A vacuum deposition system was built enabling flexible polymer sheet, wound on a roll-to-roll transport mechanism, to be coated by any or all of three planar magnetron sputtering sources. Using this machine a large variety of coatings were produced in long lengths onto heat sensitive substrates and with controlled stoichiometry. Within the system the coating was monitored soon after deposition which allowed fast response to changing film properties, a critical factor in the continuous production of high quality coatings. An area of current interest has been the production of large area optical filters, the basis of which is the deposition of thin metal and thin metal oxide films. Of particular interest have been the 'heat mirror' type filters, the transparent conducting oxides and more recently the electrochromic devices. All these have been deposited at high rates onto flexible polyester substrates ostensibly at room temperature. Analysis of the films has been carried out by a variety of techniques in order to establish the precise chemical composition and structure of the films. Once optimum conditions had been established for individual films multilayer filters were produced and their optical performance determined. In the case of the 'heat mirror' type filters their performance was compared to theoretical predictions.

The master´s thesis deals with a process called cold kinetic deposition technology. Using this technology, a copper layer was formed on a sample with an aluminium base by high-pressure cold spraying at a pressure of 25 bar. In the experimental part, the influence of corrosion degradation in the salt chamber was assessed at the time cycles of 100 h, 200 h and 300h, where changes in internal and surface resistances before and after corrosion were measured. Subsequently, the analysis of corrosion products was performed, where the extent of corrosion attack was determined using an electron microscope. These methods led to a final evaluation of the boundary limits of the applied coating layer by cold kinetic deposition, after the effect of corrosion. Finally, a theoretical application of this technology was suggested. It was discovered that the sample placed and left in the corrosion chamber for the longest time was the most affected by corrosion. Finally, a theoretical application of cold kinetic deposition was proposed.

For its inherent advantages, such as lightweight, low cost, flexibility, and opportunity to cover large surface areas, organic solar cells have attracted more and more attention in both academia and industry. However, the efficiency of organic solar cell is still much lower than silicon solar cells, but steadily rising as it now stands above 8%. The architecture of bulk heterojunction solar cells can improve the performance of organic solar cell a lot, but these improvements are highly dependent on the morphology of photoactive layer. Therefore, by controlling the morphology of photoactive layer, most commonly composed of a P3HT donor polymer and PCBM small molecule, the performance of organic solar cells could be optimized. The use of solvent additives in the solution formulation is particularly interesting, because it is a low cost method of controlling the phase separation of the photoactive layer and possibly removing the need for subsequent thermal and solvent vapor annealing. However, the role of the solvent additive remains not well understood and much debate remains on the mechanisms by which it impacts phase separation. In the first part of this thesis, we investigate the role of the solvent additive on the individual components (solvent, donor and acceptor) of the solution and the photoactive layer both in the bulk solution, during solution-processing and in the post-processing solid state of the film. In the second part of this thesis, we investigate the role of the additive on the blended solution state and resulting thin film phase separation. Finally, we propose a new method of controlling phase separation based on the insight into the role of the solvent additive. In the first part, we used an additive [octandiethiol (OT)] in the solvent to help the aggregation of P3HT in the solution. From the UV-vis experiments, the crystallinity of P3HT in the solutions increased while it decreased in thin films with steady increase of additive concentration. This method could be used for one step, annealing-free fabrication of organic solar cell with high performance. The solution can potentially be used to prepare ink for the large scale roll-to-roll ink-jet printing of P3HT thin films. Secondly, from the experiments it is found that differences in the evaporation rate and solubility of the components of the photoactive layer may be part of the reason for morphological changes. With lower evaporation rate than the host solvent, the additive concentration in the solution keeps increasing with time during the final stages of spin coating. In addition, the phase separation is increased with the increase of additive concentration, as demonstrated by AFM and TEM. By controlling the additive concentration, it is possible to control the phase separation of photoactive layer in pristine device. It is also found that the additive can change the wetting ability of the solvent to produce films with high surface coverage. With this information in hand, we modified the solution process of BHJ layers. A layer of crystals was deposited from the OT-containing solution by postponing the start of the spin coating for several minutes (delay time) after the solution is dropped on the surface of substrate. We found this to be a very effective method of increasing the phase separation and crystallinity of the photoactive materials. This effect was not possible when using oDCB solvent without any additive.

