Articles and Theses – 2022

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2022

Articles | Theses

Articles

W. Kooijman, D.J. Kok, M.A.R. Blijlevens, H. Meekes, E. Vlieg, Screening double salt sulfate hydrates for application in thermochemical heat storage, Journal of Energy Storage, 55 (2022) 111770.

T. Lerdwiriyanupap, G. Belletti, P. Tinnemans, R. Cedeno, H. Meekes, E. Vlieg, A. Flood, The influence of Ostwald’s rule of stages in the deracemization of a compound using a racemic resolving agent, Cryst. Growth Des., 22 (2022), 1459–1466.

M.A.R. Blijlevens, N. Mazur, W. Kooijman, H. Fischer, H. Huinink, H. Meekes, E. Vlieg, A study of the hydration and dehydration transitions of SrCl2 hydrates for use in heat storage, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 242 (2022) 111770.

S.J.T. Brugman, P. Accordini, F. Megens, J.J. De vogelaer, E. Vlieg, Ordered and disordered carboxylic acid monolayers on calcite (104) and muscovite (001) surfaces, J. Phys. Chem. C, 126 (2022) 8855-8862.

M. van Eerden, J. van Gastel, G.J. Bauhuis, E. Vlieg, J. Schermer, Comprehensive analysis of photon dynamics in thin-film GaAs solar cells with planar and textured rear mirrors, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 242 (2022) 111770.

S. E. Lepinay, R. Nijveld, K.P. Velikov, N. Shahidzadeh, NaCl Crystals as Carriers for Micronutrient Delivery, ACS Omega, 7 (2022), No. 33, 28955–28961.

L. Jacobse, V. Vonk, I.T. McCrum, C. Seitz, M.T.M. Koper, M.J. Rost, A. Stierle, Electrochemical oxidation of Pt(111) beyond the place-exchange model, Electrochimica Acta, 407 (2022) 139881

L. Vincent, E.M.T. Fadaly, C. Renard, W.H.J. Peeters, M. Vettori, F. Panciera, D. Bouchier, E.P.A.M. Bakkers, M.A. Verheijen, Growth-Related Formation Mechanism of I3-Type Basal Stacking Fault in Epitaxially Grown Hexagonal Ge-2H, Advanced Materials Interfaces, 9 (2022), No. 16, 2102340.

J.J.P.M. Schulpen, M.A. Verheijen, W.M.M. Kessels, V. Vandalon, A.A. Bol, Controlling transition metal atomic ordering in two-dimensional Mo1- xW xS2alloys, 9 (2022), No. 2, 025016

Affiliations
o Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
o Eurofins Materials Science BV, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

The unique optical and electronic properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) make them promising materials for applications in (opto-)electronics, catalysis and more. Specifically, alloys of 2D TMDs have broad potential applications owing to their composition-controlled properties. Several important challenges remain regarding controllable and scalable fabrication of these alloys, such as achieving control over their atomic ordering (i.e. clustering or random mixing of the transition metal atoms within the 2D layers). In this work, atomic layer deposition is used to synthesize the TMD alloy Mo1−xWxS2 with excellent composition control along the complete composition range 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1. Importantly, this composition control allows us to control the atomic ordering of the alloy from well-mixed to clustered while keeping the alloy composition fixed, as is confirmed directly through atomic-resolution high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron micrography imaging. The control over atomic ordering leads to tuning of the bandgap, as is demonstrated using optical transmission spectroscopy. The relation between this tuning of the electronic structure and the atomic ordering of the alloy was further confirmed through ab-initio calculations. Furthermore, as the atomic ordering modulates from clustered to well-mixed, the typical MoS2 and WS2 A1g vibrational modes converge. Our results demonstrate that atomic ordering is an important parameter that can be tuned experimentally to finely tune the fundamental properties of 2D TMD alloys for specific applications.

