Laser spot welding of stainless steel-nickel dissimilar couple has been studied experimentally an... more Laser spot welding of stainless steel-nickel dissimilar couple has been studied experimentally and numerically. A three-dimensional heat and mass transfer model is used to simulate the welding process, based on the solution of the equations of mass, momentum, energy conservation and solute transport in weld pool. The calculated fusion zone geometry and element distributions are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results. The role of fluid flow on temperature field and its evolution is analyzed by comparing two cases with and without considering convection. Temperature fields far away from the weld pool are quite similar, but exhibit large difference close to the heat source. During the early stage after formation of weld pool, the distribution of element Fe in weld pool is non-uniform, due to insufficient time for mixing. The speed for mass transport is the highest during the initial stage of weld pool formation and it decreases with time. Both heat and mass transport are significantly influenced by convection during laser spot welding of stainless steel and nickel.
Fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures has been an important topic for their potential applicati... more Fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures has been an important topic for their potential applications in photonic and optoelectronic devices. Among plasmonic materials, gold is one of the most promising materials due to its low ohmic loss at optical frequencies and high oxidation resistance. However, there are two major bottlenecks for its industrial applications: (1) the need for large-scale fabrication technology for high-precision plasmonic nanostructures; and (2) the need to integrate the plasmonic nanostructures on various substrates. While conventional top-down approaches involve high cost and give low throughput, bottom-up approaches suffer from irreproducibility and low precision. Herein, we report laser shock induced direct imprinting of large-area plasmonic nanostructures from physical vapor deposited (PVD) gold thin film on a flexible commercial free-standing aluminum foil. Among the important characteristics of the laser-shock direct imprinting is their unique capabilitie...
Hot electron injection into an exceptionally high mobility material can be realized in graphene-p... more Hot electron injection into an exceptionally high mobility material can be realized in graphene-plasmonic nanoantenna hybrid nanosystems, which can be exploited for several front-edge applications including photovoltaics, plasmonic waveguiding and molecular sensing at trace levels. Wrinkling instabilities of graphene on these plasmonic nanostructures, however, would cause reactive oxygen or sulfur species to diffuse and react with the materials, decrease charge transfer rates and block intense hot-spots. No ex situ graphene wrapping technique has been explored so far to control these wrinkles. Here, we present a method to generate seamless integration by using water as a flyer to transfer the laser shock pressure to wrap graphene onto plasmonic nanocrystals. This technique decreases the interfacial gap between graphene and the covered substrate-supported plasmonic nanoparticle arrays by exploiting a shock pressure generated by the laser ablation of graphite and the water impermeable...
Atomic layers of graphene were optomechanically laminated onto gold bipyramids (length of ∼95 ± 3... more Atomic layers of graphene were optomechanically laminated onto gold bipyramids (length of ∼95 ± 3 nm and sharp tip radius less than 10 nm) using laser induced shock pressure. The fabricated graphene-gold bipyramid hybrids were employed as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active substrates for the detection of tetracycline, an antibiotic, at very low concentrations.
Current three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques enable the fabrication of complex multifunctio... more Current three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques enable the fabrication of complex multifunctional structures that are unimaginable in conventional manufacturing. In this Perspective, we outline recent progress in materials and manufacturing and propose challenges and opportunities for the future development of 3D printing of functional materials. The success of future 3D printing relies not only on multifunctional materials and printing techniques but also on smart design of complex systems. Engineers need to understand advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and, more importantly, creative design. Fortunately, we can learn from many structures that exist in nature and adapt them to engineered structures.
We report a low-cost, high-throughput benchtop method that enables thin layers of metal to be sha... more We report a low-cost, high-throughput benchtop method that enables thin layers of metal to be shaped with nanoscale precision by generating ultrahigh-strain-rate deformations. Laser shock imprinting can create three-dimensional crystalline metallic structures as small as 10 nanometers with ultrasmooth surfaces at ambient conditions. This technique enables the successful fabrications of large-area, uniform nanopatterns with aspect ratios as high as 5 for plasmonic and sensing applications, as well as mechanically strengthened nanostructures and metal-graphene hybrid nanodevices.
