Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “molecular geometry”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11

Copper(ii)-photocatalyzed decarboxylative oxygenation of carboxylic acids

Showcasing the concept of light-induced homolysis for the generation of radicals, the Cu II -photocatalyzed decarboxylative oxygenation of carboxylic acids with molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant is described. Here, two Cu II -carboxylate complexes with different coordination geometries were synthesized and characterized by X-ray analysis, correlating their structure with their ability to initiate light-induced decarboxylations.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Confinement-induced chirality in phase-separated achiral polymer solutions

Self-organization of polymers in constrained geometries largely determines their applications in high-strength materials, photonics, and electronics. Chiral organization under confinement is well established for polymers with intrinsic molecular chirality; however, it has not been observed for achiral polymers. Here, we report the emergence of chirality in spatially confined solutions of achiral rigid-rod polymers. We show that kinetically arrested phase separation of polymer solutions confined to narrow capillaries resulted in alternating segments of isotropic and chiral nematic phases. The chiral structure of the nematic segments originated from the interplay between the constrained geometry, surface anchoring, orientational wetting, and elastic anisotropy of rigid-rod polymers. The catenoidal shape of the chiral structure recapitulated the morphology of biological chiral structures. These findings provide insight into the organization of soft matter under spatial confinement and offer a straightforward way to form chiral structures from achiral synthetic polymers.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Geometry, spin coupling, and dielectric control of redox potentials in [4Fe–4S] Clusters

Iron–sulfur (Fe–S) clusters are common biological cofactors that facilitate vital redox reactions. Despite extensive research, the molecular basis of redox potential tuning in ferredoxin-like proteins remains an active area of debate. In this study, we combine statistical analysis of over one thousand [4Fe–4S]-containing protein structures from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) with broken-symmetry and extended broken-symmetry density functional theory to examine how cysteine ligand orientations and environmental screening affect redox properties of the clusters. We identified five main ligand configurations, three of which are predominant in natural structures. Among these, the adiabatic electron affinity differs by less than 0.1 V, indicating that, while geometry plays a secondary role, it allows localized fine-tuning of redox properties. In contrast, electrostatic and solvation effects primarily determine the overall potential range.

Computational Chemistry↗

Molecular dynamics studies of lattice defect effects on tritium diffusion in zirconium

Tritium diffusion in α-Zr containing point defects such as vacancies or self-interstitial atoms (SIAs) is simulated using molecular dynamics. Point defects rapidly aggregate to form extended defects, such as 3D nanoclusters and Frank loops. The geometry of extended defects is affected by the presence of tritium. At low temperature and in the absence of tritium, vacancies aggregate to form stacking fault pyramids. Addition of tritium at these temperatures promotes aggregation of vacancies to form 3D nanoclusters, within which the tritium concentration can be sufficiently high to suggest that these defects may serve as nucleation sites for hydride precipitation. Trapping of tritium in vacancy nanocluster reduces the calculated bulk diffusivity by an amount proportional to the vacancy concentration. At high temperature, vacancy clusters change shape to form planar basal dislocation loops, which bind tritium less strongly, leading to a sharp reduction in the fraction of trapped tritium and a corresponding increase in tritium diffusivity at high temperature. In contrast, SIAs increase tritium diffusion through α-Zr. Analysis of atomic trajectories shows that tritium does not interact directly with SIAs. In conclusion, diffusion enhancement is instead related to expansion of the lattice.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

PeleMP: The Multiphysics Solver for the Combustion Pele Adaptive Mesh Refinement Code Suite

Combustion encompasses multiscale, multiphase reacting flow physics spanning a wide range of scales from the molecular scales, where chemical reactions occur, to the device scales, where the turbulent flow is affected by the geometry of the combustor. This scale disparity and the limited measurement capabilities from experiments make modeling combustion a significant challenge. Recent advancements in high-performance computing (HPC), particularly with the Department of Energy's Exascale Computing Project (ECP), have enabled high-fidelity simulations of practical applications to be performed. The major physics submodels, including chemical reactions, turbulence, sprays, soot, and thermal radiation, exhibit distinctive computational characteristics that need to be examined separately to ensure efficient utilization of computational resources. This paper presents the multiphysics solver for the Pele code suite, called PeleMP, which consists of models for spray, soot, and thermal radiation. Here, the mathematical and algorithmic aspects of the model implementations are described in detail as well as the verification process. The computational performance of these models is benchmarked on multiple supercomputers, including Frontier, an exascale machine. Results are presented from production simulations of a turbulent sooting ethylene flame and a bluff-body swirl stabilized spray flame with sustainable aviation fuels to demonstrate the capability of the Pele codes for modeling practical combustion problems with multiphysics. This work is an important step toward the exascale computing era for high-fidelity combustion simulations providing physical insights and data for predictive modeling of real-world devices.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Materials Data on SbH5(Cl3O)2 by Materials Project

