Nano Explosions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates nano-scale explosions in hierarchical pore structures using image analysis, revealing their impact on material porosity and surface area, with implications for supercapacitor performance.

Contribution

It provides conclusive evidence of nano explosions through microscopy and statistical analysis, a novel approach for studying nano-scale phenomena.

Findings

Nano explosions increase pore access in hierarchical structures.

Slow heating enhances surface area by 60%.

Image analysis effectively determines nano shape densities.

Abstract

At the nano-scale, surface phenomena such as attractive VdW forces strongly dominate; explosions may well be thought impossible. We confirm nano explosions that are important for a fractal (hierarchical, scale invariant) pore structure, greatly increasing pore access. Analyzing only microscope images, image analysis and statistical error reduction algorithms alone provide conclusive evidence of explosively expelled material. The results reconfirm that computer image recognition and statistical analysis are a widely applicable and inexpensive technique for determining parameters which are otherwise unavailable, such as the densities of single nano shapes. The explosion mechanism explains optimum calcination temperatures for cobalt-hydroxide and why slow heating optimizes porosity. Slow heating increases the accessible surface area by 60% with this supercapacitor material.