TY - JOUR A1 - Sarfraz, Adnan A1 - Simo, A. A1 - Fenger, R. A1 - Christen, W. A1 - Rademann, K. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Morphological diversity of caffeine on surfaces: needles and hexagons N2 - A systematic crystal morphology study on the pharmaceutical model compound caffeine has been conducted on different surfaces: silicon, silver, soda lime glass, and silver subsurface ion-exchanged soda-lime silicate (SIMO) glasses. The morphology of the solid caffeine deposits has been investigated using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Needle-shaped caffeine crystals have been observed by drop-casting and also by applying the rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS) technique using supercritical carbon dioxide. The aspect ratio of the crystalline needles typically vary between 10 and 100, but have been observed as large as 500. The XRD data of the RESS products indicate unambiguously the presence of the thermodynamically most stable polymorph of caffeine known as the β-form. Under defined conditions we observe a unique, surface-mediated morphology for caffeine crystals with nearly perfect hexagonal shape. The relative fraction of the hexagons was seen to strongly increase especially when SIMO glasses were used. These hexagons have a distinct upper size limit depending on the solvent and substrate being used. The size distribution analysis of the hexagons yielded an average perimeter of typically 10 µm. The mechanism of the formation process of this new hexagonal motif is explained in terms of the spinodal dewetting of the thin film of caffeine solution on the surface. KW - Caffeine KW - Silicon KW - Silver KW - Ion exchanged soda lime silicate glass KW - ESEM KW - AFM KW - X-ray diffraction KW - RESS KW - Carbon dioxide KW - Supercritical fluids PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/cg101358q SN - 1528-7483 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 583 EP - 588 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC, USA AN - OPUS4-25457 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Leiterer, Jork A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Christen, W. A1 - Rademann, K. T1 - Tracing Coffee Tabletop Traces N2 - Crystallization processes under different conditions are of fundamental interest in chemistry, pharmacy, and medicine. Therefore, we have studied the formation of micro- and nanosized crystals using water-caffeine (1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione) solutions under ambient conditions as a relevant model system. When droplets of an aqueous caffeine solution evaporate and eventually dry on surfaces (glass, polystyrene, and polyester), stable “coffee tabletop” rings with a perimeter of typically 3 mm are formed after 20 to 50 min. Using a micro focus X-ray beam available at the BESSY µSpot-beamline, the fine structure of different caffeine needles can be distinguished. Unexpectedly, both crystal modifications (α- and β-caffeine) are present, but locally separated in these rings. Furthermore, AFM studies reveal the presence of even smaller particles on a nanometer length scale. To eliminate influences of surface irregularities from the crystallization process, acoustic levitation of liquid samples was employed. Such levitated droplets are trapped in a stable position and only surrounded by air. The solvent in an ultrasonically levitated drop evaporates completely, and the resulting crystallization of caffeine was followed in situ by synchrotron X-ray diffraction. In this case, the diffraction pattern is in accordance with pure α-caffeine and does not indicate the formation of the room temperature polymorph β-caffeine. Hence, our investigations open new vistas that may lead to a controlled formation of cocrystals and novel polymorphs of micro- and nanocrystalline materials, which are of relevance for fundamental studies as well as for pharmaceutical and medical applications. KW - Polymorphism KW - Crystallization KW - Acoustic levitation KW - Evaporation of droplets KW - µSpot KW - Micro spot KW - Synchrotron radiation PY - 2008 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/la800768v SN - 0743-7463 SN - 1520-5827 VL - 24 IS - 15 SP - 7970 EP - 7978 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-17818 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abou-Ras, D. A1 - Caballero, R. A1 - Fischer, C.-H. A1 - Kaufmann, C.A. A1 - Lauermann, I. A1 - Mainz, R. A1 - Mönig, H. A1 - Schöpke, A. A1 - Stephan, C. A1 - Streeck, C. A1 - Schorr, S. A1 - Eicke, A. A1 - Döbeli, M. A1 - Gade, B. A1 - Hinrichs, J. A1 - Nunney, T. A1 - Dijkstra, H. A1 - Hoffmann, V. A1 - Klemm, D. A1 - Efimova, V. A1 - Bergmaier, A. A1 - Dollinger, G. A1 - Wirth, Thomas A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Rockett, A.A. A1 - Perez-Rodriguez, A. A1 - Alvarez-Garcia, J. A1 - Izquierdo-Roca, V. A1 - Schmid, T. A1 - Choi, P.-P. A1 - Müller, M. A1 - Bertram, F. A1 - Christen, J. A1 - Khatri, H. A1 - Collins, R.W. A1 - Marsillac, S. A1 - Kötschau, I. T1 - Comprehensive comparison of various techniques for the analysis of elemental distributions in thin films N2 - The present work shows results on elemental distribution analyses in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films for solar cells performed by use of wavelength-dispersive and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in a scanning electron microscope, EDX in a transmission electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron, angle-dependent soft X-ray emission, secondary ion-mass (SIMS), time-of-flight SIMS, sputtered neutral mass, glow-discharge optical emission and glow-discharge mass, Auger electron, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, by use of scanning Auger electron microscopy, Raman depth profiling, and Raman mapping, as well as by use of elastic recoil detection analysis, grazing-incidence X-ray and electron backscatter diffraction, and grazing-incidence X-ray fluorescence analysis. The Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films used for the present comparison were produced during the same identical deposition run and exhibit thicknesses of about 2 µm. The analysis techniques were compared with respect to their spatial and depth resolutions, measuring speeds, availabilities, and detection limits. KW - Elemental distributions KW - Comparison KW - Depth profiling KW - Chemical mapping KW - Thin films KW - Solar cells KW - Chalcopyrite-type KW - Cu(In,Ga)Se2 PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927611000523 SN - 1431-9276 SN - 1435-8115 VL - 17 IS - 5 SP - 728 EP - 751 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-24506 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -