REVIEW|90 Article(s)
Highly Thermal Conductive Silicon Carbide Ceramics Matrix Composites for Thermal Management: a Review
Qiang CHEN, Shuxin BAI, and Yicong YE
Silicon carbide ceramic matrix composites have been widely used in aerospace, friction brake, fusion fields and so on, and become advanced high-temperature structural and functional composites, due to their high specific strength and specific modulus, excellent ablation and oxidation resistance, and high conductivity and good thermal shock resistance. This paper reviews the latest research progress in preparation and property of silicon carbide ceramics matrix composites (CMCs) with high thermal conductivity. Researchers have improved the thermal conductivity of silicon carbide CMCs, including by introducing highly thermal conductive phases for reinforcing heat transport, such as diamond powders, and mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers (MPCF), by optimizing the interface between pyrolytic carbon (PyC) and silicon carbide matrix for reducing interfacial thermal resistance, by heat-treating for obtaining silicon carbide matrix with higher crystallinity and better thermal conductivity, and by designing preform structure for establishing continuous thermal conduction path. Meanwhile, research interests on silicon carbide CMCs are to explore new preparation with high efficiency and low cost through optimising their influencing factors, and to obtain isotropic highly thermal conductivity with dimensional stability and physical properties through deep understanding their thermal conductive mechanism, and flexible method based on the structure-activity relationship.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 31, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 6, 634 (2023)
Research Progress on Ferroelectric Superlattices
Junliang LIN, and Zhanjie WANG
Ferroelectric superlattices are artificial film materials with layered periodic structure formed by an alternate growth of two or more ferroelectric materials or non-ferroelectric materials at unit cell scale. Ferroelectric superlattices can exhibit excellent ferroelectric, piezoelectric, dielectric, and pyroelectric properties due to the existence of a large number of heterogeneous interfaces and the remarkable interface effect, and even show new functional properties that are not available in their constituent materials. Therefore, ferroelectric superlattices not only provide an ideal platform for studying interactions between charges and lattices at the interface of complex oxide materials, but also play an indispensable role in the next generation of integrated ferroelectric devices. With the development of preparation and characterization methods, researchers can design and control the microstructure and chemical composition at atomic scale to improve the functional properties of ferroelectric superlattice thin films. Ferroelectric polarization is the most basic property of ferroelectric film materials. In addition to being used for information storage devices, ferroelectric polarization also plays an important role in regulating the energy conversion performance of integrated ferroelectric devices such as piezoelectric devices, photovoltaic devices and electrocaloric devices. Therefore, the ferroelectric polarization intensity of ferroelectric superlattices directly determines their functional characteristics and practical application value of integrated ferroelectric devices composed of them. In this short review paper, we firstly introduced the structural characteristics, classification and several typical functional characteristics of ferroelectric superlattices, and then focused on several factors affecting the polarization performance of ferroelectric superlattices based on recent research results, including strain effect, electrostatic coupling effect, defect effect, and period thickness. Finally, we looked forward to the future research directions in ferroelectric superlattices to provide reference for the research in this field.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Feb. 07, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 6, 606 (2023)
X-ray Diffraction Rietveld Refinement and Its Application in Cathode Materials for Lithium-ion Batteries
Zhuo YANG, Yong LU, Qing ZHAO, and Jun CHEN
