Determination of the packing fraction in photonic glass using synchrotron radiation nanotomography.

Photonic glass is a material class that can be used as photonic broadband reflectors, for example in the infrared regime as thermal barrier coating films. Photonic properties such as the reflectivity depend on the ordering and material packing fraction over the complete film thickness of up to 100 µm. Nanotomography allows acquiring these key parameters throughout the sample volume at the required resolution in a non-destructive way.

Synthesis and thermal stability of zirconia and yttria-stabilized zirconia microspheres.

Hypothesis: Zirconia microparticles produced by sol-gel synthesis have great potential for photonic applications. To this end, identifying synthetic methods that yield reproducible control over size uniformity is important. Phase transformations during thermal cycling can disintegrate the particles.

Cross-linked gold nanoparticles on polyethylene: resistive responses to tensile strain and vapors.

In this study, coatings of cross-linked gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on flexible polyethylene (PE) substrates were prepared via layer-by-layer deposition and their application as strain gauges and chemiresistors was investigated. Special emphasis was placed on characterizing the influence of strain on the chemiresistive responses. The coatings were deposited using amine stabilized AuNPs (4 and 9 nm diameter) and 1,9-nonanedithiol (NDT) or pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PTM) as cross-linkers.