scholarly journals Laser-generated high entropy metallic glass nanoparticles as bifunctional electrocatalysts

Nano Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Johny ◽  
Yao Li ◽  
Marius Kamp ◽  
Oleg Prymak ◽  
Shun-Xing Liang ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh entropy metallic glass nanoparticles (HEMG NPs) are very promising materials for energy conversion due to the wide tuning possibilities of electrochemical potentials offered by their multimetallic character combined with an amorphous structure. Up until now, the generation of these HEMG NPs involved tedious synthesis procedures where the generated particles were only available on highly specialized supports, which limited their widespread use. Hence, more flexible synthetic approaches to obtain colloidal HEMG NPs for applications in energy conversion and storage are highly desirable. We utilized pulsed laser ablation of bulk high entropy alloy targets in acetonitrile to generate colloidal carbon-coated CrCoFeNiMn and CrCoFeNiMnMo HEMG NPs. An in-depth analysis of the structure and elemental distribution of the obtained nanoparticles down to single-particle levels using advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods revealed amorphous quinary and senary alloy phases with slight manganese oxide/hydroxide surface segregation, which were stabilized within graphitic shells. Studies on the catalytic activity of the corresponding carbon-HEMG NPs during oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction reactions revealed an elevated activity upon the incorporation of moderate amounts of Mo into the amorphous alloy, probably due to the defect generation by atomic size mismatch. Furthermore, we demonstrate the superiority of these carbon-HEMG NPs over their crystalline analogies and highlight the suitability of these amorphous multi-elemental NPs in electrocatalytic energy conversion.

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deodatta Shinde ◽  
Stefan Fritze ◽  
Mattias Thuvander ◽  
Paulius Malinovskis ◽  
Lars Riekehr ◽  
...  

AbstractThe microstructure and distribution of the elements have been studied in thin films of a near-equimolar CrNbTaTiW high entropy alloy (HEA) and films with 8 at.% carbon added to the alloy. The films were deposited by magnetron sputtering at 300°C. X-ray diffraction shows that the near-equimolar metallic film crystallizes in a single-phase body centered cubic (bcc) structure with a strong (110) texture. However, more detailed analyses with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atom probe tomography (APT) show a strong segregation of Ti to the grain boundaries forming a very thin Ti–Cr rich interfacial layer. The effect can be explained by the large negative formation enthalpy of Ti–Cr compounds and shows that CrNbTaTiW is not a true HEA at lower temperatures. The addition of 8 at.% carbon leads to the formation of an amorphous structure, which can be explained by the limited solubility of carbon in bcc alloys. TEM energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated that all metallic elements are randomly distributed in the film. The APT investigation, however, revealed that carbide-like clusters are present in the amorphous film.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruei-Cheng Lin ◽  
Tai-Kuang Lee ◽  
Der-Ho Wu ◽  
Ying-Chieh Lee

Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta resistive thin films were prepared on glass and Al2O3substrates by DC magnetron cosputtering from targets of Ni0.35-Cr0.25-Si0.2-Al0.2casting alloy and Ta metal. Electrical properties and microstructures of Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta films under different sputtering powers and annealing temperatures were investigated. The phase evolution, microstructure, and composition of Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). When the annealing temperature was set to 300°C, the Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta films with an amorphous structure were observed. When the annealing temperature was at 500°C, the Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta films crystallized into Al0.9Ni4.22, Cr2Ta, and Ta5Si3phases. The Ni-Cr-Si-Al-Ta films deposited at 100 W and annealed at 300°C which exhibited the higher resistivity 2215 μΩ-cm with −10 ppm/°C of temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR).


Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 468
Author(s):  
Holger Schwarz ◽  
Thomas Uhlig ◽  
Niels Rösch ◽  
Thomas Lindner ◽  
Fabian Ganss ◽  
...  

