Nd-doped germania-ormosil hybrid films are synthesized by a sol–gel spin-coating technique for photonic applications. Acidcatalyzed solutions of c-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane mixed with gemanium isopropoxide are used as matrix precursors. Planar waveguide films with a thickness of about 1.8-lm are obtained by a single spin-coating process and at low temperature heat treatment. The effects o...

The spin coating of thin (> 200 nm thick) and ultrathin (< 200 nm thick) polymer films is examined in several solvents of varying volatility over a broad range of polymer solution concentrations and spin speeds. Experimentally measured film thicknesses are compared with a simple model proposed by Bornside, Macosko, and Scriven, which predicts film thickness based on the initial properties of th...

A round robin test has been performed on sol-gel processing for the deposition of silica and silica-titania films on silicon substrates by spin-coating. Three solution preparation processes for silica coatings and three for silica-titania coatings were used to prepare samples at each of the participating laboratories. The films have been characterized mainly by thickness (profilometry and ellip...

The electrochemical properties of fluoride-coated lithium cobalt oxide [LiCoO2] thin films were characterized. Aluminum fluoride [AlF3] and lanthanum fluoride [LaF3] coating layers were fabricated on a pristine LiCoO2 thin film by using a spin-coating process. The AlF3- and LaF3-coated films exhibited a higher rate capability, cyclic performance, and stability at high temperature than the prist...

Photosensitive films incorporating molecular photoacid generators compartmentalized within a silica-surfactant mesophase were prepared by an evaporationinduced self-assembly process. UV-exposure promoted localized acid-catalyzed siloxane condensation, enabling selective etching of unexposed regions, thereby serving as a cresistIess’ technique to prepare patterned mesoporous silica. We also demo...

It is shown that coating graphene-silicon (Gr/Si) Schottky junction based solar cells with graphene oxide (GO) improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cells, while demonstrating unprecedented device stability. The PCE has been shown to be increased to 10.6% (at incident radiation of 100 mW cm(-2)) for the Gr/Si solar cell with an optimal GO coating thickness compared to 3.6% for a...