By sharpening ion-conductive glass and applying a high voltage, conducting species ions are released from the glass tip. The ion emission of Ag+ ions under atmospheric pressure was investigated. Under atmospheric pressure, there is a possibility that various ions are produced as a result of corona discharge. To analyze the efficiency of Ag+ ion emission from the tip of sharpening glass, a quartz crystal microbalance was used to simultaneously measure the mass of the emitted ions and the ion current value. In an air atmosphere at room temperature, the efficiency of Ag+ ion emission was only similar to 20 %. The efficiency tended to decrease further in an oxygen atmosphere. On the other hand, the emission efficiency reaches approximately 100 % in N-2 atmosphere. The efficiency of Ag+ ion emission under atmospheric pressure with various conditions are discussed in this paper.

The formation of bismuth and copper nanoparticles from CuO-Bi2O3-SiO2 glass by heat treatment in the presence of hydrogen and their functionality as anode active material in sodium ion batteries was examined. Oxides consisting of xCuO-(85-x)Bi2O3-15SiO(2) (mol%) vitrify in the composition range of x from 5 to 30. In compositions with large amounts of copper oxide (x > 35), Cu2O crystallizes, suggesting the presence of Cu+ and Cu2+ with different valence states in the glass. Heat treatment in a mixed atmosphere of hydrogen and nitrogen resulted in the crystallization of bismuth oxide and their reduction to form glass ceramics with dispersed bismuth and copper particles. As bismuth and copper are consumed from the glass matrix by phase separation, a cross-linked structure of silica develops in residual glass matrix. The resulting bismuth particles was small in size than borate-based glass ceramics, indicating that the cross-linked silicates have an inhibiting effect on bismuth grain growth. Charge-discharge tests in a sodium ion battery showed a reversible charge-discharge profile without the initial irreversible reaction of bismuthate reduction.

Ba 0.5 Sr 0.5 Co 0.8 Fe 0.2 O 3-delta (BSCF) generally exhibits superior cathode activity compared to La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3-delta (LSCF) for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). However, the chemical stability of BSCF is inferior to that of LSCF. When BSCF cathodes are sintered at a high temperature of 1050 degrees C, performance was compromised due to the formation of (Ba,Sr)ZrO3 3 between the scandia-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) electrolyte and gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC) interlayer. The oxide ionic conductivity of (Ba,Sr)ZrO3 3 was low, decreasing the cathode performance. Furthermore, the BSCF grains enlarged, and cobalt oxide formed due to BSCF decomposition, decreasing the active specific surface area. However, by incorporating GDC into the BSCF cathode, the morphology remained unchanged and cobalt oxide formation was prevented, despite (Ba,Sr)ZrO3 3 still forming. The performance of the cell with the BSCF-GDC composite cathode surpassed that with the BSCF cathode due to decreased polarization resistance attributed to the oxygen surface exchange and diffusion processes in the cathode.

B2O-SiO2 borosilicate glasses in a specific composition range show a spinodal-type phase separation by heat -treatment at around those glass transition temperatures, and porous glasses or porous glass-ceramics can be easily obtained via an acid treatment after the phase separation. We have studied preparation conditions of SrTiO3-precipitated porous glass-ceramics for a photocatalyst of hydrogen generation using solar energy. It was found that the SrTiO3 crystal was observed for a SrO-BaO-TiO2-SiO2 glass, while the SrTiO3 crystal disap-peared from SrO-TiO2-B2O3-SiO2 glasses, which contain the B2O3 component necessary for the phase separa-tion. For this problem, we found that co-doping of K2O and Al2O3 components is effective, and a SrTiO3 con-taining porous glass-ceramic was successfully obtained by the co-doping. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to understand the migration of Sr2+ ions in SrO-TiO2-B2O3-SiO2 glasses with K2O and Al2O3 components. This paper is the first to describe the dynamics of alkali metal/alkaline earth metal ions in those glasses and the mechanism of SrTiO3 precipitation in borosilicate glasses. & COPY;2023 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

We report direct proton implantation into living cells by using a palm-sized ion emission gun under a nonvacuum atmosphere at room temperature (25 °C). An injection needle was coated with Nafion® to prepare the proton emission gun, and a polyaniline membrane was used as the target for the proton emission test. After the test, the polyaniline showed structural changes associated with protonation, suggesting successful proton emission from the gun. The device was then used to perform proton implantation into fibroblast-like cells. The viability and metabolic activity of the cells implanted with protons decreased with increasing proton dose within the picomole range. These are the first reported results to show that proton implantation can be effective in supplying direct, localized stimuli to living cells.

