Corrosion protection properties of polypyrrole electropolymerized onto steel in the presence of salicylate

The corrosion performance of a polypyrrole coating constituted by hollow rectangular microtubes was monitored in chloride solutions using open circuit potential measurements, potentiostatic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The coating was electrosynthesized onto 316 L stainless steel from a salicylate solution and it provided a very good corrosion resistance to the substrate. It was found that polypyrrole films with granular morphology electrodeposited from a salicylate solution with lower concentration behave better in terms of protective behavior. In order to improve the corrosion protection imparted by the polypyrrole coating formed by the microtubes a system of two layers was electrodeposited, the first one consisted of polypyrrole with a granular morphology and the second one, on the top, was constituted by the microtubes. This bilayered system exhibited an excellent protective behavior during considerably long immersion time.     

Analysis of surface roughness effects on heat transfer in micro-conduits

Modern heat rejection systems, such as micro-heat sinks, are attractive because of their potential for high performance at small size and low weight. However, the impact of microscale effects on heat transfer have to be considered and quantitatively analyzed in order to gain physical insight and accurate Nusselt number data. The relative surface roughness (SR) was selected as a key microscale parameter, represented by a porous medium layer (PML) model. Assuming steady laminar fully developed liquid flow in microchannels and microtubes, the SR effects in terms of PML thermal conductivity ratio and Darcy number on the dimemsionless temperature profile and Nusselt number were analyzed. In summary, the PML characteristics, especially the SR-number and conductivity ratio k_m/k_f, greatly affect the heat transfer performance where the Nusselt number can be either higher or lower than the conventional value. The PML influence is less pronounced in microtubes than in parallel-plate microchannels.     

Temperature-dependent Raman investigation of rolled up InGaAs/GaAs microtubes

Large arrays of multifunctional rolled-up semiconductors can be mass-produced with precisely controlled size and composition, making them of great technological interest for micro- and nano-scale device fabrication. The microtube behavior at different temperatures is a key factor towards further engineering their functionality, as well as for characterizing strain, defects, and temperature-dependent properties of the structures. For this purpose, we probe optical phonons of GaAs/InGaAs rolled-up microtubes using Raman spectroscopy on defect-rich (faulty) and defect-free microtubes. The microtubes are fabricated by selectively etching an AlAs sacrificial layer in order to release the strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer, all grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Pristine microtubes show homogeneity of the GaAs and InGaAs peak positions and intensities along the tube, which indicates a defect-free rolling up process, while for a cone-like microtube, a downward shift of the GaAs LO phonon peak along the cone is observed. Formation of other type of defects, including partially unfolded microtubes, can also be related to a high Raman intensity of the TO phonon in GaAs. We argue that the appearance of the TO phonon mode is a consequence of further relaxation of the selection rules due to the defects on the tubes, which makes this phonon useful for failure detection/prediction in such rolled up systems. In order to systematically characterize the temperature stability of the rolled up microtubes, Raman spectra were acquired as a function of sample temperature up to 300°C. The reversibility of the changes in the Raman spectra of the tubes within this temperature range is demonstrated.     

Textured Tubular Nanoparticle Structures: Precursor‐Templated Synthesis of GaN Sub‐micrometer Sized Tubes

Porous and sub‐micrometer tubes made of textured GaN nanoparticles have been synthesized by an in situ chemical reaction and characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectroscopies. The in situ reaction involves thermal decomposition and nitridation of 1D gallium oxyhydroxide (GaOOH) at temperatures in the range of 700–900 °C. The 1D shape of the precursor GaOOH is maintained in the resultant GaN tubes. The GaN nanocrystals (estimated to be about 15 nm in size) are found to be highly oriented with respect to each other in the tube structure, with the [110] GaN direction parallel to the tube axis. The growth mechanism of the tube structure has also been studied. β‐Ga₂O₃ is found to be an intermediate phase between the starting GaOOH precursor and the final GaN product. The growth mechanism involves decomposition of GaOOH, which produces β‐Ga₂O₃ tubes with hollow interiors, and nitridation of β‐Ga₂O₃, which leads to growth of textured GaN nanocrystals. Based on the growth mechanism, tubular structures with either quasi‐circular or rectangular cross section are selectively synthesized by controlling the heating rate and calcination temperature. This in situ chemical reaction method provides a new route for synthesizing 1D hollow nanostructures.     

Magnetic and meniscus-effect control of catalytic rolled-up micromotors

Rolled-up catalytic micromotors with tubular structures are fabricated by rolling up strained Pt/Co/Ti metallic nanomembranes through selectively etching of the sacrificial lift off resist (LOR). The rolled-up micromotors present distinct motion behaviors in an organic/aqueous mixture fuel compared to those in a pure aqueous fuel. These self-propelled micromotors can move in pure aqueous fuel with a speed up to several millimeters per second. However, when placed into an organic/aqueous mixture fuel, the micromotors walk on the liquid surface. An intermediate Co layer facilitates a magnetically guided motion of these microtubular motors. The motion at the air-liquid interface can be regulated and suspended by the meniscus-climbing effect. Such meniscus-navigated motion represents a novel approach for regulation of micromotors at the air-liquid interface and opens the door to new and exciting operations of these micro-scale machines.     

Fabrication at room temperature of uniform mesopore partially carbonized microtubes via an interface reaction

Partially carbonized microtubes with inner and outer diameters of 1–1.25 μm and 2–2.5 μm, respectively, and length up to 2–3 cm, were prepared at a liquid interface at room temperature using paraformaldehyde as the carbon source. The microtubes were mesoporous and had intense photoluminescence over the whole visible spectrum at room temperature. Their composition was determined using an elemental analyzer and morphology was studied with scanning and transmission electron microscopes. A possible formation mechanism was also proposed.