G. Badawy, B. Zhang, T. Rauch, J. Momand, S. Koelling, J. Jung, S. Gazibegovic, O. Moutanabbir, B.J. Kooi, S. Botti, M.A. Verheijen, S.M. Frolov, E.P.A.M. Bakkers, Electronic Structure and Epitaxy of CdTe Shells on InSb Nanowires, Advanced Science, 9, (2022), No. 12, 2105722

Affiliations
o Applied Physics Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB Netherlands
o Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260 USA
o Institut für Festkörpertheorie und -optik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, 07743 Germany
o Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9747 AG Netherlands
o Department of Engineering Physics, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, C.P. 6079, Succ. CentreVille, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada
o Eurofins Material Science Netherlands B.V., High Tech Campus 11, Eindhoven, 5656 AE Netherlands

Indium antimonide (InSb) nanowires are used as building blocks for quantum devices because of their unique properties, that is, strong spin-orbit interaction and large Landé g-factor. Integrating InSb nanowires with other materials could potentially unfold novel devices with distinctive functionality. A prominent example is the combination of InSb nanowires with superconductors for the emerging topological particles research. Here, the combination of the II–VI cadmium telluride (CdTe) with the III–V InSb in the form of core–shell (InSb–CdTe) nanowires is investigated and potential applications based on the electronic structure of the InSb–CdTe interface and the epitaxy of CdTe on the InSb nanowires are explored. The electronic structure of the InSb–CdTe interface using density functional theory is determined and a type-I band alignment is extracted with a small conduction band offset (0.3 eV). These results indicate the potential application of these shells for surface passivation or as tunnel barriers in combination with superconductors. In terms of structural quality, it is demonstrated that the latticematched CdTe can be grown epitaxially on the InSb nanowires without interfacial strain or defects. These shells do not introduce disorder to the InSb nanowires as indicated by the comparable fieldeffect mobility measured for both uncapped and CdTe-capped nanowires.

A. van der Weijden, M. van Hecke and W.L. Noorduin, Contraction and expansion of nanocomposites during ion exchange reactions, Cryst.Growth Des., 22 (2022), No. 4, 2289-2293.

Affiliations

o AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
o Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, Leiden 2333 CA, The Netherlands
o Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1090 GD, The Netherlands

The next generation of advanced functional materials can greatly benefit from methods for realizing the right chemical composition at the right place. Nanocomposites of amorphous silica and
metal carbonate nanocrystals (BaCO3/SiO2) form an attractive starting point as they can straightforwardly be assembled in different controllable three-dimensional (3D) shapes, while the chemical composition of the nanocrystals can be completely converted via ion exchange. Nevertheless, it is still unknown let alone predictable how nanoscopic changes in the lattice volume of the nanocrystals translate to changes in the microscopic dimensions of 3D BaCO3/SiO2 structures during ion exchange. Here, we demonstrate that the microscopic shape adapts to contraction and expansion of the atomic spacing of nanocrystals. Starting from BaCO3/SiO2, we systematically decrease and increase lattice volumes by converting the BaCO3 nanocrystals into a range of chalcogenides and perovskites. Based on geometrical analysis, we obtain a precise prediction for how the microscopic nanocomposite volume follows the change in nanoscopic crystal volume. The silica matrix facilitates mechanical flexibility to adapt to nanoscopic volume changes, while preserving the 3D morphology and fine details of the original composite with high fidelity. The versatility and predictability of shape-preserving conversion reactions open up exciting opportunities for using nanocomposites as functional components.

C.T. van Campenhout, D.N. ten Napel, M. van Hecke and W.L. Noorduin, Rapid formation of uniformly layered materials by coupling reaction–diffusion processes with mechanical responsiveness, PNAS, 119 (2022), No. 39, e2123156119: 1-6.

Affiliations
o AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
o Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, Leiden 2333 CA, The Netherlands
o Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1090 GD, The Netherlands

Equidistant layering of materials is central to the outstanding performance of biological minerals, such as nacre and bone, and offers exciting opportunities for classes of artificial materials with advanced functionalities. We demonstrate the self-organization of highly regular band patterns by embedding reaction–diffusion processes in mechanically responsive hydrogels. The mechanical deformation of the gel automatically regulates the local reactions conditions such that the reaction–diffusion process spontaneously generates equidistantly spaced layers. The simplicity, tunability, and generality of our self-organization strategy open exciting opportunities for exploiting reaction–diffusion processes toward fabricating components with advanced optical, mechanical, and thermal functionalities. Moreover, the here-introduced mechano-regulated chemical transport mechanism can impact our ability to understand and control pattern formation in complex and living matter

F. Ibis, T. Wang Yu, F. Marques Penha, D. Ganguly, M. A. Nuhu, A. E. D. M. van der Heijden, H. J. M. Kramer and H. B. Eral, Nucleation kinetics of calcium oxalate monohydrate as a function of pH, magnesium, and osteopontin concentra-tion quantified with droplet microfluidics, Biomicrofluidics, 2021, 15, 064103.

