Universität Stuttgart
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Item Open Access Spectroscopic investigations of the magnetic anisotropy of lanthanide- and cobalt-based molecular nanomagnets(2016) Rechkemmer, Yvonne; Slageren, Joris van (Prof. Dr.)Single-molecule magnets are metal complexes exhibiting an energy barrier for spin reversal, leading to magnetic bistability and slow relaxation of the magnetization. Their potential for practical applications such as high-density magnetic data storage was recognized early on and with the goal of achieving high energy barriers, different kinds of single-molecule magnets have been synthesized. The quadratic dependence of the barrier height on the spin motivated chemists to synthesize metal complexes with very high total spins; however, with limited success. It was shown that high spins come along with low anisotropies and increased interest thus focused on the synthesis and investigation of (mononuclear) complexes of highly anisotropic metal centers, e.g. lanthanide or cobalt complexes. Although rather high energy barriers can be achieved in such systems, practical application remains problematic and has not been realized yet. Reasons are for example the lack of rational design criteria and the complex interplay of different magnetic relaxation pathways. The aim of this work was therefore the comprehensive magnetic and spectroscopic investigation of selected molecular lanthanide and cobalt compounds in order to obtain a deeper insight into the correlation of molecular and electronic structures as well as the corresponding magnetic properties. The applied spectroscopic methods included electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, far-infrared spectroscopy and optical methods. Special emphasis was placed on magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy, which served as a main tool for electronic structure determination. However, since the MCD-spectrometer was not part of the available experimental equipment at the University of Stuttgart, its design, setup and characterization were the first part of this work. In the further course of this work MCD-spectroscopy was employed for the electronic structure determination of selected lanthanide and cobalt compounds. The studied lanthanide compounds were literature-known molecular tetra-carbonates of erbium (1-Er) and dysprosium (1-Dy). Detailed magnetometric studies showed that both 1-Er and 1-Dy are field-induced single-molecule magnets; however, 1-Er and 1-Dy show significant differences in their magnetic relaxation behavior. The magnetic studies were complemented by detailed spectroscopic investigations.The combination of far-infrared-, luminescence- and MCD-spectroscopy allowed for the experimental determination of 48 energy levels for 1-Er and 55 levels for 1-Dy, which built the foundation for the subsequent crystal field analysis and electronic structure determination. In addition, the results of EPR-spectroscopic studies were used for fine-tuning and verifying the respectively determined crystal field parameters. Calculating the magnetic dipole strengths for transitions between the relevant states led to a quantitative understanding of the magnetic relaxation pathways. Besides the investigation of lanthanide compounds, this thesis deals with two classes of cobalt complexes. The first class comprises mononuclear complexes in which one Co(II) ion is ligated by the nitrogen donors of two doubly deprotonated 1,2-bis(methanesulfonamido)-benzene-ligands. Rather acute N-Co-N bite angles indicate strong deviations from ideal tetrahedral symmetry. The static magnetic properties hint at very high energy barriers for spin reversal and with the help of far-infrared spectroscopy, largely negative axial zero-field splitting parameters were determined. The corresponding energy barriers belong to the highest ever reported for 3d-transition metal complexes and investigating the dynamic magnetic properties confirmed single-molecule magnet behavior. The unique magnetic properties were fully explained by analyzing spectroscopic results. The MCD-spectra showed intense signals that were assigned to spin-allowed d-d-transitions. Subsequent crystal field analysis revealed that the strong axial crystal field generated by the ligands leads to a large splitting of the electronic terms and thus in turn to a relatively small energy gap between the electronic ground state and the first excited state. The resulting increase in second-order spin-orbit coupling explains the high energy barriers observed in the studied complexes. The second class of cobalt compounds studied in this work included dimers of distorted octahedrally coordinated Co(II) ions bridged by symmetrical or asymmetrical quinone based bridging ligands. The main focus of investigation lay on the impact of the bridging ligand on the magnetic coupling between the cobalt centers. Thus, the magnetic properties of the complexes were studied with the help of static susceptibility and magnetization measurements and analyzed by means of different models. Depending on the bridging ligand, different signs for the exchange coupling constants were found. The varying signs can be explained by different relative contributions of possible exchange paths, influenced by the different substituents at the bridging ligands or slight geometry differences. The observations indicate that electron withdrawing substituents favor ferromagnetic couplings, which are preferred in the context of molecular magnetism. All in all, it can be concluded that this work provides a contribution to the deeper understanding of the features relevant for single-molecule magnets. The electronic structure determination for selected lanthanide and cobalt complexes applying advanced magnetometric and spectroscopic techniques not only led to an understanding of the static and dynamic magnetic properties but also allowed for the development of design criteria and new approaches for improved single-molecule magnets in the future.Item Open Access Monodisperse highly ordered and polydisperse biobased solid foams(2018) Andrieux, Sébastien; Stubenrauch, Cosima (Prof. Dr.)The aim of this work was the synthesis of monodisperse highly ordered biobased polymer foams and a comparison with their polydisperse counterparts. We used the biobased and biodegradable polymer chitosan, which we cross-linked with genipin. The polymer foams were synthesised via foam templating, i.e. via a liquid foam whose continuous phase contains a polymer and can be solidified. In order to obtain monodisperse highly ordered polymer foams, one first has to generate monodisperse highly ordered liquid foam templates. We did so by using microfluidics, which allows to produce monodisperse liquid foams with bubble sizes from 200 µm to 800 µm and polydispersities below 5%. The monodisperse foams were collected outside of the microfluidic channels and left to self-order under the influence of gravity and confinement. We studied the kinetics of the cross-linking reaction to find the optimal storage conditions during cross-linking. Once cross-linked we freeze-dried the gelled foams to obtain solid chitosan foams. We compared the morphological properties of the solid foams with those of the liquid templates in order to test the efficiency of the developed templating route. We observed how modifying the cross-linking and drying conditions can strongly affect the morphology of the solid foams. The main issue was to maintain the key properties of the liquid foam template throughout the solidification process, namely the bubble size distribution, the structural order and the density. We then compared the synthesised monodisperse polymer foams with their polydisperse counterparts. Although easy foaming methods exist for the generation of polydisperse foams, they do not allow the control over the polydispersity. We thus used microfluidics to generate liquid chitosan foams with tunable polydispersities from below 5% up to 26%. Microfluidics allows to match the average bubble size and density of the polydisperse liquid chitosan foam with those of the monodisperse counterpart. After solidifying the liquid templates we obtained solid foams with controlled polydispersities and studied the in uence of the polydispersity on the mechanical properties. However, we observed that not the polydispersity but the foam density was the main parameter at play. Moreover, the solid chitosan foams had weak mechanical properties with elastic moduli below 100 kPa. To overcome this issue, we incorporated cellulose nanofibres to the original chitosan solution and followed the developed route for foam templating. We had to adapt the microfluidic parameters to account for the viscosity changes brought about by the nanofibres. However, we managed to produce monodisperse liquid foams having the same bubble size, i.e. ~300 µm, but different amounts of cellulose nanofibres. The cellulose content had a strong influence on the solid foam morphology in general and on the pore connectivity in particular.Item Open Access Hydrogen transport in thin films : Mg-MgH2 and Ti-TiH2 systems(2018) Hadjixenophontos, EfiHydrogen storage has become progressively important due to increasing energy demand. Magne-sium (Mg/MgH2) is one of the most promising elements of hydrogen uptake, however, the slow kinetics and need for high temperatures during dehydrogenation make this material challenging for mobile applications. Meanwhile, Titanium (Ti/TiH2/TiO2) draws attention due to its catalytic effect in hydrogenation of other metals with higher capacities. A comprehensive way to quantitatively char-acterize the kinetics of hydride formation in both systems (Mg and Ti) is shown here. A technique allowing a large range of pressures and temperatures (room temperature to 300 °C and from 0.05 bar up to 100 bar) is developed successfully. Thin films (50-1000 nm), deposited by ion beam sput-tering (PVD), are used because of their smooth surface and defined structure. In order to study hydrogen transport precisely, X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy (SEM/FIB/TEM) and electric resistance measurements are used. In the case of Mg, while a Pd coating is used as catalyst, the hydride is formed from the surface towards the substrate and transformation in the morpholo-gy is observed. Parabolic law is followed and the diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in MgH2 is ob-tained at room temperature (2.67 · 10-17 cm2/s). Additionally, a model is created to fit the experi-mental change in resistance during hydrogen loading and shows the changes in the behavior of thicker layers. The interface