Search

Experimental data concerning complex study of antioxidant activity of Y. pestis with different plasmid spectrum (wild-type Yersinia pestis subsp. pestis, Yersinia pestis subsp. altaica and their isogenic variants) are represented in the article. Superoxide dismutase activity of the tested Y.pestis strains was from 6.0 to 9.0×109 microbe cells. Signifi-cant differences between the Y.pestis strains with different plasmid composition were not detected by this parameter. Our results, consistent with the data of other authors, tell that superoxide dismutase activity is a thermo-inducible feature and does nоt depend on a plasmid spectrum. High peroxide destroying activity was also detected in all tested Y.pestis strains. The differences between the strains regarding their common peroxide destroying activity were found. This parameter of the plague microbe strains lacking pYP plasmid was at least 3times lower than common peroxide destroying activity in strains with this plasmid in the genome. In our opinion these revealed differences were caused by characteristics of plasmid spectrum. The common peroxide destroying activity’s degree of Y.pestis strains can be associated with the presence of pYP plasmid in the genome. The isogenic variants of Y.pestis strains lacking one of the plasmids had smaller pathogenic activity. This fact points to the need for further study of these strains.

Many mapping methods have been proposed in recent years, but every of them works well only for specific type of ontologies or in well-defined context. A grand number of mapping methods propose mappings, leading to inconsistency of resulting ontological network, and in such a way make it unusable in many reasoning-based applications. And most of automatically proposed mappings are uncertain in some sense. In this paper we make a short analysis of the approaches for modelling ontology mapping uncertainty and the ways for detecting logical errors, resulting from incorrect mappings. We discuss some important mapping, mapping evaluation and refinement strategies, well working in e-learning domain.

Learning is a complex and multifaceted process. Research findings in recent years show that student's control over the learning process is important for achieving higher results. As every student or lifelong learner have his specific interests and needs, in many cases no one learning course can meet all these needs. It is important to ensure possibilities for learners to find additional knowledge sources or tools during his learning process. Cloud Learning consider the entire Web (including Social Web tools, Open Educational Resources and many other sources for learning) as a space for learning content. Finding exactly the needed resource for every learning need in this enormous space is a challenge. There is a need to explore all the resources useful for learning, classify them in a way that will support searching, and to express relations between them using semantic annotations.In this paper we analyze the current state of the resources, appropriate for learning in the internet from technological point of view. We classify resources according to several dimensions, important for searching and using by learners. We take special attention to the ways of semantic description of resources and users (used metadata and models) as metadata are the most important for finding the most appropriate resources for specific learning task. Tasks as searching and retrieval for learning are not new and our main aim in this work is to outline resent changes in web-based learning, resulting from technological changes and discuss how they will affect resource searching. We will discuss how cloud-based technologies and embedded semantic descriptions will simplify searching and finding appropriate learning sources.

KNbO 3 thin films are explored with possible application as piezoelectric transducers. The films are grown by vacuum radiofrequency sputtering and their thickness, uniformity, composition and piezoelectric response are studied as a function of the sputtering voltage, sputtering pressure and plasma power. Single layer sensing structure with aluminum electrodes is fabricated. The relation between the deposition conditions and the structure capacity and piezoelectric voltage is established. The peak value of the generated voltage is 2.89 V and its effective value is ~483 mV.

Contact algebra is one of the main tools in the region-based theory of space. It is an extension of Boolean algebra with a relation called contact. The elements of the Boolean algebra are considered as formal representations of physical bodies. The contact relation is used also to define some other important mereotopological relations like non-tangential inclusion, dual contact, external contact. Most of these definitions are given by means of the operation of Boolean complementation. There are, however, some problems related to the motivation of this operation. In order to avoid these problems we propose a generalization of the notion of contact algebra by dropping the operation of complement. In this paper we consider as non-definable primitives the relations of contact, nontangential inclusion and dual contact. Part I of the paper is devoted to a suitable axiomatization called extended distributive contact lattice (EDCL) by means of universal first-order axioms true in all contact algebras. EDCL may be considered also as an algebraic tool for certain subarea of mereotopology, called in this paper distributive mereotopology. The main result of Part I of the paper is a representation theorem, stating that each EDCL can be embedded into a contact algebra, showing in this way that the presented axiomatization preserves the meaning of mereotopological relations without considering Boolean complementation. Part II of the paper is devoted to topological representation theory of EDCL, transferring into the distributive case important results from the topological representation theory of contact algebras. It is shown that under minor additional assumptions on distributive lattices as extensionality of the definable relations of overlap or underlap one can preserve the good topological interpretations of regions as regular closed or regular open sets in topological space., Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10472-016-9499-5

