passivate

[pas-uh-veyt]

verb (used with object)

Metallurgy.

passivated, passivating 

1. to treat (a metal) to render the surface less reactive chemically.

passivate

/ ˈpæsɪˌveɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to render (a metal) less susceptible to corrosion by coating the surface with a substance, such as an oxide

Other Word Forms

• passivation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of passivate¹

First recorded in 1910–15; passive + -ate ¹

Example Sentences

The new study looks at a very small but key detail: how to "passivate" the material's surface, changing its properties in such a way that the perovskite no longer degrades so rapidly or loses efficiency.

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The new study "addressed the ability to passivate those interfaces and elucidate the physics and science behind why this passivation works as well as it does," Bulovic says.

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Such barriers are often insufficient to passivate the surfaces of semiconductors such as silicon, resulting in power losses that could overwhelm the beneficial effects of singlet fission.

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To fully passivate Goce before re-entry, all engineers have to do is switch off its transmitter.

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"We will push it out into a heliocentric orbit and passivate it," said Micha Schmidt, the Herschel spacecraft operations manager.

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