PIXE analysis of atmospheric particulate matter in glass fibre filters

A 3-step extraction procedure was developed to allow particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis of particulate matter in normal glass fibre filter samples. The detection limits, expressed in ng/m3 of air, for the filter extracts were 5 to 30 times lower than those achieved by PIXE analysis of ordinary Nuclepore polycarbonate filter samples. The concentration results were compared with those obtained from routine atomic absorption spectrometry measurements and with the PIXE data from Nuclepore stacked filter unit samples taken in parallel

Evaluation of copper oxide thin films as electrodes for microbatteries

In this work, copper oxide thin films have been evaluated for use as electrodes in thin film batteries. The films were deposited by dc sputtering at low power, in order to produce nanoparticulated films. Samples were deposited onto unheated or heated (420 degrees C) substrates. Both kind of samples are nanoparticulated, with distinct grain sizes, and amorphous. The potential profiles and cycling capacity in lithium electrolyte were investigated and are similar to those obtained for copper oxide in powder form. The discharge capacity for samples deposited onto heated substrates depends on the previous treatment of the samples, and the stabilized capacity values are higher than for the samples deposited without intentional heating of the substrates, and suitable for use in lithium-ion microbatteries. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.155235836

Copper-vanadium mixed oxide thin film electrodes

In this work, small amounts of vanadium atoms were incorporated in copper oxide films in order to decrease the charge capacity loss during the electrochemical lithium reaction, mainly in the first cycle. Reactive sputtering was the film deposition technique used to deposit pure copper oxide films, CuO, and copper--vanadium mixed oxides CuO(VOy). The composition, oxidation state and crystallinity of the deposited films were investigated. Electrochemical studies were performed, and the results demonstrated that the mixed oxides have a better electrochemical behavior with a higher capacity and stability in the charge/discharge processes, when compared to the pure CuO films behavior. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.162167968

A round robin characterisation of the thickness and composition of thin to ultra-thin AlNO films

International audienceA round robin characterisation of the thickness and composition of thin to ultra-thin AINO films was organised. Thirteen participant groups used various ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques to determine quantitatively the thickness, areal density and concentration of aluminium, nitrogen and oxygen in films with thicknesses ranging nominally from 1 to 100 nm. Most of the ratios reported are not statistically different from the reference values, and only very seldom are large deviations observed. It was not possible to identify a given technique or a group of techniques as being more reliable for analysing the ultra-thin samples. Unexpected deviations in some results reflect a need for further measurements of fundamental quantities, namely cross-sections and stopping powers in energy ranges useful for IBA. Furthermore, precise measurements of beam fluence and detector solid angle would lead to improvements in the accuracy of some of the quantities reported, particularly areal densities. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved