Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics最新文献

The Al-Zn-LDH sealing film, owing to its intrinsically strong hydrophilicity, is prone to interfacial failure in humid–thermal and salt spray environments, which restricts its long-term application in electronic materials. In this study, a combined modification strategy involving thiourea intercalation and stearic acid surface treatment is employed to improve both the chemical corrosion inhibition behavior and the physical barrier properties of the film. Thiourea partially substitutes the interlayer anions, introducing a stable corrosion-inhibiting effect, whereas stearic acid surface modification markedly enhances film compactness and hydrophobicity. After optimization, the TU-SA5-LDH film exhibits superior overall protective performance with a significantly increased hydrophobic character. The corrosion current density is reduced to 3.644 × 10^–6 A·cm⁻², nearly two orders of magnitude lower than that of the unmodified LDH film. Moreover, after 10 d of salt spray exposure, the film maintains a relatively high interfacial impedance of approximately 1.764 × 10⁵ Ω·cm², indicating a pronounced improvement in barrier stability. These results demonstrate that the combined regulation of interlayer chemistry and surface characteristics effectively alleviates the inherent hydrophilicity of LDH sealing films and provides a practical modification route and experimental basis for enhancing the long-term corrosion resistance and interfacial reliability of aluminum-based electronic materials under complex humid and saline conditions.

2-phenyl-5-(pyridine-4-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PYY–OXD) thin films were produced by the spin-coating method. The produced films were annealed at four different temperatures: 60 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C, and 120 °C, and the optimum annealing temperature was determined as 60 °C. Then, to investigate the effect of molarity on the structural and optical properties of thin films, precursor solutions were prepared at two different concentrations, 0.05 M and 0.10 M. The data obtained clearly demonstrate that the concentration of the precursor solution strongly affects its crystallinity, film thickness, and optical transmittance. Films prepared from the 0.05 M solution achieved transmittance values ​​of up to 80%, while films prepared from the 0.10 M solution showed a decrease in transmittance and an improvement in crystallinity. The calculated band gap values were 2.97 eV for 0.05 M and 3.33 eV for 0.10 M, depending on this molarity. Also, the 0.10 M PYY–OXD films showed a good antireflection behavior, with average reflectance values dropping to as low as 6.89%.

In the present study, an efficient and sensitive NH₃ sensor was fabricated by decorating NiCo₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) onto reduced graphene oxide nanoribbons (rGONRs). In order to study the effect of thermal treatment on structural and electrical properties, the nanocomposites were annealed at different temperatures (200, 400, and 600 °C). Their structural and crystallographic properties were carefully investigated by XRD, FESEM-EDX, and TEM. The robust synergistic interaction between rGONRs and NiCo₂O₄ greatly contributed to the enhancement of sensing performance via enhancing the active surface area and the electrical conductivity. Furthermore, the annealing temperature was found to play a significant role to tailor the crystalline structure, thus affecting the response characteristics of the sensor. Remarkably, the NiCo₂O₄/rGONRs-600 sensor showed excellent performance in detecting 6.0 ppm of NH₃ gas within merely 23 s. The findings reveal the potential of NiCo₂O₄/rGONRs-600 as a favorable electrode material for high-performance electrical sensing application.

The (1-x)(0.96Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-0.04BaTiO₃)-x(Bi_0.2Na_0.2K_0.2La_0.2Sr_0.2)TiO₃ ((1-x)(BNT–4BT)-xBNKLST, x = 0, 0.3, 0.5 and 1) high-entropy perovskite thin films are prepared by sol–gel and spin coating synthesis routes. The mixture of the pseudo-cubic phase of BNKLST and the rhombohedral phase of BNT–4BT results in the morphotropic phase structures of the high-entropy perovskite, e.g., the ratio of rhombohedral to pseudo-cubic phases is about 7:3 for the thin film with x = 0.5. The piezoelectric property of thin films is enhanced due to the reduced energy barrier as caused by the coexisting polar micro- and nano-domains. More importantly, the additions of BNKLST into BNT–4BT could not only reduce the dielectric loss, but also improve the electric breakdown fields of thin films. Although the maximal polarization is slightly reduced due to the change of TiO₆ octahedral tilting with an enhanced structural symmetry, the remanent polarization could maintain at a small value, which leads to the enhanced recoverable energy storage density and efficiency. The thin film with x = 0.5 exhibits an excellent energy storage density of 16.92 J/cm³ with an efficiency of 59.4% at 1500 kV/cm, which is promising for energy storage applications. This work demonstrates that the modulation of the morphotropic phase structure of the high-entropy perovskite thin films is effective in improving their energy storage properties.

