Activation vacancy

There exists a correlation between support affinity for sulfur and HDS catalytic activity and it is suggested that, in contrast to conventional alumina supports, the narrow slit-shaped micropores in AC, while inaccessible to bulky reactant molecules, lower the vapor pressure of sulfur to such an extent as to create a driving force for sulfur transfer from the active compound to the micropores (sink effect), thus generating active vacancies. It is also suggested that the pore shape is a necessary condition for the sink effect, probably because the slitshaped pore allows the sulfur accumulated between the pore w ls to react with hydrogen from any side of the pore, to desorb as H2S. This is not possible in cylindrical micropoies of comparable dimensions in fact, the sink effect was not observed for microporous silica. 

If, within the diffusion zone, there is no active vacancy source or sink, then no drift of lattice planes could occur and the difference in the diffusion fluxes of substitutional chemical species would result in vacancy supersaturation and build-up of local stress states within the diffusion zone. Return to local equilibrium in a stress-free state could be achieved by the nucleation of pores leading to the well-known Kirkendall porosity (Fig. 2.2d). All intermediate situations are possible depending on local stress states and the density, distribution and efficiency of vacancy sources or sinks. However, it should be emphasized that complete Kirkendall shift would occur only in stress-free systems in local equihbrium. Therefore, all obstacles to the free relative displacement of lattice planes would lead to local non-equilibrium. Such a situation corresponds to the build-up of stress states that modify the conditions of local equilibrium and the action of vacancy sources or sinks these stress states must therefore be taken into account to define and analyse these local conditions and their spatial and temporal evolutions. 

The vacancy is very mobile in many semiconductors. In Si, its activation energy for diffusion ranges from 0.18 to 0.45 eV depending on its charge state, that is, on the position of the Fenni level. Wlrile the equilibrium concentration of vacancies is rather low, many processing steps inject vacancies into the bulk ion implantation, electron irradiation, etching, the deposition of some thin films on the surface, such as Al contacts or nitride layers etc. Such non-equilibrium situations can greatly affect the mobility of impurities as vacancies flood the sample and trap interstitials. 

Haeany Solution Model The initial model (37) considered the adsorbed phase to be a mixture of adsorbed molecules and vacancies (a vacancy solution) and assumed that nonideaUties of the solution can be described by the two-parameter Wilson activity coefficient equation. Subsequendy, it was found that the use of the three-parameter Flory-Huggins activity coefficient equation provided improved prediction of binary isotherms (38). 

For an ion to move through the lattice, there must be an empty equivalent vacancy or interstitial site available, and it must possess sufficient energy to overcome the potential barrier between the two sites. Ionic conductivity, or the transport of charge by mobile ions, is a diffusion and activated process. From Fick s Law, J = —D dn/dx), for diffusion of a species in a concentration gradient, the diffusion coefficient D is given by... 

An effect which is frequently encountered in oxide catalysts is that of promoters on the activity. An example of this is the small addition of lidrium oxide, Li20 which promotes, or increases, the catalytic activity of dre alkaline earth oxide BaO. Although little is known about the exact role of lithium on the surface structure of BaO, it would seem plausible that this effect is due to the introduction of more oxygen vacancies on the surface. This effect is well known in the chemistry of solid oxides. For example, the addition of lithium oxide to nickel oxide, in which a solid solution is formed, causes an increase in the concentration of dre major point defect which is the Ni + ion. Since the valency of dre cation in dre alkaline earth oxides can only take the value two the incorporation of lithium oxide in solid solution can only lead to oxygen vacaircy formation. Schematic equations for the two processes are... 

Typical values of the energy to form vacancies are for silver, lOSkJmol and for aluminium, 65.5kJmol These values should be compared with the values for the activation enthalpy for diffusion which are given in Table 6.2. It can also be seen from the Table 6.2 that die activation enthalpy for selfdiffusion which is related to the energy to break metal-metal bonds and form a vacant site is related semi-quantitatively to the energy of sublimation of the metal, in which process all of the metal atom bonds are broken. 

The value of the activation energy approaches 50000 near the stoichiometric composition. This diffusion process therefore approximates to the selfdiffusion of metals at stoichiometty where the vacancy concentration on the carbon sub-lattice is small. 

The diffusion coefficient corresponding to the measured values of /ch (D = kn/4nRn, is the reaction diameter, supposed to be equal to 2 A) equals 2.7 x 10 cm s at 4.2K and 1.9K. The self-diffusion in H2 crystals at 11-14 K is thermally activated with = 0.4 kcal/mol [Weinhaus and Meyer 1972]. At T < 11 K self-diffusion in the H2 crystal involves tunneling of a molecule from the lattice node to the vacancy, formation of the latter requiring 0.22 kcal/mol [Silvera 1980], so that the Arrhenius behavior is preserved. Were the mechanism of diffusion of the H atom the same, the diffusion coefficient at 1.9 K would be ten orders smaller than that at 4.2 K, while the measured values coincide. The diffusion coefficient of the D atoms in the D2 crystal is also the same for 1.9 and 4.2 K. It is 4 orders of magnitude smaller (3 x 10 cm /s) than the diffusion coefficient for H in H2 [Lee et al. 1987]. 

The complex coordination chemistry of Pb" is also beginning to be actively explored and some unusual stereochemistries are emerging. Thus, the mononuclear ( ) -nitrato)bis(phenanthrolene)(A-thiocyanato) complex [Pb(phen)2(NCS)( ) -NO3)] has 7-coordinate Pb" with a large vacancy... 

For small enough temperature steps (< lOK) during small step annealing the vacancy concentration practically remains constant and corresponds to the instantaneous aimealing temperature. This allows for an easy analysis of SRO-kinetics yielding SRO-relaxation times and SRO-activation enthalpies, which by usual interpretation correspond to H +Hf. 

M. Migschitz and W Pfeiler, Vacancy activation enthalpies of Au-Fe alloys determined from SRO-induced resistivity changes, A/a/. Sci. Eng. A206 I55 (1996)... 

The practical importance of vacancies is that they are mobile and, at elevated temperatures, can move relatively easily through the crystal lattice. As illustrated in Fig. 20.21b, this is accompanied by movement of an atom in the opposite direction indeed, the existence of vacancies was originally postulated to explain solid-state diffusion in metals. In order to jump into a vacancy an adjacent atom must overcome an energy barrier. The energy required for this is supplied by thermal vibrations. Thus the diffusion rate in metals increases exponentially with temperature, not only because the vacancy concentration increases with temperature, but also because there is more thermal energy available to overcome the activation energy required for each jump in the diffusion process. 

The high reactivity of the active form of Ag2C03 is attributed to the retention of water, incorporated during preparation, in the form of the ions HCOj and OH", with corresponding cation vacancies (VAg+), viz. 

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