Title: Nanostructured oxyspinel multilayers for novel high-efficient conversion and control

Authors: I. Hadzaman; H. Klym; O. Shpotyuk

Addresses: Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, 24 I. Franko str., Drohobych, 80100, Ukraine ' Lviv Polytechnic National University, 12 Bandera str., Lviv, 79013, Ukraine ' Lviv Institute of Materials of SRC 'Carat', 202 Stryjska str., Lviv, 79031, Ukraine; Institute of Physics of Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, 13/15 Al. Armii Krajowei, Czestochowa, 42201, Poland

Abstract: Multilayered temperature-/humidity-sensitive thick-film p-i-p+ structures based on spinel-type semiconducting ceramics of different chemical composition (Cu0.1Ni0.1Co1.6Mn1.2O4 with p+-type of electrical conductivity and Cu0.1Ni0.8Co0.2Mn1.9O4 with p-type of electrical conductivity) and magnesium aluminate i-type MgAl2O4 ceramics, as well as temperature-sensitive p-p+ and p-p+-p structures were prepared and studied. It is shown that increasing the quantity of thick-film layers (from two to three) results in the improvement of the temperature sensitivity of thick-film structures. Humidity-sensitive thick films in one-layered form possess good linear dependence of electrical resistance on relative humidity without hysteresis in the range of 40-99%. Integrated p-i-p+ thick-film structures are stable in time and can be successfully applied for integrated environmental sensors. In addition, anomalous proton charge-transfer processes were studied for the first time in these p-i-p+ multilayers as a basis for novel electrical power sources, energy conversion and storage distinguished by high functional reliability, technological reproducibility and cost-effective synthesis route. A so-called aqueous-voltaic effect was revealed as electric motion force generation caused by orientation influence of electrical fields within separate p-i and i-p+ bilayers. This effect is strongly dependent on technical parameters of p-i-p+ nanostructure, reaching approximately 0.2 V for typical thick-film depths.

Keywords: spinel type semiconducting ceramics; nanostructured thick films; oxyspinel multilayers; energy conversion; nanotechnology; energy storage; thick film layers; temperature sensitivity; nanostructures; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2014.063793

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2014 Vol.11 No.9/10/11, pp.843 - 853

Published online: 14 Jan 2015 *

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