Browsing by Subject "Low energies"
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Item Open Access Methods for probing charging properties of polymeric materials using XPS(2010) Sezen, H.; Ertas, G.; Süzer, ŞefikVarious thin polystyrene, PS, and poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA and PS + PMMA blend films have been examined using the technique of recording X-ray photoelectron spectrum while the sample is subjected to ±10 V d.c. bias, and three different forms of (square-wave (SQW), sinusoidal (SIN) and triangular (TRG)), a.c. pulses. All films exhibit charging shifts as observed in the position of the corresponding C1s peak under d.c. bias. The a.c. pulses convert the single C1s peak to twinned peaks in the case of the square-wave form, and distort severely in the cases of the SIN, and TRG forms, and all three of them exhibit strong frequency dependence. In order to mimic and better understand the behavior of these polymeric materials, an artificial dielectric system consisting of a clean Si-wafer coupled to an external 1 MΩ resistor and 56 nF capacitor is created, and its response to different forms of voltage stimuli, is examined in detail. A simple electrical circuit model is also developed treating the system as consisting of a parallel resistor and a series capacitor. With the help of the model, the response of the artificial system is successfully calculated as judged by comparison with the experimental data. Using one high frequency SQW measurements, the off-set in the charging shift due to the extra low-energy neutralizing electrons is estimated. After correcting the corresponding off-set shifts, the XPS spectra of the three different PS films, one PMMA, and one PS + PMMA blend film are re-examined. As a result of these detailed analysis, there emerges a clear relationship between the thicknesses of the PS films with their charging abilities. In the blend film, PS and PMMA domains are electrically separated, and exhibit different charging shifts, however, the presence of one is felt by the other. Hence, the PS component shifts are larger in the blend, due to the presence of PMMA domains, which has intrinsically a larger Reff, and conversely the PMMA component shifts are smaller due to the presence of PS domains.Item Open Access Response of polyelectrolyte layers to the SiO2 substrate charging as probed by XPS(2009) Conger, C. P.; Süzer, ŞefikA single layer of the Cationic polyelectrolyte poly(allyamine) hydrochloride (PAH) deposited, using the layer-by-layer technique, on a silicon substrate containing 5 nm oxide layer is investigated by XPS while applying an external potential bias to the sample to control and manipulate the charge built-up on the oxide layer. Under application of a -10 V bias, the oxide layer is positively charged due to Photoemission process, evidenced by the measured Si2p binding energy of 104.4 eV. Application of a +10 V bias attracts the low energy neutralizing electrons, stemming from a hot filament, and leads to a negatively charged oxide layer, also evidenced by the measured Si2p binding energy of 102.9 eV. The single polyelectrolyte overlayer also responds to this polarity change of the oxide layer underneath by displaying a somewhat larger shifts both in the C1s and Nls peaks. In addition to the shifts in the positions, the N1s peaks undergo a significant intensity depletion, mostly on the positively charged -N+ component. We interpret this intensity depletion to be the result of reorientation of some of the dangling positively charged groups by moving toward the negatively charged oxide underlayer. To our knowledge this is the first time that a chemically specific response to an electrical stimuli is reported using XPS. A bilayer LbL film consisting of PAH and PSS, exhibits even a larger charging shift, but this time no intensity alteration is observed, most probably due to locking of the -N+ groups by the -SO3 + counterions of the second layer. © 2009 American Chemical Society.