To investigate faster crystallization of zeolite beta by the dry-gel conversion method, the local structure of the dry gel before synthesis was quantitatively evaluated using in situ Raman spectroscopy during the drying process. The dry gel prepared from Si and Al sources, and tetraethylammonium hydroxide solution was crystallized after several hours by the dry-gel conversion method. The conformational change of TEA(+) cations was observed during the drying process by the deconvolution of the spectrum, and the conformational change was larger than that during the synthesis process. The rate of conformational change was increased with the drying temperature, and the apparent activation energy was estimated to be 68.2 kJ/mol. The generation and transformation of double three-membered silicate rings (D3Rs) and 4-2 type secondary building units (SBUs), which are essential for the crystallization of zeolite beta, were observed during the drying process. The transformation from D3R to 4-2 SBU in the dry gel during drying process could be confirmed quantitatively by the difference of the time variation for the amounts of these silicate building units estimated by in situ observation.

Porous alumina with a highly textured microstructure was fabricated by pulse electric current sintering (PECS) using alumina platelets. Highly oriented porous alumina with a porosity of 3%-50% was obtained by a pressure-controlled method of PECS. The properties of the highly textured porous alumina were measured in two directions. The nitrogen gas permeance and thermal conductivity at room temperature were higher in the direction along the platelet length due to the higher continuity of pores and the connectivity of alumina platelets, respectively. The anisotropy of the thermal conductivity at room temperature was investigated and explained by the effect of grain size of platelets as well as morphology and orientation of pores. The bending strength was higher with the loading direction along the platelet thickness. The thermal shock strength was clearly different in the two directions. The difference in the thermal shock strength was investigated by the measurement of properties and thermal stress analysis.

In order to understand the hydrogen affinity of polymer-derived SiCH membranes, the amount of adsorbed hydrogen molecules was measured near room temperature, and the stabilization energy for hydrogen adsorption was also calculated by first-principles calculations using the MP2 method. The energies of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), the dipole moment of model molecules as well as the charge of the molecular hydrogen, and those relations to the hydrogen molecule affinity were investigated. A linear relationship was found between LUMO energy values and the minimum stabilization energy. It is suggested that a hydrocarbon ring (pore entrance) less than 1 nm on the surface of the SiCH membrane is important as an adsorption site of a hydrogen molecule.

Materials with high ionic conductivity are attracting a great deal of attention because they are indispensable for improving the performance of batteries, sensors, and capacitors. Solid electrolytes, in particular, have a potential to compensate for the shortcomings of liquid electrolytes, and are the subject of intense research and development worldwide. One of the big characteristics of glass is its high formability. Here we are focusing on glass-electrolytes. Differences between "superionic conductive glasses" and "ordinary glasses", as well as the mixed alkali effect will be overviewed. In addition, glasses can retain large residual stress inside that can reach the order of several GPa depending on the cooling conditions. These residual stresses also affect ionic conductivity. Recent results on the application of glass formability and softening fluidity to the formation of interfaces in all-solid-state batteries, and to ion emission from sharpened glasses are reviewed. (C) 2022 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

The gas permeation and thermomechanical properties of macroporous alumina used as a support substrate for microporous ceramic permselective membranes were investigated. The porosity, pore size, and apparent necking size between grains of macroporous alumina were systematically varied, and the relationships between the porous microstructure and material properties were examined. The grain necking size at alumina grain boundaries was evaluated by microstructural observations. The nitrogen gas permeance of the porous alumina increased with increasing pore size. All the measured thermal and mechanical properties decreased with increasing porosity. The properties of porous alumina samples with extensive grain necking showed higher values even in samples with the largest pore size. The high thermal conductivity of porous alumina with extensive grain necking was due to the low interfacial thermal resistance at grain boundaries. Porous alumina with extensive grain necking had high thermal shock strength due to the higher thermal conductivity. It was demonstrated that a porous structure combining high gas permeability and excellent fracture resistance could be successfully achieved.

This paper reports the relationship between the H2chemisorption properties and reversible structural reorientation of the possible active sites around Al formedin situwithin polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) based on an amorphous Si–Al–N system.

The number of satellites operated in an environment in which exist high-energy protons is currently increasing. Therefore, the investigation of the impact of protons on the insulation properties of materials is important. In this work, we investigate the relationship between charge accumulation phenomena and modification of molecule structure by proton irradiation. We focus on ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) used at wire harness irradiated by proton and measured the space charge distribution using the PEA method during the proton irradiation. Furthermore, we investigated the modification of the molecular chain using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). As the result, we observed that the molecule chain is scissored by proton irradiation. These phenomena can be considered as one of the reasons for charge accumulation.

