Xiaolei Dong

Effects of cobalt addition on the catalytic activity of the Ni-YSZ anode functional layer and the electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cells.

The effects of cobalt (Co) addition in the Ni-YSZ anode functional layer (AFL) on the structure and electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses confirmed that the active metallic phase is a Ni(1-x)Co(x) alloy under the operation conditions of the SOFC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations indicate that the grain size of Ni(1-x)Co(x) increases with increasing Co content. Thermogravimetric analyses on the reduction of the Ni(1-x)Co(x)O-YSZ powders show that there are two processes: the chemical-reaction-controlled process and the diffusion-controlled process. It is found that the reduction peak corresponding to the chemical-reaction-controlled process in the DTG curves moves toward lower temperatures with increasing Co content, suggesting that the catalytic activity of Ni(1-x)Co(x) is enhanced by the doping of Co. It is observed that the SOFC shows the best performance at x = 0.03, and the corresponding maximum power densities are 445, 651, and 815 mW cm(-2) at 700, 750, and 800 °C, respectively. The dependence of the SOFC performance on the Co content can be attributed to the competing results between the decreased three-phase-boundary length in the AFL and the enhanced catalytic activity of the Ni(1-x)Co(x) phase with increasing Co content.

Influences of defects evolvement on the properties of sputtering deposited ZnO:Al films upon hydrogen annealing

Understanding how the defects interact with each other and affect the properties of ZnO:Al films is very important for improving their performance as a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). In the present work, we studied the effects of hydrogen annealing on the structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO:Al films prepared by magnetron sputtering. High resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that annealing at ∼300 oC induces the formation of partial dislocations (PD) and stacking faults (SF), which disrupt the lattice periodicity leading to decreased grain size. Annealing at temperatures above ∼500 oC can remove the PD and SF, but large number of zinc vacancies will be generated. Our results show that when films are annealed at ∼500 oC, the oxygen-related defects (interstitials Oi, etc.) in the as-grown films can be remarkably removed or converted, which lead to increments in the carrier concentration, mobility, and the transmittance in the visible range. At annealing temperatures above 550 oC, the hydrogen etching effect becomes predominant, and Al donors are deactivated by zinc vacancies. We also find an abnormal endothermic process by thermal analysis and an abnormal increase in the resistivity during heating the sample under hydrogen atmosphere, based on which the interaction of Oi with the defects (mainly Al donors and PD) is discussed. It is also demonstrated that by annealing the as-grown AZO films at ∼500 oC under hydrogen atmosphere, high performance TCO films with a low resistivity of 4.48 × 10−4 Ωcm and high transmittance of above 90% in the visible light are obtained.

Observation of nanotwinning and room temperature ferromagnetism in sub-5 nm BiFeO3 nanoparticles: a combined experimental and theoretical study.

Particle size significantly affects the properties and therefore the potential applications of multiferroics. However, is there special particle size effect in BiFeO3, which has a spiral modulated spin structure? This is still under investigation for sub-5 nm BiFeO3. In this report, the structural, electronic and magnetic properties are investigated for chemically synthesized BiFeO3 nanoparticles with an average size of 3 nm. We observed nanotwinning features in the specific size regime of the nanoparticles (2-4 nm). A weak Bi-O-Fe coordination and weak covalent nature has been observed in the nanoparticles through high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy and theoretical analysis, confirming that BiFeO3 nanoparticles a retain rudimentary R3c phase even at sub-5 nm dimensions. The R3c phase of sub-5 nm BiFeO3 nanoparticles has also been confirmed using Raman spectroscopy and Raman mapping of the vibrational modes. The nanoparticles display cluster spin glass, room temperature ferromagnetism, and a metamictization-davidite phase. The observation of weak magnetic entropy features confirmed the presence of a weak correlation between the magnetic and ferroelectric components. To support our experimental observations, we have simulated a sub-5 nm BiFeO3 nanocluster. Using density functional theory, the ferromagnetic ground state and the presence of a weak covalent nature in the nanocluster is established considering the first Brillouin zone, thus confirming our experimental results. Finding of new physicochemical features in sub-5 nm BiFeO3 would be beneficial for the understanding of the fundamental physical and chemical science as well as potential device development.