Studying of 2D Titanium Carbide Structure by Raman Spectroscopy after Heat Treatment in Argon and Hydrogen Atmospheres

Herein we show the effect of heat treatment of two dimensional layered titanium carbide structure (Ti3C2Tx), so called MXene. As prepared MXene has functional groups -OH, -F, -Cl. In order to remove the functional groups we heat treated the MXene in Ar (with 0.01% O2) and H2 (with 0.01% H2O) atmospheres. We discovered the significant decrease in the amount of functional groups (-F and -Cl) and increase in the -O content, which refers to the oxidation of the material. Also we determined the optimal regime for Raman spectroscopy in order to avoid any changes in the structure of the material. We revealed that titanium carbide changes its structure at 700 °C and 900 °C into two different titanium dioxide modifications like rutile and anatase in Ar (with 0.01% O2) atmosphere. Also there are small changes occurred in Ti3C2Tx structure and formation of amorphous carbon after 700 °C treatment in H2 (with 0.01% H2O) atmosphere and formation of TiO2 (rutile) at 900 °C. Energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed the reduction of functional groups at 700 °C in both atmospheres and total disappearance of –F and –Cl and increasing the oxygen at 900 °C. The huge increase of oxygen by atomic percent, can be explained by the initial oxygen content in argon and hydrogen gases.

Chlorine Release Characteristics During Biomass Reburning in an Entrained Flow Reactor

Five biomass including cotton stalk (CS), sunflower stalk (SS), wheat stalk (WS), rice husk (RH) and maize stalk (MS) were pyrolyzed in an entrained flow reactor under reburning condition. The chlorine release fraction was determined based on the analysis of each biomass and the relevant bio-coke measured by digital ion meter. The effects of biomass species, reaction temperature (T), residence time (τ), stoichiometric ratio (SR2), and initial oxygen content in the simulated flue gas on chlorine release were analyzed. The obtained results indicated that the chlorine release fraction increases with the increasing of reaction temperature, and all biomass have a higher chlorine release fraction of 94.6%–100% at high reaction temperature. Stoichiometric ratio has little influence on chlorine release. The chlorine release fraction shows a significant increase from 80.3% to 97.1% with increasing initial oxygen content in the simulated flue gas from 0% to 4%.

Formation of Alumina Inclusions during Counter Diffusion of Aluminum and Oxygen Dissolved in Molten Iron

The formation of alumina (Al2O3) inclusions was experimentally investigated with the capillary-reservoir method. The inclusions were observed with a SEM (scanning electron microscope). The compositions of iron matrix and inclusion were measured with an EDX (energy dispersive X-ray analysis). The content profile of aluminum was discussed by the counter-diffusion model of aluminum and oxygen with an instantaneous irreversible reaction for alumina formation. The inclusions of spherical and polygonal alumina and spherical hercynite (FeOAl2O3) were observed in the vicinity of the diffusion front of aluminum. The hercynite was detected when the initial oxygen content was 0.075 mass% and higher. When the initial oxygen content was more than 0.045 mass% and higher, dendritic alumina formed at the position that was nearer to the interface than the position of spherical and polygonal inclusions. No inclusion was observed around the interface because of the re-dissolution of the inclusions. The initiating position of the inclusion formation was approximated by the reaction position, Zr, obtained from the model on the assumption that aluminum and oxygen contents at the reaction position were zero. Empirically, 0.9×Zr and 0.17×Zr expressed the initiating positions of formation and re-dissolution of inclusions respectively. The critical supersaturation ratio was estimated to be from 1 to 7.4×105, depending on the initial aluminum and oxygen contents.

False Oxygen Consumption Effect and Factors Causing It

False oxygen consumption effect characterized by a decrease of the polarographic sensor readings by the introduction of neutral microadditives into the incubation medium was modeled and tested. These neutral microadditives neither consume oxygen nor cause its consumption by other components of the medium. It is shown that microadditives less than 3% of the volume of incubation medium can cause statistically significant effect of false oxygen consumption more than 4% of the initial oxygen content. The effect can reach more than 15% at higher volumes of additives. The most important properties of additives enhancing the effect are low oxygen content, low temperature, and low concentration of oxygen salting out components.

The Behavior of Oxygen and Defects in Si-Based Semiconductor Studied by Positron Annihilation Techniques

Slow positron beam and coincidence Doppler broadening techniques have been used to follow temperature-induced defects and structural changes in Cz-Si with an initial oxygen content of 1.1×1018 cm-3. Oxygen is recognized as a peak at about 11.85×10-3m0c on the ratio curves. For Cz-Si annealed at 480 oC/15h or 600 oC/15h, the ratio curves show the presence of vacancy-like defects, but they are not associated with oxygen. For Cz-Si annealed at 480 oC/15h, then followed by a 600 oC/15h heat treatment, the ratio curves show the signal of O atom. The ratio curves of Cz-Si, thermally treated by a two-step (480oC/15h + 600oC/15h) pre-annealing, followed by a one-step annealing under different hydrostatic argon pressures and annealed temperatures, also show a peak at 11.85×10-3m0c. The height of the peak varies with different samples. Experimental results indicate that the SiO2 film will form on the surface of Cz-Si after the heat treatment.

Classical and Rapid Thermal Process Effects on Oxygen and Carbon Precipitation in Silicon

We report observations on the effects of rapid thermal annealing on oxygen and carbon content of different single and multicrystalline silicon materials.From the comparison between the resulting effects of conventional and short thermal annealing, we can deduce that the increase of the concentration of interstitial oxygen after a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) is due to the dissociation of some microprecipitates in silicon, which is significantly affected by the initial oxygen content, thermal history, defects and impurity content such as carbon.

Tc Behavior in the Basalt-Synthetic Groundwater System as a Function of Temperature and Initial Oxygen Content

Experiments have been completed in the basalt-Tc-doped groundwater sys- tem to quantify the mobility of Tc in the waste package and near field envion- ment in a repository located in basalt. The experiments were completed using a batch sorption technique in which 8 rushed basalt and Tc-doped groundwater were reacted at 85, 100, 125 and 150 °C for periods of time up to 118 days. The water to rock ratio was 10:1 ml/g. In another set of experiments, basalt crushed under anoxic conditions and Tc-doped groundwater were reacted at 85°C at different water to rock ratios (10:3, 20:3, 40:3 and 80:3 ml/g).The rate and percentage of Tc removed from solution increased with increasing temperature and decreasing water to rock ratio. Also, basalt crushed under anoxic conditions removed >87% of Tc from solution at 85°C in 7 days while no Tc was removed from solution with basalt crushed in air at the same temperature after 118 days. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that (1) ferrous iron in basalt phases preferentially consumes oxygen and will not reduce Tcuntil all free oxygen in the system is consumed. Once oxygen is consumed, reduction of Tc is quite rapid. These data indicate that the potential exists in a basalt hydrothermal environment to satisfactorily immobilize Tc. Reliable application of these data will depend on experimental and theoretical estimates of oxygen consumption with time in the waste package environment following repository closure, subsequent saturation and long term hydrothermal reactions.