Synthesis of Nanocrystalline, Redispersable Antimony-Doped SnO2 Particles for the Preparation of Conductive, Transparent Coatings

Nanocrystalline, redispersable Sb-doped SnO2 with Sb contents from 0.1–10 mol% (with respect to Sn) and a primary particle size of about 5 nm was prepared from SnCl4 and SbCl3 in solution by a growth reaction. The aggregation of the particles was avoided by in situ surface modification with amino carbonic acids. The stabilizing effect of the surface modification could be maintained during the following hydrothermal crystallization step (150°C, 10 bar). The resulting nanocrystalline particles are fully redispersable in aqueous suspensions at pH 11; solid contents up to 40 wt% can be achieved.Such aqueous dispersions were used to prepare transparent, conductive coatings on glass by spin coating. After thermal densification (1 hour at 550°C) transparent coatings of 220 nm thickness were obtained. A minimum specific electrical resistance of 2.5 · 10–2 cm for Sb contents between 4 and 5 mol% was measured, the transparency in the visible range against air was 90%.     

Wet Chemical Deposition of Crystalline,Redispersable ATO and ITO Nanoparticles

A new wet chemical concept to produce coatings by dip, spin or spray processes is presented. It is based on the preparation of solutions made of crystalline nanoparticles fully redispersable in a solvent. It is exemplified for the preparation of SnO₂ : Sb (ATO) and In₂O₃ : Sn (ITO) transparent conducting coatings. The process combines the advantages of using particles having already a low resistivity and the possibility to sinter the coatings at low temperature. The particles are prepared using an in-situ monitoring of the surface energy to control the growth of the particles and to avoid their agglomeration. The dried powders can be fully redispersed in alcohol (ITO) or water (ATO). Single layers with thickness up to 200 nm (ATO) and 400 nm (ITO) have been fabricated. The sheet resistance of the coatings decreases with the sintering temperature. Typical values are 430 for ATO (550°C) and 380 for ITO (550°C). Sols made by redispersing the powders in organosilanes allow to produce coatings at low temperature with antistatic (R > 100 k) and anti-glare properties (R > 100 k, 60 to 80 gloss units).     

Vibrational spectra of small silicon monoxide cluster cations measured by infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy

The first gas-phase infrared spectra of silicon monoxide cations (SiO)(n)(+), n = 3-5, using multiple photon dissociation in the 550-1250 cm(-1) frequency range, are reported. All clusters studied here fragment via loss of a neutral SiO unit. The experimental spectra are compared to simulated linear absorption spectra from calculated low energy isomers for each cluster. This analysis indicates that a "ring" isomer is the primary contributor to the (SiO)(3)(+) spectrum, that the (SiO)(4)(+) spectrum results from two close-lying bicyclic ring isomers, and that the (SiO)(5)(+) spectrum is from a bicyclic ring with a central, fourfold-coordinated Si atom. Experiment and theory indicate that the energies and energetic orderings of (SiO)(n)(+) isomers differ from those for neutral (SiO)(n) clusters.     

Testing of Model Equations for the Mean Dissipation using Kolmogorov Flows

Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of Kolmogorov flows are performed at three different Reynolds numbers Re _λ between 110 and 190 by imposing a mean velocity profile in y-direction of the form U(y) = F sin(y) in a periodic box of volume (2π)³. After a few integral times the turbulent flow turns out to be statistically steady. Profiles of mean quantities are then obtained by averaging over planes at constant y. Based on these profiles two different model equations for the mean dissipation ε in the context of two-equation RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes) modelling of turbulence are compared to each other. The high Reynolds number version of the k-ε-model (Jones and Launder, Int J Heat Mass Transfer 15:301–314, 1972), to be called the standard model and a new model by Menter et al. (2006), to be called the Menter–Egorov model, are tested against the DNS results. Both models are solved numerically and it is found that the standard model does not provide a steady solution for the present case, while the Menter–Egorov model does. In addition a fairly good quantitative agreement of the model solution and the DNS data is found for the averaged profiles of the kinetic energy k and the dissipation ε. Furthermore, an analysis based on flow-inherent geometries, called dissipation elements (Wang and Peters, J Fluid Mech 608:113–138, 2008), is used to examine the Menter–Egorov ε model equation. An expression for the evolution of ε is derived by taking appropriate moments of the equation for the evolution of the probability density function (pdf) of the length of dissipation elements. A term-by-term comparison with the model equation allows a prediction of the constants, which with increasing Reynolds number approach the empirical values.     

The binding energy and bonding in dialane

The binding energy of dialane, Al2H6, has been measured using mass spectrometric techniques to be 33 +/- 5 kcal/mol. This represents the first measurement of the thermochemical properties of dialane, which has only recently been observed in low-temperature matricies. High-level quantum mechanical calculations give a binding energy in agreement with the measured value. Experimental and quantum mechanical calculations show that dialane is chemically similar to diborane, B2H6, even though the bonding for these two systems shows significant differences.