The influence of additives on the morphology and stability of roll-to-roll processed polymer solar cells studied through ex situ and in situ X-ray scattering

AbstractThe transformation of Au thin films grown on sapphire (0001) substrates into nano crystals during thermal annealing was investigated by in situ synchrotron x-ray scattering and ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). By monitoring the Au(111) Bragg reflection and the low Q reflectivity and comparing them with ex situ AFM images, we found that polygonal-shape holes were nucleated and grow initially. As the holes grow larger and contact each other, their boundary turns into Au nano crystals. The Au nano crystals have a well-defined (111) flat top surface and facets in the in-plane direction.

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Grazing Incidence X-Ray Scattering Studies of the Structure and Morphology of the Ni/Mgo(001), Co/Nio(111) and Nife/Nio(111) Interfaces During their in Situ Growth

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-562-165 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 562 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

G. Renaud ◽

A. Barbier ◽

C. Mocuta

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Magnetic Measurements ◽

Grazing Incidence ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Crystallographic Structure ◽

Temperature Oxidation ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Ray Scattering

ABSTRACTCombined in situ structural and ex situ magnetic studies of the Co/NiO(111) and Ni81Fe19/NiO(111) interfaces are presented. The Co and Permalloy films were grown on NiO(111) single crystals. Structural studies were performed by Grazing Incidence X-ray Scattering during growth. The effect of the temperature of the substrate during deposition was investigated. Under specific growth conditions, almost pure FCC Co and NiFe films can be obtained, with small quantities of twins. Magnetic measurements were performed ex situ by Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect (MOKE). A strong correlation between the magnetic properties and the crystallographic structure of the Co film is evidenced. High coercive fields are measured for all samples. High temperature annealing of the NiFe film leads to an improved crystalline quality, but the interface becomes reactive and diffuse: part of the Fe diffuses into the NiO substrate and forms an interface compound, likely to be the spinel NiFe2O4. We also report an in situ grazing incidence X-ray scattering study of the Ni/MgO(001) interface during its formation at room temperature. In-plane measurements reveal that the interface is sharp and that the epitaxial relationship is complex. Two distinct lattices are found to exist: expanded Ni(001) and Ni(110). The latter exhibits several orientations with respect to the substrate depending on the thickness. The Ni(110) orientations disappear by annealing at high temperature, leaving only the Ni cube/cube orientation. The layer was also almost fully transformed into NiO(001) by high temperature oxidation.

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Probing Self-Assembly of Cylindrical Morphology Block Copolymer Using in Situ and ex Situ Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-ray Scattering: The Attractive Case of Graphoepitaxy

Macromolecules ◽

10.1021/ma501453k ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 47 (20) ◽

pp. 7221-7229 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Mireille Maret ◽

Raluca Tiron ◽

Xavier Chevalier ◽

Patrice Gergaud ◽

Ahmed Gharbi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Block Copolymer ◽

Small Angle ◽

Self Assembly ◽

Grazing Incidence ◽

Ex Situ ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Attractive Case ◽

Ray Scattering

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Resonant Inelastic Soft X-ray Scattering Studies of U(VI) Reduction on Iron Surfaces

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-807-113 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 807 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

S. M. Butorin ◽

D. K. Shuh ◽

K. Kvashnina ◽

I. L. Soroka ◽

K. Ollila ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Absorption Edge ◽

Spectroscopic Analysis ◽

Ex Situ ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Primary Photon ◽

Liquid Cell ◽

Uranium Species ◽

Ray Scattering

ABSTRACTWe report on the spectroscopic analysis of several samples relevant to the processes governing the behavior of oxidized uranium species in groundwater solutions under anoxic conditions. Both Fe samples with different times of exposure to the U(IV) solution and Fe metal-solution inetrfaces in the liquid cell ex-situ and in-situ, respectively. Resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering is shown to be sensitive to the chemical state of uranium. The measurements were performed at a number of energies of the primary photon beam across the U 5d absorption edge. The results unambiguously indicate the reduction of U(VI) to U(IV) on the Fe surface.

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Elucidating the Failure Mechanisms of Perovskite Solar Cells in Humid Environments Using In Situ Grazing-Incidence Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering

ACS Energy Letters ◽

10.1021/acsenergylett.8b01300 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (9) ◽

pp. 2127-2133 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kyle M. Fransishyn ◽

Soumya Kundu ◽

Timothy L. Kelly

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Failure Mechanisms ◽

Perovskite Solar Cells ◽

Grazing Incidence ◽

Wide Angle ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Ray Scattering

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Thermal stability of RuO2, BaxSr1−xTiO3/RuO2, and BaxSr1−xTiO3/Pt/Ti/SiO2on Si(100)