SbCl6H5O2 is Molybdenum Carbide MAX Phase-like structured and crystallizes in the triclinic P1 space group. The structure is zero-dimensional and consists of two molecular hydrogen;dihydrate molecules and two SbCl6 clusters. In each SbCl6 cluster, Sb5+ is bonded in an octahedral geometry to six Cl1- atoms. There are a spread of Sb–Cl bond distances ranging from 2.39–2.44 Å. There are six inequivalent Cl1- sites. In the first Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the second Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the third Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the fourth Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the fifth Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the sixth Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Materials Data on NaCaB5(H7O4)3 by Materials Project

NaCaB5H13O12(H2)4 crystallizes in the triclinic P-1 space group. The structure is three-dimensional and consists of two hydrogen molecules, four molecular hydrogen molecules, and one NaCaB5H13O12 framework. In the NaCaB5H13O12 framework, Na is bonded in a 7-coordinate geometry to five H and two equivalent O atoms. There are a spread of Na–H bond distances ranging from 2.33–2.52 Å. There are one shorter (2.39 Å) and one longer (2.57 Å) Na–O bond lengths. Ca is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to one H and five O atoms. The Ca–H bond length is 2.45 Å. There are a spread of Ca–O bond distances ranging from 2.30–2.54 Å. There are five inequivalent B sites. In the first B site, B is bonded in a trigonal planar geometry to three O atoms. There are a spread of B–O bond distances ranging from 1.36–1.43 Å. In the second B site, B is bonded to four O atoms to form corner-sharing BO4 tetrahedra. There are a spread of B–O bond distances ranging from 1.47–1.50 Å. In the third B site, B is bonded in a trigonal planar geometry to three O atoms. There is two shorter (1.37 Å) and one longer (1.40 Å) B–O bond length. In the fourth B site, B is bonded to four O atoms to form corner-sharing BO4 tetrahedra. There are a spread of B–O bond distances ranging from 1.46–1.52 Å. In the fifth B site, B is bonded to four O atoms to form corner-sharing BO4 tetrahedra. There are a spread of B–O bond distances ranging from 1.48–1.50 Å. There are thirteen inequivalent H sites. In the first H site, H is bonded in a distorted L-shaped geometry to one Na and one H atom. The H–H bond length is 0.77 Å. In the second H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one O atom. The H–O bond length is 0.98 Å. In the third H site, H is bonded in an L-shaped geometry to one Ca and one H atom. The H–H bond length is 0.76 Å. In the fourth H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one O atom. The H–O bond length is 0.98 Å. In the fifth H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Na and one H atom. In the sixth H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one O atom. The H–O bond length is 1.00 Å. In the seventh H site, H is bonded in a distorted single-bond geometry to two O atoms. There is one shorter (1.00 Å) and one longer (1.67 Å) H–O bond length. In the eighth H site, H is bonded in a distorted single-bond geometry to one Na atom. In the ninth H site, H is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to two O atoms. There is one shorter (1.02 Å) and one longer (1.62 Å) H–O bond length. In the tenth H site, H is bonded in a distorted L-shaped geometry to one Na and one H atom. The H–H bond length is 0.75 Å. In the eleventh H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one O atom. The H–O bond length is 0.97 Å. In the twelfth H site, H is bonded in a distorted single-bond geometry to one Na and one H atom. In the thirteenth H site, H is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one H atom. There are twelve inequivalent O sites. In the first O site, O is bonded in a 2-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Na, one B, and one H atom. In the second O site, O is bonded in a 2-coordinate geometry to one B and two H atoms. In the third O site, O is bonded in a 3-coordinate geometry to one B and two H atoms. In the fourth O site, O is bonded in a bent 120 degrees geometry to two B atoms. In the fifth O site, O is bonded in a bent 120 degrees geometry to two B atoms. In the sixth O site, O is bonded in a bent 120 degrees geometry to two B atoms. In the seventh O site, O is bonded in a distorted trigonal planar geometry to one Ca and two B atoms. In the eighth O site, O is bonded in a distorted bent 120 degrees geometry to two equivalent Ca and two B atoms. In the ninth O site, O is bonded in a 2-coordinate geometry to one Ca, one B, and one H atom. In the tenth O site, O is bonded in a distorted water-like geometry to one B and one H atom. In the eleventh O site, O is bonded in a 2-coordinate geometry to one Ca, one B, and one H atom. In the twelfth O site, O is bonded in a bent 120 degrees geometry to two B atoms.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Materials Data on SbH5(Cl3O)2 by Materials Project

