Kinetics of the formation of gas bubbles during polarization of copper and graphite electrodes in electrolytic aqueous solutions

The adsorption and kinetic processes of the formation of gas bubbles passivating the surface during polarization of copper and graphite electrodes in 1% aqueous solution of sulfuric acid have been investigated. Three stages of the process related to the recharging of the double electric layer—adsorption accumulation of the gas escaping from the surface, the critical nucleation of the gas bubbles, and their subsequent growth—have been revealed, distinguished, and quantitatively estimated. It has been shown that potential leveling at the steady-state value specified by the Tafel equation is unambiguously associated with achievement of the limiting surface area screened by the gas bubbles for each particular current density. The surface diffusion constants D _H = (1.5–4.4) × 10⁻⁴ and (0.1–3.8) × 10⁻⁵ cm²/s of hydrogen on copper and graphite, respectively, and D _O = (1.8–4.5) × 10⁻⁷ cm²/s of oxygen on graphite during the motion toward the drain (the gas bubbles) have been calculated.     

Formation of bubbles and blisters in hydrogen ion implanted polycrystalline tungsten

ABSTRACT

Tungsten (W) has been regarded as one of the most promising plasma facing materials (PFMs) in fusion reactors. The formation of bubbles and blisters during hydrogen (H) irradiation will affect the properties of W. The dependence of implantation conditions, such as fluence and energy, is therefore of great interest. In this work, polycrystalline tungsten samples were separated into two groups for study. The thick samples were implanted by 18?keV H₃⁺ ions to fluences of 1?×?10¹⁸, 1?×?10¹⁹ and 1?×?10²⁰ H⁺/cm², respectively. Another thick sample was also implanted by 80?keV H₂⁺ ions to a fluence of 2?×?10¹⁷ H⁺/cm² for comparison. Moreover, the thin samples were implanted by 18?keV H₃⁺ ions to fluences of 9.38?×?10¹⁶, 1.88?×?10¹⁷ and 5.63?×?10¹⁷ H⁺/cm², respectively. Focused ion beam (FIB) combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used for micro-structure analysis, while time-of-flight ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) was used to characterize the H depth profile. It is indicated that bubbles and blisters could form successively with increasing H⁺ fluence. H bubbles are formed at a fluence of ～5.63?×?10¹⁷ H⁺/cm², and H blisters are formed at ～1?×?10¹⁹ H⁺/cm² for 18?keV H₃⁺ implantation. On the other hand, 80?keV H₂⁺ ions can create more trapping sites in a shallow projected range, and thus enhancing the blisters formation with a relatively lower fluence of 2?×?10^17?H⁺/cm². The crack-like microstructures beneath the blisters are also observed and prefer to form on the deep side of the implanted range.     

Effect of photoexcitation on the electrical performance of ZnS: Mn thin-film electroluminescent structures

It is shown that the kinetics of the charge and current passing through a thin-film electroluminescent emitter, as well as the I-V characteristics of the emitter, greatly diverge under blue, red, and IR pulsed illumination with photon energies of ≈2.6, ≈1.9, and ≈1.3 eV, respectively, and a photon flux density of 4×10¹⁴–3×10¹⁵ mm⁻² s⁻¹. Results obtained indicate that, during the operation of the emitter, deep centers associated presumably with V _Zn ²⁻ zinc vacancies and V _S ⁺ and V _S ²⁺ sulfur vacancies exchange charge. These centers lie above the valence band by ≈1.1, ≤1.9, and ≤1.3 eV, respectively. Their concentrations are estimated as (3–4)×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ for V _Zn ²⁻ and V _S ⁺ and ≈1.5×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ for V _S ²⁺ . It is demonstrated that positive and negative space charges forming in the near-anode and near-cathode regions of the phosphor layer specify the electric performance of the emitters.     

