Nonwetting Behavior of Al-Co Quasicrystalline Approximants Owing to Their Unique Electronic Structures.
Fiche publication
Date publication
avril 2020
Journal
ACS applied materials & interfaces
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr GAUDRY Emilie
Tous les auteurs :
Anand K, Fournée V, Prévot G, Ledieu J, Gaudry É
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
Good wetting is generally observed for liquid metals on metallic substrates, while poor wetting usually occurs for metals on insulating oxides. In this work, we report unexpected large contact angles for lead on two metallic approximants to decagonal quasicrystals, namely, AlCo and AlCo. Intrinsic surface wettability is predicted from first principles, using a thermodynamic model based on the Young equation, and validated by the good agreement with experimental measurements performed under ultra-high vacuum by scanning electron microscopy. The atomistic details of the atomic and electronic structures at the Pb-substrate interface, and the comparison with Pb(111)/Al(111), underline the influence of the specific electronic structures of quasicrystalline approximants on wetting. Our work suggests a possible correlation of the contact angles with the density of states at the Fermi energy and paves the way for a better fundamental understanding of wettability on intermetallic substrates, which has potential consequences in several applications such as supported catalysts, protective coatings, or crystal growth.
Mots clés
contact angle, density functional theory, electronic structures, interfacial energy, quasicrystalline approximant surfaces, scanning electron microscopy, wetting
Référence
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Apr 1;12(13):15793-15801