SbCl6H5O2 is Halite, Rock Salt-like structured and crystallizes in the monoclinic C2/c space group. The structure is zero-dimensional and consists of four molecular hydrogen;dihydrate molecules and four SbCl6 clusters. In each SbCl6 cluster, Sb5+ is bonded in an octahedral geometry to six Cl1- atoms. There are a spread of Sb–Cl bond distances ranging from 2.39–2.44 Å. There are three inequivalent Cl1- sites. In the first Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the second Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom. In the third Cl1- site, Cl1- is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Sb5+ atom.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Materials Data on PtCl4O5 by Materials Project

PtO3Cl4O2 crystallizes in the monoclinic Cc space group. The structure is zero-dimensional and consists of four molecular oxygen molecules and four PtO3Cl4 clusters. In each PtO3Cl4 cluster, Pt is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to two O and four Cl atoms. There are one shorter (1.83 Å) and one longer (2.69 Å) Pt–O bond lengths. There are a spread of Pt–Cl bond distances ranging from 2.27–2.34 Å. There are three inequivalent O sites. In the first O site, O is bonded in a bent 120 degrees geometry to one Pt and one O atom. The O–O bond length is 1.22 Å. In the second O site, O is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Pt atom. In the third O site, O is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one O atom. There are four inequivalent Cl sites. In the first Cl site, Cl is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Pt atom. In the second Cl site, Cl is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Pt atom. In the third Cl site, Cl is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Pt atom. In the fourth Cl site, Cl is bonded in a single-bond geometry to one Pt atom.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Current rectification by nanoparticles in bipolar nanopores

Bipolar nanochannels comprising two domains of positively and negatively charged walls along the pore axis are known to rectify current when exposed to an electric potential bias. We find that addition of charged nanoparticles can increase rectification considerably, by approximately one order of magnitude. Two bipolar channel geometries are considered here; their behavior is examined at rest and under the influence of a negative bias and a positive bias, respectively. We do so by relying on a molecular-level model of the electrolyte solution in the channels. The large increase in current rectification can be explained by the inherent electric field that charged nanoparticles generate within the channel. This effect is found to be largely dependent on the pore's geometry, its charge distribution, and the sign of the nanoparticles' charge, thereby offering new opportunities for design of engineered nanopore membrane-nanoparticle systems for energy storage.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Hilbert space multireference coupled cluster tailored by matrix product states

In the past decade, the quantum chemical version of the density matrix renormalization group method has established itself as the method of choice for strongly correlated molecular systems. However, despite its favorable scaling, in practice, it is not suitable for computations of dynamic correlation. Several approaches to include that in post-DMRG methods exist; in our group, we focused on the tailored coupled cluster (TCC) approach. This method works well in many situations; however, in exactly degenerate cases (with two or more determinants of equal weight), it exhibits a bias toward the reference determinant representing the Fermi vacuum. Although sometimes it is possible to use a compensation scheme to avoid this bias for energy differences, it is certainly a drawback. In order to overcome this bias of the TCC method, we have developed a Hilbert-space multireference version of tailored CC, which can treat several determinants on an equal footing. We have implemented and compared the performance of three Hilbert-space multireference coupled cluster (MRCC) variants—the state universal one and the Brillouin–Wigner and Mukherjee’s state specific ones. We have assessed these approaches on the cyclobutadiene and tetramethyleneethane molecules, which are both diradicals with exactly degenerate determinants at a certain geometry. We have also investigated the sensitivity of the results on the orbital rotation of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO–LUMO) pair, as it is well known that Hilbert-space MRCC methods are not invariant to such transformations.