Two magnetron sputter targets of CoCrFeNi High-Entropy Alloy (HEA), both in equal atomic ratio, were prepared by spark plasma sintering. One of the targets was fabricated from a homogeneous HEA powder produced via gas atomisation; for the second target, a mixture of pure element powders was used. Economic benefits can be achieved by mixing pure powders in the intended ratio in comparison to the gas atomisation of the specific alloy composition. In this work, thin films deposited via magnetron sputtering from both targets are analysed. The surface elemental composition is investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, whereas the bulk stoichiometry is measured by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Phase information and surface microstructure are investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. It is demonstrated that the stoichiometry, phase composition and microscopic structure of the as-deposited HEA thin films are almost identical if the same deposition parameters are used.


2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 494-508
Author(s):  
Anja Müller ◽  
Thoralf Krahl ◽  
Jörg Radnik ◽  
Andreas Wagner ◽  
Carsten Kreyenschulte ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1396-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.Y. Tam ◽  
C.H. Shek

The oxidation kinetics of Cu60Zr30Ti10 bulk metallic glass and its crystalline counterpart were studied in oxygen environment over the temperature range of 573–773 K. The oxidation kinetics, measured with thermogravimetric analysis, of the metallic glass follows a linear rate law between 573 and 653 K and a parabolic rate law between 673 and 733 K. It was also found that the oxidation activation energy of metallic glass is lower than that of its crystalline counterpart. The x-ray diffraction pattern showed that the oxide layer is composed of Cu2O, CuO, ZrO2, and metallic Cu. Cu enrichment on the topmost oxide layer of the metallic glass oxidized at 573 K was revealed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy while there was a decrease in Cu content in the innermost oxide layer. The oxide surface morphologies observed from scanning electron microscopy showed that ZrO2 granules formed at low temperatures while whiskerlike copper oxides formed at higher temperatures.


Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Chunxia Jiang ◽  
Rongbin Li ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Hailong Shang ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
...  

In this study, high-entropy alloy films, namely, AlCrTaTiZr/AlCrTaTiZr-N, were deposited on the n-type (100) silicon substrate. Then, a copper film was deposited on the high-entropy alloy films. The diffusion barrier performance of AlCrTaTiZr/AlCrTaTiZr-N for Cu/Si connect system was investigated after thermal annealing for an hour at 600 °C, 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C. There were no Cu-Si intermetallic compounds generated in the Cu/AlCrTaTiZr/AlCrTaTiZr-N/Si film stacks after annealing even at 900 °C through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic probe tomography (APT) analysis. The results indicated that AlCrTaTiZr/AlCrTaTiZr-N alloy films can prevent copper diffusion at 900 °C. The reason was investigated in this work. The amorphous structure of the AlCrTaTiZr layer has lower driving force to form intermetallic compounds; the lattice mismatch between the AlCrTaTiZr and AlCrTaTiZ-rN layers increased the diffusion distance of the Cu atoms and the difficulty of the Cu atom diffusion to the Si substrate.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5798
Author(s):  
Bingliang Liang ◽  
Yunlong Ai ◽  
Yiliang Wang ◽  
Changhong Liu ◽  
Sheng Ouyang ◽  
...  

High-entropy oxides (HEOs) have attracted more and more attention because of their unique structures and potential applications. In this work, (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 HEO powders were synthesized via a facile solid-state reaction route. The confirmation of phase composition, the observation of microstructure, and the analysis of crystal structure, distribution of elements, and valences of elements were conducted by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Furthermore, a (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/nickel foam ((FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/NF) electrode was prepared via a coating method, followed by the investigation of its supercapacitor performance. The results show that, after calcining (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 powders at 900 °C for 2 h, a single spinel structure (FCC, Fd-3m, a = 0.8399 nm) was obtained with uniform distribution of Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, and Zn elements, the typical characteristic of a high-entropy oxide. In addition, the mass specific capacitance of the (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/NF composite electrode was 340.3 F·g−1 (with 1 M KOH as the electrolyte and 1 A·g−1 current density), which indicates that the (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 HEO can be regarded as a prospective candidate for an electrode material in the field of supercapacitor applications.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document