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Now showing 1 - 10 of 106
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    Mechanisms of bonding effected by nanoparticles in zirconia coatings applied by spraying of suspensions
    (Saarbrücke : Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien, 2008) Adam, Jens; Aslan, Mesut; Drumm, Robert; Veith, Michael
    Zirconia coatings consisting of a mixture of coarse and fine grained zirconia powders prepared by spraying of suspensions and subsequent thermal treatment at limited temperatures (up to 500°C) are poor in adherence and in intrinsic mechanical strength. We have shown elsewhere that mechanical properties of these coatings can be improved clearly by adding a small amount of nanoscaled zirconia. Here, the structural and the chemical development of this coating material and of the nanoparticles is examined to gain information about the underlying bonding mechanisms. The applied temperature is relatively low in comparison to the usual onset temperature of accelerated sintering. Nevertheless, the results show that diffusion controlled material transport mechanisms play their role in bonding. The condensation of surface OH groups may participate in bonding, too. These first results confirm the potential of nanoparticles to act as inorganic binder. Additional research effort to clarify the underlying mechanisms in detail is of interest. For the practical side, it can be concluded that the resulting effect of mechanical consolidation of ceramic structures at relatively low temperatures enables new ceramic applications, for example a new type of ceramic coatings on metallic substrates.
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    Fabrication of metal nanoparticle arrays by controlled decomposition of polymer particles
    (Bristol : IOP Publishing, 2013) Brodoceanu, Daniel; Fang, Cheng; Voelcker, Nicolas Hans; Bauer, Christina T.; Wonn, Anne; Kroner, Elmar; Arzt, Eduard; Kraus, Tobias
    We report a novel fabrication method for ordered arrays of metal nanoparticles that exploits the uniform arrangement of polymer beads deposited as close-packed monolayers. In contrast to colloidal lithography that applies particles as masks, we used thermal decomposition of the metal-covered particles to precisely define metal structures. Large arrays of noble metal (Au, Ag, Pt) nanoparticles were produced in a three-step process on silicon, fused silica and sapphire substrates, demonstrating the generality of this approach. Polystyrene spheres with diameters ranging between 110 nm and 1 µm were convectively assembled into crystalline monolayers, coated with metal and annealed in a resistive furnace or using an ethanol flame. The thermal decomposition of the polymer microspheres converted the metal layer into particles arranged in hexagonal arrays that preserved the order of the original monolayer. Both the particle size and the interparticle distance were adjusted via the thickness of the metal coating and the sphere diameter, respectively.
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    Light-Emitting Devices – Luminescence from Low-Dimensional Nanostructures
    (London : IntechOpen, 2014) Mousavi, S.H.; Jafari Mohammdi, S.A.; Haratizadeh, H.; Oliveira, Peter W. de
    [no abstract available]
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    Adhesion of a rigid punch to a confined elastic layer revisited
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2017) Hensel, René; McMeeking, Robert M.; Kossa, Attila
    The adhesion of a punch to a linear elastic, confined layer is investigated. Numerical analysis is performed to determine the equivalent elastic modulus in terms of layer confinement. The size of the layer relative to the punch radius and its Poisson’s ratio are found to affect the layer stiffness. The results reveal that the equivalent modulus of a highly confined layer depends on its Poisson’s ratio, whereas, in contrast, an unconfined layer is only sensitive to the extent of the elastic film. The solutions of the equivalent modulus obtained from the simulations are fitted by an analytical function that, subsequently, is utilized to deduce the energy release rate for detachment of the punch via linear elastic fracture mechanics. The energy release rate strongly varies with layer confinement. Regimes for stable and unstable crack growth can be identified that, in turn, are correlated to interfacial stress distributions to distinguish between different detachment mechanisms.
