TY - JOUR A1 - Ortel, Erik A1 - Häusler, Ines A1 - Österle, Werner A1 - Narbey, S. A1 - Oswald, F. A1 - Andersen, I. H. A1 - Holzweber, Markus A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - In-depth structural and chemical characterization of engineered TiO2 films N2 - Analytical routines for a comprehensive in-depth morphological, structural, and chemical characterization of functionalized TiO2 films by using different state-of-the-art analytical techniques are presented and discussed with the main objective to identify potential reference TiO2 coating parameters able to be certified at a later stage. TiO2 films fabricated by two different synthetic procedures as representative for two main large-scale applications were selected: (i) pulsed d.c. magnetron sputtering for photocatalytic applications and (ii) screen printing from preformed anatase nanoparticles. The screen-printed films were further loaded with a sensitizing dye for application as a dye-sensitized solar cell. Film properties such as microstructure and crystallographic texture of pulsed d.c. magnetron sputtering synthesized films were systematically studied by means of scanning nanobeam electron diffraction in a transmission electron microscope and the surface and inner morphology by scanning electron microscopy. The dye distribution over the depth of screen-printed TiO2 layers was analyzed before and after dye-loading by means of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy at scanning electronmicroscope, Auger electron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The long-term goal of the present study is the improvement of quality of the TiO2 film parameters as measured by using different types of reference TiO2 coatings having specific parameters certified. T2 - 16th European Conference on Applications of Surface and Interface Analysis ECASIA'15 CY - Granada, Spain DA - 28.09.2015 KW - Mapping KW - Line scan KW - Depth profiling KW - TiO2 films KW - Crystallinity KW - Ru dye sensitizer PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.5966 SN - 0142-2421 SN - 1096-9918 VL - 48 SP - 664 EP - 669 PB - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. AN - OPUS4-36791 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wollschläger, Nicole A1 - Palasse, L. A1 - Häusler, Ines A1 - Dirscherl, K. A1 - Oswald, F. A1 - Narbey, S. A1 - Ortel, Erik A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Characterization of the inner structure of porous TiO2 nanoparticle films in dye sensitive solar cells (DSSC) by focused ion beam (FIB) tomography and transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) N2 - A combined methodical approach is tested for the first time with respect to the characterization of the inner structure of porous TiO2 layers infiltrated with ruthenium molecular sensitizer as typically used in modern dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Their performance is directly linked to the surface area ‘offered’ by the pore Network to the dye. The micrometer thick layer employed was manufactured by screen-printing of a starting TiO2 powder constituted of shape-controlled, bipyramidal anatase nanoparticles (NPs) on FTO/glass substrates. The analytical methods exploited in our study are Focused Ion Beam (FIB) slicing followed by 3D reconstruction as well as the new approach transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) technology in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). While the first method results in the visualization of the 3D pore network within the TiO2 layer, the second one can be successfully applied to analyze the crystal orientation of grains (i.e. NPs in our case) in nanometer resolution. Moreover, size and shape distribution of the TiO2 NPs within the layer can be extracted. SEM in transmission mode and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to verify the dimensional data obtained by the new combined methodical approach. Its analytical benefits but also the challenges and limitations are highlighted. KW - Transmission Kikuchi diffraction KW - Focused ion beam tomography KW - Titanium dioxide KW - Nanoparticles KW - Porosity KW - Particle size KW - DSSC PY - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2017.06.030 SN - 1044-5803 SN - 1873-4189 VL - 131 SP - 39 EP - 48 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-40875 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -