The present work investigates the synthesis and nanocrystal deposition of some selected solid solutions of transition metal trihalides with 2-dimensional crystal structure - specifically, the solutions of CrCl3 – CrBr3, CrBr3 – CrI3, RhCl3 – RhBr3, RhBr3 – RhI3, CrCl3 – RuCl3, and CrCl3 – MoCl3. Theoretical simulations of phase equilibria and partial pressures were applied to estimate suitable synthesis conditions for phase-pure solid solutions, before the syntheses were subsequently performed practically. It was found that for most of the systems investigated, special conditions, such as an appropriate excess of halogen or a specific temperature range, are crucial for successful synthesis. The purity of the corresponding products was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction. These measurements were further used to investigate the course of the lattice parameters within the series of mixtures in order to be able to observe potential deviations from ideal mixing behavior of the parent compounds. These investigations revealed only small or no deviation from Vegard’s law for all investigated systems except CrCl3 – MoCl3. For CrCl3 – CrBr3, CrBr3 – CrI3, RhCl3 – RhBr3, RhBr3 – RhI3 and CrCl3 – RuCl3, the prepared powder material with different compositions was further used for the deposition of high-quality nanocrystals on a substrate. For this purpose, chemical vapor transport was applied. Suitable deposition conditions were also previously estimated by simulations before finally performing an experimental optimization of the transport conditions. The 2D nanocrystals thus obtained generally exhibit heights in the low 2-digit nm range, while monolayers were also observed in the case of RhCl3 – RhBr3. The compositions of the deposited structures were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to detect possible enrichment effects of the solid solutions during vapor transport. With the knowledge of these relationships, nanocrystals with controllable composition can be deposited by the developed method. The high quality of the deposited nanocrystals was ensured by transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Depending on the system, selected material properties were determined using powder samples, bulk or nanocrystals, such as the photoluminescence behavior of the CrCl3 – CrBr3 and CrBr3 – CrI3 series or the optical band gap characteristics of the RhCl3 – RhBr3 and RhBr3 – RhI3 systems. Unlike for the previously mentioned systems, in the case of CrCl3 – MoCl3, strong deviations from an ideal linear course of the lattice parameters were observed, where several phase regions can be distinguished within the series. To explain these anomalies, structural models were developed that explain the anomalies with the formation of differently arranged Mo-Mo dimers within the crystal structure. These hypotheses were investigated by different characterization methods such as IR spectroscopy or SQUID measurements and confirmed the hypotheses within the limits of the validity of the applied methods. The simulative and experimental methods developed in this work can be applied to numerous similar systems of transition metal trihalides, but should also work for other classes of compounds. The nanocrystals thus made available are suitable for follow-up studies with respect to property changes upon downscaling.:1. Introduction 1 2. Theoretical Background 3 2.1. Properties of Selected Transition Metal Trihalides and Their Solid Solutions . . . 3 2.1.1. Crystal Structures of 2D Transition Metal Trihalides . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1.2. CrX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1.3. RhX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.4. RuCl3 and CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.5. MoCl3 and CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2. Solid Solution Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.1. Structural Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.2. Chemical Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.2.3. Thermodynamic Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.3. Chemical Vapor Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.1. Bulk and Nanocrystal Growth by CVT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.2. CVT of Solid Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.3.3. Simulation of CVT Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.4. Vapor Phase Chemistry of Selected Transition Metal Trihalides . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4.1. CrCl3, CrBr3 and CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4.2. RhCl3, RhBr3 and RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.4.3. RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.4.4. MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3. Material and Methods 19 3.1. Chemicals and Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.2. Synthesis, Purification and CVT of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2.1. General Aspects of Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2.2. CrX3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.2.3. CrCl3-CrBr3 and CrBr3-CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.2.4. RhX3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 X Table of Contents 3.2.5. RhCl3-RhBr3 and RhBr3-RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.2.6. Purification of commercial RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.7. CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.8. MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.9. CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.10. Delamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.3. Thermodynamic Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.3.1. Estimation of Unknown Thermodynamic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.3.2. Simulations with Tragmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4. Instrumental Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.1. Optical Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.2. Powder X-ray Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.3. Single-Crystal X-ray Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.4.4. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy 27 3.4.5. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Selected Area Electron Diffraction 28 3.4.6. Atomic Force Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.4.7. Raman Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.8. Infrared Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.9. Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.10. Photoluminescence Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.11. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.12. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.13. Simultaneous Thermal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.4.14. Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.4.15. Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Measurements . . . . . . 31 4. Results and Discussion 32 4.1. CrCl3 – CrBr3 and CrBr3 – CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.1.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.1.2. Solid Solution Synthesis and Basic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.1.3. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 4.1.4. Nanocrystal Growth, Enrichment Effects and Delamination . . . . . . . . . 45 4.1.5. Further Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.2. RhCl3-RhBr3 and RhBr3-RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.2.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.2.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 4.2.3. Thermochemical Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.2.4. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 4.2.5. Crystal Growth and Delamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 4.2.6. Further Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 4.3. CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.3.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.3.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 XI Table of Contents 4.3.3. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.3.4. Nanocrystal Growth, Enrichment Effects and Delamination . . . . . . . . . 78 4.3.5. Further Characterization of As-Grown Nanocrystals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 4.4. CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.4.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.4.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 4.4.3. Structural Investigation by pXRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 4.4.4. Further Structural Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 4.4.5. Magnetic Investigations of Powder Samples by SQUID . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 4.4.6. Summary of Characterization Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4.4.7. CVT Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 5. Summary and Outlook 104 References 107 List of Figures 120 List of Tables 121 Abbreviations 122 Used Symbols 124 A. Appendix 126 A.1. Atom Positions and Space Group Transformations of 2D TMTH . . . . . . . . . . 126 A.2. Raw pXRD Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 A.3. Refined Lattice Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 A.4. Additional Data of Characterizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 A.5. EDX-Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 A.6. Thermodynamic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 / Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Synthese und Nanokristallabscheidung von einigen ausgewählten Festkörperlösungen von Übergangsmetalltriahlogeniden mit 2-dimensionaler Kristallstruktur - konkret die Lösungen von CrCl3 – CrBr3, CrBr3 – CrI3, RhCl3 – RhBr3, RhBr3 – RhI3, CrCl3 – RuCl3 und CrCl3 – MoCl3. Dabei wurden theoretische Simulationen der Phasengleichgewichte und Partialdrücke angewandt um geeignete Synthesebedingungen für phasenreine Festkörperlösungen abzuschätzen und diese Synthesen im Anschluss entsprechend zu realisieren. Dabei zeigte sich, dass für die meisten der untersuchten Mischphasen spezielle Bedingungen, wie z.B. ein entsprechender Halogenüberschuss oder ein enges Temperaturfenster entscheidend für die erfolgreiche Synthese sind. Die Phasenreinheit der entsprechenden Produkte wurde mittels Röntgenpulverdiffraktometrie bestätigt. Diese Messungen wurden weiterhin zur Untersuchung des Verlaufs der Gitterparameter innerhalb der Mischungsreihen verwendet um potenzielle Abweichungen von idealem Mischungsverhalten der Randverbindungen beobachten zu können. Dabei zeigte sich für alle Mischungen außer CrCl3 – MoCl3 nur geringe oder keine Abweichungen von der Vegard’schen Regel. Für CrCl3 – CrBr3, CrBr3 – CrI3, RhCl3 – RhBr3, RhBr3 – RhI3 und CrCl3 – RuCl3 wurde das hergestellte Pulvermaterial mit verschiedenen Zusammensetzungen für die Abscheidung von hochqualitativen Nanokristallen auf einem Substrat verwendet. Dafür wurde die Methode des chemischen Gasphasentransports angewandt, wobei ebenfalls geeignete Abscheidungsbedingungen zuvor mittels Simulationen ermittelt wurden, bevor schlussendlich eine experimentelle Optimierung der Transportbedingungen durchgeführt wurde. Die damit erhaltenen 2D Nanokristalle weisen in der Regel Höhen im niedrigen 2-stelligen nm-Bereich auf, wobei im Fall von RhCl3 – RhBr3 auch direkt abgeschiedene Monolagen beobachtet wurden. Die Zusammensetzungen der abgeschiedenen Strukturen wurden intensiv mittels energiedispersiver Röntgenspektroskopie analysiert um mögliche Anreicherungseffekte der Festkörperlösungen während des Gasphasentransports zu detektieren. Dabei zeigte sich, dass eine Anreicherung insbesondere im Fall der kationischen Festkörperlösungen auftritt, während bei anionischen Lösungen ein kongruenter Transport vorherrscht. Mithilfe der Kenntnisse dieses Zusammenhangs lassen sich Nanokristalle mit kontrollierbarer Zusammensetzung über die entwickelte Methode abscheiden. Die hohe Qualität der abgeschiedenen Nanostrukturen wurde mittels Transmissionselektronmikroskopie, Feinbereichselektronenbeugung und Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie sichergestellt. Je nach System wurden weitere ausgewählte Materialeigenschaften anhand von Pulver-Proben, bulk- oder Nanokristallen ermittelt, wie beispielsweise das Photolumineszenzverhalten der CrCl3 – CrBr3 und CrBr3 – CrI3 Reihen oder den Verlauf der optischen Bandlücke der RhCl3 – RhBr3 und RhBr3 – RhI3 Systeme. Anders als für die zuvor beschriebenen Systeme wurden im Fall von CrCl3 – MoCl3 starke Abweichungen von idealem Verlauf der Gitterparameter beobachtet, wobei innerhalb der Mischungsreihe mehrere Phasengebiete unterschieden werden können. Zur Erklärung dieser Anomalien wurden verschiedene Strukturmodelle erdacht, welche die Bildung von unterschiedlich angeordneten Mo-Mo-Dimeren innerhalb der Kristallstruktur beschreiben. Diese Hypothesen wurden mittels verschiedener Charakterisierungsmethoden wie z.B. IR-Spektroskopie oder SQUID-Messungen untersucht und im Rahmen der Aussagekraft der Messmethoden bestätigt. Die in dieser Arbeit entwickelten simulativen und experimentellen Methoden lassen sich auf zahlreiche ähnliche Systeme von Übergangsmetalltrihalogeniden übertragen, sind aber auch auf andere Verbindungsklassen anwendbar. Die damit verfügbar gemachten Nanokristalle sind für Folgeuntersuchungen im Hinblick auf die Eigenschaftsveränderungen bei der Nanoskalierung geeignet.:1. Introduction 1 2. Theoretical Background 3 2.1. Properties of Selected Transition Metal Trihalides and Their Solid Solutions . . . 3 2.1.1. Crystal Structures of 2D Transition Metal Trihalides . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1.2. CrX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1.3. RhX3 (X = Cl, Br, I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.4. RuCl3 and CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.5. MoCl3 and CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2. Solid Solution Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.1. Structural Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2.2. Chemical Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.2.3. Thermodynamic Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.3. Chemical Vapor Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.1. Bulk and Nanocrystal Growth by CVT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.3.2. CVT of Solid Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.3.3. Simulation of CVT Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.4. Vapor Phase Chemistry of Selected Transition Metal Trihalides . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4.1. CrCl3, CrBr3 and CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.4.2. RhCl3, RhBr3 and RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.4.3. RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.4.4. MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3. Material and Methods 19 3.1. Chemicals and Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.2. Synthesis, Purification and CVT of Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2.1. General Aspects of Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.2.2. CrX3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.2.3. CrCl3-CrBr3 and CrBr3-CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.2.4. RhX3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 X Table of Contents 3.2.5. RhCl3-RhBr3 and RhBr3-RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.2.6. Purification of commercial RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.7. CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.8. MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.9. CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.2.10. Delamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.3. Thermodynamic Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.3.1. Estimation of Unknown Thermodynamic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.3.2. Simulations with Tragmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4. Instrumental Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.1. Optical Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.2. Powder X-ray Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.3. Single-Crystal X-ray Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.4.4. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy 27 3.4.5. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Selected Area Electron Diffraction 28 3.4.6. Atomic Force Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.4.7. Raman Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.8. Infrared Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.9. Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.4.10. Photoluminescence Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.11. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.12. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . 30 3.4.13. Simultaneous Thermal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.4.14. Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.4.15. Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Measurements . . . . . . 31 4. Results and Discussion 32 4.1. CrCl3 – CrBr3 and CrBr3 – CrI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.1.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.1.2. Solid Solution Synthesis and Basic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.1.3. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 4.1.4. Nanocrystal Growth, Enrichment Effects and Delamination . . . . . . . . . 45 4.1.5. Further Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.2. RhCl3-RhBr3 and RhBr3-RhI3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.2.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.2.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 4.2.3. Thermochemical Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.2.4. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 4.2.5. Crystal Growth and Delamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 4.2.6. Further Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 4.3. CrCl3-RuCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.3.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.3.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 XI Table of Contents 4.3.3. Structural Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.3.4. Nanocrystal Growth, Enrichment Effects and Delamination . . . . . . . . . 78 4.3.5. Further Characterization of As-Grown Nanocrystals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 4.4. CrCl3-MoCl3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.4.1. Thermodynamic and CVT Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4.4.2. Solid Solution Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 4.4.3. Structural Investigation by pXRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 4.4.4. Further Structural Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 4.4.5. Magnetic Investigations of Powder Samples by SQUID . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 4.4.6. Summary of Characterization Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4.4.7. CVT Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 5. Summary and Outlook 104 References 107 List of Figures 120 List of Tables 121 Abbreviations 122 Used Symbols 124 A. Appendix 126 A.1. Atom Positions and Space Group Transformations of 2D TMTH . . . . . . . . . . 126 A.2. Raw pXRD Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 A.3. Refined Lattice Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 A.4. Additional Data of Characterizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 A.5. EDX-Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 A.6. Thermodynamic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Advanced drug delivery systems have shown immense success through nanotechnology which overcomes the challenges posed by large sized particles such as poor solubility, bioavailability, absorption, and target-specific delivery. This study focuses on nano sizing by application of microreactor technology and nanoparticles to obtain polymeric particulate with a selection of model drugs for inhalation drug delivery routes. The development of nanoparticles of two challenging compounds in terms of solubility and permeability, namely Ibuprofen (IBU) and Salmeterol (SAL), was conducted using a continuous, controlled, and scalable system offered by microfluidic reactor with the incorporation of anti-solvent approach. The research explores the potential of this technology to enhance absorption rate and hence bioavailability of IBU via oral route, and SAL via inhalation. IBU, an anti-inflammatory drug, is classified as BCS Class II drug with low solubility and high permeability. SAL is a selective long acting β2-agonist which is co-dispensed along with a short-acting β2-agonist for quick relief of acute bronchoconstriction due to its long onset of action. This lack of the ‘kick’ effect in SAL can be attributed to its relatively higher lipophilicity which causes a delay in the diffusion to the β2 receptors on the smooth muscles. It is therefore feasible to assume that increasing the dissolution and/or diffusion rate of SAL in the interstitial fluids would reduce the delay between administration and the onset of action of this drug which would be beneficial to patients. Process and formulation parameters were investigated to optimize the production and stability of nano particles of both drugs using Y shaped microfluidic reactors. IBU results show that the smaller the angle between the two inlets were the smaller the particle size achieved. Moreover, the particle size increased with increasing the concentration of IBU solution. The effect of the polymer mixture ratio (PVP/HPMC) on the initial particle size was not clear though. The smallest particle size (113 nm) was achieved using 10° Y shaped chip with IBU concentration of 1 mg/mL and a polymer mixture of 0.3% w/v PVP and 0.5% w/v HPMC. Using a polymer mixture of 0.5% w/v of each polymer though yielded a better PDI (140nm and PDI of 0.5). Same observations were noted when the syringe pumps were replaced with a non-pulsatile pressure pump. Particle size though dropped significantly to 33nm. Stability data showed that all systems were practically stable regardless of the process or formulation parameters. In addition, a considerable 2.5 fold increase in dissolution rate was observed in the first 20 minutes when compared to the raw material. The optimized parameters were applied to SAL to produce nanocrystals with best result (59 nm) were obtained using 50µg/mL Salmeterol with microfluidics inlet angle 10° with non-pulse syringe pump. The stabilizing mixture was PVP 0.8% w/v and Tween 80 at a concentration of 0.02%. This approach offered a basis for the generation of nano sized SAL particles with higher fine particle fraction and better deposition in NGI than currently marketed formulations, thus providing a more efficient drug dose delivery and lung deposition.

