Photochromic samarium oxyhydride thin films
Diana Chaykina (TU Delft - ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
G. Colombi (TU Delft - ChemE/Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage)
Herman Schreuders (TU Delft - ChemE/O&O groep)
Bernard Dam (TU Delft - ChemE/Chemical Engineering)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Photochromism has been reported for several rare-earth (RE) metal oxyhydride thin films and is characterized by a reversible darkening of the sample when exposed to light with energy greater than its optical bandgap. Here, we extend the range of known photochromic RE-oxyhydrides to include samarium oxyhydrides. These SmH3−2xOx thin films are made by reactive magnetron sputtering of as-deposited SmH1.9+δ and post-oxidation in the air to the oxyhydride phase. The deposition pressure during sputtering is used to control the resultant properties of the Sm-oxyhydride film, such as the optical bandgap, cubic lattice constant, photochromic contrast, and photochromic bleaching speed. Using Sm as the RE-cation results in slower bleaching speeds compared to other lanthanides. We posit that this is due to the stability of the Sm2+ state and the difficulty to oxidizing it back to the original RE3+ state. This points to the key role of the RE-cation charge state for the optical properties of the material.
help_outline