Publications by authors named "Zdenek Krtous"
In this work, we demonstrate, for the first time, the possibility to fabricate indium tin oxide nanoparticles (ITO NPs) using a gas aggregation cluster source. A stable and reproducible deposition rate of ITO NPs has been achieved using magnetron sputtering of an InO/SnO target (90/10 wt %) at an elevated pressure of argon. Remarkably, most of the generated NPs possess a crystalline structure identical to the original target material, which, in combination with their average size of 17 nm, resulted in a localized surface plasmon resonance peak at 1580 nm in the near-infrared region.
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- Plasma polymer films usually consist of short fragments, limiting their use when longer molecular structures are needed.
- Plasma-assisted vapour thermal deposition (PAVTD) overcomes this limitation by utilizing bulk polymers like polylactic acid (PLA) as high molecular weight precursors.
- The study found that PAVTD can create tunable PLA-like films that maintain some of the original PLA structure, bridging the gap between traditional and plasma polymers, with their properties characterized using techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-like thin films were successfully prepared by plasma-assisted vapor thermal deposition (PAVTD). PEO powders with a molar weight (Mw) between 1500 g/mol and 600,000 g/mol were used as bulk precursors. The effect of Mw on the structural and surface properties was analyzed for PEO films prepared at a lower plasma power.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymer nanoparticles (NPs) can be highly attractive in numerous applications, including biomedicine, where the use of inorganic matter may be detrimental for living tissues. In conventional wet chemistry, polymerization and functionalization of NPs with specific chemical groups involves complex and often numerous reactions. Here, we report on a solvent-free, single-step, low-temperature plasma-based synthesis of carboxylated NPs produced by the polymerization of acrylic acid under the conditions of a glow discharge.
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- Magnetron discharge in a cold buffer gas allows for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles without liquids, enabling control over their structure, composition, and size.
- Despite producing numerous metal nanoparticles, the mechanisms of their formation during the process are not well understood due to a lack of real-time experimental data.
- In this study, in situ Small Angle X-ray Scattering was used to observe that the growth of nanoparticles occurs near the magnetron target, particularly within a specific capture zone influenced by electrostatic forces.