Improving the conductivity of diamond-like carbon films with zinc doping and its material properties

a Iron-doped tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin films (Fe/ta-C) were deposited with varying iron content using a pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc system (p-FCVA). The aim of this study was to understand effects of iron on both the physical and electrochemical properties of the otherwise inert sp 3 -rich ta-C matrix. As indicated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), even $0.4 at% surface iron had a profound electrochemical impact on both the potential window of ta-C in H 2 SO 4 and KOH, as well as pseudocapacitance. It also substantially enhanced the electron transport and re-enabled facile outer sphere redox reaction kinetics in comparison to un-doped ta-C, as measured with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) using outer-sphere probes Ru(NH 3 ) 6 , IrCl 6 , and FcMeOH. These increases in surface iron loading were linked to increased surface oxygen content and iron oxides. Unlike few other metals, an iron content even up to 10 at% was not found to result in the formation of sp 2 -rich amorphous carbon films as investigated by Raman spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations found all films to be amorphous and ultrasmooth with R q values always in the range of 0.1-0.2 nm. As even very small amounts of Fe were shown to dominate the electrochemistry of ta-C, implications of this study are very useful e.g. in carbon nanostructure synthesis, where irregular traces of iron can be readily incorporated into the final structures.

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“…for Zn, Mo and W/ DLC composite lms. 34,35,45 XPS. As indicated by the high-resolution Fe 2p and O 1s spectra in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and electrochemical properties of iron-doped tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) thin films

2018

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“…The average roughness increases to around 80 nm for higher Zn contents of 50 at.% and above. While the earlier study [4] also found an increase in roughness, its reported values were much lower. This might have to do with the much lower film thickness, the different preparation process and the limited measurement area as mentioned above.…”

Section: Surface Morphologymentioning

confidence: 44%

“…8 shows microscope images of a ball after a test of a pure DLC film with nearly no debris visible after 5000 rotations and a ball after a test of a 25 at.% Zn-DLC film after 1000 rotations. The earlier investigation [4] found no change of friction coefficient with the addition of Zn. As mentioned above, thickness, roughness and preparation conditions were different.…”

Section: Friction Coefficientmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…May it be that those structures do not form when the samples are prepared by PLD or that the recording of AFM images with dimensions of 1x1 µm 2 [4] was a too extreme limitation of measurement area to be able to spot those structures.…”

Section: Surface Morphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is only one reference to be found which deals with Zn-containing DLC (Zn-DLC) films, which were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [4]. That study was concerned mostly with the film adhesion and the electrical properties of the films.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Properties of Zinc-containing Diamond-like Carbon Films Prepared by Plasma Source Ion Implantation

Hatada

Flege

Rimmler

et al. 2017

Trans. Mat. Res. Soc. Japan

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Zinc-containing diamond-like carbon films were prepared by a combination of magnetron sputtering of a zinc target and plasma source ion implantation and deposition in a hydrocarbon atmosphere. The effect of the preparation conditions on the film properties, such as surface morphology, film structure, Zn content, hardness and friction coefficient, was evaluated. A wide range of Zn contents can be realized, with films becoming rougher and softer with increasing Zn content. The films possess remarkable Zn-rich features as observed in SEM images. Depending on the Zn concentration, the features evolve from dots into more network-like structures.

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Boron and nitrogen co-doping of diamond-like carbon film for transparent conductive films

Song

Kim

Jung

et al. 2013

Applied Surface Science

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Improving the conductivity of diamond-like carbon films with zinc doping and its material properties

Cited by 25 publications

References 22 publications

Characterization and electrochemical properties of iron-doped tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) thin films

Characterization and electrochemical properties of iron-doped tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) thin films

Properties of Zinc-containing Diamond-like Carbon Films Prepared by Plasma Source Ion Implantation

Boron and nitrogen co-doping of diamond-like carbon film for transparent conductive films

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