2022 marks the 110th anniversary of X-ray diffraction (XRD), which is a powerful technique used to find out the nature of materials. Rietveld refinement method, as an important means of extracting material structure information, plays a significant role in establishing the relationship between structure and performance of materials. Cathode materials are a vital part of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In-depth understanding of their crystal structure and atomic distribution is extremely helpful to promote the development of cathode materials for LIBs. Cathode materials for LIBs are generally the hosts of lithium. Studies on lithium occupation and transfer are inseparable from a deep understanding of its structural characteristics. This review summarizes XRD Rietveld structure refinement and its application in cathode materials for LIBs. XRD Rietveld structure refinement in synthesis, degradation, and structural modification of cathode materials are analyzed by using several types of typical cathode materials as examples. XRD Rietveld method could provide useful structural information of the cathode materials, including phase ratio in composite and crystallographic parameters (e.g., cell parameters, key atomic occupation, and atomic coordinates). Therefore, exploring structure of cathode materials assisted with XRD Rietveld refinement method is of great significance for the development of high-performance cathode materials for LIBs. Finally, the opportunities and challenges in the field of X-ray diffraction technology in detecting structure of cathode materials for LIBs are prospected.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 11, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 6, 589 (2023)
Copper-based Nanozymes: Properties and Applications in Biomedicine
Jiaxue NIU, Si SUN, Pengfei LIU, Xiaodong ZHANG, and Xiaoyu MU
Natural enzymes play an important role in maintaining normal life activities, but suffer in their inherent instability, harsh reaction conditions and high purification costs, which limit their wide applications in vitro. Compared to natural enzymes, nanozymes with high stability, low cost, and ease of structural regulation and modification attract the great interests and are widely applied to biomedicine, environmental control, industrial production and other fields due to their enzyme-like activities and selectivity. As an essential element and one of the active central metals of natural enzymes in the human body, copper-based (Cu-based) nanozymes have received extensive attentions and researches. This review focused on the classification of Cu-based nanozymes, such as Cu nanozymes, Cu oxide nanozymes, Cu telluride nanozymes, Cu single-atom nanozymes, and Cu-based metal organic framework nanozymes. Then this review described the enzyme-like activities and catalytic mechanisms of Cu-based nanozymes, and also summarized the applications of Cu-based nanozymes, including biosensing, wound healing, acute kidney injury, and tumors. The challenges and future development direction of Cu-based nanozymes were proposed.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 17, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 5, 489 (2023)
Multi-scale Crystallization Materials: Advances in in-situ Characterization Techniques and Computational Simulations
Kunfeng CHEN, Qianyu HU, Feng LIU, and Dongfeng XUE
Large-sized crystalline materials are the basic raw materials in semiconductors, lasers, and communications. Preparation of large-scale, high-quality crystalline materials has become a bottleneck restricting the development of related industries. Breaking through the preparation theory and technology of large-sized crystal materials is the key to obtaining high-quality large-sized crystals. Preparation process of crystal materials often undergoes nucleation and growth stages, including multiple processes at spatiotemporal scale: from atom/molecules, through clusters and nuclei, to bulk crystals. To further explore and accurately understand the crystal growth mechanism, we need intensively study the multiscale process,multi-scale in situ characterization techniques, and computational simulation methods. Among them, the latest in situ characterization methods for crystal growth includes optical microscopy, electron microscopy, vibration spectra, synchrotron radiation, neutron technology, and especially, machine learning method. Thus, the multi-scale computational simulation techniques for crystallization is introduced, for example, first principles calculation at atom/molecular scale, molecular dynamics simulation, Monte Carlo simulation, phase field simulation at mesoscopic scale, and finite element simulation at macroscopic scale. A single in situ characterization or simulation technique can only explore crystallization information over a specific time and space scale. To accurately and fully reflect the crystallization process, a combination of multi-scale methods is introduced. It can be speculated that the establishment of in situ characterization technology and computational simulation methods for the actual large-sized crystal growth environment will be the future development trend, which provides an important experimental and theoretical basis for developing crystallization theory and controlling crystal quality. Furthermore, it can be deduced that the combination of in situ characterization technology with machine learning and big data technology will be the trend for large-sized crystal growth.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 19, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 3, 256 (2023)
