Crystal Structure,Electronic and Optical Properties of Epitaxial Alkaline Earth Niobate Thin Films (eBook)

Supervisor’s Foreword 6
Bibliography 7
Abstract 8
Acknowledgements 10
Contents 12
Symbols 16
1 Introduction 18
1.1 Introduction to Transition Metal Oxide Materials 18
1.1.1 Introduction 18
1.1.2 The Demand for Novel Functional Materials 19
1.1.3 Unique Property and Wide Applications of TMOs 19
1.1.4 Perovskite Oxides 21
1.1.5 Some Typical Transition Metal Oxides 22
1.2 Photocatalytic Water Splitting 24
1.2.1 Why Is Photocatalytic Water Splitting Needed? 24
1.2.2 Honda-Fujishima Effect and History of Photocatalytic Water Splitting 25
1.2.3 Basic Principle and Steps of Photocatalytic Water Splitting 27
1.3 Nonlinear Optical Properties of Saturable Absorption 30
1.4 The Strain-Induced Effect 30
1.5 Thesis Outline 31
Bibliography 32
2 Sample Preparation and Characterization Techniques 35
2.1 Solid State Synthesis 35
2.2 Pulsed Laser Deposition 36
2.2.1 History of Pulsed Laser Deposition 36
2.2.2 The Mechanism and Process of Pulsed Laser Deposition 37
2.2.3 The Advantage of Pulsed Laser Deposition 38
2.3 Crystal Structure Characterization 39
2.4 Photocatalytic Water Splitting Property Measurement 40
2.5 Electrical Transport Property Measurement 41
2.5.1 Three Measurement Modes of Electrical Transport Property Measurement 41
2.5.2 “PPMS Hall Data Calculator” Vi (Virtual Instruments) for Rapid PPMS Hall Data Processing 44
2.6 Optical Absorption Property Measurement 46
2.7 Transient Absorption Spectroscopy 47
2.7.1 Transient Dynamic Characterization by Ultrafast Laser System 47
2.7.2 Time-Resolved Pump-Probe Spectroscopy Technique 48
2.7.3 Improvement of the Control VI of Transient Absorption Setup 50
2.8 Nonlinear Optical Property Measurement 53
Bibliography 55
3 The Nature of Electron Transport and Visible Light Absorption in Strontium Niobate—A Plasmonic Water Splitter 57
3.1 Introduction 57
3.1.1 Introduction to Photocatalytic Water Splitting Materials 57
3.1.2 Introduction to the Photocatalytic Property of Strontium Niobate 58
3.1.3 The Problem of the Interband Transition Model 58
3.2 Experimental Procedure 59
3.3 Results and Discussion 64
3.3.1 The Crystal Structure and Elemental Composition of Strontium Niobate Thin Films 64
3.3.2 The Electrical Transport Property of Strontium Niobate Thin Films 67
3.3.3 The Optical Absorption Property of Strontium Niobate Thin Films 68
3.3.4 Plasmon Resonance in SrNbO3 70
3.3.5 The Carrier Dynamics of SrNbO3 71
3.3.6 The Calculated Band Structure and Projected Density of States (DOS) of Strontium Niobate 75
3.4 Conclusion 75
Bibliography 75
4 Comparison of Water Splitting Efficiencies of MNbO3-? (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) 79
4.1 Introduction 79
4.1.1 Introduction to Semiconductor Photocatalysts 79
4.1.2 The Motivation to Find More Metallic Photocatalysts 80
4.2 Experimental Procedure 80
4.3 Results and Discussion 81
4.3.1 The Photocatalytic Efficiencies of MNbO3 81
4.3.2 The Electrical Transport Properties of MNbO3 84
4.3.3 The Absorbance Efficiencies and Plasmon Resonance Frequencies of MNbO3 85
4.3.4 The Transient Absorbance Spectra of MNbO3 86
4.4 Conclusion 89
Bibliography 89
5 New Tunable and Low-Loss Correlated Plasmons in Mott-like Insulating Oxides 91
5.1 Introduction 91
5.1.1 Introduction to This Chapter 91
5.1.2 The Motivation to Study Plasmons in SrNbO3+? Family Material 91
5.2 Experimental Procedure 92
5.3 Results 93
5.3.1 The Electrical Transport Property of SrNbO3+? 93
5.3.2 The Complex Dielectric Function and Loss Function of SrNbO3+? 93
5.3.3 Optical Conductivity and Spectral Weight Analysis 97
5.3.4 Oxygen Extra Planes in SrNbO3+? 99
5.3.5 Thickness-Dependent Study of Correlated Plasmons 100
5.4 Discussion 101
5.5 Conclusion 103
Bibliography 104
6 The Nonlinear Optical Properties of MNbO3 (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) Thin Films 106
6.1 Passive Mode Locking and Saturable Absorption 106
6.1.1 Introduction to Passive Mode Locking 106
6.1.2 Saturable Absorber Materials 107
6.2 Experimental Procedure 107
6.3 Results and Discussion 109
6.3.1 The Crystal Structure of MNbO3 Thin Films Grown on LSAT Substrates 109
6.3.2 The Optical Absorption Property of MNbO3 Thin Films Grown on LSAT Substrates 110
6.3.3 The Electrical Transport Property of MNbO3 Thin Films Grown on LSAT Substrates 112
6.3.4 The Nonlinear Optical Properties of MNbO3 Thin Films Grown on LSAT Substrates 113
6.4 Conclusion 115
Bibliography 115
7 Strain-Induced Metal to Insulator Transition in Thin Film of SrNbO3 117
7.1 Introduction 117
7.2 Experimental Procedure 118
7.3 Results and Discussion 118
7.3.1 The Lattice Mismatch Between SrNbO3 and Various Substrates 118
7.3.2 The Strain-Induced Effect on the Electrical Transport Behavior of SrNbO3 Thin Films 122
7.4 Conclusion 124
Bibliography 125
8 Summary and Future Work 126
8.1 Summary 126
8.1.1 The Origin of Photocatalytic Property of SrNbO3—A Plasmonic Water Splitter 126
8.1.2 The Photocatalytic Properties of MNbO3 127
8.1.3 The Nonlinear Optical Properties of MNbO3 127
8.1.4 The Strain-Induced Metal to Insulator Transition in SrNbO3 Thin Films 128
8.2 Future Research 128
Bibliography 129
Appendix A: Derivation of Correction Equations of Transient Absorption Signal 130
Appendix B: Surface Area Calculation 132