T. Lerdwiriyanupap, G. Belletti, P. Tinnemans, H. Meekes, F. Rutjes, E. Vlieg, A. Flood, Combining diastereomeric resolution and Viedma ripening using a racemic resolving agent, Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2021 (2021), 5975–5980

G. Belletti, J. Schuurman, H. Stinesen, H. Meeks, F. P.J.T. Rutjes, E. Vlieg, Combining Viedma ripening and temperature cycling deracemization, Cryst. Growth & Des., 22, 3, 1874–1881.

Daan van der Woude, Luc van der Krabben, Gerard Bauhuis, Maarten van Eerden, Jae Jin Kim, Peter Mulder, Joost Smits, Elias Vlieg and John Schermer, Ultrathin GaAs solar cells with a high surface roughness GaP layer for light-trapping application, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Application.

R. Aninat, F.J. van den Bruele, J.J. Schermer, P. Tinnemans, J. Emmelkamp, E. Vlieg, M. van der Vleuten, H. Linden, M. Theelen, In-situ XRD study on the selenisation parameters driving Ga/In interdiffusion in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 in a versatile, industrially-relevant selenisation furnace, Solar Energy 230 (2021) 1085-1094.

J. J. Devogelaer, M. D. Charpentier, A. Tijink, V. Dupray, G. Coquerel, K. Johnston, H. Meekes, P. Tinnemans, E. Vlieg, J. H. ter Horst, R. de Gelder. Cocrystals of praziquantel: Discovery by networkbased link prediction, Cryst. Growth & Des., 21 (2021) 3428-3437.

E. Deniz Eren, Wouter H. Nijhuis, Freek van der Weel, Aysegul Dede Eren, Sana Ansari, Paul H.H. Bomans, Heiner Friedrich, Ralph J. Sakkers, Harrie Weinans, Gijsbertus de With, Multiscale characterization of pathological bone tissue, Microsc. Res. Tech. 2022, 85, 469–486.

Xufeng Xu, Baohu Wu, Helmut Cölfen, Gijsbertus de With, Assembly Control at a Low Péclet Number in Ultracentrifugation for Uniformly Sized Nanoparticles, J. Phys. Chem. C 2021, 125, 8752−8758.

Bernette M. Oosterlaken, Heiner Friedrich and Gijsbertus de With, The effects of washing a collagen sample prior to TEM examination, Microsc. Res. Tech. 2022, 85, 412–417.

G. Belletti, J. Schuurman, H. Stinesen, H. Meeks, F. P.J.T. Rutjes, E. Vlieg, Combining Viedma ripening and temperature cycling deracemization, Cryst. Growth & Des., 22, 3, 1874–1881.

Daan van der Woude, Luc van der Krabben, Gerard Bauhuis, Maarten van Eerden, Jae Jin Kim, Peter Mulder, Joost Smits, Elias Vlieg and John Schermer, Ultrathin GaAs solar cells with a high surface roughness GaP layer for light-trapping application, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Application

E. Deniz Eren, Wouter H. Nijhuis, Freek van der Weel, Aysegul Dede Eren, Sana Ansari, Paul H.H. Bomans, Heiner Friedrich, Ralph J. Sakkers, Harrie Weinans, Gijsbertus de With, Multiscale characterization of pathological bone tissue, Microsc. Res. Tech. 2022, 85, 469–486.

Bernette M. Oosterlaken, Heiner Friedrich and Gijsbertus de With, The effects of washing a collagen sample prior to TEM examination, Microsc. Res. Tech. 2022, 85, 412–417.

