Effects of Surface Roughness and Aging on the Electrical Contact Resistance and Residual Stress in Gold-Nickel-Copper Connector Materials.
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Abstract Aerobic methanotrophy is strongly controlled by copper, and methanotrophs are known to use different mechanisms for copper uptake. Some methanotrophs secrete a modified polypeptide—methanobactin—while others utilize a surface-bound protein (MopE) and a secreted form of it (MopE*) for copper collection. As different methanotrophs have different means of sequestering copper, competition for copper significantly impacts methanotrophic activity. Herein, we show that Methylomicrobium album BG8, Methylocystis sp. strain Rockwell, and Methylococcus capsulatus Bath, all lacking genes for methanobactin biosynthesis, are not limited for copper by multiple forms of methanobactin. Interestingly, Mm. album BG8 and Methylocystis sp. strain Rockwell were found to have genes similar to mbnT that encodes for a TonB-dependent transporter required for methanobactin uptake. Data indicate that these methanotrophs “steal” methanobactin and such “theft” enhances the ability of these strains to degrade methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin. Further, when mbnT was deleted in Mm. album BG8, methylmercury degradation in the presence of methanobactin was indistinguishable from when MB was not added. Mc. capsulatus Bath lacks anything similar to mbnT and was unable to degrade methylmercury either in the presence or absence of methanobactin. Rather, Mc. capsulatus Bath appears to rely on MopE/MopE* for copper collection. Finally, not only does Mm. album BG8 steal methanobactin, it synthesizes a novel chalkophore, suggesting that some methanotrophs utilize both competition and cheating strategies for copper collection. Through a better understanding of these strategies, methanotrophic communities may be more effectively manipulated to reduce methane emissions and also enhance mercury detoxification in situ.
Sliding friction experiments were conducted in air with polycrystalline copper and ruby riders sliding against a copper bicrystal. Friction coefficient was measured across the bicrystal surface, and the initiation of adhesive wear was examined with scanning electron microscopy. Results indicate a marked increase in friction coefficient as the copper rider crossed the grain boundary from the (111) plane to the (210) plane of the bicrystal. Adhesion, friction, and initiation of adhesive wear was notably different in the adjacent grains of differing orientation. A slip-band adhesion-generated fracture mechanism for wear particle formation is proposed.
Atomic layer etching (ALE) of metals offers a path to greater control of selectivity, etch rate, and etch profile. However, tailoring a process to meet these demands requires an understanding of the volatile etch product, which is challenging to detect due to low product concentrations and the paramagnetism of many metalorganic products. Here, in this work, several complementary analysis techniques were used to determine the volatile etch product and residual surface species of a Cu ALE process based on plasma oxidation and formic acid vapor etching of the oxidized layer. It was shown that the volatile product was copper formate with a Cu 2+ paramagnetic center, in concordance with prior density functional theory (DFT) calculations. While copper formate tetrahydrate was formed, it was determined that the tetrahydrate product was confined to the surface, with anhydrous copper formate being the volatile etch product.
Secondary-electron-emission losses in multistage depressed collectors (MDC's) and their effects on overall traveling-wave-tube (TWT) efficiency were investigated. Two representative TWT's and several computer-modeled MDC's were used. The experimental techniques provide the measurement of both the TWT overall and the collector efficiencies. The TWT-MDC performance was optimized and measured over a wide range of operating conditions, with geometrically identical collectors, which utilized different electrode surface materials. Comparisons of the performance of copper electrodes to that of various forms of carbon, including pyrolytic and iisotropic graphites, were stressed. The results indicate that: (1) a significant improvement in the TWT overall efficiency was obtained in all cases by the use of carbon, rather than copper electrodes, and (2) that the extent of this efficiency enhancement depended on the characteristics of the TWT, the TWT operating point, the MDC design, and collector voltages. Ion textured graphite was found to be particularly effective in minimizing the secondary-electron-emission losses. Experimental and analytical results, however, indicate that it is at least as important to provide a maximum amount of electrostatic suppression of secondary electrons by proper MDC design. Such suppression, which is obtained by ensuring that a substantial suppressing electric field exists over the regions of the electrodes where most of the current is incident, was found to be very effective. Experimental results indicate that, with proper MDC design and the use of electrode surfaces with low secondary-electron yield, degradation of the collector efficiency can be limited to a few percent.
