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Nanoporous Morphogenesis in Amorphous Carbon Layers: Experiments and Modeling on Energetic Ion Induced Self‐Organization
Author(s) -
Hoffmann Daniel T.,
Dietrich Johannes,
Mändl Stephan,
Zink Mareike,
Mayr Stefan G.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.068
H-Index - 17
ISSN - 2513-0390
DOI - 10.1002/adts.202100093
Subject(s) - nanoporous , amorphous solid , materials science , amorphous carbon , nanotechnology , porosity , chemical physics , molecular dynamics , carbon fibers , chemistry , composite material , crystallography , computational chemistry , composite number
Nanoporous amorphous carbon constitutes a highly relevant material for a multitude of applications ranging from energy to environmental and biomedical systems. In the present work, it is demonstrated experimentally how energetic ions can be utilized to tailor porosity of thin sputter deposited amorphous carbon films. The physical mechanisms underlying self‐organized nanoporous morphogenesis are unraveled by employing extensive molecular dynamics and phase field models across different length scales. It is demonstrated that pore formation is a defect induced phenomenon, in which vacancies cluster in a spinodal decomposition type of self‐organization process, while interstitials are absorbed by the amorphous matrix, leading to additional volume increase and radiation induced viscous flow. The proposed modeling framework is capable to reproduce and predict the experimental observations from first principles and thus opens the venue for computer assisted design of nanoporous frameworks.