Theses

Annemerel R. Mol, Biocrystallization for elemental sulfur recovery PhD defense: 25 February 2022, Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Wageningen

Promotor: Prof dr ir C.J.N. Buisman
Co-promotores: Dr R.D. van der Weijden and Ir J.B.M. Klok

This thesis studied a biotechnological process in which naturally occurring microorganisms, let’s call them ‘desulfurizers’, convert toxic and corrosive hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas to solid, reusable, and easily recoverable elemental sulfur crystals. H2S needs to be removed from (bio)gas to prevent sulfur dioxide formation during combustion to avoid the formation of acid rain. By studying the
biocrystallization mechanism of biologically formed sulfur, the settleability of the formed crystals was improved. A simple solution was discovered to do so: portion of the H2S is used to partially dissolve the elemental sulfur crystals. In this process, a soluble sulfur component is formed: polysulfide. Polysulfide formation, and subsequent conversion back to elemental sulfur makes the crystals more prone to agglomeration, which improves their recovery efficiency. The recovered sulfur has many applications, such as reuse in agriculture as fertilizer or fungicide, but also is suitable to apply in industrial processes.

Maarten van Eerden, Ultra-thin Gallium Arsenide solar cells –Light trapping, Photon recycling and the Franz-Keldysh effect.

PhD defense: 16 May 2022, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
Promotor: Prof. dr. Elias Vlieg
Co-promotor: Dr. ir. J.J. Schermer

Solar cells can be produced from a wide variety of different materials. The highest efficiencies are achieved in solar cells based on III-V semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs). Therefore, these cells exhibit high power-to-weight ratios, making them especially suited for unmanned aerial vehicles and space applications. However, the production costs for these cells are high, due to the expensive crystalline substrates required as production template and the slow, batch-process epitaxial growth using high-cost precursor materials. One strategy to reduce the fabrication costs and simultaneously increase the tolerance of these solar cells for the harsh conditions in space is to make the absorber layer significantly thinner, creating so-called ‘ultra-thin’ solar cells. This reduces the material costs, increases the growth throughput and improves the radiation hardness by making the cell performance less susceptible to radiation-induced degradation. However, ultra-thin solar cells absorb less sunlight and therefore typically have a lower efficiency. These cell designs therefore require optical structures that increase the path length of photons by ’trapping’ them inside the absorber layer. Such a lighttrapping scheme uses textured interfaces, for example at the rear mirror, to scatter incident photons into wide angles and exploit total internal reflection to trap light inside the material and thereby increase the absorptivity of the solar cell. For ultra-thin GaAs solar cells, these light-trapping schemes often have several drawbacks, such as increased fabrication complexity or additional parasitic losses that degrade the device performance. This thesis describes the development, fabrication and simulation of ultra-thin GaAs solar cells, demonstrating a novel and simple approach to implement light trapping in these cells. Based on this approach, 300-nm-thick GaAs solar cells with a record efficiency of 21.4% are fabricated. For the first time in a solar cell, the FranzKeldysh effect is demonstrated to have a significant impact on the performance metrics of these devices. Lastly, by developing a comprehensive framework that consistently models both absorption and emission, photon recycling and its impact on device performance is studied in detail, with an emphasis on ultra-thin GaAs solar cells

Fatma Ibis, Kidney Stone in a Chip. Understanding calcium oxalate kidney stone formation.

PhD defense: 8 June 2022, Delft University of Technology
Promotor: Prof. dr. ir. J.T. Padding
Co-promotor: Dr. H.B. Eral