Progress in GaN Single Crystals: HVPE Growth and Doping
Zhanguo QI, Lei LIU, Shouzhi WANG, Guogong WANG, Jiaoxian YU, Zhongxin WANG, Xiulan DUAN, Xiangang XU, and Lei ZHANG
Compared with the first and second generation semiconductor materials, the third generation semiconductor materials exhibit higher breakdown field strength, higher saturated electron drift velocity, outstanding thermal conductivity, and wider band gap, suitable for manufacturing of electronic devices with high frequency, high power, radiation resistance, corrosion resistant properties, optoelectronic devices and light emitting devices. As one of the representatives of the third generation of semiconductor materials, gallium nitride (GaN) is an ideal substrate material for preparing blue-green laser, radio frequency (RF) microwave and power electronic devices. It has broad application prospects in laser display, 5G communication, phased array radar, aerospace, etc. Hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) method is the most promising method for growth of GaN crystals due to its simple growth equipment, mild growth conditions and fast growth rate. Due to the widely used quartz reactors, unintentionally doped GaN obtained by HVPE method inevitably has donor impurities (Si and O). Therefore, the grown GaN shows n-type electrical properties, high carrier concentration and low conductivity, which limits its application in high-frequency and high-power devices. Currently, doping is the most common method to improve the electrical performance of semiconductor materials, through which different types of GaN single crystal substrates can be obtained with different dopants to improve their electrochemical characteristics and meet the different needs of market applications. In this article, the basic structure and properties of GaN semiconductor crystal material are introduced, and the recent progress of the high quality GaN crystals grown by HVPE method is reviewed; and the doping characteristics, dopant types, growth process and the influence of doped atoms on the electrical properties of GaN are introduced. Finally, the challenges and opportunities faced by the HVPE method to grow doped GaN crystals are briefly described, and the future developments in several directions are prospected.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 17, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 3, 243 (2023)
Research Progress of ScAlMgO4 Crystal: a Novel GaN and ZnO Substrate
Chaoyi ZHANG, Huili TANG, Xianke LI, Qingguo WANG, Ping LUO, Feng WU, Chenbo ZHANG, Yanyan XUE, Jun XU, Jianfeng HAN, and Zhanwen LU
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the third generation wide band gap (Eg>2.3 eV) semiconductor materials represented by gallium nitride (GaN) and zinc oxide (ZnO) are becoming the core supporting materials for development of semiconductor industry. Due to difficult growth and high cost of GaN and ZnO single crystal, epitaxial technology is always used as the substrate materials to grow GaN and ZnO films. Therefore, it is crucial to find an ideal substrate material for the development of third generation semiconductor. Compared with traditional substrate materials, such as sapphire, 6H-SiC and GaAs, scandium magnesium aluminate (ScAlMgO4) crystal, as a new self-peeling substrate material, has attracted much attention because of its small lattice mismatch rate (~1.4% and ~0.09%, respectively) and suitable thermal expansion coefficient with GaN and ZnO. In this paper, based on structure of ScAlMgO4 crystal, the unique trigonal bipyramid coordination and natural superlattice structure, the basis for its thermal and electrical properties, are introduced in detail. In addition, the layered structure of ScAlMgO4 crystal along the c-axis makes it self-peeling, which greatly reduces its preparation cost and has a good application prospect in the preparation of self-supported GaN films. However, the raw material of ScAlMgO4 is difficult to synthesize, and the crystal growth method is single, mainly through the Czochralski method (Cz), and growing techniques now in China lag far behind that in Japan. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a new growth method of growing high quality and large size ScAlMgO4 crystals to break the technical barriers.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Jan. 19, 2023
  • Vol. 38, Issue 3, 228 (2023)
Progress of Porous Silicon Nitride Ceramics Prepared via Self-propagating High Temperature Synthesis
Ye ZHANG, and Yuping ZENG
Porous silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramics can be widely used in various fields, such as sound and shock absorption, filtration and so on, due to its high porosity and outstanding properties of ceramics. However, conventional preparation methods, such as gas-pressure/pressureless sintering, sintering reaction-bonded sintering and carbothermal reduction sintering, perform long sintering time, high energy consumption and high equipment requirements, which makes the preparation of porous Si3N4 ceramics expensive. Therefore, it is of great importance to explore a rapid and low-cost preparation method. In recent years, the direct preparation of porous Si3N4 ceramics by self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) has showed great potential of which the heat released from the nitridation of Si powder could be used for the in-situ sintering of porous Si3N4 ceramics. In present paper, researches relating to the initiation of the SHS reaction, and microstructural evolution, mechanical properties, and reliability of the fabricated Si3N4 ceramics are summerized systematically. Porous Si3N4 ceramics with complete nitridation, excellent grain morphology and outstanding mechanical properties and reliability are obtained by adjusting raw materials and process parameters. Furthermore, the relationship between properties of grain boundary phase and high-temperature mechanical properties of SHS-fabricated porous Si3N4 ceramics is reviewed. Finally, the development direction of the self-propagating high temperature synthesis of porous Si3N4 ceramics is prospected.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Aug. 20, 2022
  • Vol. 37, Issue 8, 853 (2022)
Preparation of Special Ceramics by Microwave Heating: a Review
Yongqiang CHEN, Yixue WANG, Fan ZHANG, Hongxia LI, Binbin DONG, Zhiyu MIN, and Rui ZHANG
Special ceramics are widely used in aerospace, electronics, information, new energy, machinery, chemical industry, and other emerging industries. Their high temperature preparation process is still dominated by traditional gas kilns and electric heating furnaces with high carbon emissions and high energy consumption. The energy conservation-emission reduction situation is grim at present. Therefore, China is facing great pressure to achieve ‘double carbon’ goal, badly needing research and promotion of clean and efficient heating technology. Microwave heating uses the dielectric loss of the material itself to absorb microwave and convert electromagnetic energy into heat energy at molecular level. In this way, heat is generated simultaneously both inside and outside the whole material, leading the temperature gradient very low in the whole material. In addition to the volumetric heating, selective heating, power redistribution, thermal upheaval, and microwave plasma effect are important characteristics of microwave sintering. Microwave heating has the advantages of energy conservation, environmental protection, improved product performance and reduced combustion carbon emissions. There are many reports on microwave synthesis of various oxides, carbides, nitrides ceramic powders, and microwave sintering ceramic composites domestic and abroad. In this paper, the basic theories of microwave sintering and microwave mixed sintering are reviewed firstly, and then the latest research progress on preparation of ceramic powders by microwave heating and ceramic materials preparation by microwave sintering is introduced. Finally, microwave heating used in sintering of ceramic engineering products is introduced, which shows the superiority of microwave sintering. The key problems and the future development direction of special ceramics prepared by microwave sintering are also proposed.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Aug. 20, 2022
  • Vol. 37, Issue 8, 841 (2022)
Research Progress of SiC Fiber Reinforced SiC Composites for Nuclear Application
Qin OUYANG, Yanfei WANG, Jian XU, Yinsheng LI, Xueliang PEI, Gaoming MO, Mian LI, Peng LI, Xiaobing ZHOU, Fangfang GE, Chonghong ZHANG, Liu HE, Lei YANG, Zhengren HUANG, Zhifang CHAI, Wenlong ZHAN, and Qing HUANG
Silicon carbide fiber reinforced silicon carbide (SiCf/SiC) composites have become the preferred candidate for structural applications in advanced nuclear energy systems, because of their low neutron toxicity, neutron irradiation tolerance and high-temperature oxidation resistance. In recent years, both academia and industry either domestic or abroad have carried out a lot of researches on SiCf/SiC composites for nuclear application, and numerous important achievements have been made. This paper summarized and analysed some critical directions of SiCf/SiC composites for nuclear applications, including nuclear-grade SiC fibers, fibre/matrix interfaces, composite processing, modeling and simulation, corrosion behavior and surface protection, joining technology, as well as radiation damage. The key issues and potential solutions of SiCf/SiC composites for nuclear applications have been pointed out in account to the requirements, anticipating to be beneficial to promoting further researches and final applications.
Journal of Inorganic Materials
  • Publication Date: Aug. 20, 2022
  • Vol. 37, Issue 8, 821 (2022)