Solid Vapor Research Articles

Solid–Vapor Equilibria under Desolvation of Solid Solutions. Topological Isomorphism with Phase Diagrams of Polymorphic Solid Solutions

Solid–Vapor Equilibria under Desolvation of Solid Solutions. Topological Isomorphism with Phase Diagrams of Polymorphic Solid Solutions

Controlled Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Films by Iron-assisted Floating Solid Catalyst Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) films, with exciting electronic properties are increasingly important for next-generation technologies. Here, an Iron-assisted floating solid catalyst chemical vapor deposition (IA-FSCCVD) method is developed for the controlled growth of high-quality and high-purity SWNT films. Titanium carbide nanoparticles with a high melting point are used as the solid catalysts, which provide a stable template for SWNT growth through the perpendicular growth mode. Trace amounts of iron are introduced to increase the efficiency of SWNT growth. Gas chromatography measurements and density functional theory show that the gas-phase iron acts as a pre-cracking assistance for the carbon source, promoting the growth of SWNTs. Carbon nanotube films with a high quality (average IG/ID = 166) are successfully prepared, a small diameter deviation (mean diameter of 1.6nm), and a high content of SWNTs (97%) using the IA-FSCCVD platform. This work provides a powerful way to prepare the carbon nanotube aggregates with a controlled structure.

Unveiling the role of Cs ion in perovskite phase formation during solid–vapor reactions

The preparation of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) using a solid–vapor reaction has shown great potential due to its scalability and lack of organic solvent. The phase formation process in the solid–vapor reaction is crucial for the crystallization of perovskite films. Previous studies mainly introduced Cs into the solid–vapor reaction, but insufficient attention was paid to the role of Cs in purifying the phase formation path during the crystallization process. In this study, we investigated the effect of Cs on the phase formation process in the solid–vapor reaction and found that Cs can decrease the crystallinity of lead halide films, induce a purified phase formation process to prevent the formation of δ-phase and other impurity phases, regulate the crystallization rate of perovskite, and produce high-quality, low-defect perovskite films. The result was achieving a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.54 % for a small area (0.148 cm2) and 18.65 % for larger mini-modules (5 × 5 cm2). Furthermore, the devices maintained over 80 % of their initial efficiencies after 450 h of continuous operation under AM 1.5 G irradiation. This work underscores the importance of purified phase formation paths in solid–vapor reactions for outstanding crystal quality in high-performance perovskite solar cells.

Is it possible to overheat ice? The activated melting of TIP4P/Ice at solid–vapour coexistence.

A widely accepted phenomenological rule states that solids with free surfaces cannot be overheated. In this work we discuss this statement critically under the light of the statistical thermodynamics of interfacial roughening transitions. Our results show that the basal face of ice as described by the TIP4P/Ice model can remain mechanically stable for more than one hundred nanoseconds when overheated by 1 K, and for several hundreds of nanoseconds at smaller overheating despite the presence of a significant quasi-liquid layer at the surface. Such time scales, which are often of little experimental significance, can become a concern for the determination of melting points by computer simulations using the direct coexistence method. In the light of this observation, we reinterpret computer simulations of ice premelting and show that current results for the TIP4P/Ice model all imply a scenario of incomplete surface melting. Using a thermodynamic integration path, we reassess our own estimates for the Laplace pressure difference between water and vapour. These calculations are used to measure the disjoining pressure of premelting liquid films and allow us to confirm a minimum of the interfacial free energy at finite premelting thickness of about one nanometer.

Corrosion behavior of low melting glass modified potassium silicate coating under the synergy of solid NaCl deposit and water vapor at 700 °C

The effects of LMG (SiO2–BaO–Al2O3–TiO2–Na2O–K2O–ZnO) modification on the performance of potassium silicate coatings on Ti–6Al–4V alloy during tests of either H2O/O2- or NaCl/H2O/O2- corrosion were investigated at 700 °C for 500 h using thermogravimetric, SEM, EPMA, and XRD. Adding 10-30 wt% LMG particles into the potassium silicate solution did not impair the intact and the surface roughness of the coatings and improved the resistance of the coatings against humid oxygen corrosion and NaCl/H2O/O2-induced corrosion. For the humid oxygen corrosion, the improvement was enhanced when the amounts of LMG was increased. However, the LMG10 coating with 30 vol% LMG had the most excellent corrosion resistance, the formation of titanate was prohibited; the coatings with more LMG additions were less protective than LMG10 though better than the coating without LMG.

Cryogenic Process Optimization for Natural Gas Purification: Predictive Modeling of Methane-CO2 Solid-Vapor Phase Equilibrium Using Response Surface Methodology.

This research combines industrial engineering principles with chemical process modeling to explore the capture of CO2 from natural gas under cryogenic conditions. The study specifically investigates the Solid-Vapor (S-V) phase equilibrium in a methane-carbon dioxide (CH4-CO2) system. The study employs Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to develop a robust model for predicting phase behavior in industrial gas separation processes. The model is validated using experimental data, offering enhanced operational insights into cryogenic CO2 capture in industrial applications. The developed RSM model is particularly valuable as it can predict the mole fractions of methane and CO2 at various temperatures and pressures in the solid-vapor region of phase equilibrium, where limited experimental data make it difficult to estimate these components accurately. The key contribution of this study is to validate the RSM model's available experimental data, and the model can further be used to predict the process conditions at which high methane composition (yCH4) can be achieved. The developed model showed good agreement when the results were compared with previous experimental studies. The utilization of chemical engineering data to forecast previously unknown conditions in gas separation processes broadens the scope of industrial process optimization in this work.

Measuring line tension: Thermodynamic integration during detachment of a molecular dynamics droplet

The contact line (CL) is where solid, liquid, and vapor phases meet, and Young’s equation describes the macroscopic force balance of the interfacial tensions between these three phases. These interfacial tensions are related to the nanoscale stress inhomogeneity appearing around the interface, and for curved CLs, e.g., a three-dimensional droplet, another force known as the line tension must be included in Young’s equation. The line tension has units of force, acting parallel to the CL, and is required to incorporate the extra stress inhomogeneity around the CL into the force balance. Considering this feature, Bey et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 152, 094707 (2020)] reported a mechanical approach to extract the value of line tension τℓ from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this study, we show a novel thermodynamics interpretation of the line tension as the free energy per CL length, and based on this interpretation, through MD simulations of a quasi-static detachment process of a quasi-two-dimensional droplet from a solid surface, we obtained the value τℓ as a function of the contact angle. The simulation scheme is considered to be an extension of a thermodynamic integration method, previously used to calculate the solid–liquid and solid–vapor interfacial tensions through a detachment process, extended here to the three-phase system. The obtained value agreed well with the result by Bey et al. and showed the validity of thermodynamic integration at the three-phase interface.

ДИСИПАЦІЯ ЕНЕРГІЇ НИЗЬКОМОЛЕКУЛЯРНИМИ РЕЧОВИНАМИ ПІД ЧАС ЗОНДУВАННЯ ЕЛЕКТРИЧНИМ ПОЛЕМ БАГАТОЖИЛЬНИХ КАБЕЛІВ АТОМНИХ ЕЛЕКТРИЧНИХ СТАНЦІЙ

A model of the piece-homogeneous interphase space of stranded cables is proposed, taking into account the influence of cracks oriented along the lines of force of the electric field. The cracks are filled with low molecular weight substances. The case of a probing electric field with a significant tangential component is considered.. The equivalent values of the tangent of the dielectric loss angle at various parameters of low molecular weight substances in the cracks of the polyethylene insulation of the conductor with a cross section of 2.5 mm2 were determined. The equivalent tangent of the angle of dielectric loss increases by (3-20) times when the dissipation of electrical energy by low molecular weight substances changes from 10% to 100% in a crack, which is 1% of the thickness of an intact section of polyethylene insulation. The distribution of the electric field for the general case of accumulation of low-molecular products in capillaries formed by slit-like gaps between isolated veins is obtained. A strong electric field in the smaller part of the gap between the insulated cores, which occurs at a core potential of 1 kV, contributes to the capillary absorption of decomposition products of both solid polyethylene insulation and water vapor from the atmosphere in the case of unshielded structures of multi-core cables. The asymmetric configuration of the probing electric field with a significant tangential component makes it possible to detect low-molecular decomposition products of solid polymer insulation, which are a sign of its aging. Differences experimentally observed in the value of tgδ with different schemes of examination of multi-core cables are related, to a greater extent, to the uneven distribution of substances dissipating electrical energy across the cross-section of the cable, and not to a change in the structure of the probing electric field. References 11, figure 5.

