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Morphological and chemical analysis of mesoporous mixed IrOx-TiOy thin films as electrode materials
(2024)
Porous films play an important role particularly in energy applications like photovoltaics, electrolysis or batteries. Thin film properties such as thickness, chemical composition, crystallinity of the framework, and porosity define the activity of the porous films. The accurate morpho-chemical characterisation of mesoporous thin films is a challenging analytical task which requires the consideration of new analytical approaches based on the combination of data of different methods able to address the structure and chemical composition at the nanoscale. In this contribution we characterise thin mesoporous iridium-titanium mixed oxide film properties by Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) at an SEM applied in a dedicated “thin film analysis” approach (1). Thus, the film mass deposition, film thickness and the film density can be determined. Further, by dividing the measured film density to an assumed (theoretical) metal oxide framework (skeletal) density, the thin film porosity can be extracted, too.
In order to assess the homogeneity of the thin film properties like the chemical composition, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectrometry are applied in the depth profiling mode, so that possible in-depth gradients are detected. Lateral inhomogeneities in the chemical composition and structure of the thin mesoporous films are also identified by applying the same methods in the line-scan or mapping mode, which can be further combined with in-depth sputtering for 3D information. The role of the spatial resolution of the analytical methods considered, which can go down well below 100 nm, will be highlighted.
Ferritic-austenitic chromia-forming alloys are frequently used as boiler tubes and heat exchanger materials for fossil-,biomass, and co-fired power plants. In all applied environments several strongly corrosive gaseous species such as CO2, SO2, SO3, H2O, O2 exist, causing materials degradation by high-temperature corrosion. The elucidation of degradation mechanisms introduced by multiple gases is challenging due to the presence of different oxidizing agents contributing to the competing reactions for oxidation, sulfurization or carburization. The degradation processes can be divided into initial stages, a transitional stage and the further proceeding steady-state oxidation reaction. Especially the long-term steady-state oxidation and further materials’ life-time are strongly dependent on the initial stages. The adsorption and absorption of the reactive species at the alloy surface and the growing oxide in the initial reaction is further influenced by dissociation and re-reactions of the gas phase molecules. To understand these mechanisms from a fundamental point of view in more detail, dedicated experiments and advanced characterization techniques on various length scale need to be applied. Real-time approaches using highly energetic synchrotron X-ray diffraction showed a high potential to enlighten competitively mechanisms by following the corrosion reactions in-situ in the environment they occur. Despite various other thin film characterization techniques, time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) is a powerful tool to visualize light atoms or labeled isotopes enabling the Differentiation between different oxidizing species. It was especially shown to be applicable in challenging atmospheres containing KCl deposits or in CO/CO2/O2 environments. The present study analyses the competing oxidation/sulfidation process in a humid atmosphere on two ferritic alloys with 2 and 9 % in weight chromium by in situ energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) and comparative tube furnace exposure using S16O2 and H2 18O atmosphere.