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Widely tunable optical properties via oxygen manipulation in an amorphous alloy

基于非晶合金体系的氧调控实现宽范围光学性能的精准可调

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Abstract

The ability to widely tune the optical properties of amorphous alloys is highly desirable especially for their potential applications in optoelectronic devices. In this work, we demonstrate that introducing oxygen into an amorphous alloy system of Co-Fe-Ta-B enables the formation of various amorphous derivatives ranging from metals to semiconductors, and eventually to insulators. These oxygen-containing amorphous derivatives gradually become transparent with the opened bandgaps, leading to a continuous increase in their optical transmittance. Furthermore, the reflective metal-type amorphous alloy and transparent insulator-type amorphous oxide of the system can be integrated together to realize the full-color tuning over the entire visible spectral range. This provides a new way to develop large-area color coatings with high design flexibility and full-color tun-ability. We envisage that the design concept proposed in this work is also applicable to many other amorphous alloy systems, from which all types of amorphous materials including alloys, semiconductors and insulators may be developed to show unprecedented optical functionalities.

摘要

宽范围精准调控非晶材料的光学性能是面向光电器件等潜在应用亟需解决的关键问题之一. 研究发现, 通过在非晶合金Co-Fe-Ta-B体系中引入氧可以诱导金属-绝缘体转变, 从而制备出一系列涵盖金属、半导体和绝缘体的非晶态衍生物. 随着氧含量的不断增加, 这些含氧非晶态衍生物的光学带隙打开, 薄膜逐渐变得透明. 复合高反射率的非晶合金和高透过率的非晶氧化物形成的双层薄膜结构可以实现可见光波段的全色谱可调. 该研究结果为研制具有高硬度、高耐磨性、设计制备简便、全色谱可调等优异性能的大面积彩色涂层提供了一条新的途径. 同时, 该研究提出的设计理念可能适用于已报道的很多非晶合金体系, 通过这种氧调控方式可制备出涵盖金属、半导体和绝缘体所有导电类型的非晶材料, 用于研制基于这些材料光学功能特性的器件.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (51922053), and the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University. Zhong XY is grateful for the funding from the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFB0700402), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51822105 and 11834009), the City University of Hong Kong (9610484) and the Shenzhen Research Institute, the City University of Hong Kong. This work made use of the resources of the National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing. We thank Mr. Guo ZL for technique support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology (MOE), The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ying-qi Zhang  (张盈祺), Sheng-ye Tao  (陶圣叶), Yu-zhang Jiao  (焦宇漳), Kai-ming Zheng  (郑凯鸣), Kai-xuan Fang  (方凯旋), Ke-Fu Yao  (姚可夫) & Na Chen  (陈娜)

  2. International Center for Quantum Materials, Peking University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Li-ying Zhou  (周丽颖) & Limei Xu  (徐莉梅)

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China

    Li-ying Zhou  (周丽颖) & Limei Xu  (徐莉梅)

  4. Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621907, China

    Jin-feng Li  (李晋锋)

  5. Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 1538505, Japan

    Yuan-chao Hu  (胡远超)

  6. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials (MOE), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Cheng Song  (宋成) & Zheng-jun Zhang  (张政军)

  7. National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xiao-yan Zhong  (钟虓龑)

  8. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Xiao-yan Zhong  (钟虓龑)

Authors
  1. Ying-qi Zhang  (张盈祺)
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  2. Li-ying Zhou  (周丽颖)
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  3. Sheng-ye Tao  (陶圣叶)
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  4. Yu-zhang Jiao  (焦宇漳)
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  5. Jin-feng Li  (李晋锋)
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  6. Kai-ming Zheng  (郑凯鸣)
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  7. Yuan-chao Hu  (胡远超)
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  8. Kai-xuan Fang  (方凯旋)
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  9. Cheng Song  (宋成)
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  10. Xiao-yan Zhong  (钟虓龑)
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  11. Limei Xu  (徐莉梅)
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  12. Ke-Fu Yao  (姚可夫)
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  13. Zheng-jun Zhang  (张政军)
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  14. Na Chen  (陈娜)
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Contributions

Zhang YQ, Zhou LY, Tao SY, Jiao YZ, Zheng KM and Fang KX contributed to the experimental tests. Xu L and Chen N co-wrote the manuscript and led the direction of the work. Chen N conceived the project and supervised the entire research. All authors contributed to the discussion, interpretation and presentation of the results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Limei Xu  (徐莉梅) or Na Chen  (陈娜).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Yingqi Zhang received her Master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Tsinghua University. During her study at Tsinghua University, she focused her research on the development and properties of new magnetic semiconductors.

Limei Xu received her PhD degree in physics from Boston University in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, she was an assistant professor at the World Premier International Research Center Initiative-Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University of Japan. Then she became an associate professor at the International Center of Quantum Materials (ICQM), Peking University. Now she is a full professor of ICQM, Peking University. Her current research interests are mainly focused on soft condensed matter physics and computational physics.

Na Chen received her PhD degree in materials science and engineering from Tsinghua University in 2008. She was a research associate at the WPI-AIMR, Tohoku University of Japan in 2008, where she became an assistant professor in 2010. Now, she is an associate professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University. Her current research interests are focused on the design and development of new types of non-equilibrium nanomaterials and their potential applications.

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Zhang, Yq., Zhou, Ly., Tao, Sy. et al. Widely tunable optical properties via oxygen manipulation in an amorphous alloy. Sci. China Mater. 64, 2305–2312 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1628-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1628-6

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