Direct resolution of initial gas entrapments in nickel foam using SAM

Develop an image processing methodology for volumetric scanning acoustic microscopy that can directly resolve and quantify initial gas entrapments in open-cell nickel foam electrodes (NF and LNF) without relying on subtraction-based bubble segmentation, enabling differentiation of initial gas contents from the electrode background.

Background

In foam electrodes, complex diffractive scattering prevents simple threshold-based segmentation used on mesh electrodes. The paper therefore relies on subtracting post-electrolysis frames from an initial reference to visualize produced bubbles, which cannot reveal pre-existing trapped gas.

This limitation makes it impossible to quantify or map initial gas entrapments that may influence electrochemically active surface area and bubble evolution pathways in foam structures, motivating improved SAM image processing capable of separating background and initial gas contents.