In the present work, we report the influence of the fluorine doping (two different concentrations) in ZnO films and the annealing temperatures on the film structural, vibrational and optical properties. ZnO:F films are successfully deposited by a facile sol-gel approach. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that F doping induces an improved film crystalinity. The ZnO:F films are polycrystalline with wurtzite structure. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) study reveals that fluorine affects the shapes and positions of the absorption bands. The optical transparency of ZnO:F films is higher than that of undoped ZnO.The optical band gap has been determined from spectrophotometric data. The optical band gap values become narrower with increasing the annealing temperatures, due to the bigger crystallite sizes.

Single and doped ZnO films are successfully deposited by a sol-gel method. ZnO:N, ZnO:In and co-doped (N, In) ZnO films are thermally treated at 300 °C and 600 °C. Their structural, vibrational and optical properties are studied. The ZnO:In:N films crystallize in a wurtzite phase, revealing a preferential orientation in the 002 plane. FTIR analysis shows that the two dopants affect greatly the shapes and positions of the absorption features. The ZnO:N:In films are highly transparent above 90% in the visible spectral range. The ZnO:In and ZnO:N:In films annealed at 400-600°C show a tendency of narrowing the optical band gap compared to ZnO.

Nitrogen and gallium co-doped ZnO films have been successfully obtained by a sol-gel technology using spin coating. ZnO:N, ZnO:Ga and co-doped (N, Ga) ZnO films are deposited on silicon and quartz substrates. The structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO:N:Ga thin films are studied depending on the thermal treatments (300–600 °C) and the two dopants: N and Ga. The investigations of the doped ZnO films have been performed by using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron microscope (FESEM) and UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometry. It has been found that the co-doped (N, Ga) ZnO films are crystallized in the wurtzite structure with no impurity phases. The optical transparency of ZnO:Ga and ZnO:N:Ga films is above 80% in the spectral range of 400–800 nm, revealing a significant improvement compared to undoped ZnO films. Gallium and nitrogen co-doping in ZnO results in the modification of the surface morphologies changing from wrinkle-like (undoped ZnO) to closed packed grained microstructure (ZnO:N:Ga films).

We present a study on the structural, optical and electrochromic properties of sol-gel films of TiO2 and TiO2-MnO. The XRD analyses show that the incorporation of Mn in the TiO2 host matrix inhibits the crystallization process, as compared to single TiO2 films, which are well crystallized in anatase phase. This conclusion is supported by FTIR analysis. Adding Mn to the TiO2 films leads to a significant narrowing of the optical band gap. The electrochromic characteristics of TiO2-MnO films are better than those of the single titanium dioxide films after annealing at 300 °C.

This work presents a sol–gel approach for ZnO:Al films deposition. The effect of Al component and annealing treatments (from 500 to 800 °C) on the film structural and optical properties has been studied. Sol–gel ZnO and Al2O3 films are used for comparative analyses. Structural evolution as a function of annealing temperatures is investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD analysis of ZnO:Al films revealed that the predominant crystal phase is a wurtzite ZnO. It can be seen that the addition of Al leads to decaying of the film crystallinity. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and UV–VIS spectrophotometry are applied for characterization of the vibrational and optical properties. The Al component influences the shapes of the absorption bands. The optical properties of the sol–gel ZnO, ZnO:Al and Al2O3 films reveal very interesting features. Increasing Al component results in significantly higher film transparency.

