TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Kraehnert, R. A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - Multilevel effective material approximation for modeling ellipsometric measurements on complex porous thin films N2 - Catalysts are important components in chemical processes because they lower the activation energy and thus determine the rate, efficiency and selectivity of a chemical reaction. This property plays an important role in many of today’s processes, including the electrochemical splitting of water. Due to the continuous development of catalyst materials, they are becoming more complex, which makes a reliable evaluation of physicochemical properties challenging even for modern analytical measurement techniques and industrial manufacturing. We present a fast, vacuum-free and non-destructive analytical approach using multi-sample spectroscopic ellipsometry to determine relevant material parameters such as film thickness, porosity and composition of mesoporous IrOx–TiOy films. Mesoporous IrOx–TiOy films were deposited on Si wafers by sol–gel synthesis, varying the composition of the mixed oxide films between 0 and 100 wt%Ir. The ellipsometric modeling is based on an anisotropic Bruggeman effective medium approximation (a-BEMA) to determine the film thickness and volume fraction of the material and pores. The volume fraction of the material was again modeled using a Bruggeman EMA to determine the chemical composition of the materials. The ellipsometric fitting results were compared with complementary methods, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) as well as environmental ellipsometric porosimetry (EEP). KW - Electrochemical catalysts KW - Mixed metal oxide KW - Multi-sample analysis KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry KW - Thin mesoporous films PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-551026 SN - 2192-8584 SN - 2192-8576 VL - 11 IS - 3-4 (Topical issue: Ellipsometry) SP - 137 EP - 147 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-55102 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Moor, Maëlle A1 - Kraehnert, Ralph A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - Ellipsometry-based approach for the characterization of mesoporous thin films for H2 technologies N2 - Porous thin layer materials are gaining importance in different fields of technology and pose a challenge to the accurate determination of materials properties important for their function. In this work, we demonstrate a hybrid measurement technique using ellipsometry together with other independent methods for validation. Ellipsometry provides information about the porosity of different mesoporous films (PtRuNP/OMC = 45%; IrOx = 46%) as well as about the pore size (pore radius of ca. 5 nm for PtRuNP/OMC). In addition, the electronic structure of a material, such as intraband transitions of a mesoporous IrOx film, can be identified, which can be used to better understand the mechanisms of chemical processes. In addition, we show that ellipsometry can be used as a scalable imaging and visualization method for quality assurance in production. These require accurate and traceable measurements, with reference materials playing an important role that include porosity and other related properties. We show that our novel analytical methods are useful for improving analytical work in this entire field. KW - Porous materials KW - Electrolysis KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry KW - Hybrid metrology measurement KW - Electron microscopy PY - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202101320 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-53960 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frisch, M. A1 - Raza, M. H. A1 - Ye, M.-Y. A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Paul, B. A1 - Gunder, R. A1 - Pinna, N. A1 - Kraehnert, R. T1 - ALD-coated mesoporous iridium-titanium mixed oxides: Maximizing iridium utilization for an outstanding OER performance N2 - With the increasing production of renewable energy and concomitant depletion of fossil resources, the demand for efficient water splitting electrocatalysts continues to grow. Iridium (Ir) and iridium oxides (IrOₓ) are currently the most promising candidates for an efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acidic medium, which remains the bottleneck in water electrolysis. Yet, the extremely high costs for Ir hamper a widespread production of hydrogen (H₂) on an industrial scale. Herein, the authors report a concept for the synthesis of electrode coatings with template-controlled mesoporosity surface-modified with highly active Ir species. The improved utilization of noble metal species relies on the synthesis of soft-templated metal oxide supports and a subsequent shape-conformal deposition of Ir species via atomic layer deposition (ALD) at two different reaction temperatures. The study reveals that a minimum Ir content in the mesoporous titania-based support is mandatory to provide a sufficient electrical bulk conductivity. After ALD, a significantly enhanced OER activity results in dependency of the ALD cycle number and temperature. The most active developed electrocatalyst film achieves an outstanding mass-specific activity of 2622 mA mg(Ir)⁻¹ at 1.60 V(RHE) in a rotating-disc electrode (RDE) setup at 25 °C using 0.5 m H₂SO₄ as a supporting electrolyte. KW - Acidic oxygen evolution reaction KW - Atomic layer deposition KW - Electrocatalysis KW - Iridium oxide KW - Soft-templated mesoporous films PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-542651 SN - 2196-7350 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-54265 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arinchtein, A. A1 - Schnack, R. A1 - Kraffert, K. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Krähnert, R. T1 - Role of Water in Phase Transformations and Crystallization of Ferrihydrite and Hematite N2 - The oxides, hydroxides, and oxo-hydroxides of iron belong to the most abundant materials on earth. They also feature a wide range of practical applications. In many environments, they can undergo facile phase transformations and crystallization processes. Water appears to play a critical role in many of these processes. Despite numerous attempts, the role of water has not been fully revealed yet. We present a new approach to study the influence of water in the crystallization and phase transformations of iron oxides. The approach employs model-type iron oxide films that comprise a defined homogeneous nanostructure. The films are exposed to air containing different amounts of water reaching up to pressures of 10 bar. Ex situ analysis via scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and X-ray diffraction is combined with operando near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to follow water-induced changes in hematite nd ferrihydrite. Water proves to be critical for the nucleation of ematite domains in ferrihydrite, the resulting crystallite orientation, and the underlying crystallization mechanism. KW - Iron oxide KW - Ferrihydrite KW - Hematite KW - Water KW - NAP-XPS KW - High pressure PY - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c05253 VL - 12 SP - 38714 EP - 38722 PB - ACS Publication AN - OPUS4-51201 