Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum

doi:10.1021/acsami.7b17224

Title: Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum

Abstract

Here, the surface oxidation of aluminum is still poorly understood despite its vital role as an insulator in electronics, in aluminum–air batteries, and in protecting the metal against corrosion. Here we use atomic resolution imaging in an environmental transmission electron microscope (TEM) to investigate the mechanism of aluminum oxide formation. Harnessing electron beam sputtering we prepare a pristine, oxide-free metal surface in the TEM. This allows us to study, as a function of crystallographic orientation and oxygen gas pressure, the full oxide growth regime from the first oxide nucleation to a complete anometers-thick surface film.

Authors:

Nguyen, Lan ^[1]; Hashimoto, Teruo ^[1];

^[2];

^[3];

^[1]; Berkels, Benjamin ^[4]; Thompson, George E. ^[1];

^[1]; Burnett, Tim L. ^[1]

Univ. of Manchester, Manchester (United Kingdom)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
RWTH Aachen Univ., Aachen (Germany)

Publication Date:: 2018-01-10

Research Org.:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

OSTI Identifier:: 1434776

Report Number(s):: BNL-203567-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

Resource Type:: Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; aluminum; electron energy loss spectroscopy; environmental transmission electron microscopy; high resolution transmission electron microscopy; nucleation; oxide; transmission electron microscopy

Citation Formats


                    Nguyen, Lan, Hashimoto, Teruo, Zakharov, Dmitri N., Stach, Eric A., Rooney, Aidan P., Berkels, Benjamin, Thompson, George E., Haigh, Sarah J., and Burnett, Tim L. Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
        Web.  doi:10.1021/acsami.7b17224.

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                    Nguyen, Lan, Hashimoto, Teruo, Zakharov, Dmitri N., Stach, Eric A., Rooney, Aidan P., Berkels, Benjamin, Thompson, George E., Haigh, Sarah J., & Burnett, Tim L. Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum.  United States.  doi:10.1021/acsami.7b17224.

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                    Nguyen, Lan, Hashimoto, Teruo, Zakharov, Dmitri N., Stach, Eric A., Rooney, Aidan P., Berkels, Benjamin, Thompson, George E., Haigh, Sarah J., and Burnett, Tim L. Wed .  
        "Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum".  United States.  doi:10.1021/acsami.7b17224.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1434776.

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@article{osti_1434776,

  title        = {Atomic-Scale Insights into the Oxidation of Aluminum},

  author       = {Nguyen, Lan and Hashimoto, Teruo and Zakharov, Dmitri N. and Stach, Eric A. and Rooney, Aidan P. and Berkels, Benjamin and Thompson, George E. and Haigh, Sarah J. and Burnett, Tim L.},

  abstractNote = {Here, the surface oxidation of aluminum is still poorly understood despite its vital role as an insulator in electronics, in aluminum–air batteries, and in protecting the metal against corrosion. Here we use atomic resolution imaging in an environmental transmission electron microscope (TEM) to investigate the mechanism of aluminum oxide formation. Harnessing electron beam sputtering we prepare a pristine, oxide-free metal surface in the TEM. This allows us to study, as a function of crystallographic orientation and oxygen gas pressure, the full oxide growth regime from the first oxide nucleation to a complete anometers-thick surface film.},

  doi          = {10.1021/acsami.7b17224},

  journal      = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},

  issn         = {1944-8244},

  number       = 3,

  volume       = 10,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2018},

  month        = {1}

}

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Journal Article:

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DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b17224

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Cited by: 4 works

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Figure 1: Artist's illustration showing environmental TEM imaging of an aluminum specimen in an O₂ gas environment (green = electrons; blue = oxygen; gray = aluminum). Times stated are from the point of oxygen introduction shown in c (full sequence: SV1). (b–d) Sequential atomic resolution images of Al sample viewedmore »

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