Laser shock induced lateral compression has been demonstrated to controllably flatten cylindrical... more Laser shock induced lateral compression has been demonstrated to controllably flatten cylindrical silver nanowires. Nanowires with circular cross-sections of diameter 70 nm are significantly shaped laterally, which transformed them to metallic ribbons of huge width of 290 nm and of thickness down to 13 nm, amounting the aspect ratio to as high as 22, at a laser intensity of 0.30 GW cm À2 . Above the laser intensity of 0.30 GW cm À2 though, nanowires are observed to be ruptured. Lateral deformations of nanowires are achieved without altering longitudinal dimensions. Selected area electron diffraction patterns on the laterally deformed nanowires reveal that the flattening gives rise to twinning under high strain rate deformation without actually degrading crystallinity. As the 1D nanowire turns into a 2D metallic nanoribbon, new plasmonic modes and their combinations emerge. The transverse plasmon mode does not shift substantially, whereas longitudinal modes and their combinations are greatly influenced by lateral deformation. Apart from the transverse mode, which is dominant in a 1D nanowire and diminishes heavily when lateral deformation occurs, there is a presence of several longitudinal plasmonic modes and their combinations for metallic nanoribbons, which are revealed by experimental extinction spectra and also supported by finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) simulation. Such plasmonic tuning of silver nanowires across the visible range demonstrates the capability of a laser shock induced lateral compression technique for various emerging plasmonic applications. The laser shock compression technique has the advantages of flexibility, selectivity and tunability while retaining crystallinity of metallic nanowires, all of which enable it to be a potential candidate for plasmonic tuning of nanogeometries.
Highly dense 2D nanostructures are desirable in photocatalysis, water treatment and energy storag... more Highly dense 2D nanostructures are desirable in photocatalysis, water treatment and energy storage, due to their high surface to volume areas. This paper describes a novel approach combining thermal stress and magnetic force to generate highly dense α-Fe2O3 nanosheets on the surface of various iron substrates, including plates and powders. This technique involves the thermal oxidation of iron substrates on a hot plate with a magnetic field. The Lorentz force acting on the ions induced by the magnetic field facilitates the lateral growth of nanosheets. This effect results in a highly porous nanostructure consisting of dense 2D nanosheets with extremely large BET surface areas. The application of these nanosheets is explored in water treatment. Electron microscopic studies indicate that these nanosheets show a parabolic relation with time of thermal oxidation for the growth in the width direction. A comparison of heavy metal (As, Cr) ion adsorption of nanosheets and nanowires was also performed, which shows that nanosheets have a much better adsorption rate than nanowires.
Laser spot welding of stainless steel-nickel dissimilar couple has been studied experimentally an... more Laser spot welding of stainless steel-nickel dissimilar couple has been studied experimentally and numerically. A three-dimensional heat and mass transfer model is used to simulate the welding process, based on the solution of the equations of mass, momentum, energy conservation and solute transport in weld pool. The calculated fusion zone geometry and element distributions are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results. The role of fluid flow on temperature field and its evolution is analyzed by comparing two cases with and without considering convection. Temperature fields far away from the weld pool are quite similar, but exhibit large difference close to the heat source. During the early stage after formation of weld pool, the distribution of element Fe in weld pool is non-uniform, due to insufficient time for mixing. The speed for mass transport is the highest during the initial stage of weld pool formation and it decreases with time. Both heat and mass transport are significantly influenced by convection during laser spot welding of stainless steel and nickel.
Fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures has been an important topic for their potential applicati... more Fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures has been an important topic for their potential applications in photonic and optoelectronic devices. Among plasmonic materials, gold is one of the most promising materials due to its low ohmic loss at optical frequencies and high oxidation resistance. However, there are two major bottlenecks for its industrial applications: (1) the need for large-scale fabrication technology for high-precision plasmonic nanostructures; and (2) the need to integrate the plasmonic nanostructures on various substrates. While conventional top-down approaches involve high cost and give low throughput, bottom-up approaches suffer from irreproducibility and low precision. Herein, we report laser shock induced direct imprinting of large-area plasmonic nanostructures from physical vapor deposited (PVD) gold thin film on a flexible commercial free-standing aluminum foil. Among the important characteristics of the laser-shock direct imprinting is their unique capabilitie...
Hot electron injection into an exceptionally high mobility material can be realized in graphene-p... more Hot electron injection into an exceptionally high mobility material can be realized in graphene-plasmonic nanoantenna hybrid nanosystems, which can be exploited for several front-edge applications including photovoltaics, plasmonic waveguiding and molecular sensing at trace levels. Wrinkling instabilities of graphene on these plasmonic nanostructures, however, would cause reactive oxygen or sulfur species to diffuse and react with the materials, decrease charge transfer rates and block intense hot-spots. No ex situ graphene wrapping technique has been explored so far to control these wrinkles. Here, we present a method to generate seamless integration by using water as a flyer to transfer the laser shock pressure to wrap graphene onto plasmonic nanocrystals. This technique decreases the interfacial gap between graphene and the covered substrate-supported plasmonic nanoparticle arrays by exploiting a shock pressure generated by the laser ablation of graphite and the water impermeable...
