Anodic Alumina Membranes: From Electrochemical Growth to Use as Template for Fabrication of Nanostructured Electrodes

The great success of anodic alumina membranes is due to their morphological features coupled to both thermal and chemical stability. The electrochemical fabrication allows accurate control of the porous structure: in fact, the membrane morphological characteristics (pore length, pore diameter and cell density) can be controlled by adjusting the anodizing parameters (bath, temperature, voltage and time). This article deals with both the fabrication and use of anodic alumina membranes. In particular, we will show the specific role of the addition of aluminum ions to phosphoric acid-based anodizing solution in modifying the morphology of anodic alumina membranes. Anodic alumina membranes were obtained at −1 °C in aqueous solutions of 0.4 M H3PO4 added with different amounts of Al(OH)3. For sake of completeness, the formation of PAA in pure 0.4 M H3PO4 in otherwise identical conditions was also investigated. We found that the presence of Al(OH)3 in solution highly affects the morphology of the porous layer. In particular, at high Al(OH)3 concentration (close to saturation) more compact porous layers were formed with narrow pores separated by thick oxide. The increase in the electric charge from 20 to 160 C cm−2 also contributes to modifying the morphology of porous oxide. The obtained anodic alumina membranes were used as a template to fabricate a regular array of PdCo alloy nanowires that is a valid alternative to Pt for hydrogen evolution reaction. The PdCo alloy was obtained by electrodeposition and we found that the composition of the nanowires depends on the concentration of two metals in the deposition solution.

Nanostructured electrodes for supercapacitors

The paper presents the results of studies on the formation of planar capacitive systems based on nanoporous anodic oxide films and a conducting polymer. According to voltammetry data, the capacity of the systems under study was determined. The structure of the porous layers was judged by impedance spectroscopy and electron microscopy.

Investigating the Nucleation of AlOx and HfOx ALD on Polyimide: Influence of Plasma Activation

There is an increasing interest in atomic layer deposition (ALD) on polymers for the development of membranes, electronics, (3D) nanostructures and specially for the development of hermetic packaging of the new generation of flexible implantable micro-devices. This evolution demands a better understanding of the ALD nucleation process on polymers, which has not been reported in a visual way. Herein, a visual study of ALD nucleation on polymers is presented, based on the different dry etching speeds between polymers (fast) and metal oxides (slow). An etching process removes the polyimide with the nucleating ALD acting as a mask, making the nucleation features visible through secondary electron microscopy analyses. The nucleation of both Al2O3 and HfO2 on polyimide was investigated. Both materials followed an island-coalescence nucleation. First, local islands formed, progressively coalescing into filaments, which connected and formed meshes. These meshes evolved into porous layers that eventually grew to a full layer, marking the end of the nucleation. Cross-sections were analyzed, observing no sub-surface growth. This approach was used to evaluate the influence of plasma-activating polyimide on the nucleation. Plasma-induced oxygen functionalities provided additional surface reactive sites for the ALD precursors to adsorb and start the nucleation. The presented nucleation study proved to be a straightforward and simple way to evaluate ALD nucleation on polymers.

Study of electric parameters of thin porous anodic alumina layers

Currently, the study of the electric parameters of porous anodic alumina (PAA) layers is of interest for sensor applications (humidity, DNA, etc.). PAA layers are synthesized using electrochemical anodizing of aluminum foil in potentiostatic mode with an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid and glycerin as an electrolyte. The surface morphology of the layers was studied by atomic force microscopy. The electric characteristics were studied using impedance spectroscopy at room temperature and under heating. An increase in the impedance of the heat-treated PAA sample was found, as well as an increase in the impedance with an increase in the measurement temperature. The results are explained by the influence of adsorbed water molecules on the electric characteristics of porous layers.

