Invited Paper TF+2D+MG+NS-MoA2
Organic and Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Thin Film Deposition by Resonant Infrared, Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation

Monday, October 19, 2015, 2:40 pm, Room 111

Over the past fifteen years, matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) has been developed to deposit organic thin films[1-6], inorganic nanoparticles, and hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposites[4, 7-9]. One variation of the MAPLE technique, resonant infrared matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (RIR-MAPLE), reduces the laser energy (e.g., Er:YAG laser ~2.94μm peak wavelength) in order to minimize polymer degradation. In addition, because the frequency of the IR laser energy is resonant with OH bond vibrational modes in water, a frozen emulsion (comprising a mixture of the guest material dissolved in an organic solvent and water) is used as the target. Therefore, the unique advantage of emulsion-based RIR-MAPLE is that most of the energy from the IR laser is absorbed by water in the frozen emulsion, which evaporates and gently transfers the guest material to the substrate with minimal solvent exposure and degradation.

In the case of hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposites, inorganic nanoparticles are embedded in a polymer matrix to achieve specific materials properties or functionality; however, nanoparticles that are mixed with a polymer in solution tend to aggregate due to a polarity difference with polymers[10]. In contrast, RIR-MAPLE is fundamentally different from solution processing and reduces nanoparticle phase segregation by eliminating the need to co-dissolve nanoparticles and polymers into a single common solvent; and by depositing the nanoparticles and polymers in a relatively dry state.

We will demonstrate the capability of RIR-MAPLE to deposit continuous nanoparticle films with the same optical properties as nanoparticles in solution and to minimize nanoparticle phase segregation in hybrid films. We will also demonstrate hybrid organic-inorganic thin films deposited by RIR-MAPLE for application to solar cells. This work is supported in part by ONR.

References

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