Zirconium nitride (ZrN) thin films were deposited on SiO₂/Si substrates via direct current reactive magnetron sputtering (DCMS), with the reactive gas flow rate ratio, denoted as f (the ratio of N₂ to the total flow of N₂ and Ar), adjusted from 10 to 80%. The microstructure and electrical properties of the ZrN_x thin films were characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and a physical property measurement system. As the flow rate ratio of the reactive gas increased, the microstructure evolved from cubic ZrN to poorly crystallized orthorhombic Zr₃N₄. The resistance–temperature (RT) characteristics measured in the 1.9 K to 400 K range revealed a metal-to-semiconductor transition when f exceeded 10%. Notably, increasing the flow rate ratio of the reactive gas significantly enhanced the resistance and temperature sensitivity of the ZrN_x thin films. In particular, the sample with f = 80% exhibited a relatively high-temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of 2.2% K⁻¹ at elevated temperatures (near 298 K). Moreover, the conduction mechanism fitting results indicated the crossover of different conduction mechanisms. The enhanced lattice distortion, phase transition in the ZrN_x films, and extension of the Mott-variable-range hopping (Mott-VRH) and Efros-Shklovskii variable-range hopping (ES-VRH) conduction mechanisms into the high-temperature region contributed to the improved temperature sensitivity. These results demonstrate the competing and tunable conduction mechanisms in zirconium nitride thin films, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for the development of high-sensitivity thermometers with a wide temperature range.

Chlorophyll thin films were obtained from olive leaves, and film thicknesses were deposited on glass substrates using a spin-coating method in this study. The microstructure, morphology, and elemental analyses of the films by XRD, SEM, and EDX, respectively, have been identified and discussed. The films were optically and electrically characterized to assess their possible applications in butane (C4H10) gas sensing at room temperature (RT). The sensing mechanism was discussed in terms of adsorption–desorption processes, while the effect of film thickness, humidity, and indium pre-coating was thoroughly examined. The optimal configuration of a 300 nm film of chlorophyll pre-coated with a 50 nm indium film showed excellent performance, including a 153% response at 100 ppm butane, reasonable response/recovery time (9/13 s), good selectivity to common interfering gases, and durable stability. Our studies demonstrated that chlorophyll, a natural, inexpensive, and green material, can be utilized as an element in high-performance gas sensors at ambient temperature. As a result, chlorophyll has replaced costly inorganic sensing materials as a sustainable replacement.

Carbon-based electrode materials are widely recognized for their outstanding electrical conductivity, large specific surface area, and robust chemical stability, thereby rendering them highly suitable for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) that rely on electrostatic charge storage. Among these materials, biomass-derived activated carbon (AC)—especially from agroforestry waste—has gained prominence as a potential candidate due to its cost-effectiveness, abundant availability, and simple synthesis processes. Numerous experimental investigations have explored the synthesis of AC from diverse biomass sources. Also, the research is now increasingly shifting toward predictive modeling to understand and optimize AC properties for supercapacitor applications. Recent efforts focus on forecasting key performance metrics such as yield, heteroatom content, and specific capacitance based on structural and compositional parameters, including pore architecture, chemical constituents, graphitization level, testing conditions, and electrolyte choice. This review presents a detailed analysis of AC fabrication techniques, the influence of processing variables on material performance, and the growing role of machine learning (ML) in predicting electrochemical behavior. Particular emphasis is placed on linking synthesis conditions with structural characteristics and their impact on specific capacitance.