Brief series of simple chemical treatments found to enhance ability of zeolite to remove oxygen from mixture of gases. Thermally stable up to 700 degrees C and has high specific surface area which provides high capacity for adsorption of gases. To increase ability to adsorb oxygen selectively, copper added by ion exchange, and copper-exchanged zeolite reduced with hydrogen. As result, copper dispersed atomically on inner surfaces of zeolite, making it highly reactive to oxygen, even at room temperature. Reactivity to oxygen even greater at higher temperatures.
The influence of basic oxide promoters on copper-chromium-iron oxide catalysts was investigated to determine the nature of surface oxygen species and structure-activity relationship for the reverse water-gas shift reaction. The catalysts were characterized with in situ XRD, in situ Raman, in situ XPS, in situ HS-LEIS and H 2 -TPR. Two surface oxygen sites with different reduction characteristics were found to be present. The overall CO 2 activation rate was found to correlate with both the number and reducibility of the more active oxygen species that were likely associated with the Cu-FeO x interfacial regions for enhanced hydrogen spillover. While addition of K 2 O somewhat preserved the interfacial regions and facilitated the reduction kinetics of surface oxygen, both Na 2 O and CaO significantly suppressed the availability of metallic Cu as well as the Cu-FeO x interfaces, leading to decreased reactivity. These findings provide a direction to promote the copper-iron catalysts by creating more metal-metal oxide interfacial sites.
Pure oxygen-free high-conductivity copper is a widely used material for manufacturing accelerating cavities working at room temperature. Several studies attempted to explain limitations associated with the maximum allowed field gradients and the behaviour of vacuum RF breakdown in copper accelerating structures through generation and movement of dislocations under stresses associated with RF electric and magnetic fields. Pure copper and also copper alloys undergo mechanical and thermal treatments to be hardened and strengthened during manufacturing, although their mechanical properties significantly change after heating above 590°C. High temperature brazing and diffusion bonding are assembly methods widely used to manufacture ultra-high vacuum accelerating devices. However, these processes, occurring at about 800–1000°C, significantly affect the mechanical properties of copper and copper alloys. We introduce here a novel Tungsten Inert Gas welding procedure, which is fast and keeps the high-gradient surfaces of the cavity and other components well below the copper annealing temperature. This process may be successfully used to manufacture copper-based accelerating components. This technology further preserves the hardness and cleanliness of copper in order to achieve the maximum accelerating gradient.
Cast or additively manufactured coils present a new opportunity for creativity in thermal management of electric machines. Improvements to the heat transfer of spray or jet cooling of coil end turns through the incorporation of pins or enhanced heat transfer surfaces in the cast end turn surfaces is explored. The thermal response of cast copper half-turns is measured for a range of spray/jet volumetric flow rates and ohmic loss heat fluxes. A significant reduction, ~30%, in the steady state temperature and increased spray cooling heat transfer coefficients was experimentally measured when the pins or enhanced heat transfer surfaces are incorporated.