Atomic layers of graphene were optomechanically laminated onto gold bipyramids (length of ∼95 ± 3... more Atomic layers of graphene were optomechanically laminated onto gold bipyramids (length of ∼95 ± 3 nm and sharp tip radius less than 10 nm) using laser induced shock pressure. The fabricated graphene-gold bipyramid hybrids were employed as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active substrates for the detection of tetracycline, an antibiotic, at very low concentrations.
Current three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques enable the fabrication of complex multifunctio... more Current three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques enable the fabrication of complex multifunctional structures that are unimaginable in conventional manufacturing. In this Perspective, we outline recent progress in materials and manufacturing and propose challenges and opportunities for the future development of 3D printing of functional materials. The success of future 3D printing relies not only on multifunctional materials and printing techniques but also on smart design of complex systems. Engineers need to understand advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and, more importantly, creative design. Fortunately, we can learn from many structures that exist in nature and adapt them to engineered structures.
We report a low-cost, high-throughput benchtop method that enables thin layers of metal to be sha... more We report a low-cost, high-throughput benchtop method that enables thin layers of metal to be shaped with nanoscale precision by generating ultrahigh-strain-rate deformations. Laser shock imprinting can create three-dimensional crystalline metallic structures as small as 10 nanometers with ultrasmooth surfaces at ambient conditions. This technique enables the successful fabrications of large-area, uniform nanopatterns with aspect ratios as high as 5 for plasmonic and sensing applications, as well as mechanically strengthened nanostructures and metal-graphene hybrid nanodevices.
Laser shock induced lateral compression has been demonstrated to controllably flatten cylindrical... more Laser shock induced lateral compression has been demonstrated to controllably flatten cylindrical silver nanowires. Nanowires with circular cross-sections of diameter 70 nm are significantly shaped laterally, which transformed them to metallic ribbons of huge width of 290 nm and of thickness down to 13 nm, amounting the aspect ratio to as high as 22, at a laser intensity of 0.30 GW cm À2 . Above the laser intensity of 0.30 GW cm À2 though, nanowires are observed to be ruptured. Lateral deformations of nanowires are achieved without altering longitudinal dimensions. Selected area electron diffraction patterns on the laterally deformed nanowires reveal that the flattening gives rise to twinning under high strain rate deformation without actually degrading crystallinity. As the 1D nanowire turns into a 2D metallic nanoribbon, new plasmonic modes and their combinations emerge. The transverse plasmon mode does not shift substantially, whereas longitudinal modes and their combinations are greatly influenced by lateral deformation. Apart from the transverse mode, which is dominant in a 1D nanowire and diminishes heavily when lateral deformation occurs, there is a presence of several longitudinal plasmonic modes and their combinations for metallic nanoribbons, which are revealed by experimental extinction spectra and also supported by finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) simulation. Such plasmonic tuning of silver nanowires across the visible range demonstrates the capability of a laser shock induced lateral compression technique for various emerging plasmonic applications. The laser shock compression technique has the advantages of flexibility, selectivity and tunability while retaining crystallinity of metallic nanowires, all of which enable it to be a potential candidate for plasmonic tuning of nanogeometries.
Highly dense 2D nanostructures are desirable in photocatalysis, water treatment and energy storag... more Highly dense 2D nanostructures are desirable in photocatalysis, water treatment and energy storage, due to their high surface to volume areas. This paper describes a novel approach combining thermal stress and magnetic force to generate highly dense α-Fe2O3 nanosheets on the surface of various iron substrates, including plates and powders. This technique involves the thermal oxidation of iron substrates on a hot plate with a magnetic field. The Lorentz force acting on the ions induced by the magnetic field facilitates the lateral growth of nanosheets. This effect results in a highly porous nanostructure consisting of dense 2D nanosheets with extremely large BET surface areas. The application of these nanosheets is explored in water treatment. Electron microscopic studies indicate that these nanosheets show a parabolic relation with time of thermal oxidation for the growth in the width direction. A comparison of heavy metal (As, Cr) ion adsorption of nanosheets and nanowires was also performed, which shows that nanosheets have a much better adsorption rate than nanowires.
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Papers by Yaowu Hu