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    Vanadia–titania multilayer nanodecoration of carbon onions via atomic layer deposition for high performance electrochemical energy storage
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Fleischamann, Simon; Tolosa, Aura; Zieger, Marco; Krüner, Benjamin; Peter, Nicolas J.; Grobelsek, Ingrid; Quade, Antje; Kruth, Angela; Presser, Volker
    Atomic layer deposition has proven to be a particularly attractive approach for ecorating mesoporous carbon substrates with redox active metal oxides for lectrochemical energy storage. This study, for the first time, capitalizes on the cyclic character of atomic layer deposition to obtain highly conformal and atomically controlled decoration of carbon onions with alternating stacks of vanadia and titania. The addition of 25 mass% TiO2 leads to expansion of the VO2 unit cell, thus greatly enhancing lithium intercalation capacity and kinetics. Electrochemical characterization revealed an ultrahigh discharge capacity of up to 382 mA h g^-1 of the composite electrode (554 mA h g^-1 per metal oxide) with an impressive capacity retention of 82 mA h g^-1 (120 mA h g^-1 per metal oxide) at a high discharge rate of 20 A g^-1 or 52C. Stability benchmarking showed stability over 3000 cycles when discharging to a reduced potential of ^-1.8 V vs. carbon. These capacity values are among the highest reported for any metal oxide system, while in addition, upercapacitor-like power performance and longevity are achieved. At a device level, high specific energy and power of up to 110 W h kg^-1 and 6 kW kg^-1, respectively, were achieved when employing the hybrid material as anode versus activated carbon cathode.
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    Niobium carbide nanofibers as a versatile precursor for high power supercapacitor and high energy battery electrodes
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2016) Tolosa, Aura; Krüner, Benjamin; Fleischmann, Simon; Jäckel, Nicolas; Zeiger, Marco; Aslan, Mesut; Grobelsek, Ingrid; Presser, Volker
    This study presents electrospun niobium carbide/carbon (NbC/C) hybrid nanofibers, with an average diameter of 69 ± 30 nm, as a facile precursor to derive either highly nanoporous niobium carbide-derived carbon (NbC–CDC) fibers for supercapacitor applications or niobium pentoxide/carbon (Nb2O5/C) hybrid fibers for battery-like energy storage. In all cases, the electrodes consist of binder-free and free-standing nanofiber mats that can be used without further conductive additives. Chlorine gas treatment conformally transforms NbC nanofiber mats into NbC–CDC fibers with a specific surface area of 1508 m2 g−1. These nanofibers show a maximum specific energy of 19.5 W h kg−1 at low power and 7.6 W h kg−1 at a high specific power of 30 kW kg−1 in an organic electrolyte. CO2 treatment transforms NbC into T-Nb2O5/C hybrid nanofiber mats that provide a maximum capacity of 156 mA h g−1. The presence of graphitic carbon in the hybrid nanofibers enabled high power handling, maintaining 50% of the initial energy storage capacity at a high rate of 10 A g−1 (64 C-rate). When benchmarked for an asymmetric full-cell, a maximum specific energy of 86 W h kg−1 was obtained. The high specific power for both systems, NbC–CDC and T-Nb2O5/C, resulted from the excellent charge propagation in the continuous nanofiber network and the high graphitization of the carbon structure.
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    Work on non photocatalytically active titania particles
    (Saarbrücke : Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien, 2009) Müller, Thomas S.; Faller-Schneider, Christine; Moh, Karsten; Shanmugasundaram, Sakthivel; Oliveira, Peter W. de; Veith, Michael
    Titanium dioxide has photocatalytic properties, i.e. under UV irradiation it develops an oxidative potential. In photocatalysis this is very desirable, but not when nano particulate titania is embedded into organic polymer matrices in order to increase the refractive index. UV irradiation would in this case destroy the material in the long run. For deactivation in general the titania is coated by e.g. silica or alumina which leads to other undesired effects like growth of the particle size and enhanced light scattering. The current work focuses on the application of techniques for doping during synthesis of crystallization of nano particulate TiO2. The photocatalysis activity was determined by degradation experiments of 4-chlorophenol using dip coated glass plates under artificial sunlight, where decreases of the photocatalytic effect of up to 90 % were found.
