Kinetics of Ga droplet decay on thin carbon films

• Using in situ transmission electron microscopy, we investigated the kinetics of liquid Ga droplet decay on thin amorphous carbon films during annealing at 773 K. The transmission electron microscopy images reveal that liquid Ga forms spherical droplets and undergo coarsening/decay with increasing time. We find that the droplet volumes change non-linearly with time and the volume decay rates depend on their local environment. By comparing the late-stage decay behavior of the droplets with the classical mean-field theory model for Ostwald ripening, we determine that the decay of Ga droplets occurs in the surface diffusion limited regime.

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TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

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art (subject category)