Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Item
    Revealing all states of dewetting of a thin gold layer on a silicon surface by nanosecond laser conditioning
    (Amsterdam : Elsevier, 2021) Ernst, Owen C.; Uebel, David; Kayser, Stefan; Lange, Felix; Teubner, Thomas; Boeck, Torsten
    Dewetting is a ubiquitous phenomenon which can be applied to the laser synthesis of nanoparticles. A classical spinodal dewetting process takes place in four successive states, which differ from each other in their morphology. In this study all states are revealed by interaction of pulsed nanosecond UV laser light with thin gold layers with thicknesses between 1 nm and 10 nm on (100) silicon wafers. The specific morphologies of the dewetting states are discussed with particular emphasis on the state boundaries. The main parameter determining which state is formed is not the duration for which the gold remains liquid, but rather the input energy provided by the laser. This shows that each state transition has a separate measurable activation energy. The temperature during the nanosecond pulses and the duration during which the gold remains liquid was determined by simulation using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software package. Using these calculations, an accurate local temperature profile and its development over time was simulated. An analytical study of the morphologies and formed structures was performed using Minkowski measures. With aid of this tool, the laser induced structures were compared with thermally annealed samples, with perfectly ordered structures and with perfectly random structures. The results show that both, structures of the laser induced and the annealed samples, strongly resemble the perfectly ordered structures. This reveals a close relationship between these structures and suggests that the phenomenon under investigation is indeed a spinodal dewetting generated by an internal material wave function. The purposeful generation of these structures and the elucidation of the underlying mechanism of dewetting by short pulse lasers may assist the realisation of various technical elements such as nanowires in science and industry. © 2020
  • Item
    Vibrations of a laboratory-scale gas-stirred ladle with two eccentric nozzles and multiple sensors
    ([Singapore] : Springer Singapore, 2019) Alia, Najib; Pylvänäinen, Mika; Visuri, Ville-Valtteri; John, Volker; Ollila, Seppo
    During ladle stirring, a gas is injected into the steel bath to generate a mixing of the liquid steel. The optimal process control requires a reliable measurement of the stirring intensity, for which the induced ladle wall vibrations have proved to be a potential indicator. An experimental cold water ladle with two eccentric nozzles and eight mono-axial accelerometers was thus investigated to measure the vibrations. The effect of the sensors’ positions with respect to the gas plugs on the vibration intensity was analyzed, and experimental data on several points of the ladle were collected for future numerical simulations. It is shown that the vibration root-mean-square values depend not only on process parameters, such as gas flow rate, water, and oil heights, but also on the radial and axial positions of the sensors. The vibration intensity is clearly higher, close to the gas plumes, than in the opposite side. If one of the nozzles is clogged, the vibration intensity close to the clogged nozzle drops drastically (−36 to −59%), while the vibrations close to the normal operating nozzle are hardly affected. Based on these results, guidelines are provided for an optimized vibration-based stirring.
  • Item
    Modeling Polycrystalline Electrode-electrolyte Interfaces: The Differential Capacitance
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2020) Müller, Rüdiger; Fuhrmann, Jürgen; Landstorfer, Manuel
    We present and analyze a model for polycrystalline electrode surfaces based on an improved continuum model that takes finite ion size and solvation into account. The numerical simulation of finite size facet patterns allows to study two limiting cases: While for facet size diameter dfacet →0 we get the typical capacitance of a spatially homogeneous but possible amorphous or liquid surface, in the limit 1[nm] < dfacet, an ensemble of non-interacting single crystal surfaces is approached. Already for moderate size of the facet diameters, the capacitance is remarkably well approximated by the classical approach of adding the single crystal capacities of the contributing facets weighted by their respective surface fraction. As a consequence, the potential of zero charge is not necessarily attained at a local minimum of capacitance, but might be located at a local capacitance maximum instead. Moreover, the results show that surface roughness can be accurately taken into account by multiplication of the ideally flat polycrystalline surface capacitance with a single factor. In particular, we find that the influence of the actual geometry of the facet pattern in negligible and our theory opens the way to a stochastic description of complex real polycrystal surfaces. © 2020 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited.
  • Item
    A discussion of the cell voltage during discharge of an intercalation electrode for various C-rates based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics and numerical simulations
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2020) Landstorfer, Manuel
    In this work we discuss the modeling procedure and validation of a non-porous intercalation half-cell during galvanostatic discharge. The modeling is based on continuum thermodynamics with non-equilibrium processes in the active intercalation particle, the electrolyte, and the common interface where the intercalation reaction Li+ + e- ↔ Li occurs. The model is in detail investigated and discussed in terms of scalings of the non-equilibrium parameters, i.e. the diffusion coefficients DA and DE of the active phase and the electrolyte, conductivity sA and sE of both phases, and the exchange current density e0L, with numerical solutions of the underlying PDE system. The current density i as well as all non-equilibrium parameters are scaled s with respect to the 1-C current density iC A of the intercalation electrode. We compute then numerically the cell voltage E as function of the capacity Q and the C-rate Ch. Within a hierarchy of approximations we provide computations of E(Q) for various scalings of the diffusion coefficients, the conductivities and the exchange current density. For the later we provide finally a discussion for possible concentration dependencies. © The Author(s) 2019. Published by ECS.
  • Item
    Boundary conditions for electrochemical interfaces
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2017) Landstorfer, Manuel
    Consistent boundary conditions for electrochemical interfaces, which cover double layer charging, pseudo-capacitive effects and transfer reactions, are of high demand in electrochemistry and adjacent disciplines. Mathematical modeling and optimization of electrochemical systems is a strongly emerging approach to reduce cost and increase efficiency of super-capacitors, batteries, fuel cells, and electro-catalysis. However, many mathematical models which are used to describe such systems lack a real predictive value. Origin of this shortcoming is the usage of oversimplified boundary conditions. In this work we derive the boundary conditions for some general electrode-electrolyte interface based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics for volumes and surfaces. The resulting equations are widely applicable and cover also tangential transport. The general framework is then applied to a specific material model which allows the deduction of a current-voltage relation and thus a comparison to experimental data. Some simplified 1D examples show the range of applicability of the new approach.