Influence of the cathode and anode jets on the properties of a high-current electric arc

A study is made of the effects related to the formation of electrode jets in discharges in hydrogen and air at a current of 10⁵–10⁶ A, a current growth rate of 10¹⁰ A/s, an initial pressure of 0.1–4.0 MPa, and a discharge gap length of 5–40 mm. After secondary breakdown, jets are observed in a semitransparent discharge channel expanding with a velocity of (4–7)×10² m/s. The formation of shock waves in the interaction of the jets with the ambient gas and the opposite electrode is observed by the shadowgraphy method. Seventy microseconds after the beginning of the discharge, the pressure of the metal vapor plasma near the end of the tungsten cathode amounts to 177 MPa. The brightness temperature in this case is T=59×10³ K, the average ion charge number is [`(m)] = 3.1\overline m = 3.1 , and the metal vapor density is n=5.3×10<sup>19</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup>. After 90 μs, the average ion charge number and the metal vapor density near the anode end are [`(m)] = 2.6\overline m = 2.6 and n=7.4×10¹⁹ cm⁻³, respectively. Based on the experimental data, possible reasons for the abnormally high values of the total voltage drop near the electrodes (up to ∼1 kV) are discussed.     

Influences of interfacial adhesion on gas barrier property of functionalized graphene oxide/ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene composites with segregated structure

The segregated graphene oxide(GO)/ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite films with various interfacial adhesion property were prepared by mechanical blending method from UHMWPE, GO, dodecyl amine (DA) functionalized graphene oxide(DA–GO) or uniform DA–GO/high density polyethylene (DA–GO/HDPE) powder. The results of XRD and XPS indicated that DA chain was successfully grafted onto GO sheets via a chemical method, which enhanced the interfacial adhesion between UHMWPE particles and GO sheets. The characterizations of POM and SEM proved that good segregated structure was only obtained in DA–GO/UHMWPE or DA–GO/HDPE/UHMWPE composite. Strong interfacial adhesion between fillers and matrix exhibits positive effect on gas barrier property. Compared to the GO/UHMWPE composite film, dramatic decrease in O₂ permeability coefficient by 42.2 and 48.1%, from 15.4 × 10^?14 to 8.9 × 10^?14 and 8.0 × 10^?14 cm³ cm cm^?2 s^?1 Pa^?1, is achieved upon the addition of only 0.5 wt% fillers, respectively. The DSC results demonstrated that the enhanced gas barrier performance was ascribed to the strong interfacial adhesion between DA–GO/HDPE and UHWMPE matrix, rather than the crystallinity of UHWMPE matrix. Additionally, the decrease in UHMWPE particle size might be conducive to improving the gas barrier property of composite films due to the formation of more isolation layers perpendicular to the film plane.     

Microstructural changes induced in borosilicate glasses by 1 MeV electrons

Radiation damage to borosilicate glass has been studied using a high voltage electron microscope to simultaneously generate and image structural changes At low doses and dose rates (φ ? 5 × 10²⁴ electrons m^-2, F ? 5 × 10²² el m^-2 s^-1), ionic depletion generates a new crystalline phase rich in S₁O₂ For incubation doses exceeding 5 × 10²⁴ electrons m^-2, gas bubbles are observed High damage rates are necessary for bubble nucleation though not for their subsequent growth The critical nucleation flux increases rapidly with irradiation temperature, whereas the gas precipitation efficiency remains constant above 300 K.     

OH number densities and plasma jet behavior in atmospheric microwave plasma jets operating with different plasma gases (Ar,Ar/N<Subscript>2</Subscript>, and Ar/O<Subscript>2</Subscript>)

