PROJECT
Project ID: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1209
Project Director: Dr. Daniel Cristea
Project title: Magnetron sputtered Me-Me binary oxynitride multifunctional thin solid films
Project Type: National
Project Program: HUMAN RESOURCES, Young Teams
Funded by: Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, UEFISCDI
Contractor: Transilvania University of Brasov
Project Status: on-going
Start Date: 15 September 2020
End Date: 14 September 2022
Background
Binary Me oxynitride-type compounds (Me1Me2OxNy, where Me1, Me2 = Ti, Al, Sr, Nb, Mg, Mo, etc.) have received attention in recent years due to their original properties compared to their oxide or nitride parents. For example, the decrease of the band-gap consecutive of the nitrogen substitution for oxygen in the perovskite (Me1Me2O3) structure leads to an absorption in the visible domain, with potential applications as pigments and visible photocatalysts, for instance, in overall water splitting reactions. Other applications which have been proposed are mostly related to high-temperature solar selective absorbing coatings for parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) photo-thermal conversion: NbTiON; WAlON, NbAlON, NbMoON, all with the same purpose (absorbing layers). Furthermore, NbAlON was proposed as a superconductive material. TiAlON films were reported to be potentially used as corrosion resistant films, as dark decorative coatings, as oxidation and wear resistant dry cutting tool coatings, as high temperature miniaturized strain gauges, as absorber layers for photo-thermal conversion multilayers. The multitude of possible applications for Me1Me2OxNy-type materials stems from the numerous types of structures that can arise, controllable through the processing parameters (deposition, thermal annealing, etc.).
This work is supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-1209, within PNCDI III.