Sol–gel technology has been applied for preparation of ZnO:Cu films. The proposed facile approach allows obtaining a wide variety of copper doped zinc oxide systems, revealing different structural and optical behaviors. The work presents structural and optical studies depending on Cu concentration and thermal treatments in the range of 500–800 °C. The structural analysis is performed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD). It reveals that small Cu addition enhances the film crystallization. Increasing copper concentration results in deterioration of ZnO:Cu crystallization. XRD study manifests no Cu oxide phases in ZnO:Cu film structure for lower Cu additions. For a specific higher copper concentration, an appearance of a small fraction of copper oxide is detected. Vibrational properties have been characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of the copper introduction into ZnO reveals a slight change of optical properties compared to ZnO films for certain Cu ratios. ZnO:Cu films with higher copper contents manifest different optical behaviors with very high transparency in spectral visible range.

Ga-and In co-doped ZnO films have been successfully obtained by sol-gel approach. XRD analysis shows that Zn-In-Ga oxide films possess lower crystallinity compared with the undoped ZnO and ZnO:In films. The corresponding XRD lines are broader and less intense. FTIR detailed study of Zn-In-Ga oxides and ZnO shows that Ga and In codoping affects the shapes and the intensity of the absorption bands with no traces of Ga-O and In-O bonds. Optical study shows that the Zn-In-Ga oxide films have improved transparency compared to ZnO and ZnO:In films. The optical band gaps are estimated and discussed.

This work presents morphological, structural and optical studies of ZnO and ZnO:In nanostructured thin films depending on In doping (four different concentrations). XRD study of 600°C annealed ZnO:In films reveals that crystallization strongly depends on indium concentration. The films are crystallized in wurtzite structure and only for the films with highest In addition, two crystal phases are detected wurtzite ZnO and cubic In 2 O 3 . The AFM investigation reveals that the lowest Root Mean Squared Roughness(RMS) is revealed for ZnO:In 0.5 film (15.96 nm) and the roughness increases up to 64.52 nm for ZnO:In 1. Columnar type structures can be observed in the AFM micrographs of the other two films — ZnO:In 2 and ZnO:In 3, as the columns vary in height and size. The effect of the indium doping into ZnO reveals changing of optical transmittance compared to ZnO film. The optical band gap of ZnO:In films, annealed at 600°C is in the range of 3.06–3.27 eV.

The paper presents a sol–gel approach for deposition of ZnO:Ag composite films. The films are obtained by spin coating method on quartz and Si substrates. The effect of the annealing temperatures (500–800 °C) and the gas ambient (oxygen and nitrogen) has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Optical properties are investigated by UV–VIS spectroscopy. The transmittance spectra of ZnO:Ag films are differed from ZnO spectra and manifest absorption features due to silver nanoparticles formation.

The article shows the role of scientifically substantiated system of planning as the function of management of technical maintenance and repair of the equipment on the basis of the analysis of the factors influencing durability of operation of processing equipment of the industrial enterprises. It is shown that the use of system of fixed-schedule maintenance allows: to prepare the controllable and predictable over a long time period repair program according to the types of repair, the types of equipment , the workshops and the whole enterprise; to predict material, financial and labor resources, necessary capital investments in development of production base of repair service; to carry out preliminary preparation of repair work, to carry out them in the minimum terms; it increases the quality of repair and, finally, increases the reliability of the equipment.

Thin films of transition metals oxides are studied and comparison is made for two types of mixed precursors, first containing only hexacarbonyls, and second containing tungsten hexacarbonyl and vanadyl acetylacetonate (Vanadium (III) acetylacetonate). The best electrochromic material is WO3, although when deposited by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (APCVD) films of WO3 grow very slowly. In production stage, the growth-rate is very important factor for assuring a flow-through process. Our previous investigations showed that addition of a small fraction of lower temperature precursor such as Mo(CO)6, or V(CO)6, to the basic precursor of W(CO)6 result in higher growth rate of films. Our recent studies on mixed WxV1-xO3 showed excellent substrate coverage and high growth-rate. V(CO)6 is a lower thermally stable precursor that allows the first nuclei-islands to be formed on the hot substrates which further facilitate the tungsten oxide film deposition. However V(CO)6 is much too expensive for large-scale production, thus we adopted another compound as precursor - vanadium acetylacetonate, expecting eventual growth-rate increase. The paper describes optical properties of films of vanadium oxide grown in result of utilizing the acetylacetonate. Besides, the paper describes our attempt to deposit mixed films of tungsten/vanadium using a mixed precursor of vanadyl acetylacetonate and tungsten hexacarbonyl. To our knowledge this is a new mixed precursor based on largely used single precursors namely W(CO)6 and Vanadium acetylacetonate. Efforts were needed to adjust the mixed precursor ratio, keeping in mind the vapour pressures of the two chemicals at the deposition temperatures used. The paper presents the results for the visible transmittance and the film material modulation properties, studied by FTIR and Raman spectra. The dependence of the films optical behavior on APCVD process parameters, substrate temperatures, vapour source temperature and post deposition annealing is presented.