OH radical number density in multiple atmospheric pressure microwave plasma jets is measured using UV cavity ringdown spectroscopy of the OH (A–X) (0–0) band at 308 nm. The plasma cavity was excited by a 2.45 GHz microwave plasma source and plasma jets of 2–12 mm long were generated by using three different plasma gases, argon (Ar), Ar/N₂, and Ar/O₂. Comparative characterization of the plasma jets in terms of plasma shape, stability, gas temperature, emission intensities of OH, NO, and N₂, and absolute number density of the OH radical was carried out under different plasma gas flow rates and powers at various locations along the plasma jet axis. With three different operating gases, the presence of OH radicals in all of the plasma jets extended to the far downstream. As compared to the argon plasma jets, the plasma jets formed with Ar/N₂ and Ar/O₂ are more diffuse and less stable. Plasma gas temperatures along the jet axis were measured to be in the range of 470–800 K for all of the jets formed in the different gas mixtures. In each plasma jet, OH number density decreases along the jet axis from the highest OH density in the vicinity of the jet tip to the lowest in the far downstream. OH density ranges from 1.3 × 10¹² to 1.1 × 10¹⁶, 4.1 × 10¹³ to 3.9 × 10¹⁵, and 7.0 × 10¹² to 4.6 × 10¹⁶ molecule/cm³ in the Ar, Ar/N₂, and Ar/O₂ plasma jets, respectively. The OH density dependence on plasma power and gas flow rate in the three plasma jets is also investigated.     

Surface damage and topography of erbium metal films implanted with helium to high fluences

Topographical and expansion effects which occur as a result of implanting erbium thin films with helium up to fluences of 1.5 × 10¹⁸ He⁺/cm² are described. There exists an inverse relationship between critical dose and annealing temperature with respect to the formation of surface bubbles. Post implantation annealing at or below 400°C is found to strongly reduce implantation induced expansion for doses less than 3.5 × 10¹⁷ He⁺/cm², but is observed to result in increased expansion above this dose. At temperatures above 400°C, expansion is increased for all doses investigated. Details of bubble development in the implanted layer are discussed and the manner in which surface bubbles develop from enlarged subsurface bubbles is illustrated.     

Plasma-based nitrogen tail pulse shutter for CO2-TEA lidar dial systems

This paper presents the construction, use and characterisation of a laser-induced sealed plasma shutter to clip off the nitrogen pulse tail of a CO₂-TEA laser-based lidar dial system. Investigation of the optimum gas filling pressure, temporal profile of the clipped pulse, and the laser threshold power intensities to achieve ionisation growth and breakdown in helium, argon, and nitrogen are also presented. Values of these power density thresholds lie between 3×10¹¹ W cm^-2–5×10¹² W cm^-2, 2×10¹¹ W cm^-2–2×10¹² W cm^-2 and 3×10¹³ W cm^-2–2×10¹⁴ W cm^-2 for helium, argon, and nitrogen, respectively. The range resolution attainable with the present clipped pulses is 15 m, which is 30 times better than that readily obtained with the nitrogen-tailed pulses. Field measurements of the lidar returns with the clipped pulse from a co-operative target are presented. Received: 27 December 1999 / Revised version: 11 February 2000 / Published online: 27 April 2000     

Self-diffusion of lithium,hydrogen, and oxygen ions in crystalline lithium hydroxide

The self-diffusion coefficients of ions of the three chemical elements forming lithium hydroxide have been determined by the crystal-crystal and crystal-gas isotope exchange method in the temperature range 500–720 K. Crystal samples with different isotope compositions have been grown by the Bridgman method from melts. The melting temperature is 743 ± 2 K. Original methods have been developed for high-precision measurements of the isotope ratios of all three elements, i.e., lithium (⁶Li/⁷Li), hydrogen (H/D), and oxygen (¹⁶O/¹⁸O), and their changes after diffusion annealings with the use of the same sample. The self-diffusion coefficients of lithium and hydrogen ions differ but by a factor of no more than 3–5; however, their values exceed those for oxygen by several orders of magnitude. In particular, at 670 K, they are equal to 6.0 × 10⁻⁹, 3.2 × 10⁻⁹, and 2.0 × 10⁻¹² cm² s⁻¹ for hydrogen, lithium, and oxygen, respectively. In the range 680–720 K, the self-diffusion coefficients of hydrogen and lithium increase sharply with increasing temperature to approximately 10⁻⁶ cm² s⁻¹. A probable mechanism of migration of protons and lithium ions in LiOH and the role played in this process by the oxygen ions with a lower mobility have been discussed.     