between Pd/Mg is discussed, since Mg5Pd2 and Mg6Pd are formed at high temperatures and are most dominant over dehydrogenation. However, at room temperature, this interface appears to be more stable. The activation energy of hydrogenation is calculated ex-perimentally from an Arrhenius plot to be equal to Ea = 22.6 ± 2.0 kJ/mol and the pre-factor D0 = 3904 cm2/s. Additional attention is given to magnesium hydride as an anode electrode in Li-ion bat-teries. TEM investigations of thin film electrodes demonstrate the complete lithiation of the mate-rial however, with drastic volume changes, leading to bad reversibility. In Ti the thin oxide layer naturally formed on the surface, appears to play a dominant role in the kinetics of hydrogen transport leading to a linear kinetics. A pressure dependency is observed, while an experimental evaluation of the permeation coefficient in the oxide is also discussed. Important information on the hydrogen transport is obtained in both systems, giving an input for further improvements of such hydrides.Item Open Access Misfit-layered cobalt oxides for thermoelectric energy conversion(2017) Büttner, Gesine; Weidenkaff, Anke (Prof. Dr.)The conversion of waste heat into electrical current by a thermoelectric converter can significantly contribute to a more sustainable usage of our resources. The p-type misfit-layered [Ca2CoO3-δ][CoO2]1.62 is known for its promising conversion efficiency, which yet needs to be improved significantly for commercial applications. The efficiency of a material increases with the Figure of Merit ZT=σα^2/κ, with Seebeck coefficient α, electrical conductivity σ, and thermal conductivity κ. The aim of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the electrical and the thermal properties of the complex [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 and to use this understanding to improve the efficiency of converters. Accordingly, (i) the increase of ZT via cation substitution is shown; (ii) a better understanding of the electrical transport above room temperature is developed; (iii) the effect of stoichiometric defects and secondary phases on the thermoelectric properties is investigated. Finally, (iv) [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 - CaMn0.97W0.03O3 δ - converters are fabricated and the efficiency is increased by a suitable converter design. More specifically, the unexplored influence of Ru and In substitution on the thermoelectric properties of the polycrystalline [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 is investigated. While In does not have a positive effect, Ru for Co substitution increases ZT up to 20 %. This increase stems from a strong reduction of the thermal conductivity - which is probably induced by resonance scattering - while the decrease of the power factor α^2 σ is minor. The electrical transport mechanism of pure and Ru-substituted [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 between room temperature and 800 K so far lacks a coherent theoretical model. Surprisingly, the framework of Anderson localization, which was developed to describe conduction in an impurity band of semiconductors, can be applied to the oxide. The Anderson model assumes that transport happens via charge-carrier hopping in a random Coulomb potential. For [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62, charges are considered to hop between Co sites in the CoO2 layer, while the random potential originates from interactions with the mismatched Ca2CoO3 δ layer. The presence of the ionized Ru atoms further alters the Coulomb potential, which increases the activation energy of the transport behavior. This understanding might contribute to the development of better theoretical models for the prediction of the thermoelectric properties of substituted [Ca2CoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 compounds. A further improvement of the materials efficiency can be achieved by systematic introduction of stoichiometric defects and impurity phases. Here, the unexplored influence of the Co/Ca ratio on the thermoelectric properties of [Ca2 wCoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62, and the effect of Co3O4 impurity phase are investigated. It is shown that an increasing Co/Ca ratio in the [Ca2 wCoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 phase leads to a larger figure of merit ZT induced by a strong resistivity drop. The decrease of resistivity stems from additional p-type charge carriers created by the formation of Ca vacancies. The Co3O4 impurity phase increases the thermal conductivity of the composite samples and leads to a reduction of ZT when the volume fraction of the Co3O4 phase is increased from 1% to 3%. Hence, the best figure of merit is expected close to the upper phase boundary of the [Ca2 wCoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 phase. Not only the figures of merit of the materials, but also the design of a thermoelectric converter determines the device efficiency. In a converter, a p-type and a suitable n-type thermoelectric material are connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel. Here, [Ca2 wCoO3 δ][CoO2]1.62 is combined with the n-type CaMn0.97W0.03O3-δ and the device efficiency is improved by a variation of the ratio A_p/A_n of the cross section areas of the legs. The good