Inorganics

Electrodeposition of copper on the surface of the high-carbon steel (HCS) cathode was carried out in situ during the electrolysis of an aqueous KOH solution with a copper anode. A mechanism was proposed for the transfer of the copper from the anode to the cathode, followed by the formation of a copper film on the HCS. The surface roughness of the substrate and the copper coating was studied using AFM and profilographic data. There is a discrepancy between the roughness values of the substrate and coating obtained using different techniques. The surface morphology of the substrate was found to affect the copper film quality. The roughness of the copper coating calculated using AFM data replicated the roughness of the substrate surface. It was found that, despite some difference in the roughness calculated by profilographic and AFM data, the overall roughness trend remains unchanged.

In the original publication [...]

The study investigates the structural and thermal properties of zirconia ceramics doped with Sm₂O₃. The powders were prepared via a mild hydrothermal synthesis route at a temperature of 200 °C, for 2 h with a pressure of 60–100 atm, starting from ZrO₂-Sm₂O₃ compositions. Structural and physicochemical characterization was performed using XRD, SEM-EDAX, BET and FT-IR analyses after synthesis and subsequent heat treatments up to 1500 °C. The results indicate good thermal stability of the materials, while a single cubic phase is achieved after calcination at 1500 °C. The ceramics show low thermal conductivity (0.41 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹), reduced heat capacity (0.26 J·g⁻¹·K⁻¹), and low thermal diffusivity (0.34 mm²·s⁻¹), with all measured parameters lower than those commonly reported for conventional rare-earth-stabilized zirconia.