Catalytic Nanotruss Structures Realized by Magnetic Self-Assembly in Pulsed Plasma.

Tunable nanostructures that feature a high surface area are firmly attached to a conducting substrate and can be fabricated efficiently over significant areas, which are of interest for a wide variety of applications in, for instance, energy storage and catalysis. We present a novel approach to fabricate Fe nanoparticles using a pulsed-plasma process and their subsequent guidance and self-organization into well-defined nanostructures on a substrate of choice by the use of an external magnetic field. A systematic analysis and study of the growth procedure demonstrate that nondesired nanoparticle agglomeration in the plasma phase is hindered by electrostatic repulsion, that a polydisperse nanoparticle distribution is a consequence of the magnetic collection, and that the formation of highly networked nanotruss structures is a direct result of the polydisperse nanoparticle distribution.

On the interpretation of Langmuir probe data inside a spacecraft sheath.

If a Langmuir probe is located inside the sheath of a negatively charged spacecraft, there is a risk that the probe characteristic is modified compared to that of a free probe in the ambient plasma. We have studied this probe-in-spacecraft-sheath problem in the parameter range of a small Langmuir probe (with radius r(LP)≪λ(D)) using a modified version of the orbit motion limited (OML) probe theory. We find that the ambient electron contribution I(e)(U(LP)) to the probe characteristic is suitably analyzed in terms of three regions of applied probe potential U(LP).

Faster-than-Bohm cross-B electron transport in strongly pulsed plasmas.

We report the empirical discovery of an exceptionally high cross-B electron transport rate in magnetized plasmas, in which transverse currents are driven with abruptly applied high power. Experiments in three different magnetic geometries are analyzed, covering several orders of magnitude in plasma density, magnetic field strength, and ion mass. It is demonstrated that a suitable normalization parameter is the dimensionless product of the electron (angular) gyrofrequency and the effective electron-ion momentum transfer time, omega(ge)tau(EFF), by which all of diffusion, cross-resistivity, cross-B current conduction, and magnetic field diffusion can be expressed.