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HfS2 has recently emerged as a promising 2D semiconductor, but the lack of a reliable method to produce continuous films on a large scale has hindered its spreading. The atomic layer deposition of the material with the precursor tetrakis-dimethylamino-hafnium with H2S is a relatively novel solution to this problem. This paper shows that it is a facile approach to synthesizing homogeneous and smooth HfS2 layers in a controlled and reproducible manner. The deposition is examined at different temperatures and layer thicknesses, exploring the ALD window of the deposition and the chemical, morphological and electronic properties of the films. The method yielded films with wafer-sized uniformity and controlled properties and is, thus, a promising way to prepare this important transition metal dichalcogenide material.

The structural and chemical homogeneity of the developed thin film upon color etching a low-carbon steel specimen with Beraha-I type color etchant was investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry and electron backscatter diffraction examinations. The obtained layer thickness maps showed a good correlation with the crystallographic orientation of the individual ferrite grains, corresponding well with previous studies that found a relation between etching and layer build-up speeds and the , directions. However, the refractive index map also showed a dependence on the grain orientation, which contradicts previous models that treat the developed interfering layer as a homogenous material with a constant refractive index and chemical composition. Scanning ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements confirmed that the chemical composition and refractive index of the developed layer are inhomogeneous both along the surface and the thickness of the film. It was shown that the developed layer consists of mainly oxides and sulfides and that the oxygen content decreases, while the Fe content increases along the normal direction from the surface of the film, in good agreement with the increasing refractive index. The observed differences can be related to the different etching speeds of the ferrite grains (Fe dissolution rate), depending on their orientation.

Here we report a new method combining strain and defect engineering for the periodic modulation of the graphene nanoscale rippling. First, gold nanoparticles of 16 nm in diameter were synthesized by seed-mediated, wet-chemical approach, and thiol-terminated polyethylene glycol (mPEG-SH) molecules were grafted onto their surface. High-density monolayers of the PEGylated gold nanoparticles were successfully prepared on Si substrates by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition was transferred onto the nanoparticle monolayer, and characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, as well as Raman spectroscopy. The induced nanoscale rippling of graphene was fine-tuned by Ar+ ion irradiation.

We present a series of spectra measured by reflected electron energy loss spectroscopy on an aluminum sample using a cylindrical mirror analyzer. The measurements were performed in the energy range between 250 eV and 2000 eV and with various incident angles, including the grazing geometry of an 88° incident angle. The observed spectra were evaluated and decomposed for surface and bulk excitation. The determined surface plasmon excitations were compared to the elastic peak and to the bulk excitation. We found a slight surface plasmon energy shift with altering glancing angles. We show that this shift exists independently from the bulk plasmon interference.

In this paper, we report a multiscale investigation of the compositional, morphological, structural, electrical, and optical emission properties of 2H-MoS2 obtained by sulfurization at 800 °C of very thin MoO3 films (with thickness ranging from ~2.8 nm to ~4.2 nm) on a SiO2/Si substrate. XPS analyses confirmed that the sulfurization was very effective in the reduction of the oxide to MoS2, with only a small percentage of residual MoO3 present in the final film. High-resolution TEM/STEM analyses revealed the formation of few (i.e., 2–3 layers) of MoS2 nearly aligned with the SiO2 surface in the case of the thinnest (~2.8 nm) MoO3 film, whereas multilayers of MoS2 partially standing up with respect to the substrate were observed for the ~4.2 nm one. Such different configurations indicate the prevalence of different mechanisms (i.e., vapour-solid surface reaction or S diffusion within the film) as a function of the thickness. The uniform thickness distribution of the few-layer and multilayer MoS2 was confirmed by Raman mapping. Furthermore, the correlative plot of the characteristic A1g-E2g Raman modes revealed a compressive strain (ε ≈ −0.78 ± 0.18%) and the coexistence of n- and p-type doped areas in the few-layer MoS2 on SiO2, where the p-type doping is probably due to the presence of residual MoO3. Nanoscale resolution current mapping by C-AFM showed local inhomogeneities in the conductivity of the few-layer MoS2, which are well correlated to the lateral changes in the strain detected by Raman. Finally, characteristic spectroscopic signatures of the defects/disorder in MoS2 films produced by sulfurization were identified by a comparative analysis of Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectra with CVD grown MoS2 flakes.

Nanostructured photoactive systems are promising for applications such as air and water purification, including self-cleaning coatings. In this study, mesoporous TiO2 sol-gel coatings with different pore structures were prepared and modified with silver by two methods: the “mixing” method by adding AgNO3 to the precursor sol, and the “impregnation” method by immersing the samples in AgNO3 solution (0.03 and 1 M) followed by heat treatment. Our aim was to investigate the effects that silver modification has on the functional properties (e.g., those that are important for self-cleaning coatings). Transmittance, band gap energy, refractive index, porosity and thickness values were determined from UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements. Silver content and structure of the silver modified samples were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry elemental mapping measurements. Wettability properties, including photoinduced wettability conversion behavior were investigated by water contact angle measurements. Photoactivity was studied under both UV and visible light with rhodamine 6G and methylene blue dye molecules, at the liquid–solid and air–solid interfaces modeling the operating conditions of self-cleaning coatings. Samples made with “impregnation” method showed better functional properties, in spite of their significantly lower silver content. The pore structure influenced the Ag content achieved by the “impregnation” method, and consequently affected their photoactivity.