In this work chemical liquid deposition from sol–gel solutions has been used to obtain thin (Al2O3)x(B2O3)1 − x dielectric films. Passivation of Si surfaces using these films has been studied. Morphological properties of thin films deposited on polished Si surfaces have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique. Their chemical composition, structural and optical features have been analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV–VIS) spectroscopy. Results, obtained in this work, show that silicon surfaces can be effectively passivated by thin dielectric layers deposited from chemical solutions. The thin dielectric layers developed in his work, can be recommended as back side passivation coating for Si-based solar cells.

Sol-gel route has been applied for a deposition of the thin films of aluminum oxide and Ag embedded in Al2O3 films. The films are spin-coated on Si and quartz substrates with the film thickness of 120 nm. XRD analysis has been used for the determination of the film structure. FTIR spectroscopy is applied for studying vibrational properties of the obtained coatings. Optical characterization is done by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The formation of Ag nanoparticles has been confirmed by XRD and optical data. The sol-gel process is found to be useful technology for incorporation of Ag nanoparticles in the metal oxide matrices. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The sol-gel route has been applied to obtain ZnO–TiO2 thin films. For comparison, pure TiO2 and ZnO films are also prepared from the corresponding solutions. The films are deposited by a spin-coated method on silicon and glass substrates. Their structural and vibrational properties have been studied as a function of the annealing temperatures (400–750 °C). Pure ZnO films crystallize in a wurtzite modification at a relatively low temperature of 400 °C, whereas the mixed oxide films show predominantly amorphous structure at this temperature. XRD analysis shows that by increasing the annealing temperatures, the sol-gel Zn/Ti oxide films reveal a certain degree of crystallization and their structures are found to be mixtures of wurtzite ZnO, Zn2TiO4, anatase TiO2 and amorphous fraction. The XRD analysis presumes that Zn2TiO4 becomes a favored phase at the highest annealing temperature of 750 °C. The obtained thin films are uniform with no visual defects. The optical properties of ZnO–TiO2 films have been compared with those of single component films (ZnO and TiO2). The mixed oxide films present a high transparency with a slight decrease by increasing the annealing temperature.

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were prepared by electrodeposition onto ITO coated glass substrates in one step deposition at 20 and 40 min deposition time durations. The influence of deposition time on film thickness and the optical characteristics of the films were investigated. The samples were annealed at elevated temperature (400 °C), and all the films were submitted to UV–vis spectrophotometry, FTIR and Raman measurements. The optical transmittance of the annealed film increases significantly, and at the same time, the reflection of the film decreases. The FTIR Spectra of as deposited and annealed samples show typical for NiO absorption bands. Raman spectra reveal peaks, related to phase crystalline modification.

Kir3 channels control heart rate and neuronal excitability through GTP-binding (G) protein and phosphoinositide signaling pathways. These channels were the first characterized effectors of the βγ subunits of G proteins. Because we currently lack structures of complexes between G proteins and Kir3 channels, their interactions leading to modulation of channel function are not well understood. The recent crystal structure of a chimera between the cytosolic domain of a mammalian Kir3.1 and the transmembrane region of a prokaryotic KirBac1.3 (Kir3.1 chimera) has provided invaluable structural insight. However, it was not known whether this chimera could form functional K(+) channels. Here, we achieved the functional reconstitution of purified Kir3.1 chimera in planar lipid bilayers. The chimera behaved like a bona fide Kir channel displaying an absolute requirement for PIP(2) and Mg(2+)-dependent inward rectification. The channel could also be blocked by external tertiapin Q. The three-dimensional reconstruction of the chimera by single particle electron microscopy revealed a structure consistent with the crystal structure. Channel activity could be stimulated by ethanol and activated G proteins. Remarkably, the presence of both activated Gα and Gβγ subunits was required for gating of the channel. These results confirm the Kir3.1 chimera as a valid structural and functional model of Kir3 channels.