The electrical resistivity of conventional metals such as copper is known to increase in thin films as a result of electron-surface scattering, thus limiting the performance of metals in nanoscale electronics. Here, in this study, we find an unusual reduction of resistivity with decreasing film thickness in niobium phosphide (NbP) semimetal deposited at relatively low temperatures of 400°C. In films thinner than 5 nanometers, the room temperature resistivity (~34 microhm centimeters for 1.5-nanometer-thick NbP) is up to six times lower than the resistivity of our bulk NbP films, and lower than conventional metals at similar thickness (typically about 100 microhm centimeters). The NbP films are not crystalline but display local nanocrystalline, short-range order within an amorphous matrix. Our analysis suggests that the lower effective resistivity is caused by conduction through surface channels, together with high surface carrier density and sufficiently good mobility as the film thickness is reduced. These results and the fundamental insights obtained here could enable ultrathin, low-resistivity wires for nanoelectronics beyond the limitations of conventional metals.
The permeability of mesh wicks is important for various applications, including two–phase heat transfer. However, the understanding of the permeability of single–layer, free–standing mesh wicks, with liquid–gas interfaces on both sides, is limited. A novel and simpler method is presented to determine the permeability of a free–standing wick and apply it to a representative mesh. This method involves modifying the capillary pressure via elevation and simultaneously measuring the permeability to determine the permeability–capillary pressure relationship. When applied to a copper mesh with plain weave having undergone surface cleaning, the permeability is found to decrease as capillary pressure for deionized water increases. A dimensional analysis is presented to generalize this data for other mesh sizes with similar weaves and fluids. The behavior of mesh in application is modeled, based on the integration of Darcy's law with an analytic function fit to measured data, and parametric studies are conducted to investigate the superficial velocity of liquids through the mesh under varying driving pressures, transport lengths, and liquid viscosity, based on the obtained capillary pressure–permeability relationship. This study provides valuable insights into the transport properties of mesh wicks, with potential applications in fields such as electronics cooling, electrochemical devices, and fluid purification technologies.
Single–atom catalysts are a fast–emerging area in which late–transition metal atoms are supported on oxides, metals, and carbonaceous supports. They show great promise for selective chemical reactions due to their well–defined active sites, and significantly reduce precious metal loading. However, oxide–supported single–atom catalysts have drawbacks such as deactivation due to sintering, and there are on–going debates about the exact nature of the active sites. Herein we report a model system where the surface temperature during Rh deposition on a copper oxide support dictates the Rh size distribution. Here our temperature–programmed desorption experiments reveal that Rh clusters perform CO oxidation at lower temperature than single atoms, and isotopic labelling demonstrates differences in the mechanism in that the C–O bond is broken and reformed on clusters, as opposed to a pure Mars van Krevelen mechanism for CO oxidation at the single–atom Rh sites. We further examine the cluster size distributions with scanning tunneling microscopy and X–ray photoelectron spectroscopy which confirm the presence of both clusters and single atoms for the lower temperature deposition and only single atoms for the higher temperature deposition. Together, these results provide a fundamental understanding of the differences in the CO oxidation mechanism on Rh atoms and clusters.
In this report a series of iron (Fe) modified CuO-ZnO-ZrO 2 -Al 2 O 3 (CZZA) catalysts, with various Fe loadings, were prepared using a co-precipitation method. A bifunctional catalyst, consisting of Fe-modified CZZA and HZSM-5, was studied for dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis via CO 2 hydrogenation. The effects of Fe loading, reaction temperature, reaction pressure, space velocity, and concentrations of precursor for the synthesis of the Fe-modified CZZA catalyst on the catalytic activity of DME synthesis were investigated. Long-term stability tests showed that Fe modification of the CZZA catalyst improved the catalyst stability for DME synthesis via CO 2 hydrogenation. The activity loss, in terms of DME yield, was significantly reduced from 4.2% to 1.4% in a 100 h run of reaction, when the Fe loading amount was 0.5 (molar ratio of Fe to Cu). An analysis of hydrogen temperature programmed reduction revealed that the introduction of Fe improved the reducibility of the catalysts, due to assisted adsorption of H 2 on iron oxide. The good stability of Fe-modified CZZA catalysts in the DME formation was most likely attributed to oxygen spillover that was introduced by the addition of iron oxide. This could have inhibited the oxidation of the Cu surface and enhanced the thermal stability of copper during long-term reactions.
