Related papers: Deciphering water-solid reactions during hydrother…
The contact angle of a liquid droplet on a solid surface is a direct measure of fundamental atomic-scale forces acting between liquid molecules and the solid surface. In this work, the validity is assessed of a simple equation, which…
Existence of strongly bound water molecules on silicate surfaces, above the desorption temperature of water ice, has been first predicted by computational studies and recently demonstrated by laboratory experiments. Such trapped water may…
Understanding the contact between solid surfaces is a long standing problem which has a strong impact on the physics of many processes such as adhesion, friction, lubrication and wear. Experimentally, the investigation of solid/solid…
Combining the principal component analysis (PCA) of X-ray spectrum with MD simulations, we experimentally reveal the existence of three basic components in water. These components exhibit distinct structures, densities, and temperature…
The gelation kinetics of silica nanoparticles is a central process in physical chemistry, yet it is not fully understood. Gelation times are measured to increase by over 4 orders of magnitude, simply changing the monovalent salt species…
Water at solid surfaces is key for many processes ranging from biological signal transduction to membrane separation and renewable energy conversion. However, under realistic conditions, which often include environmental and surface charge…
This experimental PhD work deals with the generation and transformation processes of point defects induced by UV laser irradiation on amorphous silicon dioxide (silica). The investigation relies on several spectroscopic techniques used to…
Silicon together with its native oxide SiO$_2$ was recognized as an outstanding material system for the semiconductor industry in the 1950s. In state-of-the-art device technology, SiO$_2$ is widely used as an insulator in combination with…
We present a theoretical account of some of the most likely hydrogen-related reactions with impurities in n-type and p-type solar-grade silicon. These include reactions with dopants and carbon, which are relevant in the context of life-time…
We have measured optical absorption in mid-infrared spectral range on hydrogen intercalated epitaxial graphene grown on silicon face of SiC. We have used attenuated total reflection geometry to enhance absorption related to the surface and…
The dissolution and subsequent mass transfer of carbon dioxide gas into liquid barriers plays a vital role in many environmental and industrial applications. In this work, we study the downward dissolution and propagation dynamics of CO2…
Collisions of ice particles play an important role in the formation of planetesimals and comets. In recent work we showed, that CO$_2$ ice behaves like silicates in collisions. The resulting assumption was that it should therefore stick…
Segregation and dissolution behavior of Mg alloyed with Ca and Al are studied by performing density functional theory calculations considering an extensive set of surface structures and compositions. Combining ab initio surface science…
The irrotational nature of superfluid helium was discovered through its decoupling from the container under rotation. Similarly, the resonant period drop of a torsional oscillator (TO) containing solid helium was first interpreted as the…
Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is an abundant sulfur (S)-bearing species in the interstellar medium. It is present not only in the gas phase, but also on interstellar grains as a solid; therefore, OCS very likely undergoes physicochemical processes…
The corrosion resistance of an electroplated (EP) Zn coating whose surface was chemically etched to produce surface defects (pores) is investigated in this work. Impedance and DC polarisation measururements were employed to study the…
Freezing of water is arguably one of the most common phase transitions on Earth and almost always happens heterogeneously. Despite its importance, we lack a fundamental understanding of what makes substrates efficient ice nucleators. Here…
We calculate the ion and composition distributions around colloid particles in an aqueous mixture, accounting for preferential adsorption, electrostatic interaction, selective solvation among ions and polar molecules, and…
Corrosion in concrete prevents in-situ observation, necessitating models to provide insight into the local reaction currents. We present a computational method for predicting corrosion rates of reinforcements within concrete under natural…
Chemical processes taking place on ice-grain mantles are pivotal to the complex chemistry of interstellar environments. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the catalytic effects of an amorphous solid water (ASW) surface…