Microstructural changes in irradiated silica based glasses

High voltage electron microscopy studies have been performed on irradiated pure silica and borosilicate glasses to check their long-term stability when these materials are employed near high energy radioactive sources, such as in fusion reactors and during the storage of nuclear waste. The intense energetic beam of electrons produced by the Harwell 1 MeV microscope, ranging from 10¹⁷ to 10²⁰ e/cm²/s has been focused upon specimens of various composition and impurity content at different temperatures up to about 850°C. Pure silica samples have also been bombarded with 46.5 MeV Ni+6 ions at the Variable Energy Cyclotron. It is found that while no significant changes are detectable in pure irradiated silica, clear evidence is present in complex borosilicate glasses for the growing of large defect clusters (over 1000 Å, resembling gas bubbles) after electron doses of about 8.5 × 10¹⁹ e/cm² and dose rates exceeding 2 × 10¹⁸ e/cm²/sec. Moreover, small regions, about 100 Å wide, scattering electrons more than the matrix are also present. The nature of this fine microstructure has been established as a phase separation into crystalline tridymite. The observations are discussed in terms of their dependence on temperature, sample thickness, dose and dose rates.     

Density dependence of electron drift velocities in helium and hydrogen at 77.6 K

Electron drift velocities have been measured in helium and hydrogen at 77.6 K and gas density of 6.6×10²¹ cm^?3 (approximately 80 atm). At these high densities the electron drift velocities do not depend only on the ratio of the electric field to gas density (E/N). At constantE/N the electron drift velocity decreases with increasing gas density. In helium a decrease was found down to 6.4% of the value at low density, in hydrogen down to 0.52%. The results are discussed in terms of theories of multiple scattering. Legler's theory fits our data in the lower density range, but at the highest densities predicts too small an effect. The percolation theory by Eggarter and Cohen gives no agreement with the experiment. Up to the highest densities we did not find bubbles; slow negative charge carriers could be identified as oxygen ions.     

Elastic scattering of the conduction electrons by adsorbed hydrogen

The cross section of adsorbed hydrogen for the conduction electrons is evaluated according to the Boltzmann-Fuchs equation, the Greene and Soffer theories for surface scattering of the conduction electrons and to the change of the electrical resistivity due to hydrogen adsorbed on evaporated nickel films obtained experimentally by Suhrmann et al. The calculated cross sections are 2.0 × 10^?15 cm² and 1.8 × 10^?15 cm² at 273°K and 90°K respectively at a low coverage of hydrogen, which are consistent with the theoretical value 3.0 × 10^?15 cm² by Toya and reasonable compared with 0.9 × 10^?15 cm², the cross section of a gaseous hydrogen atom. The cross section decreases with increase of the coverage. This change is considered to be closely related to that of the heat of adsorption.     

Features of the hydrodynamic pressure field of an electric explosion in an equilibrium gas-liquid medium

The hydrodynamic features of an electric explosion in a bubble gas-liquid mixture are studied in the equilibrium approximation of the medium for the case of fine gas bubbles when the initial size of the latter ranges from units to tens of micrometers, as is observed when actual liquids contain natural gas. In mathematically modeling the electric-explosion processes, the characteristics of the hydrodynamic field were calculated, taking into account the finite size of the plasma piston for which the quasi-wave equation with the nonlinear barotropic equation of state of the mixture was numerically integrated, using an explicit finite-difference scheme in an ellipsoidal coordinate system. It is established that the presence of gaseous inclusions manifests itself when the gas concentration is ɛ ₀≳10⁻⁴, whereas appreciable nonlinear effects appear when ɛ ₀≳5×10⁻³. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 7–12 (July 1998)     

Formation of ordered helium pores in amorphous silicon subjected to low-energy helium ion irradiation

