24 research outputs found
Quantitative Fracture Strength and Plasticity Measurements of Lithiated Silicon Nanowires by <i>In Situ</i> TEM Tensile Experiments
We report <i>in situ</i> tensile strength measurement of fully lithiated Si (Li–Si alloy) nanowires inside a transmission electron microscope. A specially designed dual probe with an atomic force microscopy cantilever and a scanning tunneling microscopy electrode was used to conduct lithiation of Si nanowires and then perform <i>in situ</i> tension of the lithiated nanowires. The axial tensile strength decreased from the initial value of 3.6 GPa for the pristine unlithiated Si nanowires to 0.72 GPa for the lithiated Li–Si alloy. We observed large fracture strain ranging from 8% to 16% for Li–Si alloy, 70% of which remained permanent after fracture. This indicates a certain degree of tensile plasticity in the lithiated silicon before fracture, important for constitutive modeling of the lithium-ion battery cyclability. We also compare the <i>ab initio</i> computed ideal strengths with our measured strengths and attribute the differences to the morphology and flaws in the lithiated nanowires
Quantitative Fracture Strength and Plasticity Measurements of Lithiated Silicon Nanowires by <i>In Situ</i> TEM Tensile Experiments
We report <i>in situ</i> tensile strength measurement of fully lithiated Si (Li–Si alloy) nanowires inside a transmission electron microscope. A specially designed dual probe with an atomic force microscopy cantilever and a scanning tunneling microscopy electrode was used to conduct lithiation of Si nanowires and then perform <i>in situ</i> tension of the lithiated nanowires. The axial tensile strength decreased from the initial value of 3.6 GPa for the pristine unlithiated Si nanowires to 0.72 GPa for the lithiated Li–Si alloy. We observed large fracture strain ranging from 8% to 16% for Li–Si alloy, 70% of which remained permanent after fracture. This indicates a certain degree of tensile plasticity in the lithiated silicon before fracture, important for constitutive modeling of the lithium-ion battery cyclability. We also compare the <i>ab initio</i> computed ideal strengths with our measured strengths and attribute the differences to the morphology and flaws in the lithiated nanowires
Quantitative Fracture Strength and Plasticity Measurements of Lithiated Silicon Nanowires by <i>In Situ</i> TEM Tensile Experiments
We report <i>in situ</i> tensile strength measurement of fully lithiated Si (Li–Si alloy) nanowires inside a transmission electron microscope. A specially designed dual probe with an atomic force microscopy cantilever and a scanning tunneling microscopy electrode was used to conduct lithiation of Si nanowires and then perform <i>in situ</i> tension of the lithiated nanowires. The axial tensile strength decreased from the initial value of 3.6 GPa for the pristine unlithiated Si nanowires to 0.72 GPa for the lithiated Li–Si alloy. We observed large fracture strain ranging from 8% to 16% for Li–Si alloy, 70% of which remained permanent after fracture. This indicates a certain degree of tensile plasticity in the lithiated silicon before fracture, important for constitutive modeling of the lithium-ion battery cyclability. We also compare the <i>ab initio</i> computed ideal strengths with our measured strengths and attribute the differences to the morphology and flaws in the lithiated nanowires
Liquid-Like, Self-Healing Aluminum Oxide during Deformation at Room Temperature
Effective
protection from environmental degradation relies on the
integrity of oxide as diffusion barriers. Ideally, the passivation
layer can repair its own breaches quickly under deformation. While
studies suggest that the native aluminum oxide may manifest such properties,
it has yet to be experimentally proven because direct observations
of the air-environmental deformation of aluminum oxide and its initial
formation at room temperature are challenging. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> experiments to stretch pure aluminum nanotips under
O<sub>2</sub> gas environments in a transmission electron microscope
(TEM). We discovered that aluminum oxide indeed deforms like liquid
and can match the deformation of Al without any cracks/spallation
at moderate strain rate. At higher strain rate, we exposed fresh metal
surface, and visualized the self-healing process of aluminum oxide
at atomic resolution. Unlike traditional thin-film growth or nanoglass
consolidation processes, we observe seamless coalescence of new oxide
islands without forming any glass–glass interface or surface
grooves, indicating greatly accelerated glass kinetics at the surface
compared to the bulk
Liquid-Like, Self-Healing Aluminum Oxide during Deformation at Room Temperature
Effective
protection from environmental degradation relies on the
integrity of oxide as diffusion barriers. Ideally, the passivation
layer can repair its own breaches quickly under deformation. While
studies suggest that the native aluminum oxide may manifest such properties,
it has yet to be experimentally proven because direct observations
of the air-environmental deformation of aluminum oxide and its initial
formation at room temperature are challenging. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> experiments to stretch pure aluminum nanotips under
O<sub>2</sub> gas environments in a transmission electron microscope
(TEM). We discovered that aluminum oxide indeed deforms like liquid
and can match the deformation of Al without any cracks/spallation
at moderate strain rate. At higher strain rate, we exposed fresh metal
surface, and visualized the self-healing process of aluminum oxide
at atomic resolution. Unlike traditional thin-film growth or nanoglass
consolidation processes, we observe seamless coalescence of new oxide
islands without forming any glass–glass interface or surface
grooves, indicating greatly accelerated glass kinetics at the surface
compared to the bulk
Liquid-Like, Self-Healing Aluminum Oxide during Deformation at Room Temperature
Effective
protection from environmental degradation relies on the
integrity of oxide as diffusion barriers. Ideally, the passivation
layer can repair its own breaches quickly under deformation. While
studies suggest that the native aluminum oxide may manifest such properties,
it has yet to be experimentally proven because direct observations
of the air-environmental deformation of aluminum oxide and its initial
formation at room temperature are challenging. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> experiments to stretch pure aluminum nanotips under
O<sub>2</sub> gas environments in a transmission electron microscope
(TEM). We discovered that aluminum oxide indeed deforms like liquid
and can match the deformation of Al without any cracks/spallation
at moderate strain rate. At higher strain rate, we exposed fresh metal
surface, and visualized the self-healing process of aluminum oxide
at atomic resolution. Unlike traditional thin-film growth or nanoglass
consolidation processes, we observe seamless coalescence of new oxide
islands without forming any glass–glass interface or surface
grooves, indicating greatly accelerated glass kinetics at the surface
compared to the bulk
Ripplocations in van der Waals Layers
Dislocations
are topological line defects in three-dimensional
crystals. Same-sign dislocations repel according to Frank’s
rule |<b>b</b><sub>1</sub> + <b>b</b><sub>2</sub>|<sup>2</sup> > |<b>b</b><sub>1</sub>|<sup>2</sup> + |<b>b</b><sub>2</sub>|<sup>2</sup>. This
rule is broken for dislocations in van der Waals (vdW) layers, which
possess crystallographic Burgers vector as ordinary dislocations but
feature “surface ripples” due to the ease of bending
and weak vdW adhesion of the atomic layers. We term these line defects
“ripplocations” in accordance to their dual “surface
ripple” and “crystallographic dislocation” characters.
