Transparent Fe2O3false(1−xfalse)‐TiO2false(xfalse) (x = 0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 in molar fraction) thin films on indium‐tin oxide (ITO)/glass substrates were made by sol‐gel dip‐coating. The iron‐ion‐containing sols were prepared from normalFefalse(NO3)3⋅9H2O and normalTifalse(OC4H9)4 precursors. The electrochemical investigation of the Li+ ion storage process in Fe2O3‐TiO2 films has been made in a normalPt/LiClO4‐PCfalse(1 Mfalse)/Fe2O3‐TiO2/ITO cell between −1.5 and 1.0 V potential range vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE). The total electric charge inserted and extracted during a cycle has been determined by the cyclic voltammetry. The electric charge transition ability is mainly influenced by the composition and thickness of films, heat‐treatment temperature, and the precursor concentration of sols. In a pure iron oxide system, amorphous Fe2O3 exhibited better Li+ ion storage behavior than α‐ Fe2O3 phase. In the Fe2O3‐TiO2 composite systems, Fe2O3false(0.3false)‐TiO2false(0.7false) films showed the best reversibility of the insertion‐deinsertion process while their maximal Q/d value is about 0.12 mC cm−2 nm−1.

Thin silicon nitride films ͑less than 20 nm͒ deposited on ͑100͒ silicon substrates via low pressure chemical vapor deposition ͑LPCVD͒ at three temperatures ͑730, 760, and 825°C͒ were analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑SE͒, attenuated total reflection ͑ATR͒, and other tools. Films appeared to have similar optical bandgaps ͑ϳ5 eV͒, and the values decreased slightly with the higher deposition temperature. Second ionic mass spectroscopy results showed that a similar amount of oxygen exists in the interface between silicon and silicon nitride. ATR spectra showed no sign of Si-H bonds and decreasing N-H bonds at higher deposition temperature in the thin films. The electrical properties of the films are also discussed.Silicon nitride films have been widely used in very large scale integration ͑VLSI͒ technologies, such as diffusion mask, passivation, antireflection coatings, and gate dielectrics. 1-4 Various processing methods of silicon nitride films were reported, such as thermal nitridation, 5 atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition ͑CVD͒, 6 plasma-enhanced CVD ͑PECVD͒, 7 hot wall CVD ͑HWCVD͒, 8 and low pressure CVD ͑LPCVD͒. 9 Among the fabrication techniques, LPCVD is commonly chosen. Even though LPCVD nitride films cannot be used for gate dielectrics due to their poor interface quality and high bulk trap density, they are widely chosen for applications such as diffusion mask, nitride spacers, etc. We studied the LPCVD silicon nitride thin films deposited by using a mixture of dichlorosilane ͑DCS͒ and ammonia (NH 3 ) with nitrogen as dilute at three temperatures in a conventional batch reactor.The purpose of this work was to analyze the optical properties of thin to ultrathin ͑below 10 nm͒ silicon nitride films via spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑SE͒ analysis and directly study the bond structure ͑es-pecially bonds with hydrogen such as Si-H and N-H͒ of the films by attenuated total reflection ͑ATR͒. SE is a nondestructive optical technique used to determine the optical properties of substrates and thin films based on measuring the polarization ellipse of a light beam reflected off a sample at a given angle. From this data, the complex index of refraction and film thickness can be determined using a computer model fit. ATR provides a way of directly analyzing very thin films with much higher sensitivity than normal Fourier transform infrared ͑FTIR͒ analysis. A schematic plot of ATR measurement is shown in Fig. 1. The infrared radiation signal penetrated into the monolayer film only once during the measurement. Typical thickness for normal FTIR analysis is equal or larger than 1000 Å to get desirable signal noise ratio. However, the actually used films in electronic devices may not necessarily meet this thickness requirement. In this work, all the films' thicknesses are less than 20 nm. By using ATR and Woollam SE analysis we can directly study the optical properties of these ultrathin nitride films. Other films properties like electrical data were also discussed. ExperimentalSingle crystal ͑100͒ p-type silico...

For electrocatalytic processes, the electronic structure especially the density of states (DOS) of electrode materials plays a dominant role in process of electron transfer kinetics for redox reactions. The unusual electronic properties of sp2‐hybridized carbon nanomaterials with adjustable DOS offer great promise in constructing high performance electrodes for electrochemical applications. However, researchers are still confronted with challenges such as how the electronic properties influence the kinetics of electron transfer and how to modulate the electronic structure appropriate strategy for achieving efficient electrochemical reactions of different sp2 carbon nanomaterials. With the aim of understanding the impacts of electronic structures on electrocatalytic properties, we selected several typical 0D to 3D carbon nanomaterials, and tailored the electrocatalytic performance of carbon nanomaterials by doping electron donor and electron acceptor. The results demonstrate that different molecular doping give rise to entirely different modifications in electronic structure of the sp2‐hybridized carbon nanomaterials, endowing modulation of the electrocatalytic properties for the appropriate redox reaction. When doped with electron acceptor, it is more conducive to the oxidation reaction. Conversely, doping with electron donors is more conducive to the occurrence of reduction reactions. This strategy reveals electronic structure effects on the electron transfer of electrocatalytic redox reaction and provides an efficient approach on tailoring the electrocatalytic performance of sp2‐hybridized carbon nanomaterials. For further electrochemical applications, that can ultimately provide rational guidance toward the development of improved catalysts.

A highly-integrated experimental system for plasma decomposition of fuels was built. Experiments were conducted and confirmed that macromolecular chain hydrocarbons were cracked by large-gap dielectric barrier discharge under the excitation of a microsecond-pulse power supply. Alkanes and olefins with a C atom number smaller than 10 as well as hydrogen were found in the cracked products of n-decane (n-C10H22). The combination of preheating and plasma decomposition had strong selectivity for olefins. Under strong discharge conditions, micromolecular olefins were found in the products. Moreover, there was a general tendency that micromolecular olefins gradually accounted for higher percentage of products at higher temperature and discharge frequency.