agreement between the experimental values and the predictions of the compatibility model show the high quality of the fabricated devices and the value of the model for the optimization of the converter design. The adjustment of A_p/A_n improves the power output and the efficiency of the converters, where the best volume and area power densities exceed published high temperature values. The achieved efficiency of 1.08 % at a temperature of 1085 K at the hot side is close to the theoretical expected efficiency and can be further improved via ZT.Item Open Access Calculation of reaction rate constants via instanton theory in the canonical and microcanonical ensemble(2018) Löhle, Andreas; Kästner, Johannes (Prof. Dr.)Item Open Access Electronic transport properties of DNA sensing nanopores : insight from quantum mechanical simulations(2017) Sivaraman, Ganesh; Fyta, Maria (Jun.-Prof. Dr.)The translocation of DNA through nanopores is an intensively studied field as it can lead to a new perspective in DNA sequencing. During this process the DNA is electrophoretically driven through a nanoscale hole in a membrane, and use different sensing schemes to read out the sequence. Within the scope of nanopore sequencing two important sensing schemes relevant to this thesis are: 1.) Tunneling sequencers based on solid state nanopores embedded with gold electrodes 2.) 2D materials beyond graphene For scheme 1, an obvious improvement is to coat the gold electrode with molecules that have high conductance and can form instantaneous hydrogen bond bridges with the translocating polynucleotide thereby improving the transverse current signal. The molecule that we propose is the so called diamondoid which are diamond caged molecules with hydrogen termination. Before applying such a molecule to a nanopore electrode set up, one would like to understand their interaction with DNA and its nucleobases. For this purpose, hydrogen bonded complexes formed between nitrogen doped derivatives of smallest diamondoids (i.e. adamantane derivatives) and nucleobases were investigated using dispersion corrected density functional theory (DFT). Mutated and methylated nucleobases are also taken into consideration in these investigations. DFT calculations revealed that hydrogen bonds are of moderate strength. In addition, starting from the DFT predicted hydrogen bonding configuration for each complex, rotations, and translations along a reference axis was performed to capture variations in the interaction energies along the donor-acceptor groups of the hydrogen bonds. The electronic density of states analysis for the hydrogen bonded complexes revealed distinguishable signatures for each nucleobase, thereby showing the suitability for application in electrodes functionalised with such probe molecules. In the next step, an adamantane derivative is placed on one of the electrode and nucleotides are introduced in such a way that nucleobases form hydrogen bonds with the of the nitrogen group of the adamantane derivatives. Electronic transport calculations were performed for gold electrodes functionalised with 3 different adamantane derivatives. Four pristine nucleotides, one mutated, and one methylated nucleotides were considered. Analysis of the transmission spectra reveal that each of the nucleotides has a unique resonance peak far below the Fermi level. We have also proposed a gating voltage window to sample the resonance peaks of the nucleotide so that they can be distinguished from each other. An alternative to tunneling sequencers would be to use nanopores built in to ultra thin metallic nanoribbons such as graphene. The sequence can be read out from the in-plane current modulation resulting from the local field effect of the translocating nucleotides in the vicinity of the metallic pore edges. But the hydrophobicity of graphene makes it a difficult candidate in aqueous environment. Hence in scheme 2, the aim is to model an ultra thin material that can rectify the hydrophobicity of graphene and can be a very good candidate for current modulation sequencing. Ultra thin MoS2 (2H) monolayer exist as direct band gap semiconductor. Nanopores based on 2H phases have been reported in the literature and are not hydrophobic. By means of chemical exfoliation of the 2H phase, a meta stable 1T phase of MoS2 has also been synthesized by various experimental groups. The 1T phase of MoS2 is metallic. The aim of this thesis is to model a nano-biosensor template based on a hybrid MoS2 monolayer made up of a metallic (1T) phase sandwiched between semiconducting (2H) phase. The sensor that we propose, should have only metallic nanopore edges. As a first step, we have modeled the semiconductor-metal interface, and compared them with experiments. Then an investigation to understand the influence of the increase of the metallic unit on the electronic properties is performed. Since, point defects are highly relevant to electrochemical pore growth, a point sulfur defect analysis is provided to ascertain the weakest point in the sheet. Finally to understand the effect of the interface electronic transport calculations are performed. The transmission spectra reveals a clear asymmetry in the current flow across the interface by means of gating. In the end, the relevance of such a hybrid MoS2 material for nanopore sequencing is discussed.