Research of Copper Foam Prepared by Forming-Knitting and Infiltration

Using forming-knitting technology and organic materials, copper foam with high porosity (>80%) and open-pore structure was successfully prepared. According to the method of immersion, the technical characteristics of metal paste performance and influence factors of sinter process were discussed. The pore morphology and compressibility of copper foam were detected simultaneously, and the structural property of copper foam prepared by the process of once-infiltrating was compared with the one of copper foam prepared by the process of twice-infiltrating. The results show that pH value of metal paste has a large influence on rheological properties of slurry. By twice-infiltrating process, the microstructure of copper foam was altered. In case of the porosity dropping indistinctly, the compression stress of copper foam platform was raised from 0.5 MPa to 1 Mpa which was of great significance to improve the energy absorption capacity of the material.

Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate to ammonia at low concentration by copper-cobalt oxide nanowires with shell-core structure

Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia(NO3−RR)for removing nitrate from wastewater is a promising but challengeable technology that is increasingly studied.Herein,we developed an efficient CuO_(x)and CoCuO_(x)composed hybrid catalyst(CoCuO_(x)@CuO_(x)/copper foam(CF)),characteristic of distinctive shell-core nanowires grown on CF substrate with CuO_(x)core and CoCuO_(x)shell.The built-in electric field formed at the interface of the CoO/Cu_(2)O heterostructure promotes NO3−adsorption by modulating the charge distribution at the interface,which greatly improves the ammonia yield rate and Faradaic efficiency.At−0.2 V vs.reversible hydrogen electrode(RHE),CoCuO_(x)@CuO_(x)/CF achieves not only an excellent ammonia yield rate of up to 519.1μg·h^(−1)·cm^(−2)and Faradaic efficiency of 99.83%at 1 mM NO3−concentration,but also excellent mechanical stabilities.This study provides a novel pathway to design electrocatalyst for the removal of nitrate from dilute nitric acid solutions(≤2 mM).

Flow boiling heat transfer in copper foam fin microchannels with different fin widths using R134a

Heat sinks of copper foam fin microchannels are developed to deal with cooling challenges.The heat sinks consist of fins made of copper foam and channels.The channels are 0.5 mm in width and 1 mm in height,and the fins are 0.5 and 2.0 mm in width.Flow boiling experiments are conducted using R134a at subcooled and saturated inlet conditions.The heat flux is between 22 and 172 W/cm^(2),and the mass flux ranges from 264 to 1213 kg/(m^(2)s).The influence of the quality,the heat flux,and the mass flow rate on the heat transfer coefficient is obtained.It is found that wider fin raises the heat transfer coefficient.A correlation is developed based on heat transfer mechanisms,and it predicts the experimental result with a 12%mean absolute error.Compared with a solid fin microchannels heat sink,the heat transfer coefficient of the copper foam fin microchannels is higher(up to 60%)when the heat flux is lower than 100 W/cm^(2).The copper foam fin microchannels may enhance the heat transfer coefficient and reduce the pressure drop at the same time.

A ZnO decorated 3D copper foam as a lithiophilic host to construct composite lithium metal anodes for Li-O_(2) batteries

Lithium metal batteries(LMBs) with a high theoretical capacity are seen as a type of the most potential energy storage system.Unfortunately,the growth of lithium dendrite,the irreversible side reactions,and the infinite volume alteration still curb the practical utilization of lithium metal anodes,resulting in low Coulombic efficiency(CE) and safety problems,etc.Herein,we synthesize a lithiophilic 3D copper foam host with uniformly distributed nano-flower-like ZnO particles(CuF/ZnO) and obtain the composite lithium metal anode containing the Li_(2)O,LiZn alloy,and pure Li by the infusion of molten Li(CuF/Li_(2)O-LiZn@Li).Benefitting from the advantages of the 3D structure of copper foam and the lithiophilicity of ZnO sites,the composite lithium metal anode can restrain the volume alternation and regulate the uniform deposition of lithium.The symmetrical cells of the composite lithium metal anode have a 1600 h long cycle life with a low polarization voltage of 15 mV,and the Coulombic efficiency can maintain about 97.8% at 1.0 mA·cm^(-2),1.0mAh·cm^(-2).

Experimental study and correlation development for the two-phase frictional pressure drop of flow boiling in copper foam fin microchannels

Flow boiling in microchannels with porous walls has received extensive attention in recent years. Compared with the emphasis on heat transfer, there is a lack of research on the effect of the porous wall structures on the pressure drop characteristics. In this study, systematic experiments are performed to measure the pressure drop of water-vapor two-phase flow in five microchannels with copper foam fins, which consist of nine or six channels and fins of copper foam. The porosities of the foam fins range from0.78 to 0.82 and ratios of fin width to channel width range from 0.5 to 2. The channels are approximately 0.5 or 1 mm in width and 1 mm in height. Both adiabatic and flow boiling experiments are conducted with water at mass fluxes ranging from 66 to 407 kg/(m^(2)s). In the adiabatic experiments, the average quality in channels is between 0.017 and 0.846. In the flow boiling experiments, the outlet quality of channels is between 0.040 and 0.863. Slug flow, churn flow, annular flow, and wispy-annular flow are observed in adiabatic experiments. A two-phase frictional pressure drop correlation based on the Lockhart-Martinelli model is developed for copper foam fin microchannels by introducing the effects of the mass flux, porosity, ratio of fin width to channel width, and heating condition step by step. The mean absolute percentage errors of the new correlation are 7.53% for 325data points under adiabatic conditions and 5.51% for 268 data points under flow boiling conditions, respectively. This work provides insight into the correlations of frictional pressure drop in microchannels with porous walls.