An overarching challenge of the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR) is finding an earth-abundant, highly active catalyst that selectively produces hydrocarbons at relatively low overpotentials. Here, we report the eCO 2 RR performance of two-dimensional transition metal carbide class of materials. Our results indicate a maximum methane (CH 4 ) current density of -421.63 mA/cm 2 and a CH 4 faradic efficiency of 82.7% ± 2% for di-tungsten carbide (W 2 C) nanoflakes in a hybrid electrolyte of 3 M potassium hydroxide and 2 M choline-chloride. Powered by a triple junction photovoltaic cell, we demonstrate a flow electrolyzer that uses humidified CO 2 to produce CH 4 in a 700-h process under one sun illumination with a CO 2 RR energy efficiency of about 62.3% and a solar-to-fuel efficiency of 20.7%. Density functional theory calculations reveal that dissociation of water, chemisorption of CO 2 and cleavage of the C-O bond—the most energy consuming elementary steps in other catalysts such as copper—become nearly spontaneous at the W2C surface. This results in instantaneous formation of adsorbed CO—an important reaction intermediate—and an unlimited source of protons near the tungsten surface sites that are the main reasons for the observed superior activity, selectivity, and small potential.
Facile phase selective synthesis of copper antimony sulphide (CAS) nanostructures is important because of their tunable photoconductive and electrochemical properties. In this study, off-stoichiometric famatinite phase CAS (fCAS) quasi-spherical and quasi-hexagonal colloidal nanostructures (including nanosheets) of sizes, 2.4–18.0 nm were grown under variable conditions of temperature (60–200 °C), time and oleylamine capping ligand concentration using copper(II) acetylacetonate and antimony(III) diethyldithiocarbamate precursors. Data from powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution scanning/transmission electron microscopy confirm the tetragonal structure of the famatinite phase. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy data suggest a correlation of particle size, morphology and composition of the off-stoichiometric fCAS nanostructures with growth temperature and time, and oleylamine concentration. The off-stoichiometric Cu 3-a Sb 1+b S 4±c (a, b, c – mole fractions) nanostructures being severely copper-deficient and antimony-rich, exhibit shallow-lying acceptor copper vacancy states, deep-lying donor states of antimony interstitials, sulphur vacancies and antimony-copper antisites and shallow-lying acceptor surface trapping states. Further, these electronic states are likely implicated in tunable UV-visible absorption and bandgaps between 2.3 and 2.8 eV, and broad visible-NIR photoluminescence with fast recombination of radiative lifetimes between 0.2 and 6.2 ns, confirmed from absorption, steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopies. Additionally, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirm that electrodes of the fCAS nanostructures display slightly variable pseudocapacitance of charge-storage primarily via possible sodium ion intercalation with a high specific capacitance of ~84 F g -1 obtained at a scan rate of 5 mV s -1 . Overall, these results show the influence of composition, in particular point defects, phase quality and morphology on the optical and pseudocapacitance properties of fCAS nanostructures, suitable as solar absorbers or electrodes for energy storage devices.
Copper strip seals a high pressure fluid system connector so that it is insensitive to relaxation of the bolt loads. The copper strip is diffusion bonded to the surfaces of the connector flange by application of high pressure and temperature.
Radiative heat flux between two parallel copper disks at cryogenic temperature, showing dependence on emitter temperature and spacing
Thermal contacts designed to cool a 50-cm diam fused-silica mirror to 5 K without serious distortion of the optical surfaces were tested. Rubber cement and copper-filled rubber cement were found to be well suited for maintaining thermal contact between the fused-silica and copper straps. A variety of other adhesives proved to be unreliable because they spalled the glass. The thermal resistances of the rubber cement and copper-filled rubber cement were determined. For the copper-filled rubber cement, the thermal resistances varied from 570 K/W at 60 K to 15,000 K/W at 10 K.