Semiconductor metal oxides such as nickel oxide (NiO), zinc oxide (ZnO), and tin dioxide (SnO₂) are the commonly used sensing materials in the fabrication of solid-state gas sensors, which are promising devices to detect volatile organic compounds. However, the growth of the real-life application of these sensors is poor because their high operational temperature, and poor selectivity towards the gas of interest. In this work, NiO nanoparticles, carbon nanoparticles (soot), and cellulose acetate are the sensing materials used to fabricate six sensors that were operated at room temperature for the detection of 4-methyl-1-hexene, 3-pentanone, octanol, tridecane, 2-decanone, and chloroform vapours. The prepared sensing materials were characterised using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. The introduction of cellulose acetate into NiO nanoparticles-carbon soot composite improved the sensitivity to the detection of volatile organic compounds. The mass amounts of NiO nanoparticles in (1:3 mass ratio) carbon soot-cellulose acetate composite were varied to study the sensitivity and selectivity of the volatile organic compounds. NiO nanoparticles-carbon soot-cellulose acetate composite with a mass ratio 1:1:3, was found to be more sensitive to 4-methyl-1-hexene vapour than 3-pentanone, octanal, 2-decanone, chloroform, and tridecane vapours. And the (1:1:3 mass ratio) ternary composite sensor was found to have a response time of 152 s, a recovery time of 95 s, and a limit of detection of 82 ppb. The sensor showed good reproducibility in detecting 26.6 ppm of 4-methyl-1-hexene vapour. The effect of humidity on the detection of 4-methyl-1-hexene vapour at room temperature was studied.

Lead-free ceramics (1-x)(0.7Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-0.3Sr_0.7Sm_0.2TiO₃)-xNa_0.91Bi_0.09Nb_0.94Mg_0.06O₃ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) with dense microstructure were prepared by means of solid-state sintering method. Crystal structure, microstructure, dielectric, and energy storage properties of the ceramics were studied comparatively. The average grain sizes of the ceramics with x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 are 1.63, 2.43, 1.89, and 1.66 μm, respectively. The ceramic with x = 0.3 exhibits the best dielectric temperature stability with the temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) ≤ ± 15% between − 86 °C and 409 °C with a wide temperature window of 495 °C. The ceramic with x = 0 has a recoverable energy density (W_rec) of 2.7 J/cm³ and a storage efficiency (η) of 77%. The ceramic with x = 0.3 exhibits a remarkably improved W_rec of 5.5 J/cm³ and η of 79%, with excellent cycling stability and frequency stability. The charge–discharge measurements show that the ceramic with x = 0.3 has a discharge time (τ_0.9) < 68 ns, which is shorter than that of the ceramic with x = 0 (τ_0.9 = 87 ns), demonstrating a faster discharge rate. These figures of merit make the ceramics with x = 0.3 a promising candidate for energy storage capacitors in advanced pulse power systems.

This study explores the structural, optical, and dielectric properties of gelatin liquid (GL) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) composite films. The blend films were prepared by solvent casting with varying amounts of GL (in ml). The XRD analysis revealed that adding GL to the PVOH matrix reduces crystallinity, leading to a more amorphous structure. UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy showed that increasing the GL content increases absorbance and decreases transmittance. The optical band gap energy was also found to decrease from 5.12 eV for the pure PVOH film to 4.73 eV for the 10 ml GL@PVOH sample due to the formation of new energy levels. Furthermore, both the extinction coefficient and the refractive index increased with the addition of GL. Analysis of the dielectric properties showed the static dielectric constant decreased from ~ 290 to ~ 200, while the high-frequency dielectric constant increased from ~ 1.31 to ~ 1.44 for the 10 ml GL@PVOH blend. Impedance spectroscopy, analyzed using a series resistor-constant phase element (R-CPE) equivalent circuit, indicated that the electrical conductivity of the films improves significantly with increasing GL content. Specifically, the 10 ml GL@PVOH sample exhibited the lowest impedance and highest electrical conductivity of 14.8 × 10⁻⁸ S/cm. This is attributed to the plasticizing effect of the amount of GL (in ml), which enhances polymer chain mobility and facilitates ion transport. The findings demonstrate that the properties of GL@PVOH films can be tuned by controlling the amount of GL (in ml), making them potential candidates for various functional material applications.