Application of the van’t Hoff equation to phase equilibria

van’t Hoff and Clausius–Clapeyron equations correspond to chemical and phase equilibria, respectively, but the Clausius–Clapeyron equation can be also a result of the application of van’t Hoff equation to the liquid–vapor or solid–vapor phase equilibrium of pure substances. Moreover, the application of van’t Hoff to gas–liquid and solid–liquid equilibrium data makes it possible to obtain enthalpies of dissolution. Examples based on published experimental data are included for all cases.

Rapid and sensitive determination of trace Cd in carbonate samples using direct solid sampling electrothermal vaporization atomic absorption spectrometry

The accurate determination of cadmium (Cd) hosted and accumulated in sedimentary carbonate remains challenging due to its low concentration (ng·g−1) and complex matrix. Conventional methods, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS), which typically rely on liquid sampling and sample digestion, are tedious, labor-intensive and time-consuming. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method for the direct determination of carbonate-hosted Cd was developed based on solid sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (SS-ETV-AAS). This method eliminates the need of acid digestion procedure, allowing the entire analysis, including sample preparation, to be completed within 10 min. To minimize the carbonate matrix effect, ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-2Na) was proposed as matrix modifier to facilitate the release of Cd, enabling fast and accurate determination of trace Cd in carbonate samples. Under optimized conditions, the Cd detection limits was found to be as low as 0.17 ng·g−1, and repeatability (relative standard deviation, RSD) was better than 8 % (n = 7). The accuracy of the proposed SS-ETV-AAS was verified by analyzing five carbonate certified reference materials (GBW07127, GBW07129, GBW07130, GBW07135 and JDo-1), two soil certified reference materials (GBW07404a, GBW07405), as well as several actual carbonate samples. All these results demonstrate that the proposed SS-ETV-AAS method provides a simple, rapid and sensitive approach for measuring trace Cd in carbonates.

Surface free energy calculation of the solid–fluid interfaces from molecular simulation

In this work, I present a straightforward approach for computing surface free energy γF based on the assessment of surface internal energy (γU), avoiding the difficulty connected to the determination of the elastic contribution in the case of a solid surface. This methodology has thus been extended to the calculation of γF for the interface between the liquid–vapor phase of water, the solid–vapor interface of aluminum, the aluminum–water interface, rigid graphene–water solid–liquid interfaces, and the n-dodecane–water liquid–liquid interface.

Assessment of physico chemical characteristics and plankton diversity of Anchuthengu lake ecosystem, Thiruvananthapuram district – South India

Water is the most widespread substance found in the natural environment; liquid, solid and invisible vapour. Fresh water is a crucial resource for human life and natural systems. The quality of water is usually described according to its physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Rapid industrialization and use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture are causing heavy and varied pollution in aquatic environments leading to the deterioration in water quality and aquatic biota. Planktons are taxonomically diverse, composed of plants, animals, bacteria and viruses. Globally the biomasses of phytoplankton and zooplankton are about equal, although the doubling time of zooplankton is considerably longer than for phytoplankton. The present investigation was carried out to assess the water quality and plankton diversity in Anchuthengu lake, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Analysis of water quality was done with respect to eleven important physicochemical parameters like air and surface water temperature, pH, TDS, salinity, electrical conductivity, alkalinity, hardness, free CO2, DO and BOD. Conductivity shows high positive correlation with alkalinity and hardness. Alkalinity is positively correlated with hardness. The aquatic flora and fauna in the lake may grow well because the DO value in the current study was over 5 mg/L, and the BOD value also indicates that the lake is less contaminated.. The dominated plankton species identified in the present study were Spirogyra, Chlorella, Navicula, Pinnularia, Oscillatoria, Closterium, Cosmerium.

The phase behavior of Isopropanol/Water/NaCl mixtures at atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 294.15 K up to the boiling point

