Adjustment of the Mechanical Properties of Silicone for Applications in the Middle Ear

In case of loss of the auditory ossicular chain, the application of a middle ear prosthesis is necessary. For this prosthesis, a silicone pad shall be developed to minimize pressure peaks and for the prevention of forcing of the tympanic membrane. It is important to adjust the mechanical properties for best hearing quality. Therefore different siloxanes and additives like nanoporous silica nanoparticles are used. The latter also can act as drug carriers. The visco-elastic properties of the silicone can be changed significantly by slight variations of the composition.DFG/SFB/59

Biomaterialien für Implantate im Ohrbereich

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Solar cell process development in the european integrated project crystalclear

CrystalClear is a large integrated project funded by the European Commission that aims to drastically reduce the cost of crystalline Si PV modules, down to 1 Euro/Wp. Among the different subprojects, the one dealing with the development of advanced solar cells is relatively large (with 11 partners out of the 15 Crystal Clear partners taking part) and has a crucial role. The goal of the subproject is to develop cell design concepts and manufacturing processes that would enable a reduction in the order of 40% of the cell processing costs per Wp. In this paper, we give an overview of all the development work that has taken place in the CrystalClear solar cells subproject so far. World class results have been achieved, particularly on high efficiency cells on Si ribbons, and on industrial-type solar cells on very thin (120 (j.m thick) substrates

Nucleation and growth of transition metals on a thin alumina film

Abstract We have studied the growth of various metals (Pd, Rh, Co and Ir) on a thin well-ordered alumina film in order to elucidate the influence of film structure and deposition conditions on nucleation and growth behaviour. All metals exhibit a three-dimensional growth mode in agreement with thermodynamic considerations. The nucleation is, however, dominated by the defects of the substrate. At a deposition temperature of 90 K, point defects are the primary nucleation centres. At 300 K, the situation is different for some metals (such as Pd and Rh) since decoration of steps and film domain boundaries is favoured under these conditions. This temperature dependence points to a stronger interaction of the diffusing metal atoms with the line defects which, however, can only play a role if the thermal energy is sufficiently high to reach them. Metals which are expected to interact more strongly with the support (such as Ir and Co) do not show such a diversity with respect to their nucleation behaviour