Understanding the chemical processes involved in formation of a thin metal oxide film from aqueous solution [a collaboration with the D. C. Johnson (UO), E. L. Garfunkel (RUT) groups, D. A. Keszler (OSU), Y. Chabal (UTD) and S. Hayes (WUSTL) groups]
While the overall chemical processes involved upon annealing the film to remove water and counterions and to promote cross-linking (condensation) to form a continuous metal oxide network are understood at a macroscopic level, the details and mechanisms of these reactions remain poorly understood. To better understand these processes and how they influence the resulting films, we employ an array of techniques to study the evolution of the film structure as a function of temperature, time, and annealing atmosphere. These include FTIR (to monitor –OH, nitrate content in film), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD, to monitor gases leaving the film upon heating), XPS (to monitor chemical composition of film), x-ray reflectivity (XRR, to monitor film thickness, density and roughness), solid state NMR, and electron microscopy (SEM and STEM) to image the films. Manuscripts are in preparation and data will be posted here soon!