Vibrational fingerprints of residual polymer on transferred CVD-graphene

The use of vibrational sum-frequency spectroscopy (VSFS) to study transferred graphene, produced by chemical vapour deposition, is presented. The VSF spectrum shows a clear CH stretching mode at ∼2924 cm−1, which is attributed to residue of the polymer used for the transfer. This makes VSFS a powerful tool to identify adsorbates and contaminants affecting the properties of graphene

MD simulations of He evaporating from dodecane

The velocity distribution of He atoms evaporating from a slab of liquid dodecane has been simulated. The distribution composed of ∼10 000 He trajectories is shifted to fractionally faster velocities as compared to a Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution at the temperature of the liquid dodecane with an average translational energy of 1.05 × 2RT (or 1.08 × 2RT after correction for a cylindrical liquid jet), compared to the experimental work by Nathanson and co-workers (1.14 × 2RT) on liquid jets. Analysis of the trajectories allows us to infer mechanistic information about the modes of evaporation, and their contribution to the overall velocity distribution

Diffusion of hydrogen into and through γ-iron by density functional theory

This study is concerned with the early stages of hydrogen embrittlement on an atomistic scale. We employed density functional theory to investigate hydrogen diffusion through the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces of γ-Fe. The preferred adsorption sites and respective energies for hydrogen adsorption were established for each plane, as well as a minimum energy pathway for diffusion. The H atoms adsorb on the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces with energies of ∼4.06 eV, ∼3.92 eV and ∼4.05 eV, respectively. The barriers for bulk-like diffusion for the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces are ∼0.6 eV, ∼0.5 eV and ∼0.7 eV, respectively. We compared these calculated barriers with previously obtained experimental data in an Arrhenius plot, which indicates good agreement between experimentally measured and theoretically predicted activation energies. Texturing austenitic steels such that the (111) surfaces of grains are preferentially exposed at the cleavage planes may be a possibility to reduce hydrogen embrittlement

Surface atomic relaxation and magnetism on hydrogen-adsorbed Fe(110) surfaces from first principles

We have computed adsorption energies, vibrational frequencies, surface relaxation and buckling for hydrogen adsorbed on a body-centred-cubic Fe(110) surface as a function of the degree of H coverage. This adsorption system is important in a variety of technological processes such as the hydrogen embrittlement in ferritic steels, which motivated this work, and the Haber–Bosch process. We employed spin-polarised density functional theory to optimise geometries of a six-layer Fe slab, followed by frozen mode finite displacement phonon calculations to compute Fe–H vibrational frequencies. We have found that the quasi-threefold (3f) site is the most stable adsorption site, with adsorption energies of ∼3.0 eV/H for all coverages studied. The long-bridge (lb) site, which is close in energy to the 3f site, is actually a transition state leading to the stable 3f site. The calculated harmonic vibrational frequencies collectively span from 730 to 1220 cm−1, for a range of coverages. The increased first-to-second layer spacing in the presence of adsorbed hydrogen, and the pronounced buckling observed in the Fe surface layer, may facilitate the diffusion of hydrogen atoms into the bulk, and therefore impact the early stages of hydrogen embrittlement in steels

Data for: A Novel Method for Measuring the Radiolysis Yields of Water Adsorbed on ZrO2 Nanoparticles

Measurements of H2 yields from gamma-irradiation of water layers adsorbed on ZrO2 nanoparticle