Plasma-assisted catalytic formation of ammonia in N2-H2 plasma on a tungsten surface.

Plasma catalysis has drawn attention in the past few decades as a possible alternative to the Haber-Bosch process for ammonia production. In particular, radio frequency plasma assisted catalysis has the advantage of its adaptability to the industrial scale. However, in the past years, very few experimental studies have focused on the synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen/hydrogen radio frequency plasma. As a consequence, to date, there has been little agreement about the complex mechanisms underlying the radio frequency plasma-catalyst interactions. Gaining such an understanding is therefore essential for exploiting the potential of radio frequency plasma catalysis for ammonia production. In this study, we present results of ammonia formation from a nitrogen/hydrogen radio frequency plasma both without and with a tungsten catalyst for different initial nitrogen ratios. High yields of ammonia up to 32% at 25/75% of nitrogen/hydrogen were obtained using a combination of radio frequency low pressure plasma and a W surface as a catalyst. Furthermore, based on chemical analysis of the catalytic surface composition, a formation pathway of ammonia via the Eley-Rideal mechanism between adsorbed nitrogen and hydrogen from the gas phase is presented.

Parametric study of hydrogenic inventory in the ITER divertor based on machine learning.

A parametric study is performed with the 2D FESTIM code for the ITER monoblock geometry. The influence of the monoblock surface temperature, the incident ion energy and particle flux on the monoblock hydrogen inventory is investigated. The simulated data is analysed with a Gaussian regression process and an inventory map as a function of ion energy and incident flux is given. Using this inventory map, the hydrogen inventory in the divertor is easily derived for any type of scenario. Here, the case of a detached ITER scenario with inputs from the SOLPS code is presented. For this scenario, the hydrogen inventory per monoblock is highly dependent of surface temperature and ranges from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] H after a [Formula: see text] s exposure. The inventory evolves as a power law of time and is lower at strike points where the surface temperature is high. Hydrogen inventory in the whole divertor after a [Formula: see text] s exposure is estimated at approximately 8 g.

Surface modifications induced by high fluxes of low energy helium ions.

Several metal surfaces, such as titanium, aluminum and copper, were exposed to high fluxes (in the range of 10(23) m(-2) s(-1)) of low energy (<100 eV) Helium (He) ions. The surfaces were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and to get a better understanding on morphology changes both top view and cross sectional images were taken. Different surface modifications, such as voids and nano pillars, are observed on these metals. The differences and similarities in the development of surface morphologies are discussed in terms of the material properties and compared with the results of similar experimental studies. The results show that He ions induced void growth and physical sputtering play a significant role in surface modification using high fluxes of low energy He ions.

Nanostructuring of iron surfaces by low-energy helium ions.

The behavior of iron surfaces under helium plasma exposure is investigated as a function of surface temperature, plasma exposure time, and He ion flux. Different surface morphologies are observed for a large process parameter range and discussed in terms of temperature-related surface mechanisms. Surface modification is observed under low-He ion flux (in the range of 10(20) m(-2) s(-1)) irradiation, whereas fiberlike iron nanostructures are formed by exposing the surface to a high flux (in the range of 10(23) m(-2) s(-1)) of low-energy He ions at surface temperatures of 450-700 °C. The effects of surface temperature and plasma exposure time on nanostructures are studied. The results show that surface processing by high-flux low-energy He ion bombardment provides a size-controlled nanostructuring on iron surfaces.

Efficient plasma route to nanostructure materials: case study on the use of m-WO3 for solar water splitting.

One of the main challenges in developing highly efficient nanostructured photoelectrodes is to achieve good control over the desired morphology and good electrical conductivity. We present an efficient plasma-processing technique to form porous structures in tungsten substrates. After an optimized two-step annealling procedure, the mesoporous tungsten transforms into photoactive monoclinic WO3. The excellent control over the feature size and good contact between the crystallites obtained with the plasma technique offers an exciting new synthesis route for nanostructured materials for use in processes such as solar water splitting.