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Bernsmeier, D. A1 - Schmack, R. A1 - Häusler, I. A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Kraffert, K. A1 - Nissen, J. A1 - Kraehnert, R. T1 - Colloidal bimetallic platinum–ruthenium nanoparticles in ordered mesoporous carbon films as highly active electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction N2 - Hydrogen features a very high specific energy density and is therefore a promising candidate for clean fuel from renewable resources. Water electrolysis can convert electrical energy into storable and transportable hydrogen gas. Under acidic conditions, platinum is the most active and stable monometallic catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Yet, platinum is rare and needs to be used efficiently. Here, we report a synthesis concept for colloidal bimetallic platinum–ruthenium and rhodium–ruthenium nanoparticles (PtRuNP, RhRuNP) and their incorporation into ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) films. The films exhibit high surface area, good electrical conductivity and well-dispersed nanoparticles inside the mesopores. The nanoparticles retain their size, crystallinity and composition during carbonization. In the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), PtRuNP/OMC catalyst films show up to five times higher activity per Pt than Pt/C/Nafion® and PtRu/C/Nafion® reference catalysts. KW - Ordered mesoporous carbon KW - Bimetallic noble metal nanoparticles KW - Platinum-ruthenium colloid KW - Electrolysis KW - Hydrogen evolution reaction PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-506868 SN - 2044-4753 VL - 10 IS - 7 SP - 2057 EP - 2068 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-50686 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Kotil, L. A1 - Kraehnert, R. T1 - Analysis of elemental composition and porosity of mesoporous iridium titanium mixed oxide thin films for energy application by SEM/EDS N2 - Porous materials play an important role in several fields of technology, especially for energy applications like photovoltaics, electrolysis or batteries. The activity of porous films is affected by properties like porosity, film thickness, chemical composition of the material as well as the crystallinity of the framework. The complex morphology of such porous films constitutes a challenge even for modern analytical techniques and requires new approaches employing the combination/complementation of data of different analytical methods. In this contribution we characterize thin mesoporous iridium-titanium mixed oxide film properties by Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) at an SEM. KW - Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) KW - Iridium-titanium mixed oxides KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry KW - Mesoporous thin films KW - NanoSIMS PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927619009589 SN - 1431-9276 (Print) SN - 1435-8115 (Online) VL - 25 IS - S2 (August) SP - 1770 EP - 1771 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - New York, NY, U.S.A. AN - OPUS4-48768 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Pfüger, Mika A1 - Velasco-Vélez, Juan-Jesús A1 - Sahre, Mario A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Bernicke, Michael A1 - Bernsmeier, Denis A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Krumrey, Michael A1 - Strasser, Peter A1 - Kraehnert, Ralph A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - Assessing optical and electrical properties of highly active IrOx catalysts for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction via spectroscopic ellipsometry N2 - Efficient water electrolysis requires highly active electrodes. The activity of corresponding catalytic coatings strongly depends on material properties such as film thickness, crystallinity, electrical conductivity, and chemical surface speciation. Measuring these properties with high accuracy in vacuum-free and nondestructive methods facilitates the elucidation of structure−activity relationships in realistic environments. Here, we report a novel approach to analyze the optical and electrical properties of highly active oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts via spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Using a series of differently calcined, mesoporous, templated iridium oxide films as an example, we assess the film thickness, porosity, electrical resistivity, electron concentration, electron mobility, and interband and intraband transition energies by modeling of the optical spectra. Independently performed analyses using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, ellipsometric porosimetry, X-ray reflectometry, and absorption spectroscopy indicate a high accuracy of the deduced material properties. A comparison of the derived analytical data from SE, resonant photoemission spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with activity measurements of the OER suggests that the intrinsic activity of iridium oxides scales with a shift of the Ir 5d t2g sub-level and an increase of p−d interband transition energies caused by a transition of μ1-OH to μ3-O species. KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry KW - Electrocatalysis KW - Oxygen evolution reaction KW - Mesoporous iridium oxide films KW - Non-destructive ambient analysis KW - Intrinsic OER activity KW - Complementary methodology and metrology PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-516288 SN - 2155-5435 VL - 10 IS - 23 SP - 14210 EP - 14223 PB - American Chemical Society AN - OPUS4-51628 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Kraehnert, R. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Analysis of mesoporous iridium oxide thin films by the combined methodical approach SEM/EDS/STRATAGem N2 - For the determination of porosity of Ir oxide thin films, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) can be used as part of a combined SEM/EDS/STRATAGem analysis. The mass deposition (in μg cm-2) of films was calculated with the analysis software STRATAGem via k-values measured with EDS. The average density of coated films was obtained from the mass deposition and the film thickness as measured by the cross-section SEM. The porosity was calculated by dividing the average film density by the bulk (theoretical) density of the film material. Film porosities were counterchecked by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) using the Bruggeman effective medium approximation (BEMA). The results obtained by both analytical approaches/methods used, SEM/EDS/STRATAGem and SE were in good agreement. KW - Porous thin films KW - Iridium oxide KW - Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) KW - Spectroscopic ellipsometry PY - 2018 UR - https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/microscopy-and-microanalysis/article/analysis-of-mesoporous-iridium-oxide-thin-films-by-the-combined-methodical-approach-semedsstratagem/7607018338B542D8B8C4D944392781EF U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927618004300 SN - 1431-9276 SN - 1435-8115 VL - 24 IS - S1 (August) SP - 762 EP - 763 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - New York, NY, U.S.A. AN - OPUS4-45951 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -