12,411 research outputs found
Wetting and interactions of Ag–Cu–Ti and Ag–Cu–Ni alloys with ceramic and steel substrates for use as sealing materials in a DCFC stack
Get PDFThe authors would like acknowledge the financial support received from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/K015540/1] and the European Coal and Steel Community [RFCR-CT-2011-00004].Ag and Ag-based pseudo-alloys were evaluated in terms of application as metal brazes for the use in a hybrid direct carbon fuel cell stack. This paper reports on a series of wetting experiments on systems of pure Ag as well as Ag–Cu–Ti and Ag–Cu–Ni pseudo-alloys in contact with the widely used austenitic stainless steel SS316L, the ferritic steels Crofer22APU and Croffer22H and with polycrystalline partially stabilized zirconia (TZ-3Y) for the determination of the interfacial properties of the above systems. Pure Ag in air showed poor wettability (θ >90°) with all substrates. The Ag–Cu–Ti pseudo-alloy in vacuum (P = 2.5 x 10-3 mbar) showed improved wettability, with θ = 40°. for the steels and θ =50°. for the TZ-3Y substrates. The Ag–Cu–Ni pseudo-alloy in air showed excellent wetting properties (θ <10°) with all the substrates, but its high liquidus temperature makes it unsuitable for use with the SS316L steel. In low vacuum (P = 1.5 x 10-1 mbar), the contact angle was increased (θ = 65°) but the low oxygen concentration limits the oxidation of the steel surface. Selected systems of the pseudo-alloys in contact with steel and TZ-3Y substrates were treated for 120 h in the operating conditions of a hybrid direct carbon fuel cell, in order to evaluate the thermal stability of the joints. Despite the reactions taking place on the interface, the joints showed good stability and no separation of the two phases occurred.Peer reviewe
Tribo-corrosion of steel in artificial saliva
No full textStainless steel is widely used as dental implant. However, there has been little work on the micro-abrasion of such materials in laboratory simulated oral environments, where abrasion, sliding wear can interact simultaneously. In this study, the effects of applied load, and exposure time were evaluated for a 316 stainless steel in a laboratory simulated artificial saliva. Polarization curves showed an enhancement of corrosion current density with increases in applied load. Wear maps were produced showing low wear safety regimes at intermediate loads and exposure times. Possible reasons for such trends are interpreted in terms of the ability of the passive film in providing resistance against third body particle impact and the concentration of particles in the contact at higher loads
Mechanism of the cathode current collector on cell performance in a solid oxide fuel cell stack
No full textIn this work, we report a new design of the contact layer to investigate the significance and mechanism for the cathodic current collection. The single cells in a stack are covered with Ag paste on the cathode side, which exhibit slightly higher power density than that of the cell partially covered with Ag paste. The Ag paste is applied as a current-collecting layer on the cathode side at the corresponding position in contact with the punctuate structure of the interconnect. The difference in power densities between the two single cells is due to the in-plane electron transfer on the cathode surface. When the structure of the interconnect is changed from a convex punctuate structure to liner strips, the cell performance is governed by both gas flow rate and in-plane electron transfer; however, the latter plays a more important role than the gas flow rate. An appropriate arrangement of current collection at the cathode side is necessary to improve current collection and thus the cell performance inside the SOFC stack. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se<sub>2</sub> Solar Cells with Ag/AlO<sub>x</sub> Passivating Back Reflector
Get PDFUltrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) absorber layers of 550 nm were grown on Ag/AlOx stacks. The addition of the stack resulted in solar cells with improved fill factor, open circuit voltage and short circuit current density. The efficiency was increased from 7% to almost 12%. Photoluminescence (PL) and time resolved PL were improved, which was attributed to the passivating properties of AlOx. A current increase of almost 2 mA/cm2 was measured, due to increased light scattering and surface roughness. With time of flight—secondary ion mass spectroscopy, the elemental profiles were measured. It was found that the Ag is incorporated through the whole CIGS layer. Secondary electron microscopic images of the Mo back revealed residuals of the Ag/AlOx stack, which was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy measurements. It is assumed to induce the increased surface roughness and scattering properties. At the front, large stains are visible for the cells with the Ag/AlOx back contact. An ammonia sulfide etching step was therefore applied on the bare absorber improving the efficiency further to 11.7%. It shows the potential of utilizing an Ag/AlOx stack at the back to improve both electrical and optical properties of ultrathin CIGS solar cells
Polarization dependence of the light coupling to surface plasmons in an Ag nanoparticle & Ag nanowire system
No full textPolarization dependence of the coupling of excitation light to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) was investigated in a Ag nanoparticle-nanowire waveguide system (a Ag nanoparticle attached to a Ag nanowire). It was found that under the illumination of excitation light on the nanoparticle-nanowire junction, the coupling efficiency of light to SPPs depends on the polarization of the excitation light. Theoretical simulations revealed that it is the local near-field coupling between the nanoparticle and the nanowire that enhances the incident light to excite the nanowire SPPs. Because the shapes of the Ag nanoparticles differ, the local field intensity, and thus the excitement of the nanowire SPPs, vary with the polarization of the excitation light.Physics, MultidisciplinarySCI(E)EI中国科技核心期刊(ISTIC)中国科学引文数据库(CSCD)[email protected]
Hyperuricaemia and gout in cardiovascular, metabolic and kidney disease
Get PDFDuring the last century, there has been an increasing prevalence of hyperuricaemia noted in many populations. While uric acid is usually discussed in the context of gout, hyperuricaemia is also associated with hypertension, chronic kidney disease, hypertriglyceridaemia, obesity, atherosclerotic heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. Here we review the connection between hyperuricaemia and cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases. Contrary to the popular view that uric acid is an inert metabolite of purine metabolism, recent studies suggest serum uric acid may have a variety of pro-inflammatory, pro-oxidative and vasoconstrictive actions that may contribute to cardiometabolic diseases. Hyperuricaemia is a predictive factor for the development of hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Treatment with uric acid-lowering therapies has also been found to improve outcomes in patients with hypertension and kidney disease, in some but not all studies. In conclusion, uric acid is emerging as a potentially treatable risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases, and more clinical trials investigating the potential benefit of lowering serum uric acid are recommended in individuals with hyperuricaemia with and without deposition and concomitant hypertension, metabolic syndrome or chronic kidney disease
Effects of shell thickness on the thermal stability of Cu-Ag core-shell nanoparticles: A molecular dynamics study
No full textCu-Ag core-shell (CS) nanoparticle (NP) is considered as a cost-effective alternative material to nano silver sintering material in die attachment application. To further reduce the cost, the thickness of the Ag shell can be adjusted. Whereas the shell thickness will also affect the thermal stability of the Cu-Ag CSNPs. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation was applied to study the thickness effect on the thermal behavior of Cu-Ag CSNPs. The melting points of CSNPs and Pure NPs can be determined by the evolutions of Potential Energy (PE), and the Lindemann index (LI) of the system. The results indicated that the melting points of CS NPs were lower than monometallic NP and the melting point of CS NP is influenced by the size of the Cu core and the number of lattice mismatches. Moreover, the distribution of atoms’ LI showed that the premelting point is independent of shell thickness. However, the fraction of atoms that occurred premelting is increased with the decrease of the shell thickness. Otherwise, we also simulated the sintering process of double CS NPs with equal size.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Electronic Components, Technology and Material
A multifunctional standardized magnetic tunnel junction stack embedding sensor, memory and oscillator functionality
No full textInternational audienceThe objective of this study is to co-integrate multiple digital and analog functions together within CMOS by developing a universal magnetic tunneling junction stack (MTJ) capable of realizing logic, memory, and analog functions, within a single baseline technology. This will allow monolithic heterogeneous integration, fast and low-power processing, and high integration density, particularly useful for Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. This unique spintransfer-torque (STT) MTJ is called Multifunctional Standardized Stack (MSS). This paper presents the progress regarding memory, oscillator and sensor functionalities targeted for the technology. We show that a single magnetic stack deposition can be used to obtain these three functionalities on the same wafer
Microstructure of Ag Nano Paste Joint and Its Influence on Reliability
No full textIn this paper, the microstructure of Ag nano paste joint was investigated in pressure-less sintering conditions, and the influence of the microstructure on the joint’s reliability was studied. Firstly, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized using the redox reaction method. To tightly stack the Ag NPs in nano paste, Ag NPs with sizes of 30~50 nm and submicron-sized Ag particles were mixed. It was found that increasing the sintering temperature or sintering time can reduce the porosity of the bonding layer and the interfacial crack simultaneously, resulting in higher shear strength. When sintering at a temperature of 250 °C, a complete bonding interface was formed, with a 0.68 μm interdiffusion layer. At a higher temperature (300 °C), the bonding interface reached 1.5 μm, providing 35.9 ± 1.7 MPa of shear strength. The reliability of the die attachment was analyzed under thermal shocking from −65 °C to 150 °C for 50 cycles. As the crack could quickly grow through the interfacial defects, the separation ratio was 85% and 67% when sintered at 150 °C and 200 °C, respectively. Because of the reliable bonding interface between the die and the substrate, the Ag nano paste joint formed a slight crack on the edge of the die when sintering at 250 °C. When the joint was sintered at 300 °C, the small voids became large voids, which featured lower resistance to crack growth. Thus, instead of further improved reliability, the separation ratio increased to 37%
Voltammetric Detection of Urea on an Ag-Modified Zeolite- Expanded Graphite-Epoxy Composite Electrode
No full textIn this paper, a modified expanded graphite composite electrode based on natural zeolitic volcanic tuff modified with silver (EG-Ag-Z-Epoxy) was developed. Cyclic voltammetry measurements revealed a reasonably fast electron transfer and a good stability of the electrode in 0.1 M NaOH supporting electrolyte. This modified electrode exhibited moderate electrocatalytic effect towards urea oxidation, allowing its determination in aqueous solution. The linear dependence of the current versus urea concentration was reached using square-wave voltammetry in the concentrations range of urea between 0.2 to 1.4 mM, with a relatively low limit of detection of 0.05 mM. A moderate enhancement of electroanalytical sensitivity for the determination of urea at EG-Ag-Z-Epoxy electrode was reached by applying a chemical preconcentration step prior to voltammetric/amperometric quantification.ChemE/Chemical EngineeringApplied Science
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