Mixed ZnO-ZrO2 films have been obtained by sol-gel technology. By using spin coating method, the films were deposited on Si and glass substrates. The influence of thermal annealings (the temperatures vary from 400 °C to 750 °C) on their structural properties has been studied. The structural behavior has been investigated by the means of XRD and FTIR techniques. The results revealed no presence of mixed oxide phases, the detected crystal phases were related to the hexagonal ZnO and to crystalline ZrO2. The sol-gel ZnO-ZrO2 films showed polycrystalline structure with a certain degree of an amorphous fraction. The optical transmittance reached 91% and it diminished with increasing the annealing temperatures. The optical properties of the sol-gel ZnO-ZrO2 films, deposited on glass substrates are excellent with high transparency and better then those of pure ZrO2 films, obtained at similar technological conditions. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A grand number of ontologies have been developed and are publicly accessible on the Web making techniques for mapping between various ontologies more significant. Research has been made in the area of ontology alignment, a grand number of approaches, algorithms, and tools have been developed in recent years, but are still not “perfect” and excellent knowledge. In this article, the author makes an overall view of the state of ontology alignment, including the latest research, comparing many approaches, and analyzing their strengths and drawbacks. The main motivation behind this work is the fact that despite many component matching solutions that have been developed so far, there is no integrated solution that is a clear success, which can be used for ontology mapping in all cases, making knowledge about developed ontology mapping methods and their clear classification needed.

Transition metal oxides exhibit electrochromic effect, under a small voltage they transfer from transparent state to colored one and if voltage polarity is turned back, they bleach again. Oxide coatings possess this ability, but in order to exhibit it, they should be part of a multilayer system-electrochromic device. Atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition technology was used for preparation of mixed MoO3–WO3 films, utilizing thermal decomposition of tungsten and molybdenum carbonyls mixture in oxygen atmosphere. Surface morphology of the films was studied by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Micro Raman spectroscopy was applied for studying crystalline structure and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the chemical composition of the mixed oxide thin films. The films of MoO3–WO3 show improved electrochromic characteristics compared to single oxide films, especially when the mixed films are in as deposited state and possess amorphous structure.

Ni doping induces modifications and considerable changes in the optical, electrical and magnetic properties of ZnO films. In this work, the influence is discussed of Ni-doping (two nickel concentrations) and annealing temperature (ranging from 300 degrees C to 800 degrees C) on the structural and optical properties of sol-gel derived ZnO: Ni films. Uniform and smooth films were obtained by spin-coating on quartz and Si substrates. The ZnO: Ni films were crystallized in wurtzite phase with no impurity phases found for annealing temperatures up to 600 degrees C. The size of the crystallites was strongly affected by the Ni content and the heat treatment. Furthermore, the Ni doping improved the optical transparency of the sol-gel films, while the AFM studies showed that the film morphology and the roughness were influenced by the nickel doping.

Currently, the conventional dielectric, SiO2 or SiON is being replaced by alternative materials to suppress high leakage currents observed at low film thickness. In this work, thin layers of ZrO2 and (ZrO2)x(Al2O3)1−x, deposited on Si substrates are obtained by sol–gel method. The structural and electrical properties as a function of the annealing temperature are studied. Usually, the post-annealing temperature of 700 °C leads to re-crystallization in ZrO2 layers, which can induce high leakage current and severe mass transport along the grain boundaries. The purpose is to amorphisize the films by adding aluminium oxide and in this way improve their electrical behaviour. Structural analysis shows that ZrO2 films are crystallized, meanwhile the mixed oxide films remain in amorphous state even after high temperature annealing. The obtained results are encouraging and determine the (ZrO2)x(Al2O3)1−x films as a promising material with good dielectric properties.