No description available.

No description available.

Borate glasses and glass-nano/microcrystal composite fabrication and investigations into their physical properties, have been interesting from their multifunctionalities view point. Certain borate structural units possess high hyperpolarizabilities and give rise to high nonlinear optical effects. High refractive index materials are important for photonic applications. Heavy metal oxide (Bi2O3) containing compounds have high refractive indices. Glasses embedded with wide band-gap semiconducting oxide crystals such as TiO2 received much attention due to their easy processing, stability and promising physical properties. Though TiO2 is used as nucleating agent to fabricate glass-ceramics of various phases, crystallization of TiO2 in glass matrices is difficult and the data are scarce in the literature. Therefore it was worth attempting to find glass compositions in which one can obtain TiO2 crystallization in large volume fractions. Towards this TiO2 crystallization was accomplished in BaO-TiO2-B2O3 glass matrix over wide composition ranges by tuning the concentration of BaO-TiO2 content in B2O3 network. The physical properties of these glasses of various compositions and glass-nanocrystal composites of TiO2 phase (anatase) were investigated. Interestingly BaO-TiO2-B2O3 glasses found to be hydrophobic in nature. The results obtained in the present research work are classified into five chapters apart from the Introduction, Materials and Methods chapters. Chapter 1 constitutes preface to oxide glasses, principles of glass formation and structural criteria followed by crystallization kinetics. In addition, principles of dielectric, optical and mechanical phenomena in glasses are discussed, since the present thesis focuses on the aforesaid physical properties. This chapter concludes with scope of the present thesis. Chapter 2 includes the detailed description concerning the fabrication techniques of materials under study and various characterization methods that have been employed at various stages of the present research work. The principles and experimental tools adopted for the structural and microstructural studies of materials were illustrated. Measurement techniques and experimental setup used to study physical parameters such as dielectric, optical, mechanical etc. were elaborated. Chapter 3 comprises structural, dielectric, electrical transport characteristics and optical studies of mixed alkali borate glasses in the 0.5Li2O-0.5M2O-2B2O3 (M=Li, Na and K) system. Transparent glasses in the Li2O-2B2O3 (LBO), 0.5Li2O-0.5Na2O-2B2O3 (LNBO) and 0.5Li2O-0.5K2O-2B2O3 (LKBO) were fabricated via the conventional melt quenching technique. Amorphous and glassy nature of the samples was confirmed via the X-ray powder diffraction and the differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. LKBO glass was found to have high thermal stability than that of LBO and LNBO. The frequency and temperature dependent characteristics of the dielectric relaxation and the electrical conductivity were investigated in the 100 Hz - 10 MHz frequency range. The relaxation and conductivity were rationalized using impedance and modulus formalism. Imaginary part of the electric modulus spectra was modelled using an approximate solution of Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts relation. The stretching exponent, β, was found to be temperature independent for LNBO glasses. Activation energies for conduction and relaxation process were calculated using the Arrhenius relation. The activation energy was found to be higher (1.25eV) for LKBO glasses than that of the other glass systems under study. This is attributed to the mixed cation effect. It has wide optical transmission window and optical band gap. Urbach energies were calculated for all these glasses. LBO, LNBO and LKBO glass compositions were found to crystallize in Li2B4O7, LiNaB4O7 and LiKB4O7 phases respectively upon heat treatment at appropriate temperatures. Transparent glass-micro crystal composites of LiKB4O7 were fabricated from LKBO glasses and found to be SHG active. BaO-TiO2-B2O3 Chapter 4 delineates the evolution of nanocrystalline TiO2 phase (Anatase) in BaO-TiO2-B2O3 (BTBO) glasses. Transparent colourless glasses in the ternary system were fabricated via conventional melt-quenching technique. The glasses with certain molar concentrations of BaO and TiO2 upon heat treatment at appropriate temperatures yielded nanocrystalline phase of TiO2 associated with the crystallite size in the 5-15 nm range. Nanocrystallized glasses exhibited high refractive index (no=2.15) at λ=543nm. These glasses were found to be hydrophobic in nature associated with the contact angle of 90o. These high index glass nanocrystal composites would be of potential interest for optical device applications. Crystallization kinetics of anatase phase in BTBO glasses were studied using non-isothermal Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) at three different heating rates (10, 20 & 30 K/min). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) carried out on heat treated (at 920 K) glasses confirmed bulk nucleation and three-dimensional growth. Johnson-Mehl-Avrami model could not be applied for this system suggesting considerable overlap of the nucleation and growth involving complex transformation process. However, modified Kissinger and Ozawa models were used to calculate the effective activation energy associated with anatase crystallization. The kinetic exponent n was found to be temperature dependent indicating the change in the crystallization mechanism. This is attributed to the high entropy fusion of anatase phase, fast crystallization rate and nano dimension of the anatase phase. Chapter 5 illustrates structural changes that occur in the x(BaO-TiO2)-B2O3 (x=0.25, 0.5, 0.75 &1 mol.) system on increasing the x apart from the details concerning some physical property correlations. Thermal stability and glass forming ability as determined by Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) were found to increase with increasing BaO-TiO2 (BT) content. However, there was no noticeable change in the glass transition temperature (Tg). This was attributed to the active participation of TiO2 in the network formation especially at higher BT contents via the conversion of the TiO6 structural units into TiO4 units which increased the connectivity and resulted in an increase in crystallization temperature. Dielectric and optical properties at room temperature were studied for all the glasses under investigation. Interestingly, these glasses were found to be hydrophobic. The results obtained were correlated with different structural units present in the glass and their connectivity. These glasses exhibited low loss (tan δ≈0.002), frequency (10 kHz- 10 MHz) and temperature independent (or very weak temperature response) flat-dielectric response. Crossover temperature was encountered between flat response and Jonscher’s universal response. The cross-over temperature and cross-over energy barrier from flat dielectric response to Jonscher’s response was deduced for all the glasses in the present investigation. Electric modulus formalism was invoked to rationalize the relaxation phenomena. The observed dielectric response and conduction process in these glasses were attributed to the local vibration and switching of non-bridging oxygen ions in their potential cage and hopping over distributed energy barriers above the crossover temperature. Chapter 6 depicts the dielectric and mechanical properties of glasses embedded with TiO2 nanocrystals. BaO-TiO2-B2O3 glasses on subjecting to appropriate heat treatment temperature yielded TiO2 nano crystalline anatase phase. NMR studies carried out on the as-quenched glasses facilitated the estimation of fraction of tetrahedral and trigonal borate units. Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus were evaluated through theoretical expressions proposed by Makishima and Mackenzie. Nano-indentation and micro-indentation studies were carried out on the as-quenched glasses and glass-nanocrystal composites to examine mechanical characteristics. Estimated and indentation Young’s modulus of glasses were found to be in reasonable agreement. Hardness and Young’s modulus increased with increasing fraction of nano crystallites whereas fracture toughness was found to depend strongly on surface conditions. The results were corroborated by the structural units and particulates present in these glasses. Dielectric constant increased with increasing volume fraction of the nanocrystals which was rationalized via mixture rule. Chapter 7 describes the dielectric properties, electrical conduction and electric relaxation phenomena in 2Bi2O3-B2O3 (BBO) glasses followed by thier linear and nonlinear optical characteristics. Glasses in BBO system were obtained via melt-quenching technique. X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry were used to study the structural characteristics. Dielectric studies carried out on these glasses revealed near constant loss (NCL) response in the 1 kHz to 1 MHz frequency range at moderately high temperatures (300-450 K) accompanied by relatively low loss (tan δ=0.006, at 1 kHz & 300 K) and high dielectric constant (ε' =37, at 1 kHz & 300 K). The variation in AC conductivity with temperature at different frequencies showed a cross over from NCL response characterized by local ion vibration within the potential well to universal Jonscher’s power law dependence triggered by ion hopping between potential wells or cages. Thermal activation energy for single potential well was found to be 0.48±0.05 eV from cross over points. Ionic conduction and relaxation processes were rationalized by modulus formalism. The promising dielectric properties (relatively high ε' and low tan δ) of the BBO glasses were attributed to high density (93 % of its crystalline counterpart), high polarizability and low mobility associated with heavy metal cations, Bi3+. Optical band gap obtained for BBO glasses was found to be 2.6 eV. The refractive index measured for these glasses was 2.25±0.05 at λ=543 nm. Nonlinear refraction and absorption studies were carried out on BBO glasses using z-scan technique at λ=532 nm of 10 ns pulse width. The nonlinear refractive index obtained was n2=12.1x10-14 cm2/W and two-photon absorption coefficient was β=15.2 cm/GW. The n2 and β values of the BBO glasses were higher than that reported for high index bismuth based oxide glass systems in the literature. These were attributed to the high density, high linear refractive index, low band gap and two-photon absorption associated with these glasses. The electronic origin of large nonlinearities was discussed based on bond-orbital theory. Thesis ends with summary and conclusions followed by prospective views, though each chapter comprises conclusions associated with complete list of references. Patent, publications and conference proceedings that are listed below are largely based on the studies conducted as a part of the research work reported in the present thesis.

