Formation of Me-O-Si covalent bonds at the interface between polysilazane and stainless steel

Dodji Amouzou, Lionel Fourdrinier, Fabrizio Maseri, Robert Sporken

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    In earlier works, we demonstrated the potential of polysilazane (PSZ) coatings for a use as insulating layers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells prepared on steels substrates and showed a good adhesion between PSZ coatings and both AISI316 and AISI430 steels. In the present paper, spectroscopic techniques are used to elucidate the reason of such adhesion. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate surfaces for the two steel substrates and showed the presence of metal oxides and metal hydroxides at the top surface. XPS has been also used to probe interfaces between substrates and PSZ, and metallosiloxane (Me-O-Si) covalent bonds have been detected. These results were confirmed by Infra-Red Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS) analyses since vibrations related to Cr-O-Si and Fe-O-Si compounds were detected. Thus, the good adhesion between steel substrates and PSZ coatings was explained by covalent bonding through chemical reactions between PSZ precursors and hydroxide functional groups present on top surface of the two types of steel. Based on these results, an adhesion mechanism between steel substrates and PSZ coatings is proposed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)519-523
    Number of pages5
    JournalApplied Surface Science
    Volume320
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Keywords

    • Cr-O-Si
    • Fe-O-Si
    • Hydroxide
    • Oxide
    • Polysilazane
    • Stainless steel

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