%ASengul, Mert [Materials Research Institute The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA]%AGuo, Jing [Materials Research Institute The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials School of Materials Science and Engineering Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an China]%ARandall, Clive [Materials Research Institute The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA]%Avan Duin, Adri [Materials Research Institute The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA, Department of Mechanical Engineering The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA 16802 USA]%BJournal Name: Angewandte Chemie International Edition; Journal Volume: 58; Journal Issue: 36; Related Information: CHORUS Timestamp: 2023-09-08 09:34:27 %D2019%IWiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons) %JJournal Name: Angewandte Chemie International Edition; Journal Volume: 58; Journal Issue: 36; Related Information: CHORUS Timestamp: 2023-09-08 09:34:27 %K %MOSTI ID: 10115352 %PMedium: X %TWater‐Mediated Surface Diffusion Mechanism Enables the Cold Sintering Process: A Combined Computational and Experimental Study %XAbstract

The cold sintering process (CSP) densifies ceramics at much lower temperatures than conventional sintering processes. Several ceramics and composite systems have been successfully densified under cold sintering. For the grain growth kinetics of zinc oxide, reduced activation energies are shown, and yet the mechanism behind this growth is unknown. Herein, we investigate these mechanisms in more detail with experiments and ReaxFF molecular dynamics simulations. We investigated the recrystallization of zinc cations under various acidic conditions and found that their adsorption to the surface can be a rate‐limiting factor for cold sintering. Our studies show that surface hydroxylation in CSP does not inhibit crystallization; in contrast, by creating a surface complex, it creates an orders of magnitude acceleration in surface diffusion, and in turn, accelerates recrystallization.

%0Journal Article