Organic solar cells offer the possibility for lightweight, flexible, and inexpensive photovoltaic devices. This thesis studies the physics of a wide range of materials designed for use in organic solar cells. The materials investigated include conjugated polymers, conjugated dendrimers, and inorganic nanocrystals. The materials studied in this thesis fall into five categories: conjugated polymers blended with a buckminsterfullerene derivative PCBM, nanocrystals synthesised in a conjugated polymer matrix, conjugated polymers designed for intramolecular charge separation, conjugated dendrimers blended with PCBM, and nanocrystals synthesised in a matrix of conjugated small molecules or dendrimers. Conjugated polymers blended with PCBM have been extensively studied for photovoltaic applications, and hence form an ideal test bed for new experiments. In this thesis this blend was used to achieve the first pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance experiments on organic solar cells. Nanocrystals are attractive for photovoltaics because it is possible to tune their band gap across the solar spectrum. In this thesis a one-pot synthesis is used to grow PbS and CdS nanocrystals in conjugated polymers, soluble small molecules, and dendrimers, and characterisation is performed on these composites. Previous work on dendrimer: nanocrystal composites has been limited to non-conjugated molecules, and the synthesis developed in this thesis extends this work to a conjugated oligomer and a conjugated dendrimer. This synthesis can potentially be extended to a variety of conjugated soluble small molecule: nanocrystal and dendrimer: nanocrystal systems. Conjugated dendrimers have been successfully employed in organic light emitting diodes, and in this thesis they are applied to organic solar cells. Materials based on fluorene and cyanine dye cores show excellent absorption tunability across the solar spectrum. A set of electronically asymetric polymers designed for intramolecular charge separation were investigated. Quenching of the luminescence was observed, and light induced electron paramagnetic resonance measurements revealed that photoexcitation led to approximately equal numbers of positive polarons and nitro centred radical anions. This indicates that charge separation is occurring in these molecules.

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have gained substantial interest as adjustable, bright and spectrally tunable fluorophores in the past decades. Besides their in-depth analyses in the scientific community, first industrial applications as color conversion and color enrichment materials were implemented. However, stability and processability are essential for their successful use in these and further applications. Methods to embed QDs into oxides or polymers can only partially solve this challenge. Recently, our group introduced the embedding of QDs into ionic salts, which holds several advantages in comparison to polymer or oxide-based counterparts. Both gas permeability and environmental-related degradation processes are negligible, making these composites an almost perfect choice of material. To evaluate this new class of QD-salt mixed crystals, a thorough understanding of the formation procedure and the final composites is needed. The present work is focused on embedding both aqueous-based and oil-based metal-chalcogenide QDs into several ionic salts and the investigations of their optical and chemical properties upon incorporation into the mixed crystals. QDs with well-known, reproducible and high-quality synthetic protocols are chosen as emissive species. CdTe QDs were incorporated into NaCl as host matrix by using the straightforward "classical" method. The resulting mixed crystals of various shapes and beautiful colors preserve the strong luminescence of the incorporated QDs. Besides NaCl, also borax and other salts are used as host matrices. Mercaptopropionic acid stabilized CdTe QDs can easily be co-crystallized with NaCl, while thioglycolic acid as stabilizing agent results in only weakly emitting powder-like mixed crystals. This challenge was overcome by adjusting the pH, the amount of free stabilizer and the type of salt used, demonstrating the reproducible incorporation of highest-quality CdTe QDs capped with thioglycolic acid into NaCl and KCl salt crystals. A disadvantage of the "classical" mixed crystallization procedure was its long duration which prevents a straightforward transfer of the protocol to less stable QD colloids, e.g., initially oil-based, ligand exchanged QDs. To address this challenge, the "Liquid-liquid-diffusion-assisted-crystallization" (LLDC) method is introduced. By applying the LLDC, a substantially accelerated ionic crystallization of the QDs is shown, reducing the crystallization time needed by one order of magnitude. This fast process opens the field of incorporating ligand-exchanged Cd-free QDs into NaCl matrices. To overcome the need for a ligand exchange, the LLDC can also be extended towards a two-step approach. In this modified version, the seed-mediated LLDC provides for the first time the ability to incorporate oil-based QDs directly into ionic matrices without a prior phase transfer. The ionic salts appear to be very tight matrices, ensuring the protection of the QDs from the environment. As one of the main results, these matrices provide extraordinary high photo- and chemical stability. It is further demonstrated with absolute measurements of photoluminescence quantum yields (PL-QYs), that the PL-QYs of aqueous CdTe QDs