Branched-chain higher alcohols (BCHAs) have potential applications in the preparation of biofuels as they have properties similar to those of gasoline. Isopropanol is the simplest member of the BCHA family and is produced by either a catalytic process or fermentation of biomass. Regardless of the process, the isopropanol is produced as a component of a mixture with water content as high as 80%; therefore, purification is needed to produce fuel-grade isopropanol. Azeotropic and heteroazeotropic distillation are currently used to purify the isopropanol but they are carbon-intensive and costly. The addition of NaCl to an isopropanol/water mixture has two effects: could trigger a liquid–liquid phase split; and increases the relative volatility of the alcohol. These effects could potentially be used as the departure for the design of low-carbon and less expensive purification operations.The phase behavior of isopropanol/water/NaCl mixtures was experimentally mapped at temperatures up to the boiling point at atmospheric pressure. The liquid–solid, liquid–liquid, liquid–liquid–solid, liquid–vapor, liquid–liquid–vapor, liquid–liquid–solid–vapor and liquid–solid–vapor regions were experimentally detected and located in the phase diagram. The equilibrium compositions within the liquid–liquid, liquid–vapor and liquid–liquid–solid–vapor regions were measured. Three well-known methods were employed to assess the reliability of the measured liquid–liquid phase compositions. The temperatures and the composition of the vapor phase in the liquid–liquid–vapor region were also experimentally measured. The collected experimental data was used to construct the phase diagram of isopropanol/water/NaCl mixtures at 5, 10 and 20 wt% NaCl content, at atmospheric pressure, and temperatures from 294.15 K to the boiling point.

Temperature Sensing via Electromagnetically Induced Transparency Vapor

The behavior of multilevel atomic ensembles (e.g., alkali-metal atoms) can be influenced significantly by the intensity of a driving field (or controlling/coupling field). The phase coherence between two transition pathways driven by a probe light and a driving field can lead to the effect known as electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). In EIT, the probe light can pass through a three-level alkali-metal atomic vapor without absorption or reflection when two coherent resonances (transition pathways driven by the driving and probe fields) are present and the linewidths of the transparency windows are sufficiently narrow. The optical characteristics of atomic systems can also be affected by the Doppler broadening of the absorption profile in a spectroscope. Our analysis indicates that both broadenings (related to the transitions excited by the driving and probe fields) can be expanded, leading to an increase in the transmittance and reflectance broadenings when a coupling field with adaptive strength is applied; the corresponding temperature would, thus, be implemented and readable. We show that the most suitable preparation for temperature sensing via an EIT vapor is to provide 80 times the spontaneous decay rate (SDR) of the excited atomic levels. This configuration results in reflectance and transmittance values that range between zero and one and cover a temperature range of 0 K to 600 K. As an example, we demonstrate the integration of specialized coating technologies with EIT ensembles for temperature sensing in the range of dozens of kelvins at and above room temperature. A key advantage of this temperature-sensing system is its ability to use adaptive resonant visible light as the probe field. This novel approach may find applications in providing unprecedented levels of precision and control in temperature sensing for coating processes and in the design of other photonic or optical devices. It can also be used to determine the temperature-dependent behavior of the specific heat of alkali-metal solids and gases (including the latent heats of vaporization or sublimation of alkali-metal solids) through the reflection and transmission spectra of the vaporized EIT atomic vapors.

Inspecting the role of vapour loss and other model strategies in the mod-elling of a bentonite thermo-hydraulic cell

Inspecting the role of vapour loss and other model strategies in the mod-elling of a bentonite thermo-hydraulic cell

Effects of solid NaCl and water vapour on hot corrosion behaviour of Inconel 718 superalloy and its aluminide coating

The corrosion behaviour of Inconel 718 alloy and its aluminide coating was studied at 750 °C in air + NaCl, and air + NaCl + water vapour environments. The results indicate that the substrate shows poor corrosion resistance in both corrosive environments, with less protective NiO and Fe2O3 as main corrosion products. In contrast, the aluminide coating greatly improves the corrosion resistance of the substrate, with α-Al2O3 forming on the coating surface during corrosion. Besides, in air + NaCl + water vapour environment, the corrosion attack suffered by the aluminide coating is mitigated than that in air + NaCl environment.

Boron nitride aerogels incorporated with metal nanoparticles: Multifunctional platforms for iodine capture and detection

Radioactive iodine vapors produced by nuclear fission can pose a significant risk to human health and the environment. Effective monitoring of iodine vapor leakage, capture and storage of radioactive iodine vapor are of great importance for the safety of the nuclear industry. Herein, we report a novel structure-function integrated solid iodine vapor adsorbent based on metal-modified boron nitride (BN) aerogel. Metal-modified BN aerogels incorporated with Cu/Ag nanoparticles (named as BN-Cu and BN-Ag, respectively) are successfully prepared by a metal-induced, ultrasonic-assisted, and in-situ transformation method. The metal-modified BN aerogels show improved mechanical properties in both of the maximum stress and residual deformation. Remarkably, due to the greatly enhanced “host-guest” and “guest-guest” effects by the introduction of metal nanoparticles, the BN-Cu and BN-Ag aerogels exhibit record-breaking iodine vapor adsorption capacities among inorganic adsorbents (1739.8 and 2234.13 wt% respectively), which are even higher than that of most organic adsorbents. Furthermore, an integrated iodine adsorption detection device based on metal-modified aerogels is constructed to realize real-time detection of the electrical properties of aerogels during iodine adsorption. This work provides a foundation for the development of BN aerogels as multifunctional platforms for effective iodine capture and detection. It also introduces new ideas for the use of structural-functional integrated materials in the prevention and control of radioactive iodine pollution.