Kidney stone formation is a global health problem with increasing prevalence. Stone formation is a physio-chemical process involving crystallization of inorganic salts in the presence of biological constituents in the urinary system. To inhibit kidney stone formation, a better understanding of the underlying physicochemical mechanism of stone formation in the kidney is required. In this thesis, the solubility, nucleation and growth of calcium oxalate (CaOx), the most common inorganic constituent of kidney stones, were studied under different conditions such as ion concentration, pH value, and also the role of inhibitors in water or artificial urine was investigated. The first step towards this work was obtaining the solubility curve of calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) in the solvent, such as ultrapure water and different buffers, to elucidate the physicochemical conditions which can cause the kidney stone formation (Chapter 2). Beside the solubility study, advanced technology to observe crystal formation in small scale and a very short time was needed. The volume, structure and flow properties inside the kidney inspired us to use microfluidic technology with comparable volume and flow rate. The developed microfluidic devices that mimic pathways in the human kidney were used to study the nucleation and growth of calcium oxalate crystals. The developed devices rendered an alternate perspective to the study of kidney stone formation and showed that microfluidics can provide precise, simple and fast detection of stone formation under various experimental conditions. Initially, the designed microfluidic device allowed us to build a testing platform for the study of nucleation kinetics of CaOx inside isolated environments provided by droplets. Preliminary experiments were performed by dissolving calcium chloride and sodium oxalate in ultrapure water. The aqueous solution, containing the ions, forms the droplet phase and oil were used as the continuous phase. Altering the pH values, as well as increasing the concentration of additives such as magnesium and osteopontin (OPN), were shown to slow down the nucleation kinetics, or even inhibit nucleation (Chapter 3). Next, the nucleation kinetics of CaOx was studied in artificial urine with varying concentrations of oxalate and, hyaluronic acid (HA), a protein commonly found in urine. The results showed that higher oxalate concentrations favored the formation of calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD), the metastable form, over COM, the most stable form. Additionally, COD was the fastest nucleating form in droplets under the conditions studied. An increasing concentration of HA at fixed calcium and oxalate concentrations favored the nucleation of COM. If COM nucleated first in the droplet, COD was not formed within the experimental time scale. However, in droplets where COD appeared first, COM crystals were observed later (Chapter 4). Finally, the growth of CaOx in a microfluidic device, mimicking the geometry of a kidney collecting duct under flow conditions relevant for kidney stone formation, was studied. Calcium and oxalate ions were brought in contact in ultrapure water and artificial urine. The growth of CaOx crystals was measured as a function of fluid flow rate, the molar ratio of calcium and oxalate and the addition of OPN. COM was mainly seen in ultrapure water, while COD was found in artificial urine. OPN was shown to slow down the kinetics of both COM and COD crystals in ultrapure water and artificial urine, furthermore, the highest OPN concentration inhibit both crystal types in both solutions. Flow velocity did not affect the growth of COM and COD in ultrapure water and artificial urine within the range studied (Chapter 5)

Jason Jung, Hybrid Selective Area Nanowire Networks
PhD defense: 13 December 2022, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven
Promoter: prof. dr. Erik Bakkers
Co-promoter: dr. Marcel A. Verheijen

Quantum computation promises to revolutionise information technology by making types of classically intractable problems solvable. The biggest obstacle to this yet to be realised technology is posed by errors. Largely driven by its suggested inherent fault tolerance, topological quantum computation has emerged as a compelling variant. A proposed material platform is based on semiconductor nanowires with strong spin-orbit Rashba interaction coupled to a conventional s-wave superconductor. Under a suitable magnetic field, this hybrid system is predicted to undergo a topological phase transition, with non-abelian quasiparticles appearing at the ends of the wire in the form of Majorana bound states. The required ability to braid these particles necessitates networks of nanowires, further amplifying the challenge for material scientists. This thesis investigates selective area growth as an approach to create hybrid semiconductor superconductor in-plane nanowire networks. Two semiconductors are studied, InSb and PbTe. They combine many sought-after properties including strong spin-orbit coupling, a large Landé g-factor, and a high carrier mobility. The initial development of large-scale InSb networks allows for building upon prior experience with the well-established material. At the same time, PbTe possesses a particularly high static dielectric constant, suppressing long-range tails of Coulomb potentials and shielding fluctuations caused by charge impurities and dislocations. This property conceals disorder in the material, amongst the biggest challenges faced by the eld. A newly uncovered growth mode involving a crystal reorientation process, facilitates single-crystalline epitaxy of PbTe layers on InP despite a large lattice mismatch, difference in crystal structure, and diverging thermal-expansion coefficients between the two materials. Selective area growth is then used to restrict the PbTe epitaxy to nanowire networks. The high quality of the resulting material is confirmed by transport experiments. Finally, the epitaxial growth of superconductors is explored to create the hybrid structures necessary to potentially host non-abelian anyons. A growth technique integrating shadow deposition with selective area growth is established, facilitating reproducible and scalable epitaxy of superconducting islands on nanowire networks. Together, these advances create a highly promising material platform for the next wave of Majorana based experiments.

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