can be considerably increased upon incorporation into a salt matrix by applying the "classical" crystallization procedure. The achievable PL enhancement factors depend strongly on the PL-QYs of the parent QDs and can be described by the change of the dielectric surrounding as well as the passivation of the QD surface. Studies on CdSe/ZnS in NaCl and CdTe in borax showed a crystal-induced PL-QY increase below the values expected for the respective change of the refractive index, supporting the derived hypothesis of surface defect curing by a CdClx formation as one main factor for PL-QY enhancement. The mixed crystals developed in this work show a high suitability as color conversion materials regarding both their stability and spectral tunability. First proof-of-concept devices provide promising results. However, a combination of the highest figures of merit at the same time is intended. This ambitious goal is reached by implementing a model-experimental feedback approach which ensures the desired high optical performance of the used emitters throughout all intermediate steps. Based on the approach, a white LED combining an incandescent-like warm white with an exceptional high color rendering index and a luminous efficacy of radiation is prepared. It is the first time that a combination of this highly related figures of merit could be reached using QD-based color converters. Furthermore, the idea of embedding QDs into ionic matrices gained considerable interest in the scientific community, resulting in various publications of other research groups based on the results presented here. In summary, the present work provides a profound understanding how this new class of QD-salt mixed crystal composites can be efficiently prepared. Applying the different crystallization methods and by changing the matrix material, mixed crystals emitting from blue to the near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum can be fabricated using both Cd-containing and Cd-free QDs. The resulting composites show extraordinary optical properties, combining the QDs spectral tunability with the rigid and tight ionic matrix of the salt. Finally, their utilization as a color conversion material resulted in a high-quality white LED that, for the first time, combines an incandescent-like hue with outstanding optical efficacy and color rendering properties. Besides that, the mixed crystals offer huge potential in other high-quality applications which apply photonic and optoelectronic components.

The design, construction and characterisation of a novel, arrayed, open-access optical microcavity is described. Included in this thesis are the precise fabrication details, making use of the focused ion beam. A technique for analysing and optimising the microcavities constructed, making use of an atomic force microscope is also included. Results from the optical characterisation of the fabricated microcavities are presented, including quality factors of around 104, and fitnesses of around 400. The optical analysis then progressed onto coupling colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals to the microcavity modes. This yielded room temperature Purcell enhancements, single particle sensing, and also allowed for the characterisation of a second iteration of cavities. This improved set was shown to achieve fitnesses in excess of 1800 and quality factors with a lower limit of 15000. The optical identification of single NV centres in nanodiamond is discussed, along with the development of an optical apparatus to couple them to microcavities at cryogenic temperatures. Finally several results from finite difference time domain simulations will be presented, showing ultimate mode volumes of less than 0.5 cubic wavelengths are possible for this approach.

Durch die Funktionalisierung von Silica- und Gold-Nanopartikeln mit einem neu entwickelten photoschaltbaren Polymer wurden gezielt selbst¬organisierte Architekturen aus Polymer-Nanokompositen aufgebaut. Silica-Oberflächen wurden mit Transferagenzien für eine oberflächeninitiierte reversible Additions–Fragmentierungs-Ketten-transferpolymerisation (engl. reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT-) Polymerisation) modifiziert und systematisch untersucht. Dazu wurden Mono-, Di- und Trialkoxysilylether als Ankergruppen in die chemische Struktur der RAFT-Agenzien integriert. Die Analyse von funktionalisierten planaren Substraten durch Rasterkraftmikroskopie hat gezeigt, dass di- und trifunktionelle Ankergruppen als vernetzte Aggregate auf der Oberfläche gebunden werden, wenn die Immobilisierung in Toluol durchgeführt wird. Als Ursache dafür wurde durch dynamische Lichtstreuung (DLS) eine, im Vergleich zur Reaktion mit der Oberfläche, beschleunigte Aggregation der Ankergruppen identifiziert. Die Vernetzung konnte durch die Verwendung von 1,2-Dimethoxyethan als Lösungsmittel unterbunden werden, wodurch besser definierte Oberflächenstrukturen erhalten wurden. Diese wurden ebenfalls durch Monoalkoxysilylether erreicht, die unabhängig vom Lösungsmittel keine Möglichkeit zur Vernetzung bieten. Die Charakterisierung funktionalisierter sphärischer Silica-Nanopartikel mittels Transmissionselektronen¬mikroskopie (TEM) bestätigten diese Ergebnisse. Dadurch wurde gezeigt, dass vernetzte Ankergruppen zu der Aggregation von Silica-Nanopartikeln führen. An den funktionalisierten Partikeln wurden RAFT-Polymerisationen durchgeführt, deren Produkte durch Gel-permeations¬chromatographie und Thermogravimetrie analysiert wurden. Dabei wurde gezeigt, dass die Beladungsdichte