Sol-gel processing of TiO2, ZrO2 and mixed Ti/Zr oxide thin films has been studied as application of these coatings in electrochromic devices. Their structural transformations as a function of annealing temperatures were analyzed by XRD and FTIR techniques. Electrochromic behavior of the three kind materials was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and the basic electrochromic characteristics were determined.

Uniform Al2O3 films were deposited on silicon substrates by the sol–gel process from stable coating solutions. The technological procedure includes spin coating deposition and investigating the influence of the annealing temperature on the dielectric properties. The layers were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Spectroscopy. The electrical measurements have been carried out on metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structures. The C–V curves show a negative fixed charge at the interface and density of the interface state, Dit, 3.7 × 1011 eV− 1cm− 2 for annealing temperature at 750 °C.

The paper presents the deposition of mixed molybdenum - chromium oxide films and characterization of their morphology, structure and the optoelectronic properties. The thin films are obtained by atmospheric pressure CVD technique at relatively low substrate temperatures. Raman and FTIR analyses are applied for structural transformation changes, induced by thermal treatments. Electron microscopy study reveals their morphology. Optical properties were characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy. An improvement of films optical and electrochromic performance has been observed in comparison with the single Cr2O3 oxide films. The results are encouraging for successful preparation of good MoO3 - Cr2O3 electrochromic electrodes.

A new comparative genome hybridization technology using NotI microarrays is described (Karolinska Institute International Patent WO02/086163). The method is based on comparative genome hybridization of NotI-enriched probes from tumor and normal genomic DNA with radically new NotI microarrays. A total of 181 NotI-binding loci of human chromosome 3 were assayed in 200 human malignant tissue samples from various organs: kidney, lung, breast, ovary, cervix, and prostate. The most significant portion (above 30%) of aberrations (deletions and methylation) were detected in NotI sites located in the MINT24, BHLHB2, RPL15, RARbeta1, ITGA9, RBSP3, VHL, and ZIC4 genes. This indicates that they may be associated with cancer development. Methylation of these genomic loci was confirmed by methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing. The results confirm that the proposed method can contribute to cancer genomics.

The investigation presented in this paper is related to the electrochromic (EC) behavior of sputtered and CVD deposited films of WO 3 and W/Mo based mixed oxide films. The electrochromic effect is a reversible change in the film transmittance under a small voltage applied across the film. Optimization of the films performance as functional layers in EC cell (three electrode electrochemical cell arrangement) is studied through changing the electrolyte (type of ions) and the ions concentrations. The study is supported by results from the films structure in its dependence on deposition process parameters. The change in films microstructure and morphology, as well as bonds and their configuration is investigated by Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively, and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochromic properties, as presented by color efficiency (CE) and optical modulation (Δ T ) of optimized CVD films are compared with the ones of sputtered WO 3 films. Sputtered WO 3 films show high color efficiency exceeding 113.7 cm 2 /C and high value of optical modulation reaching 87% at 600 nm. Corresponding values for APCVD deposited tungsten oxide films are 111 cm 2 /C and 55% at 650 nm.

The study deals with the structure, morphology and the optoelectronic properties of tungsten and molybdenum based oxide films showing high electrochromic performance. The films were deposited by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) technique. The present work is related to optimization of the electrochromic effect through the films electronic composition and through some parameters of the ion intercalation process, depending on the type of electrolyte, respectively type of ions and their concentration, as well as on kinetics parameters, like the scan rate during the voltammometric measurements of the electrochromic effect. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to prove the existence of multivalent states of the corresponding metals in the mixed films. In result of these different metallic states, more intensive transition processes should define higher optical absorption and correspondingly better expressed electrochromic effect. The present study proved this expectation in the case of mixed W/Mo based oxide films. Obtained were excellent color efficiency and optical modulation, exceeding these of WO 3 films.

