Title: Anomalous diffusion along metal/ceramic interfaces

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  2. Israel Inst. of Technology, Haifa (Israel). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  3. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Thomas Young Centre, Dept. of Materials and Dept. of Physics
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Materials Science Division
  5. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics; City Univ. of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Interface diffusion along a metal/ceramic interface present in numerous energy and electronic devices can critically affect their performance and stability. Hole formation in a polycrystalline Ni film on an α-Al2O3 substrate coupled with a continuum diffusion analysis demonstrates that Ni diffusion along the Ni/α-Al2O3 interface is surprisingly fast. Ab initio calculations demonstrate that both Ni vacancy formation and migration energies at the coherent Ni/α-Al2O3 interface are much smaller than in bulk Ni, suggesting that the activation energy for diffusion along coherent Ni/α-Al2O3 interfaces is comparable to that along (incoherent/high angle) grain boundaries. Based on these results, we develop a simple model for diffusion along metal/ceramic interfaces, apply it to a wide range of metal/ceramic systems and validate it with several ab initio calculations. These results suggest that fast metal diffusion along metal/ceramic interfaces should be common, but is not universal.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1513133
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-744286; 899406
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 9; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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