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Drop coating deposition Raman (DCDR) spectroscopy is a special method of Raman spectroscopy, which is based on the evaporation of solvent from a drop of solution or suspension on a hydrophobic surface. This typically leads to the formation of ring-shaped drying pattern, often called as "coffee ring". As a result a preconcentration of a material and higher intensity of Raman signal in comparison with Raman scattering from solution is obtained. In this work several hydrophobic surfaces with different roughness and hydrophobicity were compared: a smooth substrate with polytetrafluorethylen (pPTFE) coating and nanorough substrates where surface hydrophobicity was formed by deposited cupper or argent nanoparticles with different concentration. It was shown that for DPPC liposome suspension stronger preconcentration is obtained by means of a nanorough substrate. When different nanorough substrate compared, no better improvement was acquired. As for the drying of drops at different temperatures (from 15řC to 60řC) deposited on the smooth pPTFE substrate and the substrate with argent nanoparticles, it was observed that Raman spectra did not reveal any spectral changes corresponding to phase transition of lipid. In case of drying at temperatures higher than a temperature of the phase transition, non-homogeneities...

Therapies of neurodegenerative diseases are often very difficult and their success depend on an early diagnose. From that reason we have been developing new diagnostic method for multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer disease by drop coating deposition Raman (DCDR) spectroscopy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in this work. We found out conditions of measurements, where spectra were reproducible and accepted for standard diagnostic practices. We discovered that CSF has fast degradation at a room temperature, which was detectable in spectra after 5 hours, and degradation due to refreezing. DCDR spectra of CSF from individual patients were analyzed by factor and cluster analysis. Multiple sclerosis was manifested by lower intensity of a Raman band at 1080 cm−1 , which is probably connected with more general pathologic state. Spectral changes caused by Alzeheimer disease were more complex and beside changes mentioned above also changes connected with composition and conformation of proteins were identified in regions 1200-1800 cm−1 and 2870-2950 cm−1 . Additionally, we succeeded in distinguishing of young healthy patients from older patients in DCDR spectra. In this work were checked up, that DCDR is good diagnostic method for clinical practices for determining neurodegenerative diseases through the complex...

Due to an ever-increasing global population and limited resource availability, there is a constant need for detection of both natural and anthropogenic hazards in water, air, food, and material goods. Traditionally a different instrument would be used to detect each class of contaminant, often after a concentration or separation protocol to extract the analyte from its matrix. Raman spectroscopy is unique in its ability to detect organic or inorganic, airborne or waterborne, and embedded or adsorbed analytes within environmental systems. This ability comes from the inherent abilities of the Raman spectrometer combined with concentration, separation, and signal enhancement provided by drop coating deposition Raman (DCDR) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Herein the capacity of DCDR to differentiate between cyanotoxin variants in aqueous solutions was demonstrated using principal component analysis (PCA) to statistically demonstrate spectral differentiation. A set of rules was outlined based on Raman peak ratios to allow an inexperienced user to determine the toxin variant identity from its Raman spectrum. DCDR was also employed for microcystin-LR (MC-LR) detection in environmental waters at environmentally relevant concentrations, after pre-concentration with solid-phase extraction (SPE). In a cellulose matrix, SERS and normal Raman spectral imaging revealed nanoparticle transport and deposition patterns, illustrating that nanoparticle surface coating dictated the observed transport properties. Both SERS spectral imaging and insight into analyte transport in wax-printed paper microfluidic channels will ultimately be useful for microfluidic paper-based analytical device (𝜇PAD) development. Within algal cells, SERS produced 3D cellular images in the presence of intracellularly biosynthesized gold nanoparticles (AuNP), documenting in detail the molecular vibrations of biomolecules at the AuNP surfaces. Molecules involved in nanoparticle biosynthesis were identified at AuNP surfaces within algal cells, thus aiding in mechanism elucidation. The capabilities of Raman spectroscopy are endless, especially in light of SERS tag design, coordinating detection of analytes that do not inherently produce strong Raman vibrations. The increase in portable Raman spectrometer availability will only facilitate cheaper, more frequent application of Raman spectrometry both in the field and the lab. The tremendous detection power of the Raman spectrometer cannot be ignored. / Ph. D.

The work deals with the deposition of layers for electrochromic device with different methods. Transparent electrically conductive layer of SnO2 was deposited by pyrolytic decomposition of peroxostannate solution. Hydrogen peroxide in starting solution contributes to the oxidation process of growth layers and to increase the electrical conductivity. Active electrochromic layer of WO3 was electrolytic deposited from the peroxotungstic acid solution. Optimal deposition time and the optimal annealing temperature of deposited layers were found. Passive electrochromic layer of V2O5 was deposited using dip-coating method from peroxovanadate solution. A contribution of solution diluted with distilled water was investigated. Found results were used to construct complete electrochromic device with polymer gel electrolyte.