Journal of Materials Research ◽

10.1557/jmr.2000.0282 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 15 (9) ◽

pp. 1955-1961 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

T. S. Kang ◽

Y. S. Kim ◽

Jung Ho Je

Keyword(s):

Thermal Stability ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Interface Roughness ◽

Ex Situ ◽

X Ray ◽

Good Thermal Stability ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Thermal Stability Of ◽

Ray Scattering

The thermal stability of RuO2/Si(100) films in air was studied using ex situ synchrotron x-ray scattering. The (110) textured RuO2 film showed good thermal stability due to the low surface and strain energies. However, the RuO2 films of high strain and surface energies were transformed to three-dimensional islands during annealing up to 800 °C. We also studied, during the post annealing process, the interface roughness of BaxSr1−xTiO3 (BST)/RuO2/Si(100) and BST/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) structures comparatively, using in situ synchrotron x-ray scattering. The interfaces of the BST/RuO2/Si were thermally stable up to 500 °C, and the deterioration of the interfaces above 500 °C was attributed to the crystallization of amorphous BST film. Meanwhile, the interfaces of the BST/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si were significantly degraded even at the low temperature of 350 °C, mainly due to the formation of the Pt–Ti alloy and the Ti oxidation.

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Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering Characterization of Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells with Different Fullerene Derivatives

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C ◽

10.1021/jp210140j ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 116 (18) ◽

pp. 10238-10244 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

Yu-Ching Huang ◽

Cheng-Si Tsao ◽

Chih-Min Chuang ◽

Chia-Hsin Lee ◽

Fan-Hsuan Hsu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Bulk Heterojunction ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Wide Angle ◽

Fullerene Derivatives ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Ray Scattering

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In Situ X-Ray Characterization of Isotactic Polypropylene: Dependence of the Crystalline Properties on the Draw Down Ratio

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.587-588.572 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 587-588 ◽

pp. 572-576

Author(s):

Paulo E. Lopes ◽

William T. Pennington ◽

Michael S. Ellison

Keyword(s):

Isotactic Polypropylene ◽

Small Angle ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Wide Angle ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Crystalline Orientation ◽

X Ray ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Ray Scattering

Polymer crystalline regions can be characterized by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The in-situ study of isotactic polypropylene with measurement of wide angle and small angle X-ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS), at varying distances from the exit of the extruder have been successfully completed using an X-ray system with a standard X-ray source. The processing conditions, used were: 50, 100, 200 and 400m.min-1 for the take up speed, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.2 cm3min-1hole-1 for the melt flow rates, and a spinning temperature of 220°C. These experimental conditions produced draw down ratios ranging from 33 up to 1058. The X-ray characterization was carried in-situ at 15, 30, 45 and 60 cm from the exit of the spinneret and also ex-situ. The results obtained show the crystallinity index and the crystalline orientation to increase for the higher draw down rates, as expected under draw induced crystallization conditions, and a logarithmic relationship was observed within the experimental conditions used in this work. This communication reports the relationship between the crystallinity, crystalline orientation and lamellar long period and draw down ratio along the spin line.

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Crystallization of Ge2Sb2Te5 and nitrogren-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 phase-change-materials thin films studied by in situ combined X-ray scattering techniques

Journal of Applied Crystallography ◽

10.1107/s1600576718015315 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 51 (6) ◽

pp. 1691-1705 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Frédéric Fillot ◽

Chiarra Sabbione ◽

François Pierre ◽

Françoise Hippert ◽

Pierre Noé

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Materials ◽

Crystallization Process ◽

Ex Situ ◽

X Ray ◽

Nitrogen Doped ◽

X Ray Scattering ◽

Ray Scattering

The phase change from the amorphous to crystalline state which occurs upon thermal annealing in prototypical Ge2Sb2Te5 and nitrogen-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 phase-change-materials (PCM) thin films is studied by concomitant, complementary and combined in situ and ex situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR) techniques. It is demonstrated that combined in situ X-ray scattering techniques allow accurate investigation and clarification of the structural, morphological and mechanical variations occurring in the films upon crystallization. The crystallization process is correlated with volume shrinkage (densification and thickness reduction) and with structural change with a tensile strain build-up. The comparison of Ge2Sb2Te5 and nitrogen-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 reveals a significant slowdown of the crystallization process, induced by the incorporation of nitrogen. However, the mechanisms involved in the phase change are not strongly modified by the incorporation; rather, the crystallization process is inhibited because of the presence of nitrogen. In this way, different stages of the crystallization process can be observed. The combined XRD/XRR analysis gives new insights on the stress components built up in phase-change materials. First, at the early stage of crystallization, a large hydrostatic tensile stress builds up in the PCM thin film. Afterwards, concomitant grain growth, viscous flow, densification and thickness accommodation are observed, which lead to a partial stress relaxation in the PCM films. This combined characterization technique offers a new approach that may further our understanding of the phase change involved.

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