Paul Scherrer Institute

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The Thin Films and Interfaces Group

Thin films are nowadays utilized in many applications, ranging from semiconductor devices to optical coatings and are even present in pharmaceuticals (polymers). This wide-spread application of films with thicknesses from atomic monolayers to microns is due to the developments of thin film deposition techniques. Thin films are also important for studies of materials with new and unique properties due to the possibility of tuning their crystallographic and morphological properties. The thin film approach, i.e. the presence of interfaces (to a substrate or the film surface) adds more degrees of freedom for influencing the properties of materials, e.g. by lattice strain or surface functionalization. For these fundamental studies of material properties large research facilities such as synchrotron radiation or neutron spallation sources are one of the keys that the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) provides. Read more Top

PhD projects at the Thin Films and Interfaces Group

At present, we do not have open PhD positions available. As soon as we have details will be posted at our open position page. Other open positions are always published on the PSI Open Positions page.

News

Upcoming Conference

November 2018

2018 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit

November 25-30, 2018
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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Upcoming Group Seminars

TBA
Speaker: A. Farhan
Date: Monday 12 November 2018 16:00
Room: OFLG/402, TFI

Non-toxic surfaces which prevent marine biofouling - Abstract
Speaker: Prof. Michael Grunze
Max Plank Institute for Medical Research - University of Heidelberg
Date: Monday 19 November 2018 14:00
Room: OSGA/EG06, TFI-LMX SEMINAR

TBA
Speaker: Li Fei
Date: Tuesday 20 November 2018 13:00
Room: OSGA/EG06, LMX

Special interview with Prof. Thomas Lippert (PSI and Principle Investigator at I2CNER, Kyushu University) and Prof. Tatsumi Ishihara (Associate Director I2CNER, Kyushu University) on Current and Future Energy Research and Development in Europe: Perspectives from Switzerland, Germany and Japan. The interview is being published in the August 2017 issue of the Energy Outlook of the International Institut for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, I2CNER.
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Most recent Paper

F. Haydous, N. D. Scarisoreanu, R. Birjega, V. Ion, T. Lippert, N. Dumitrescu, A. Moldovan, A. Andrei, V. S. Teodorescu, C. Ghica, R. Negrea & M. Dinescu
Rolling dopant and strain in Y-doped BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting
Sci. Rep. 8, 15826 (2018)


25 October 2018

Rolling dopant and strain in Y-doped BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract:
Potentiostatic measurements performed for the Y-BFO films at 1.4 V vs RHE for 900 s. (from Figure 11)zoom
Potentiostatic measurements performed for the Y-BFO films at 1.4 V vs RHE for 900 s. (from Figure 11)
We report significant photoelectrochemical activity of Y-doped BiFeO3 (Y-BFO) epitaxial thin films deposited on Nb:SrTiO3 substrates. The Y-BFO photoanodes exhibit a strong dependence of the photocurrent values on the thickness of the films, and implicitly on the induced epitaxial strain. The peculiar crystalline structure of the Y-BFO thin films and the structural changes after the PEC experiments have been revealed by high resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy investigations. The crystalline coherence breaking due to the small ionic radius Y-addition was analyzed using Willliamson-Hall approach on the 2θ-ω scans of the symmetric (00 l) reflections and confirmed by high resolution TEM (HR-TEM) analysis. In the thinnest sample the lateral coherence length (L∥) is preserved on larger nanoregions/nanodomains. For higher thickness values L∥ is decreasing while domains tilt angles (αtilt) is increasing. The photocurrent value obtained for the thinnest sample was as high as Jph = 0.72 mA/cm2, at 1.4 V(vs. RHE). The potentiostatic scans of the Y-BFO photoanodes show the stability of photoresponse, irrespective of the film’s thickness. There is no clear cathodic photocurrent observation for the Y-BFO thin films confirming the n-type semiconductor behavior of the Y-BFO photoelectrodes.
Keywords: Ferroelectrics; Multiferroics; Photocatalytic watersplitting; Surfaces; Interfaces; thin films

Facility: Thin Films and Interfaces, LMX, National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Romania; National Institute of Material Physics, Romania

Reference: F. Haydous et al., Sci. Rep. 8, 15826 (2018)

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