Showing 26 results for Author: Vitalii Starchenko
Mar, 2026
Journal
The epitaxial synthesis of high-quality 2D layered materials is an essential driver of both fundamental physics studies and technological applications. Bi2Se3, a prototypical 2D layered topological insulator, is sensitive to defects imparted during the growth, either thermodynamically or due to the film-substrate interaction. In this study, it is shown that step-terminated…
Aug, 2025
Journal
Volume-increasing replacement reactions can lead either to fracturing of the parent phase or to the formation of cohesive layers that passivate further reaction, but the factors that drive one outcome or the other are not understood. In this experimental study, we investigated the volume-increasing replacement of carbonate rocks (consisting of CaCO3 and CaMg(CO3)2) of diff…
Apr, 2025
Journal
Experimental measurements of the heterogeneous nucleation rate rely on counting the number of nuclei with time. However, the size of a thermodynamically stable nucleus is often a few nanometers in diameter and is below the resolution of most (in situ) measurement techniques that provide a statistically valid sample. Due to the finite resolution of the instruments and analy…
Dec, 2024
Journal
MgO (periclase) is a promising material for direct air capture of CO2 using a mineral looping process, but it is unknown how impurities in the environment will affect the CO2 uptake and hence process economics. Here, we investigated the effects of dissolved iron on the extents of MgO hydroxylation and subsequent carbonation reactions to determine if this has a beneficial o…
Aug, 2024
Journal
The formation of new mineral phases in confined environments, especially in porous media, is crucial for various geological processes like mineralization and diagenesis. The nucleation and precipitation of minerals are initiated at the microscale through fluid-rock interaction, where dissolution of primary phases leads to supersaturated conditions and nucleation and growth…
Aug, 2024
Journal
Realizing topological superconductivity by integrating high-transition-temperature (TC) superconductors with topological insulators can open new paths for quantum computing applications. Here, we report a new approach for increasing the superconducting transition temperature ("T" _"C" ^"onset" ) by interfacing the unconventional superconductor Fe(Te,Se) with the topologica…
Jun, 2024
Journal
Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) occurs as a precursor to geological and biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO3), yet its transformation pathways and reaction mechanisms remain inconsistent and controversial. In this study, we investigated the transformation of ACC to calcite under both solution and dry conditions, in the presence and absence of impurity ions, utilizing operan…
Dec, 2023
Journal
Pore resolved simulations are performed to study the mean flow characteristics in porous media formed by random distribution of impermeable and permeable particles. Permeability of the medium and reactive surface areas are analyzed for a range of solid fractions, packing patterns and flow rates. The results are compared with models presented in the literature and with simu…
Dec, 2023
Journal
Rates and extents of mineral precipitation in porous media are difficult to predict, in part because laboratory experiments are problematic. It is similarly challenging to implement numerical methods that model this process due to the need to dynamically evolve the interface of solid material. We developed a multiphase solver that implements a micro-continuum simulation ap…
Dec, 2023
Journal
Nucleation and growth of minerals has broad implications in the geological, environmental and materials sciences. Recent developments in fast X-ray nanotomography have enabled imaging of crystal growth in solutions in situ with a resolution of tens of nanometres, far surpassing optical microscopy. Here, a low-cost, custom-designed aqueous flow cell dedicated to the study o…
Nov, 2023
Journal
Impurity ions influence mineral growth rates through a variety of kinetic and thermodynamic processes that also affect partitioning of the impurity ion between the solid and solution. Here, the effect of an impurity ion, strontium, on Barite (BaSO4) (001) growth rates was studied using a combination of high-resolution in situ microscopy with ex situ chemical imaging techni…
Nov, 2023
Journal
The microstructure of minerals and rocks can significantly alter reaction rates. This study focuses on identifying transport paths in low porosity rocks based on the hypothesis that grain boundary widening accelerates reactions in which one mineral is replaced by another (replacement reaction). We conducted a time series of replacement experiments of three limestones (CaCO…