Chemistry↗

Th 2 O – , Th 2 Au – , and Th 2 AuO 1,2 – Anions: Photoelectron Spectroscopic and Computational Characterization of Energetics and Bonding

The observation and characterization of the anions: Th 2 O – , Th 2 Au – , and Th 2 AuO 1,2 – is reported. These species were studied through a synergetic combination of anion photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio correlated molecular orbital theory calculations at the CCSD(T) level with large correlation-consistent basis sets. To better understand the energetics and bonding in these anions and their corresponding neutrals, a range of smaller diatomic to tetratomic species were studied computationally. Correlated molecular orbital theory calculations at the CCSD(T) level showed that in most of these cases, there are close-lying anions and neutral clusters with different geometries and spin states and are consistent with the experimentally observed spectra. Thus, comparison of experimentally determined and computationally predicted vertical detachment energies and electron affinities for different optimized geometries and spin states shows excellent agreement to within 0.1 eV. The structures for both the neutrals and anions have a significant ionic component to the bonding because of the large electron affinity of the Au atom and modest ionization potentials for Th 2 , Th 2 O, and Th 2 O 2 . The analysis of the bonding for the Th–Th bonds from the molecular orbitals is consistent with this ionic model. The results show that there is a wide variation in the bond distance from 2.7 to 3.5 Å for the Th–Th bonds all of which are less than twice the atomic radius of Th of 3.6 Å. The bond distances encompass bond orders from 4 to 0. Furthermore, there can be different bond orders for the same bond distance depending on the nature of the ionic bonding suggesting that one may not be able to correlate the bond order with the bond distance in these types of clusters. In addition, the presence of an Au atom may provide a unique probe of the bonding in such clusters because of its ability to accept an electron from clusters with modest ionization potentials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Mechanisms of Three-Dimensional Solid-Phase Epitaxial Crystallization of Strontium Titanate

Strontium titanate (SrTiO 3 , STO) is a complex metal oxide with a cubic perovskite crystal structure. Due to its easily described and understood crystal structure in the cubic phase, STO is an ideal model system for exploring the mechanistic details of solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) in complex oxides. SPE is a crystallization approach that aims to guide crystal growth at low homologous temperatures to achieve targeted microstructures. Beyond planar thin films, SPE can also exploit the addition of a chemically inert, noncrystallizing, amorphous obstacle in the path of crystallization to generate complex three-dimensional structures. The introduction of this mask fundamentally alters the SPE process, inducing a transition from two- to three-dimensional geometries and from vertical to lateral crystal growth under the influence of the crystal/mask/amorphous boundary. Using a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and experiments, we identify several unique phenomena in the nanoscale growth behaviors in both conventional (unmasked) and masked SPE. Examining conventional SPE of STO, we find that crystallization at the interface is strongly correlated to, and potentially driven by, density fluctuations in the region of the amorphous STO near the crystalline/amorphous interface with a strong facet dependence. In the masked case, we find that the crystalline growth front becomes nonplanar near contact with the mask. We also observe a minimum vertical growth requirement prior to lateral crystallization. Both phenomena depend on the relative bulk and interfacial free energies of the three-phase (crystal/mask/amorphous) system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Ultrasonic-Assisted Extrusion Processing for Enhancing Physical Properties of High-Density Polyethylene by Flow-Induced Crystallization

The evolution of crystallinity resulting from stress imposed on a melt, known as flow-induced crystallinity, can strongly influence the mechanical and physical properties of semicrystalline polymers. This study investigates shear-induced crystallization by applying an ultrasonic field to the melt flow as it passes through dies with various geometries. A custom-built sonication die is employed for controlling the dynamic temperature and shear environment, resulting in molecular alignment and potential for flow-induced crystallization. Application of both conventional and ultrasonic shear rates at the equilibrium melt temperature of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was investigated to accelerate crystallinity and manipulate the crystal morphology across the film in pursuit of improved mechanical and gas barrier properties without the need for additives or other polymer layers. The relationships among ultrasonic-assisted extrusion processing, polymer structure, and performance were analyzed using wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS), tensile testing, and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) analysis. Multiple linear regression models were implemented to predict the correlation among HDPE structure, process, and properties. Structural analysis revealed that both conventional and ultrasonic shear rates had the most significant influence on lamellar spacing and redistribution of rigid and soft amorphous fractions within the crystalline domains, ultimately dictating the mechanical and physical properties of the films. The goal is to explore the potential of the ultrasonic-assisted high crystallinity monolayer that can replace some of the functionality of complex, heterogeneous multilayer packaging with a single-material film having enhanced oxygen barrier properties.

crystallinity↗

Contrasting behaviour under pressure reveals the reasons for pyramidalization in tris(amido)uranium(III) and tris(arylthiolate) uranium(III) molecules