Chromium oxide films have been proposed to serve as counter electrode in electrochromic devices. Previously our studies revealed that APCVD Cr 2 O 3 films exhibit cathodic electrochromic behaviour, so further technological developments in the structure and composition were carried out for studying their electrochromic (EC) properties. Thin Cr 2 O 3 and MoO 3 –Cr 2 O 3 films were deposited by low-temperature carbonyl CVD process at atmospheric pressure. The deposition temperature of 200 °C was found as optimal since it leads to films with good adhesion to substrates. The chromium oxide films are less investigated, so original studying was necessary to find the correlation between the process parameters, crystal structure and optical quality of the films. The structural characterizations of the films made by FTIR spectroscopy were related to their electrochromic behaviour. Transmittance was measured by UV–VIS spectroscopy and the electrochromic properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry using different type of electrolytes (type of ions). The results showed that the films have transmittance around 70% in the visible range which is a good initial optical quality for electrochromic applications.

The paper deals with investigation of the structure and optoelectronic properties of tungsten oxide films showing a high electrochromic performance. The thin films are deposited by three different deposition methods: APCVD technique, using pyrolytical decomposition at 200oC of W(CO)6 in Ar/O2 atmosphere, the reactive sputtering at low temperature and a simplified sol-gel process by spraying. The study is focused on a comparative study of their electrochromic properties in dependence on the deposition and annealing process parameters. All the films show electrochromic effect, with high colour efficiencies and optical modulation meeting the requirements of practical applications.

Sol-gel technology has been applied for preparation of ZnO:In films. The proposed facile approach allows obtaining a wide variety of indium doped zinc oxide films with different structural and optical behaviour. This work presents structural and optical studies of ZnO and ZnO:In nanostructures depending on In doping (four different concentrations) and on the thermal treatments in the range of 300–600°C. The structural analysis is performed by X-Ray diffraction (XRD). Vibrational properties have been characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of the indium introduction into ZnO reveals changing of optical properties compared to ZnO film. ZnO:In films manifest good transparency in visible spectral range.

Uniform and transparent Ni doped ZnO films have been successfully deposited by sol-gel technology. The effect of annealing temperatures on film structure is studied by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR spectroscopy. This work presents a study of the optical properties of nanocrystalline films of ZnO and nickel doped ZnO, thermally treated at the temperatures from 300 to 800°C. The ZnO and ZnO:Ni films are polycrystalline as Ni additive induces a higher degree of crystallization. The transparency of sol-gel ZnO:Ni films in visible spectral range is improved by nickel doping. The optical band gap is also estimated.

This study presents results on technology and characterization of molybdenum oxide, tungsten oxide and mixed oxide films based on Mo and W. These films were deposited by low-temperature carbonyl CVD process at atmospheric pressure and by simplified sol–gel method using spinning and spraying approaches. The obtained films were structurally and optically investigated. The films show good optical quality with optical transmittance of about 70% in the visible spectral range. Cyclic voltammograms as well as the transmittance modulation at different wavelengths in the visible spectral range were measured to characterize the electrochromic behaviour of the films. The colour efficiencies of the optimized films are in the order of 110–115 cm 2 /C, in case of spray deposited WO 3 -sol–gel films—130 cm 2 /C.

Thin films of MoO 3 and mixed Mo/W oxides have been obtained by atmospheric pressure (AP)CVD, using pyrolytic decomposition of metal carbonyls. The correlation between film structure and optical properties is studied by applying techniques such as Raman spectroscopy (RS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and UV-vis spectrophotometry. The transmittance in the visible range of films deposited on glass substrates is about 80 %, but when deposited on conductive glass (e.g., SnO 2 :Sb/glass) the films have 60 % transmittance. After annealing, the optical transmittance of the single oxide films improves, while for the mixed oxide films it slightly decreases. The electrochromic (EC) properties of MoO 3 and mixed Mo/W oxide films have been investigated by cyclic voltammetry. Deep-blue coloring of all the EC films appears only in the cathodic range, minimizing the visible-light transmittance. In the anodic regime, the EC film starts bleaching and becomes transparent. Devices fabricated with a solid polymeric-type electrolyte and a functioning layer of mixed oxide films exhibit good reversibility of the effect, and an optical modulation of about 30 % is obtained.