A proposed reaction scheme forin situcontrolled low-temperature formation of metallic-Co at the early stage of pyrolysis of perhydropolysilazane (PHPS) coordinated with CoCI2.

A few GPa-order high-pressure impedance measurement was performed by utilizing an indentation method, which is often used to evaluate mechanical characteristics, and the alternating current (AC) impedance method simultaneously. We succeeded in estimating the activation volume (Delta V = 3.2 cm(3)/mol) for O2- ion conduction of YSZ with a single sweep of load at 0.25 N/s up to 25 N. Such a quick and easy method for determining Delta V is completely new that has not been proposed so far. (C) 2021 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

The effect of the local structure of Co-doped amorphous silica on the hydrogen transport property was studied with the aim to improve the high-temperature hydrogen-permselectivity of microporous amorphous silica-based membranes.

Superhydrophobic membranes composed of an organic-inorganic hybrid polymer, namely polycarbosilane (PCS) with Mw of 4-8.9 x 10(3), were formed on a mesoporous gamma-Al2O3-modified alpha-Al2O3 porous support. Under dry condition at 50 degrees C, the supported PCS membranes exhibited H-2 permeance of 1.1-1.6 x 10(-6) mol.m(2).s(1).Pa-1 and H-2/N-2 selectivity of 9.7-12.6 together with unique H-2/He selectivity of 1.4-1.6. Even under saturated humidity at 50 degrees C, H-2 permeance remained at 7.7 x 10(-8) mol(-1) m(2) s(1) Pa-1 with improved H-2/N-2 selectivity of 26. Moreover, when the measurements were performed using a H-2-N-2 (2:1) mixed feed gas as a simulated syngas produced by novel solar hydrogen production systems, the H-2 permeance almost unchanged, while the N-2 permeance was below the limit of detection. These results revealed a great potential of PCSs to develop novel H-2 selective membranes for purifying solar hydrogen under high-humidity conditions around 50 degrees C. Further study on the gas permeation behaviors of He, H-2 and N-2 suggested that the enhanced H-2/N-2 selectivity under the high humidity conditions could be explained by the synergistic effect of preferential H-2 permeation through the dense PCS network governed by the solid state diffusion mechanism and blockage of N-2 permeation through micropore channels within the PCS network by the permeate H2O-induced plugging at around the hetero interface between the superhydrophobic PCS and highly hydrophilic gamma-Al2O3.

To quantitatively investigate the initial crystallization of zeolite beta synthesized by direct heating, the extent of the reaction was precisely evaluated by X-ray diffraction measurements and Rietveld structural refinement, and a kinetic analysis of crystallization was performed using the Avrami-Erofe'ev equation. The activation energy for crystallization was lower than that for hydrothermal synthesis. Reaction and synthesis time curves revealed that the initial zeolite beta crystallization consisted of three stages. The first was an induction period with nucleation by the generation of building units and the formation of an initial coordinated structure. The second stage was crystal growth by a diffusion-controlled reaction, and the third stage involved slowing down of crystallization by the limitation of dehydrocondensation. These stages could be analyzed by calculation of the rate constant and Avrami exponent for each stage.

This work highlights the first demonstration of a low-temperature in situ formation of Co nanocrystallites embedded within an amorphous silicon nitride matrix through careful control of the chemistry behind material design using perhydropolysilazane (PHPS) as a Si3N4 precursor further coordinated with CoCl2 and ammonia as a pyrolysis atmosphere. The Co nucleation was allowed to proceed at temperatures as low as 400 °C via thermal decomposition of Co2N pre-formed in situ by the reaction of CoCl2 with the Si centers of PHPS at the early stage of pyrolysis (220-350 °C).

F- ion conducing 60ZrF(4)center dot 30BaF(2)center dot LaF3 center dot 2AlF(3)center dot 7CsF (mol%) with outer mol% of xIn(2)O(3) (x = 0, 5, 10) glasses were prepared using a conventional melting method, and structure and glass transition behavior were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Raman spectroscopy. Impedance measurement reveals the glass with x = 10 shows F- ion conductivity of 5 x 10(-6) S/cm at 200 degrees C. F- ion emission measurement was carried out for the first time using a sharpened glass tip, and the emission current was observed above the acceleration voltage of 2.5 kV at 200 degrees C and 1 x 10(-4) Pa. After the F- emission measurement, fluorine was detected on a Cu target substrate by using an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer. However, a small amount of glass component was also detected on the target substrate, suggesting the glass tip may also decompose. A good linear correlation is obtained between log(current) and the square root of the voltage, suggesting the emission current of F- ion from the tip of glass is expressed by Schottky model.