A range of reasons has been suggested for why many low-coordinate complexes across the periodic table exhibit a geometry that is bent, rather a higher symmetry that would best separate the ligands. The dominating reason or reasons are still debated. Here we show that two pyramidal UX3 molecules, in which X is a bulky anionic ligand, show opposite behaviour upon pressurisation in the solid state. UN" 3 (UN3, N" = N(SiMe 3 ) 2 ) increases in pyramidalization between ambient pressure and 4.08 GPa, while U(SAr) 3 (US3, SAr = S-C 6 H 2 - t Bu 3 –2,4,6) undergoes pressure-induced planarization. This capacity for planarization enables the use of X-ray structural and computational analyses to explore the four hypotheses normally put forward for this pyramidalization. The pyramidality of UN3, which increases with pressure, is favoured by increased dipole and reduction in molecular volume, the two factors outweighing the slight increase in metal-ligand agostic interactions that would be formed if it was planar. The ambient pressure pyramidal geometry of US3 is favoured by the induced dipole moment and agostic bond formation but these are weaker drivers than in UN3; the pressure-induced planarization of US3 is promoted by the lower molecular volume of US3 when it is planar compared to when it is pyramidal.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Lipid vesicles induced ordered nanoassemblies of Janus nanoparticles

Since many advanced applications require specific assemblies of nanoparticles (NPs), considerable efforts have been made to fabricate nanoassemblies with specific geometries. Although nanoassemblies can be fabricated through top-down approaches, recent advances show that intricate nanoassemblies can also be obtained through self-assembly, mediated for example by DNA strands. Here, we show, through extensive molecular dynamics simulations, that highly ordered self-assemblies of NPs can be mediated by their adhesion to lipid vesicles (LVs). Specifically, Janus NPs are considered so that the amount by which they are wrapped by the LV is controlled. The specific geometry of the nanoassembly is the result of effective curvature-mediated repulsion between the NPs and the number of NPs adhering to the LV. Further, the NPs are arranged on the LV into polyhedra which satisfy the upper limit of Euler's polyhedral formula, including several deltahedra and three Platonic solids, corresponding to the tetrahedron, octahedron, and icosahedron.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Analytic Nuclear Gradients Including Oriented External Electric Fields in a Molecule-Fixed Frame

Electric-field-assisted chemistry has attracted much attention in recent years, particularly in the context of oriented external electric fields for controlling molecular structure and reactivity. Such fields have been explored in a wide range of applications, including switching materials, nanoparticles, controllable catalysts, medicines, and clinical therapies. However, the determination of fixed fields in the laboratory frame becomes ineffective for flexible molecules, as conformational changes can significantly alter the relative orientation between the applied field and molecular structure. In this work, we propose two molecular reference frames─the principal axis frame and the local reference frame─to define oriented electric fields within the molecular framework. These coordinate systems powerfully eliminate ambiguities in the relative orientation between the applied field and the molecule. Analytic nuclear gradients in the presence of external electric fields are derived and implemented, with an initial application to field-dependent geometry optimizations of cis - and trans -formanilide. Analysis of the resulting field-induced equilibrium structures reveals distinct structural responses, validating the accuracy and robustness of the proposed formalism. The analytic gradient framework enables systematic investigations of molecular properties and reactivity under arbitrarily oriented electric fields, opening new opportunities for computational modeling and rational design in electric-field-controlled chemistry.

electric fields↗

Coupling, lifetimes, and “strong coupling” maps for single molecules at plasmonic interfaces

The interaction between excited states of a molecule and excited states of a metal nanostructure (e.g., plasmons) leads to hybrid states with modified optical properties. When plasmon resonance is swept through molecular transition frequency, an avoided crossing may be observed, which is often regarded as a signature of strong coupling between plasmons and molecules. Such strong coupling is expected to be realized when 2|$\langle$U$\rangle$|/ℏΓ > 1, where $\langle$U$\rangle$ and Γ are the molecule–plasmon coupling and the spectral width of the optical transition, respectively. Because both $\langle$U$\rangle$ and Γ strongly increase with decreasing distance between a molecule and a plasmonic structure, it is not obvious that this condition can be satisfied for any molecule–metal surface distance. Here, in this work, we investigate the behavior of $\langle$U$\rangle$ and Γ for several geometries. Surprisingly, we find that if the only contributions to Γ are lifetime broadenings associated with the radiative and nonradiative relaxation of a single molecular vibronic transition, including effects on molecular radiative and nonradiative lifetimes induced by the metal, the criterion 2|$\langle$U$\rangle$|/ℏΓ > 1 is easily satisfied by many configurations irrespective of the metal–molecule distance. This implies that the Rabi splitting can be observed in such structures if other sources of broadening are suppressed. Additionally, when the molecule–metal surface distance is varied keeping all other molecular and metal parameters constant, this behavior is mitigated due to the spectral shift associated with the same molecule–plasmon interaction, making the observation of Rabi splitting more challenging.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