Solid Phase Photothermo-Induced Chemical Vapor Generation: A New Desorption Method for Mercury Analysis by High-Throughput 20-Fiber Direct Immersion Solid Phase Microextraction.

A simple solid phase photothermo-induced chemical vapor generation (SP-PT-CVG) is described and used as an environmentally friendly desorption method for the sensitive determination of mercury in water by direct immersion solid phase microextraction (DI-SPME) atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). A DI-SPME array equipped with 20 nano-TiO2-coated tungsten fibers was employed to simultaneously preconcentrate mercury from 20 samples, enabling an extraction throughput of 40 samples per hour. Subsequently, the fibers were drawn from the sample solutions and inserted into an inner tube sealed in a specially designed UV lamp in turn for SP-PT-CVG to generate Hg0, which was swept to an AFS detector for its detection. It is worth noting that the tube served as both a vapor generator and a desorption chamber. This proof-of-concept study confirms the feasibility of solid phase CVG. Compared to conventional CVG carried out in the liquid phase, solid phase CVG not only retains the advantages of conventional CVG but also alleviates the matrix interference on vapor generation and preconcentrates analyte prior to vapor generation, improving analytical performance for liquid state samples. DI-SPME-SP-PT-CVG-AFS provides a limit of detection of 2.3 ng L-1 for mercury determination by AFS. In the proposed method, the combination of DI-SPME and SP-PT-CVG eliminates the tedious derivatization steps required in conventional headspace SPME, thus minimizing toxic reagent consumption and improving extraction throughput. The practicality of DI-SPME-SP-PT-CVG-AFS was evaluated by analyzing two different certified reference materials and river water samples with good spike recoveries (98-107%).

Performance analysis of single-phase immersion cooling system of data center using FC-40 dielectric fluid

Immersion cooling technologies have become an emerging cooling method for data center cooling. The studies available in open literature dealt with immersion cooling performance of data servers using mineral oil, EC-100, and Opticool 872552, but the studies focusing on the performance of FC-40 dielectric fluid is not available. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a single-phase liquid immersion cooling system using FC-40 dielectric fluid for a 1U (44.45 mm height) data server. The present study experimentally investigated the influence of different design and operating parameters, including the inlet/outlet port configuration (T and Z configurations), the bypass effect, the flowrate (1–3 LPM), the heating load (200–600 W), the inlet fluid temperature (15–35 °C), the presence of suction fan with various arrangements, and different heat sink bases (solid base, vapor chamber and heat pipe base). The results showed that the T-configuration could provide a 12.6% and 0.5–2.8 °C reduction in thermal resistance and case temperature compared to the Z-configuration, respectively. Furthermore, the heat sink with heat pipe and vapor chamber base offered a minimum case temperature of 56.7 °C and 55.2 °C against the 60 °C experienced in the heat sink with flat plate base, respectively.

Dynamics of cupcake baking: Coupled multiphase heat and mass transport in a deformable porous material

This study presents a coupled multiphase porous media transport model with evaporation, large deformation, and material transformation (phase change from starch gelatinization) for cupcake baking in a conventional oven. The governing equations for transport and deformation are energy, mass, and momentum conservation of the solid cupcake batter matrix, water, water vapor, and carbon dioxide produced during baking. They are solved numerically to predict the evolution of the cupcake batter's temperature, moisture, dimensional change, and color during baking. Cupcake-baking experiments are used to validate the model against measured temperature, moisture, color, and cupcake height during baking. The rate of carbon dioxide production, vapor generation, and the cupcake batter's mechanical properties determine the cupcake's final shape. The novelty of the numerical model is the coupling of the massive change in mechanical and thermophysical properties with multiphase transport and expansion due to pressure and moisture loss from shrinkage.