Insights into the hydrogen evolution reaction in vanadium redox flow batteries:A synchrotron radiation based X-ray imaging study

The parasitic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)in the negative half-cell of vanadium redox flow batteries(VRFBs)causes severe efficiency losses.Thus,a deeper understanding of this process and the accompanying bubble formation is crucial.This benchmarking study locally analyzes the bubble distribution in thick,porous electrodes for the first time using deep learning-based image segmentation of synchrotron X-ray micro-tomograms.Each large three-dimensional data set was processed precisely in less than one minute while minimizing human errors and pointing out areas of increased HER activity in VRFBs.The study systematically varies the electrode potential and material,concluding that more negative electrode potentials of-200 m V vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE)and lower cause more substantial bubble formation,resulting in bubble fractions of around 15%–20%in carbon felt electrodes.Contrarily,the bubble fractions stay only around 2%in an electrode combining carbon felt and carbon paper.The detected areas with high HER activity,such as the border subregion with more than 30%bubble fraction in carbon felt electrodes,the cutting edges,and preferential spots in the electrode bulk,are potential-independent and suggest that larger electrodes with a higher bulk-to-border ratio might reduce HER-related performance losses.The described combination of electrochemical measurements,local X-ray microtomography,AI-based segmentation,and 3D morphometric analysis is a powerful and novel approach for local bubble analysis in three-dimensional porous electrodes,providing an essential toolkit for a broad community working on bubble-generating electrochemical systems.

Assessing the microstructure and in vitro degradation behavior of Mg-xGd screw implants using μCT

Biodegradable implants are taking an increasingly important role in the area of orthopedic implants with the aim to replace permanent implants for temporary bone healing applications.During the implant preparation process,the material’s surface and microstructure are being changed by stresses induced by machining.Hence degradable metal implants need to be fully characterized in terms of the influence of machining on the resulting microstructure and corrosion performance.In this study,micro-computed tomography(μCT)is used for the quantification of the degradation rate of biodegradable implants.To our best knowledge,for the first time quantitative measures are introduced to describe the degradation homogeneity in 3D.This information enables a prediction in terms of implant stability during the degradation in the body.Two magnesium gadolinium alloys,Mg-5Gd and Mg-10 Gd(all alloy compositions are given in weight%unless otherwise stated),in the shape of M2 headless screws have been investigated for their microstructure and their degradation performance up to 56 days.During the microstructure investigations particular attention was paid to the localized deformation of the alloys,due to the machining process.In vitro immersion testing was performed to assess the degradation performance quantified by subsequent weight loss and volume loss(usingμCT)measurements.Although differences were observed in the degree of screw’s near surface microstructure being influenced from machining,the degradation rates of both materials appeared to be suitable for application in orthopedic implants.From the degradation homogeneity point of view no obvious contrast was detected between both alloys.However,the higher degradation depth ratios between the crests and roots of Mg-5Gd ratios may indicated a less homogeneous degradation of the screws of these alloys on contract to the ones made of Mg-10Gd alloys.Due to its lower degradation rates,its more homogeneous microstructure,its weaker texture and better degradation performance extruded Mg-10Gd emerged more suitable as implant material than Mg-5Gd.