Natural Convection over Two Superellipse Shapes with a Porous Cavity Populated by Nanofluid

The influences of superellipse shapes on natural convection in a horizontally subdivided non-Darcy porous cavity populated by Cu-water nanofluid are inspected in this paper. The impacts of the inner geometries (n = 0.5,1,1.5,4) Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 106), Darcy number (10−5 ≤ Da ≤ 10−2), porosity (0.2 ≤ ϵ ≤ 0.8), and solid volume fraction (0.01 ≤ ∅ ≤ 0.05) on nanofluid heat transport and streamlines were examined. The hot superellipse shapes were placed in the cavity’s bottom and top, while the adiabatic boundaries on the flat walls of the cavity were considered. The governing equations were numerically solved using the finite volume method (FVM). It was found that the movement of the nanofluid upsurged as Ra boosted. The temperature distributions in the cavity’s core had an inverse relationship with increasing Rayleigh number. An extra porous resistance at lower Darcy numbers limited the nanofluid’s movement within the porous layers. The mean Nusselt number decreased as the porous resistance increased (Da ≤ 10−4). The flow and temperature were strongly affected as the shape of the inner superellipse grew larger.

Two-Phase Flow Effects on Seismic Wave Anelasticity in Anisotropic Poroelastic Media

We study the wave anelasticity (attenuation and velocity dispersion) of a periodic set of three flat porous layers saturated by two immiscible fluids. The fluids are very dissimilar in properties, namely gas, oil, and water, and, at most, three layers are required to study the problem from a general point of view. The sequence behaves as viscoelastic and transversely isotropic (VTI) at wavelengths much longer than the spatial period. Wave propagation causes fluid flow and slow P modes, inducing anelasticity. The fluids are characterized by capillary forces and relative permeabilities, which allow for the existence of two slow modes and the presence of dissipation, respectively. The methodology to study the physics is based on a finite-element uspcaling approach to compute the complex and frequency-dependent stiffnesses of the effective VTI medium. The results of the experiments indicate that there is higher dissipation and anisotropy compared to the widely used model based on an effective fluid that ignores the effects of surface tension (capillarity) and viscous flow interference between the two fluid phases.

Enhancement of sound absorption in a band frequency using thin porous layer-lined metasurfaces

When a porous layer is installed on a hard wall, sound absorption performance is mainly determined by thickness of the layer. Although material parameters of porous materials are strongly dependent on frequencies, the thickness limitation related to the quarter wavelength of incident sound wave has been a key factor in the treatment of porous layers for noise reduction. This implies that a thicker porous layer is required to absorb lower-frequency sound effectively. To overcome the thickness limitation, metaporous layers, which are named as a compound of sound absorbing porous layers with the concept of metamaterials have received much attentions for alternative implementations of porous layers. Recently, we proposed a new type of metaporous layer for enhancing sound absorption performance in a specified broad frequency band. The proposed metaporous layer is constructed with a thin porous layer backed by a reactive metasurface consisting of an array of bent channels. Formation of sound absorption band is directly determined by the characteristics of scattered sound field from the proposed metaporous layer. Analytical and numerical investigations show that the metasurface is considerably responsible for the enhanced sound absorption in the proposed metaporous layer, while sound dissipation occurs only in the thin porous layer.

Effects of a magnetic field on double-diffusive convection of a nanofluid in a cavity saturated by wavy layers of porous media: ISPH analysis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to use the incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics method to examine the influences of a magnetic field on the double-diffusive convection caused by a rotating circular cylinder with paddles within a square cavity filled by a nanofluid. Design/methodology/approach The cavity is saturated by two wavy layers of non-Darcy porous media with a variable amplitude parameter. The embedded circular cylinder with paddles carrying T_h and C_h is rotating around the cavity center by a uniform circular velocity. Findings The lineaments of nanofluid velocity and convective flow, as well as the mean of Nusselt and Sherwood numbers, are represented below the variations on the frequency parameter, amplitude parameter of the wavy porous layers, Darcy parameter, nanoparticles parameter, Hartmann number and Ryleigh number. The performed simulations showed the role of paddles mounted on circular cylinders for enhancing the transmission of heat and mass within a cavity. The wavy porous layers at the lower Darcy parameter are playing as a blockage for the nanofluid flow within the porous area. Increasing the concentration of the nanoparticles to 6% reduces the maximum flow speed by 8.97% and maximum streamlines |ψ|max by 10.76%. Increasing Hartmann number to 100 reduces the maximum flow speed by 65.83% and |ψ|max by 75.54%. Originality/value The novelty of this work is to examine the effects of an inclined magnetic field and rotating novel shape of a circular cylinder with paddles on the transmission of heat/mass in the interior of a nanofluid-filled cavity saturated by undulating porous medium layers.