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    Templated Self-Assembly of Ultrathin Gold Nanowires by Nanoimprinting for Transparent Flexible Electronics
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2016) Maurer, Johannes H. M.; González-García, Lola; Reiser, Beate; Kanelidis, Ioannis; Kraus, Tobias
    We fabricated flexible, transparent, and conductive metal grids as transparent conductive materials (TCM) with adjustable properties by direct nanoimprinting of self-assembling colloidal metal nanowires. Ultrathin gold nanowires (diameter below 2 nm) with high mechanical flexibility were confined in a stamp and readily adapted to its features. During drying, the wires self-assembled into dense bundles that percolated throughout the stamp. The high aspect ratio and the bundling yielded continuous, hierarchical superstructures that connected the entire mesh even at low gold contents. A soft sintering step removed the ligand barriers but retained the imprinted structure. The material exhibited high conductivities (sheet resistances down to 29 Ω/sq) and transparencies that could be tuned by changing wire concentration and stamp geometry. We obtained TCMs that are suitable for applications such as touch screens. Mechanical bending tests showed a much higher bending resistance than commercial ITO: conductivity dropped by only 5.6% after 450 bending cycles at a bending radius of 5 mm.
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    Entwicklung eines kratzfesten, transparenten Pulverlackes
    (Saarbrücken : Universität des Saarlandes, 2014) Jochum, Marlon
    Im Rahmen der Arbeit wurde versucht einen transparenten, kratzfesten Pulverlack herzustellen. Es wurden kommerziell erhältliche Böhmitnanopartikel auf ihre Eignung als Kompositbestandteil untersucht und mit einem zweikomponentigen Poly\-ur\-ethan\-ma\-trix\-sy\-stem als Pulverlackbinder kombiniert. Zur Herstellung eines Komposites wurden die Bestandteile in einem Heissextrusionsverfahren ineinander dispergiert. Es wurden sowohl modifizierte als auch unmodifizierte Böhmitpartikel zur Kompositherstellung verwendet. Eine Art Böhmitpartikel wurde mit einem Isocyanatosilan modifiziert und ebenfalls Komposite hergestellt. Die Böhmitpartikel wirkten sich positiv auf die Stabilität der Bindermatrix aus, allerdings ohne die Kratzfestigkeit merklich zu erhöhen. Aus den mit Isocyanatosilan modifizierten Böhmitpartikeln wurden Komposite mit wechselndem Komponentenverhältnis hergestellt. Dabei wurde festgestellt, daß die modifizierten Partikel mit der Matrix eine leichte Bindung eingehen und diese verfestigen.
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    Process-morphology-property-relationships of titania-filled polypropylene nanocomposites
    (India : Integrated Publishing Association, 2015) Schlarb, Alois K.; Lin, Leyu; Suwitaningsih, Dwi N.; Suksut, Buncha
    Although the research and development of nanocomposites for almost a decade focused on structural properties, these properties remained until today far below expectations, which were forecast at the beginning of the new millennium. However, even if it is well known that the processing history has a major impact on the structure and properties of final components, this aspect was not subject of intensive research in the past. The talk focuses on the role of the manufacturing sequence on the morphology and properties of polypropylene based nanocomposites. In general it can be stated that the incorporation of nano-sized TiO2-fillers improves the some mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites as long as the production enables a good dispersion and distribution of the nanofiller agglomerates. However, with increasing filler loading, the morphology of injection molded parts changes: The size of the spherulites and the degree of crystallinity decreases while the crystallization/solidification proceeds faster. Simultaneously a slight improvement in the mechanical performance up to a certain filler loading can be found. However, improved mechanical properties of the nanocomposites in the final component cannot be exploited if its production in a subsequent welding step is required. The reason for the decrease in the mechanical properties is the decrease in the viscosity by the addition of the fillers, and thereby caused extreme flow processes and subsequent orientation of the fillers as well as the weakening of the filler/matrix-interphase in the welding zone. In summary, it can be observed that nanocomposites increasingly offer great opportunities for applications where single-component materials reach their limits. The key to success is the processing. Therefore it is of crucial importance that the total manufacturing history is understood and controlled. Only then it is possible to sustainably exploit the potential of polymer nanocomposites in the application.