Welcome to the Amira-Avizo Software Use Case Gallery

Mass transport can significantly limit the rate of reaction and lead to concentration polarization in electrochemical devices, especially under the conditions of high operating current density.

In this study we investigate hierarchically structured micro-tubular solid
oxide fuel cells (MT-SOFC) fabricated by phase inversion technique and quantitatively assess the mass transport and electrochemical performance improvement compared to a conventional tubular SOFC. We present pioneer... Read more

Composite cathodes comprising nanoscale
powders are expected to impart with high specific surface
area and triple phase boundary (TPB) density, which will lead
to better performance.

However, uniformly mixing nanosized heterophase powders remains a challenge due to their high surface energy and thus ease with which they agglomerate into their individual phases during the mixing and sintering
processes. In this study, we successfully synthesized La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe... Read more

SiC-SiC ceramic matrix composites are candidate materials for fuel cladding in Generation IV nuclear fission reactors and as accident tolerant fuel clad in current generation plant.

Experimental methods are needed that can detect and quantify the development of mechanical damage, to support modelling and qualification tests for these critical components. In situ observations of damage development have been obtained of tensile and C-ring mechanical test specimens of a braided nuclear gr... Read more

This study aims to correlate the active triple phase boundaries (TPBs) to the variation of as-prepared anode microstructures and Ni densifications based on the reconstructed 3D volume of an SOFC anode, providing a point of comparison with theoretical studies that reveal the relationship of TPBs and the material microstructure using randomly packed spheres models.

Nickel/zirconia-based nanostructured electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells suffer from poor stability even at intermediate temperature.

This study quantifies the electrochemical and microstructural degradation of nanostructured electrodes by combining 3D tomography, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and mechanistic modeling. For the first time, the electrochemical degradation of nanostructured electrodes is quantified according to the fractal nature of the three-phase bounda... Read more

A simple chemical bath deposition is used to coat a complex porous ceramic scaffold with a conformal Ni layer.

The resulting composite is used as a solid oxide fuel cell electrode, and its electrochemical response is measured in humidified hydrogen. X‐ray tomography is used to determine the microstructural characteristics of the uncoated and Ni‐coated porous structure, which include the surface area to total volume, the radial pore size, and the size of the necks between the pores.... Read more

Phylactolaemate bryozoans are the sister-group to all remaining bryozoan taxa. Consequently, their study is essential to reveal and analyze ancestral traits of Phylactolaemata and Bryozoa in general.

They are the only bryozoans to possess an epistome which traditionally has been regarded as shared with phoronids and brachiopods. Contrary to older observations, an epistome was recently reported to be missing in the early branching phylactolaemate Lophopus crystallinus. In this... Read more

Chromosomal instability is a hallmark of cancer and correlates with the presence of extra centrosomes, which originate from centriole overduplication.

Overduplicated centrioles lead to the formation of centriole rosettes, which mature into supernumerary centrosomes in the subsequent cell cycle. While extra centrosomes promote chromosome missegregation by clustering into pseudo-bipolar spindles, the contribution of centriole rosettes to chromosome missegregation is unknown. We us... Read more

Metal additive manufacturing techniques such as the powder-bed systems are developing as a novel method for producing complex components.

This study uses synchrotron-based X-ray microtomography to investigate porosity in electron beam melted Ti-6Al-4V in the as-built and post-processed state for two different powders. The presence of gas porosity in the starting powder was shown to correlate to porosity in the as-built components. This porosity was observed to shrink after a hot isosta... Read more

This paper used the X-ray three-dimensional (3D) microscope and acquired, through CT scanning, the 3D data of the long-frame coal sample from the Daliuta Coal Mine.

Then, the 3D datacube reconstructed from the coal’s CT scanning data was visualized with the use of Avizo, an advanced visualization software. By means of a gray-scale segmentation technique, the model of the coal’s micro-pore structure was extracted from the object region, and the precise characterization was then cond... Read more

The most common means of fabricating membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) involves a hot-press step. The conditions used to perform the hot-press impacts the performance and durability of the fuel cell.