Unlike conventional ripples on noncrystalline (vacuum, amorphous,
or fluid) substrates, ripplocations tend to be very straight, narrow,
and crystallographically oriented. The self-energy of surface ripplocations
scales sublinearly with |<b>b</b>|, indicating that same-sign
ripplocations attract and tend to merge, opposite to conventional
dislocations. Using in situ transmission electron microscopy, we directly
observed ripplocation generation and motion when few-layer MoS<sub>2</sub> films were lithiated or mechanically processed. Being a new
subclass of elementary defects, ripplocations are expected to be important
in the processing and defect engineering of vdW layers
Liquid-Like, Self-Healing Aluminum Oxide during Deformation at Room Temperature
Effective
protection from environmental degradation relies on the
integrity of oxide as diffusion barriers. Ideally, the passivation
layer can repair its own breaches quickly under deformation. While
studies suggest that the native aluminum oxide may manifest such properties,
it has yet to be experimentally proven because direct observations
of the air-environmental deformation of aluminum oxide and its initial
formation at room temperature are challenging. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> experiments to stretch pure aluminum nanotips under
O<sub>2</sub> gas environments in a transmission electron microscope
(TEM). We discovered that aluminum oxide indeed deforms like liquid
and can match the deformation of Al without any cracks/spallation
at moderate strain rate. At higher strain rate, we exposed fresh metal
surface, and visualized the self-healing process of aluminum oxide
at atomic resolution. Unlike traditional thin-film growth or nanoglass
consolidation processes, we observe seamless coalescence of new oxide
islands without forming any glass–glass interface or surface
grooves, indicating greatly accelerated glass kinetics at the surface
compared to the bulk
Liquid-Like, Self-Healing Aluminum Oxide during Deformation at Room Temperature
Effective
protection from environmental degradation relies on the
integrity of oxide as diffusion barriers. Ideally, the passivation
layer can repair its own breaches quickly under deformation. While
studies suggest that the native aluminum oxide may manifest such properties,
it has yet to be experimentally proven because direct observations
of the air-environmental deformation of aluminum oxide and its initial
formation at room temperature are challenging. Here, we report <i>in situ</i> experiments to stretch pure aluminum nanotips under
O<sub>2</sub> gas environments in a transmission electron microscope
(TEM). We discovered that aluminum oxide indeed deforms like liquid
and can match the deformation of Al without any cracks/spallation
at moderate strain rate. At higher strain rate, we exposed fresh metal
surface, and visualized the self-healing process of aluminum oxide
at atomic resolution. Unlike traditional thin-film growth or nanoglass
consolidation processes, we observe seamless coalescence of new oxide
islands without forming any glass–glass interface or surface
grooves, indicating greatly accelerated glass kinetics at the surface
compared to the bulk
Periodically Ordered Nanoporous Perovskite Photoelectrode for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting
Nonmetallic materials
with localized surface plasmon resonance
(LSPR) have a great potential for solar energy harvesting applications.
Exploring nonmetallic plasmonic materials is desirable yet challenging.
Herein, an efficient nonmetallic plasmonic perovskite photoelectrode,
namely, SrTiO<sub>3</sub>, with a periodically ordered nanoporous
structure showing an intense LSPR in the visible light region is reported.
The crystalline-core@amorphous-shell structure of the SrTiO<sub>3</sub> photoelectrode enables a strong LSPR due to the high charge carrier
density induced by oxygen vacancies in the amorphous shell. The reversible
tunability in LSPR of the SrTiO<sub>3</sub> photoelectrode was observed
by oxidation/reduction treatment and incident angle adjusting. Such
a nonmetallic plasmonic SrTiO<sub>3</sub> photoelectrode displays
a dramatic plasmon-enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting performance
with a photocurrent density of 170.0 μA cm<sup>–2</sup> under visible light illumination and a maximum incident photon-to-current-conversion
efficiency of 4.0% in the visible light region, which are comparable
to the state-of-the-art plasmonic noble metal sensitized photoelectrodes