| AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session NS-ThP |
| Session: | Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Ajai Iyer, Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Finland |
| Authors: | A. Iyer, Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Finland J. Etula, Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Finland N. Wester, Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Finland J. Koskinen, Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Finland |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Nanoparticles have been proven to have properties very different from bulk materials and extensive research is undertaken to ascertain application based nanoparticle functional properties. One of the most elegant solutions for nanoparticle usage is to form a composite thin film with desired nanoparticles embedded in a matrix. Such composite films are generally fabricated in one of two ways. Either the nanoparticles are synthesized in-situ during the film growth process or the nanoparticles are seeded prior to film growth process. We propose a unique method of using physical vapour deposition methods to co-deposit pre-processed nanoparticles in tandem with the matrix material forming a composite thin film. These composite films could be deposited as single or multi-layer bulk films or as films with nanoparticle concentration gradient throughout the film thickness. The matrix material is chosen to be diamond-like carbon (DLC) with controllable sp3 to sp2 bonded carbon ratio, allowing the film to have a wide range of mechanical, optical and electrical properties. Co-deposition of nanoparticles with DLC results in composite films where nanoparticles are embedded into a DLC matrix. The effect of the type and concentration of nanoparticles on the mechanical, optical and electrical properties of the composite film are currently under study with possible application fields related to sensors, electrically conductive coatings, thin film optical waveguides and energy storage. In this work we demonstrate detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) co-deposited with high quality DLC using a pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc (p-FCVA) method to form DND-DLC composite film. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to verify the presence of DND agglomerates (sized few tens of nm) in the composite film as well as the crystallinity of the embedded DND nanoparticles. The DND nanoparticle concentration has been estimated to be of the order of 0.1 vol% in the composite film. The DND-DLC composite film has been measured to have around 16% enhancement in hardness and 40% reduction in wear in comparison to DLC film. Preliminary tests indicate that the composite film has potential as an electrochemical sensor and further tests are in progress. Results of co-deposition of other nanoparticles with DLC to form composite film are also discussed.