However, the hot-press process is not essential for achieving operational MEAs and some practitioners dispense with the hot-press stage altogether by using a self-assembled approach. By performing the integration of the components in-situ durin... Read more

Multiphase flow in porous media is strongly influenced by the wettability of the system, which affects the arrangement of the interfaces of different phases residing in the pores.

We present a method for estimating the effective contact angle, which quantifies the wettability and controls the local capillary pressure within the complex pore space of natural rock samples, based on the physical constraint of constant curvature of the interface between two fluids. This algorithm is ... Read more

Lifetime-limiting failure of fuel cell membranes is generally attributed to their chemical and/or mechanical degradation. Although both of these degradation modes occur concurrently during operational duty cycles, their uncoupled investigations can provide useful insights into their individual characteristics and consequential impacts on the overall membrane failure.

X-ray computed tomography is emerging as an advantageous tool for fuel cell failure analysis due to its non-destructive ... Read more

The prevailing electrode fabrication method for lithium-ion battery electrodes includes calendering at high pressures to densify the electrode and promote adhesion to the metal current collector.

However, this process increases the tortuosity of the pore network in the primary transport direction and imposes severe tradeoffs between electrode thickness and rate capability. With the aim of understanding the impact of pore tortuosity on electrode kinetics, and enabling cell designs with ... Read more

Ni-YSZ anodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are vulnerable to microstructural damage during redox cycling leading to a decrease in the electrochemical performance.

• Quantification of redox damage by coupling 3D tomography, EIS and nanoindentation.
• YSZ fracture, Ni detachment and agglomeration led to irreversible mechanical damage.
• Ni nanoparticles obtained upon redox cycling improve electrochemical performance.
• Loss in TPB densi... Read more

Electrospun all-fiber flexible supercapacitor with nanofiber electrodes/separator.

• Increased graphitic degree with the addition of MnACAC and thermal decomposition.
• Enhanced capacitive performance with the addition of MnO.
• Quantified nanofiber alignment and increased bias with MnO over undoped fibers.
• FIBSEM tomography of nanofibers showing MnO disitribution in carbon nanofibers.

We present an all-fiber flexible supercapacitor with compo... Read more

TRISO particles, a composite nuclear fuel built up by ceramic and graphitic layers, have outstanding high temperature resistance. TRISO fuel is the key technology for High Temperature Reactors (HTRs) and the Generation IV Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) variant.

TRISO offers unparalleled containment of fission products and is extremely robust during accident conditions. An understanding of the thermal performance and mechanical properties of TRISO fuel requires a detailed knowledg... Read more

Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels using molten salt media is an attractive alternative to liquid-liquid extraction techniques.

Pyroelectrochemical processing utilizes direct, selective, electrochemical reduction of uranium dioxide, followed by selective electroplating of a uranium metal. Thermodynamic prediction of the electrochemical reduction of UO2 to U in LiCl-KCl eutectic has shown to be a function of the oxide ion activity. The pO2 of the salt may be affected by the microstruc... Read more

How do you characterise the contents of a sealed nuclear waste package without breaking it open?

This question is important when the contained corrosion products are potentially reactive with air and radioactive. Synchrotron X-rays have been used to perform micro-scale in-situ observation and characterisation of uranium encapsulated in grout; a simulation for a typical intermediate level waste storage packet. X-ray tomography and X-ray powder diffraction generated both qualitative and ... Read more

Angiosperm-dominated floras of the Late Cretaceous are essential for understanding the evolutionary, ecological, and geographic radiation of flowering plants.

The Late Cretaceous–early Paleogene Deccan Intertrappean Beds of India contain angiosperm-dominated plant fossil assemblages known from multiple localities in central India. Numerous monocots have been documented from these assemblages, providing a window into an important but poorly understood time in their diversification. On... Read more

Composite membranes with defective metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) connect the emerging fields of MOF topological modification, MOF-polymer interfacial engineering and composite material functionalization.

Although defective MOFs can be fabricated via thermal or chemical treatment, the relationship between hierarchical MOF structure and their performance in a polymeric membrane matrix has so far not been investigated. Here we show how a modula... Read more