatings on glass bottles allows limiting the deterioration of the internal surface, decreasing the leaching of cations from the glass and improving the stability of the properties of the liquid content. In this context, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process has been designed for the deposition of amorphous alumina thin films on the inner walls of a glass container. The process involves aluminum tri-isopropoxide (ATI), which is fed to the deposition volume by a direct liquid injection (DLI) technology. Given the number of experimental parameters and the complexity of the substrate (a hollow body with a unique narrow entrance), a model of the process has been developed with the Computational Fluid Dynamics code Fluent. The model displays the local profiles of mass flow, temperature and gas species concentrations in the reactor, and the local growth rates based on the kinetic law of the apparent heterogeneous reaction of ATI decomposition to alumina. A good agreement has been found between the experimental and the calculated growth rates. The model allowed gaining a better insight into the physic-chemical phenomena occurring inside the hollow body and thus improving the reactor configuration to obtain transparent and relatively uniform thin films. Following, the model was used as a guide for the choice of the operating conditions of the depositions at higher pressure. An interplay between experimental and simulated results was used to adapt the reactor configuration for depositions at atmospheric pressure. Submicronic films were performed for several pressures between 666 Pa and 97.3 kPa, for thermal profiles along the bottle walls ranging from 753K to 923K. The deposited films are amorphous, stoichiometric without carbon residues, dense and slightly rough. The coated bottles underwent a test of hydrothermal ageing with a cycle of sterilization filled with ultra-pure water during one hour at 121°C and 200 kPa. The hydrolytic resistance, which is the resistance of the glass to the release of soluble mineral substances into water, is measured for films with several thicknesses ranging from 45 to 650 nm on average. The mechanisms of diffusion and extraction for the alkali ions have been analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The impacts of ageing on the adhesion, the nature and the surface microstructure of the amorphous alumina films have been studied. The robustness of the process, the growth rate, barrier performances and resistance to the hydrothermal ageing of thin films, and the comparison of the above with the scarce existing solutions of surface treatments on glass bottles, allows concluding on the industrial viability and the added value of the process.

Today there is a great deal of interest in the development of gas sensors for various applications like monitoring of toxic gases, detection in oil reservoirs, mines, homes etc. Solid-state gas sensors have many advantages over the conventional analytical methods and hence are widely used. Amongst them, semiconducting metal-oxides based sensors are popular due to many advantages like low cost, small size, high sensitivity and long life. The present thesis reports a detailed work of TiO2 (Titania) thin film fabrication based on sol-gel method, study of their crystallization behavior and surface morphology, and characterizing them for alcohol sensing properties Sol-gel method is a wet chemical technique with many advantages over the conventional methods and offers a high degree of versatility to modify the film properties. Titania thin films were made with titanium isopropoxide as the precursor and ethanol and isopropanol as the solvents. Also effect of surfactants(PEG and CTAB) on the sol properties and film properties have experimentally examined. A in-house gas sensor testing setup has been designed and fabricated to characterize the sensors. Sensors with three different electrode configurations and also two different electrode material have been tested. The electrode geometry and material play a significant role on the sensing behavior and results for the same have been discussed.

The aim of this work is diagnostic of plasma chemical deposition thin films based on organometallic precursors. Thin layers have recently become one of the most used methods for surface treatment of materials. They are used as a protective, functional layer, they improve surface properties of materials or increase or reduce the adhesion to various compounds. Plasma polymers are a modern trend in surface treatment technology. Their structure is different from classical polymers. The titanium (IV)isopropoxide was chosen as a monomer example, which is frequently used as a monomer for photocatalytic TiO2 films plasma deposition. These thin films are very promising for the removal of various air and water pollutants and thus they can significantly help in the increase of the environmental quality. Measurements took place on a commercial device Plasmatreater AS 400. The theoretical part describes the background needed for the study and diagnostics of plasma processes and technologies. The optical emission spectroscopy was chosen as a diagnostic method, and thus its principles are outlined in the theoretical part. Infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were applied for the diagnostics of prepared thin films and they are also described in the theoretical part. The experimental part contains two sections. The first section is dedicated to the plasma diagnostics by optical emission spectroscopy. Discharge was generated in nitrogen or in the air. Measurements were performed at seven different duty cycles and at two different flow rates for each of the working gases. The molecular bands of nitrogen first negative and second systems, CN violet bands, and atomic lines of oxygen and nozzle elements (Cu, Cr) were identified in the spectra. The titanium lines, and bands of TiO were determined if the precursor was added. Electron temperature was calculated using chromium lines, and electron temperature maps were obtained for continuous mode and pulse mode with duty cycle 70% for nitrogen plasma with 500 sccm precursor flow. Similar discharge maps were also processed using the selected line of titanium (520 nm) TiO band (625 nm) again for the same discharge conditions. Furthermore, the dependences of the same quantities were obtained along the discharge axis as a function of duty cycle in both gases with precursor flow of 1000 sccm. The second part of results brings material analyzes of the deposited samples. The peaks of anatase and rutile have been identified by infrared spectroscopy. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we found that our layers contain a significant amount of non-dissociated precursor. Moreover, a large number of radicals, which can interact with atmospheric gases, was determined on the surface. These radicals are removable by annealing or by ion etching. All results obtained during this research can significantly help us to improve the quality of deposited layers and allow us also some prediction of the thin film properties at given plasma conditions. Of course, further experimental as well as theoretical studies should be completed to obtain complete knowledge needed for the wide applications of these layers.