Inorganic nanocomposite films with polymer nanofillers made by the concurrent multi-beam multi-target pulsed laser deposition

Abdalla M. Darwish, Sergey S. Sarkisov, Paolo Mele, Shrikant Saini, Shaelynn Moore, Tyler Bastian, Wydglif Dorlus, Xiaodong Zhang, Brent Koplitz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We report on the new class of inorganic nanocomposite films with the inorganic phase hosting the polymer nanofillers made by the concurrent multi-beam multi-target pulsed laser deposition of the inorganic target material and matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation of the polymer (MBMT-PLD/MAPLE). We used the exemplary nanocomposite thermoelectric films of aluminum-doped ZnO known as AZO with the nanofillers made of poly(methyl methacrylate) known as PMMA on various substrates such as SrTiO3, sapphire, fused silica, and polyimide. The AZO target was ablated with the second harmonic (532 nm) of the Nd:YAG Q-switched laser while PMMA was evaporated from its solution in chlorobenzene frozen in liquid nitrogen with the fundamental harmonic (1064 nm) of the same laser (50 Hz pulse repetition rate). The introduction of the polymer nanofillers increased the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite films (possibly due to the carbonization of PMMA and the creation of additional channels of electric current) three times and reduced the thermal conductivity by 1.25 times as compared to the pure AZO films. Accordingly, the increase of the thermoelectric figure-of merit ZT would be ∼ 4 times. The best performance was observed for the sapphire substrates where the films were the most uniform. The results point to a huge potential of the optimization of a broad variety of optical, opto-electronic, and solar-power nanocomposite inorganic films by the controllable introduction of the polymer nanofillers using the MBMT-PLD/MAPLE method.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhotonic Fiber and Crystal Devices
Subtitle of host publicationAdvances in Materials and Innovations in Device Applications XI
EditorsShizhuo Yin, Ruyan Guo
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510612211
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
EventPhotonic Fiber and Crystal Devices: Advances in Materials and Innovations in Device Applications XI 2017 - San Diego, United States
Duration: 2017 Aug 62017 Aug 7

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume10382
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Other

OtherPhotonic Fiber and Crystal Devices: Advances in Materials and Innovations in Device Applications XI 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego
Period17/8/617/8/7

Keywords

  • Nanocomposites
  • matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation
  • multi-beam pulsed laser deposition
  • polymer nanofillers
  • pulsed laser deposition
  • thermoelectric energy harvesters
  • thermoelectric films

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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