Starting from our big universe to the microscopic world, phase transitions play an important role in nature. Just after the Big Bang our universe experienced multiple phase transitions, from high-temperature plasma to the matter we know today.
Phase transi ...
This thesis reports on the study and use of low temperature processes for the deposition of indium gallium nitride (InGaN) thin films in order to alleviate some of the present drawbacks of its monolitic deposition on silicon for photovoltaic applications. ...
In the third study, the order-disorder phase transition of single-crystal C60 is studied using time-resolved electron microscopy. Solid C60 undergoes a first-order phase transition upon heating to 260 K. This is a structural transition from the low-tempera ...
While the development of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI(3)) perovskite for photovoltaics has grown rapidly, the growth of high-quality material from vapor processes continues to be difficult due to challenges including crystallinity control. Methylamine ...
Thanks to the continuous improvement of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, largely dominating the market, photovoltaic electricity is nowadays the cheapest source of energy on the market. Yet, solar energy is far from being completely harvested, as t ...
Barocaloric (BC) materials provide cheaper and more energy efficient alternatives to traditional refrigerants. Some liquid alkanes were recently shown to exhibit a colossal BC effect, matching the entropy changes in commercial vapour-liquid refrigerants. D ...
We examine the role of charge, structural, and spin degrees of freedom in the previously poorly understood phase transition in the 5d1 transition-metal double perovskite Cs2TaCl6 using a combination of computational and experimental techniques. Our heat ca ...
Lignin hydrogenolysis is a key step in the sustainable production of renewable bio-based chemicals and fuels. Heterogeneous metal catalysts have led to high yields but they rapidly deactivate, notably due to nanoparticle sintering and carbonaceous deposit ...
The deposition of fine sediment on top of the riverbed affects the reproduction of spawning fishes and some species of benthos. The clogging of the substrate resulting from this deposition is a well-known issue in rivers affected by anthropogenic activity ...
Observing the fast dynamics of nanoscale systems is crucial in order to understand and ultimately control their behavior. Characterizing these dynamic processes requires techniques with atomic spatial resolution and a temporal resolution that matches the t ...
Two-dimensional (2D) materials are of great interest in many fields due to their astonishing properties at an atomic level thickness. Many fundamentally different methods to synthesize 2D materials, such as exfoliation or chemical vapor deposition (CVD), h ...