We model and compare the thermal conductivity of rough semiconductor nanowires (NWs) of Si, Ge, and GaAs for thermoelectric devices. On the basis of full phonon dispersion relations, the effect of NW surface roughness on thermal conductivity is derived from perturbation theory and appears as an efficient way to scatter phonons in Si, Ge, and GaAs NWs with diameter D < 200 nm. For small diameter...

We use a state of the art climate model (CAM3–CLM3) to investigate the sensitivity of surface climate and land surface processes to treatments of snow thermal conductivity. In the first set of experiments, the thermal conductivity of snow at each grid cell is set to that of the underlying soil (SC-SOIL), effectively eliminating any insulation effect. This scenario is compared against a control ...

Porous gold films have attracted increasing interest over the last ten years due to the unique properties of high specific surface area and electrical conductivity combined with chemical stability and ability to alter the surface chemistry. Several methods have been developed to synthesize porous gold films such as de-alloying, templating, electrochemical, and self-assembling. These porous gold...

Experimental results are presented to illustrate that there exists a unique window of opportunity for eddy current NDE of residual stress in surface-treated nickel-base superalloys. In light of its frequency-dependent penetration depth, the measurement of eddy current conductivity has been suggested as a possible means to allow the nondestructive evaluation of subsurface residual stresses in su...

Specific conductivity is one of the defining parameters of the powdered materials, solid inorganic and polymer film. These properties can characterize not only physical parameters as it but also materials purity, components uniform distribution, etc. Test the specific conductivity for materials characterization can be use in chemical industry during materials synthesis. Specific conductivity of...

In this manuscript, we develop printable graphene ink through a solvent-exchange method. Printable graphene ink in ethanol and water free of any surfactant is dependent on matching the surface tension of the cross-solvent with the graphene surface energy. Percolative transport behavior is observed for films made of this printable ink. Optical conductivity is then calculated based on sheet resis...

In this study, the properties of optically excited silicon were investigated using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The surface was illuminated with 365-nm ultraviolet (UV) light to excite charge carriers, and properties such as conductivity, charge carrier density and mobility were evaluated. The illumination effect significantly changed the conductivity as well as the surface rec...

Because of their frequency-dependent penetration depth, eddy current measurements are capable of mapping the near-surface depth profile of the electric conductivity. This technique can be used to nondestructively characterize the subsurface residual stress distribution in certain types of shot-peened metals, e.g., in nickel-base superalloys. In this paper, a highly convergent iterative inversio...

We show that nanoscale surface roughness, which commonly occurs on microfabricated metal electrodes, can significantly suppress electro-osmotic flows when excess surface conductivity is appreciable. We demonstrate the physical mechanism for electro-osmotic flow suppression due to surface curvature, compute the effects of varying surface conductivity and roughness amplitudes on the slip velociti...

A model combining low-frequency complex conductivity and high-frequency permittivity is developed in the frequency range from 1 mHz to 1 GHz. The low-frequency conductivity depends on pore water and surface conductivities. Surface conductivity is controlled by the electrical diffuse layer, the outer component of the electrical double layer coating the surface of the minerals. The frequency depe...