Thin transparent (for transmission electron microscopy, TEM) self-supported Si(001) films are irradiated on the (110) end face by low-energy (E=17 keV) He⁺ ions at doses ranging from 5×10¹⁶ to 4.5×10¹⁷ cm⁻² at room temperature. The TEM study of the irradiated Si films along the ion range shows that an a-Si layer forms in the most heavily damaged region and helium pores (bubbles) with a density of up to 3×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and 2–5 nm in diameter nucleate and grow across the entire width of this layer. The growth of nanopores in the a-Si layer is accompanied by their linear ordering into chains oriented along the ion tracks. The absence of pores in the region that remains crystalline and has the maximal concentration of implanted helium is explained by the desorption of helium atoms from the thin film during the irradiation. After annealing at 600°C, the volume of immobile pores in the remaining a-Si layer increases owing to the capture of helium atoms from the amorphous matrix. Solid solution is shown to be the prevalent state of the helium implanted into the amorphous silicon. Linear features with a diameter close to 1 nm and density of about 10⁷ cm⁻¹ discovered in the helium-doped a-Si layer are identified as low-energy He⁺ ion tracks.     

Impacts of Ti on electrical properties of Ge metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitors with ultrathin high-k LaTiON gate dielectric

Ge Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with LaON gate dielectric incorporating different Ti contents are fabricated and their electrical properties are measured and compared. It is found that Ti incorporation can increase the dielectric permittivity, and the higher the Ti content, the larger is the permittivity. However, the interfacial and gate-leakage properties become poorer as the Ti content increases. Therefore, optimization of Ti content is important in order to obtain a good trade-off among the electrical properties of the device. For the studied range of the Ti/La₂O₃ ratio, a suitable Ti/La₂O₃ ratio of 14.7% results in a high relative permittivity of 24.6, low interface-state density of 3.1×10¹¹ eV⁻¹ cm⁻², and relatively low gate-leakage current density of 2.0×10⁻³ A cm⁻² at a gate voltage of 1 V.     

Target plasma formation by UHF power

The properties of plasma injected into an open magnetic trap of uniform field from an independent UHF source have been investigated. Plasma is created in the UHF source at the frequency of 2400 MHz (power input 150 W) in the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) regime at the pressure of neutral argon (10⁻⁵−10⁻²) torr. It is established that a rather quiescent target plasma with controlled density within the range of (2 × 10⁸−2 × 10¹²) cm⁻³ and temperature 2–3eV is accumulated in the trap. It turned out that plasma lifetime in the trap is determined by a classical mechanism of particle escape at the expense of collisions, at fixed value of magnetic field in the trap it practically is not changed with the variation of neutral gas pressure and reaches the value ≈ 4×10⁻³ s at the magnetic field strength in the trap equal 1600 Oe.     

UHV-compatible magnetic material for atom optics

Magnetic videotape is of great interest for trapping and guiding cold atomic vapors, but was hitherto considered unsuitable for manipulating Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) because of the presumed evolution of gas under vacuum. We have studied the outgassing in vacuum of the most promising tape, Ampex 398 Betacam SP. We find that after cleaning in ethanol and baking for 200 h at 100 °C the magnetic patterns are undisturbed and the outgassing is remarkably small: 4×10^-10 Torr l s^-1cm^-2, due mostly to hydrogen. This makes the tape exceedingly attractive for manipulation of BEC. Received: 12 February 2001 / Published online: 7 June 2001     

Electron cyclotron resonance breakdown studies in a linear plasma system

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma breakdown is studied in a small linear cylindrical system with four different gases — hydrogen, helium, argon and nitrogen. Microwave power in the experimental system is delivered by a magnetron at 2.45 ± 0.02 GHz in TE₁₀ mode and launched radially to have extra-ordinary (X) wave in plasma. The axial magnetic field required for ECR in the system is such that the fundamental ECR surface (B = 875.0 G) resides at the geometrical centre of the plasma system. ECR breakdown parameters such as plasma delay time and plasma decay time from plasma density measurements are carried out at the centre using a Langmuir probe. The operating parameters such as working gas pressure (1 × 10⁻⁵−1× 10⁻² mbar) and input microwave power (160–800 W) are varied and the corresponding effect on the breakdown parameters is studied. The experimental results obtained are presented in this paper.