des Polymers nicht ausschließlich mit der Konzentration der RAFT-Agenzien auf der Oberfläche steigt, sondern vor allem mit deren Erreichbarkeit für Makroradikale. Zudem wurde festgestellt, dass der Anteil niedermolekularer Nebenprodukte unabhängig vom Aggregationgrad der verwendeten Ankergruppen ist. Nach diesen Prinzipien maßgeschneiderte Silica- und Gold-Nanopartikel wurden in einer Blockcopolymermatrix dispergiert und mittels TEM analysiert. Durch Mikrophasenseparation der Matrix konnten erstmals RAFT-Polymer-funktionalisierte Nanopartikel gezielt und selektiv in eine Phase integriert werden. Zusätzlich wurde beobachtet, dass selektiv Silica-Partikel mit kleinen Durchmessern aus der eingesetzten Größenverteilung eingebaut wurden. Neben dem Design von Nanopartikeln wurde ein photoschaltbares Polymer (PAzoPMA) für die Anwendung in Polymer-Nanokompositen entwickelt. Durch die reversible Licht-induzierte transcis-Isomer¬isierung der schaltbaren Azobenzol-Einheiten des Polymers, nimmt sowohl die molekulare Größe ab als auch das Dipolmoment deutlich zu. Diese Änderungen konnten durch Wasser-Kontaktwinkel-Analysen, DLS und Ionenmobilitäts-Massenspektrometrie charakterisiert werden. Durch die Funktionalisierung von Silica- bzw. Gold-Partikeln mit diesem Polymer wurden photoschaltbare Nanokomposite synthetisiert, indem PAzoPMA über RAFT-Agenzien an die Oberfläche gebunden wurde. Die Bestrahlung einer Dispersion dieser Hybridpartikel mit ultraviolettem Licht induzierte die transcis-Isomerisierung, die eine Selbstorganisation der Primärpartikel zur Folge hatte. Insbesondere funktionalisierte Gold-Nanopartikel aggregierten zu definierten, sphärischen Überstrukturen, was durch DLS und optische Absorptions-spektroskopie belegt wurde. Durch letztere konnte außerdem gezeigt werden, dass der geschaltete Zustand länger stabil ist als bei bisher literaturbekannten Systemen mit Kleinmolekülen als Photoschalter. Eine weitere Stärke des entwickelten Systems wird mittels TEM-Analyse verdeutlicht. Die über die molare Masse des PAzoPMAs in der Partikelhülle einstellbaren Abstände der Primärpartikel, innerhalb dieser Überstrukturen, verdeutlichen das große Potential des Systems.

Les mémoires à nanocristaux de silicium sont considérées comme l'une des solutions les plus intéressantes pour remplacer les grilles flottantes dans les mémoires Flash pour des applications de mémoires non-volatiles embarquées. Ces nanocristaux sont intéressants pour leur compatibilité avec les technologies de procédé CMOS, et la réduction des coûts de fabrication. De plus, la taille des nanocristaux garantie un faible couplage entre les cellules et la robustesse contre les effets de SILC. L'un des principaux challenges pour les mémoires embarquées dans des applications mobiles et sans contact est l'amélioration de la consommation d'énergie afin de réduire les contraintes de design de cellules. Dans cette étude, nous présentons l'état de l'art des mémoires Flash à grille flottante et à nanocristaux de silicium. Sur ce dernier type de mémoire une optimisation des principaux paramètres technologiques a été effectuée pour permettre l'obtention d'une fenêtre de programmation compatible avec les applications à faible consommation d'énergie. L'étude s'attache à l'optimisation de la fiabilité de la cellule à nanocristaux de silicium. On présente pour la première fois une cellule fonctionnelle après un million de cycles d'écriture et effacement dans une large gamme de températures [-40°C;150°C], et qui est capable de retenir l'information pendant dix ans à 150°C. Enfin, une analyse de la consommation de courant et d'énergie durant la programmation montre l'adaptabilité de la cellule pour des applications à faible consommation. Toutes les données expérimentales ont été comparées avec les résultats d'une cellule standard à grille flottante pour montrer les améliorations apportées. / The silicon nanocrystal memories are one of the most attractive solutions to replace the Flash floating gate for nonvolatile memory embedded applications, especially for their high compatibility with CMOS process and the lower manufacturing cost. Moreover, the nanocrystal size guarantees a weak device-to-device coupling in an array configuration and, in addition, for this technology it has been shown the robustness against SILC. One of the main challenges for embedded memories in portable and contactless applications is to improve the energy consumption in order to reduce the design constraints. Today the application request is to use the Flash memories with both low voltage biases and fast programming operation. In this study, we present the state of the art of Flash floating gate memory cell and silicon nanocrystal memories. Concerning this latter device, we studied the effect of main technological parameters in order to optimize the cell performance. The aim was to achieve a satisfactory programming window for low energy applications. Furthermore, the silicon nanocrystal cell reliability has been investigated. We present for the first time a silicon nanocrystal memory cell with a good functioning after one million write/erase cycles, working on a wide range of temperature [-40°C; 150°C]. Moreover, ten years data retention at 150°C is extrapolated. Finally, the analysis concerning the current and energy consumption during the programming operation shows the opportunity to use the silicon nanocrystal cell for low power applications. All the experimental data have been compared with the results achieved on Flash floating gate memory, to show the performance improvement.