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The effect of solvent and electric field on the size distribution of iron oxide microdots: Exploitation of self-assembly strategies for photoelectrodes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2011

Rita Toth ,
Mateusz Schabikowski ,
Jakob Heier ,
Artur Braun ,
Dariusz Kata  and
Thomas Graule
Rita Toth*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Mateusz Schabikowski
Affiliation:
Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland; and Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, PL - 30-059 Krakow, Poland
Jakob Heier
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Functional Polymers, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Artur Braun
Affiliation:
Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Dariusz Kata
Affiliation:
Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics, AGH University of Science and Technology, PL-30-059 Krakow, Poland
Thomas Graule
Affiliation:
Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland; and Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: Rita.Toth@empa.ch
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Abstract

An increasing number of technologies benefit from or require patterned surfaces on a micro- and nanoscale. Methods developed to structure polymer films can be adapted to fabricate low-cost patterned ceramics using nonlithographic techniques, for example, dewetting and phase separation in thin films. In this paper we describe a simple patterning process that does not require a template and is able to produce Fe2O3 microdots with a spatial periodicity. Our method involves the dewetting of a silicon substrate by a thin metal oxide precursor film, in which the liquid film breaks up because of fluctuations in the film thickness induced by solvent evaporation or an external applied electric field. The patterning is followed by a thermal treatment at 550 °C to produce crystalline Fe2O3 microdots with a diameter range of 200 nm to 3 μm.

Type
Reviews
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 26 , Issue 2: Focus Issue: Self-Assembly and Directed Assembly of Advanced Materials , 28 January 2011 , pp. 254 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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