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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.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Comparative Study on the Charge-Ordered and Mixed-Valence Phases of LuFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} via First-Principles Calculations

The first-principles density functional theory calculations have been used to investigate the relation between magnetic and structural properties of LuFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} for both the charge-ordered (CO) and the mixed-valence (MV) phases and also to compare the electronic properties for both phases. The computed structural parameters of rhombohedral and monoclinic systems are found to be in good agreement with experimental findings. An analysis of the magnetic properties is provided considering nonmagnetic, ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and ferrimagnetic model orderings. In agreement with experimental results, CO modification of LuFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} is predicted to be ferrimagnetic. The GGA + U electronic structures show a semiconducting behavior of CO phase while a metallic character for MV LuFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} phase.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study of Electronic, Magnetic, and Thermoelectric Properties of 24 Valence-Electron Fe{sub 2}TiSn Heusler Compound Using Modified Becke-Johnson Scheme

The first-principle investigation of electronic and transport properties of 24 valence-electron Fe{sub 2}TiSn Heusler compound have been carried out using modified Becke-Johnson scheme. The compound possesses Fm-3m structure configuration in the ground state. Spin-polarized electronic calculations reveal Fe{sub 2}TiSn is a semiconductor in both the spin configurations with a total magnetic moment as 0μ{sub B}, which is consistent with the Slater-Pauling rule. The thermoelectric properties were calculated by means of the semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. The average values of electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient at 300, 600, and 900 K temperatures versus chemical potential are reported and discussed in detail. Further, the results show the possibility to create n-type and p-type thermoelectrics within one type of Heusler compound. The large Seebeck coefficient advocates the compounds to be good for thermoelectric applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

High pressure synthesis of a new phase of YbAg 2 : Structure, valence of Yb and properties

The new phase of YbAg 2 was obtained using high-pressure and high-temperature reaction. YbAg 2 crystallizes in the MgZn 2 structure (the space group P6 3 /mmc space group, No 194) with a = 5.68153(3) Å and c = 9.31995(7) Å and the unit cell volume V = 260.54(3) Å 3 . The XANES analysis showed that the valence state of Yb is +2.8. The low-temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility can be adequately described by a T 2 term that supports the Fermi-liquid picture. Furthermore, the Kadowaki–Woods relation gives a low value of the degeneracy (N = 2).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hydrogen bond network and bond valence analysis on uranyl sulfate compounds with organic-based interstitial cations

Seven new uranyl sulfate compounds with organic charge-balancing cations have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The structural unit topologies of the two chains and five sheets have been previously reported in uranyl sulfate crystal chemistry, although they were synthesized using different organic molecules. With the inclusion of six of these structures to the 48 previously published uranyl sulfate compounds, a total of 54 known uranyl sulfate compounds with organic charge-balancing cations were compiled and analyzed. A graphical approach was used to compare the structural unit topologies, and a bond valence approach was used to quantify the hydrogen bond networks that exist between the interstitial cationic and solvent species to the uranyl sulfate anionic structural units. Finally, this analysis helped elucidate which oxygen atoms in the structural unit receive hydrogen bonds and how the organic cations stabilize the overall crystal structures in this subclass of U(VI) materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impurity-enhanced core valence luminescence via Zn-doping in cesium magnesium chlorides

Scintillators with faster timing capabilities are currently in high demand for use in radiation detection systems in the fields of nuclear and medical physics. The limited number of suitable materials that meet the performance criteria of next generation detection systems presents an opportunity for discovery of new fast scintillator materials. In this work, the effects of doping several ultrafast core-valence luminescent (CVL) scintillators with divalent Zn is explored. Three compounds are investigated – CsMgCl 3 , Cs 2 MgCl 4 , and Cs 3 MgCl 5 – and single crystals of each doped with 5 mol% Zn are grown via the Bridgman method. Additionally, mixing across the full range of concentrations (from 0 % to 100 % Zn) is explored in the Cs 2 Mg 1-x Zn x Cl 4 and Cs 3 Mg 1-x Zn x Cl 5 systems. For low concentrations of Zn, light yields of all three compounds are enhanced (by up to ~60 %) compared to the pure crystals, achieving what we believe to be the brightest known CVL, CsMgCl 3 :Zn 5 % (3400 ± 170 ph/MeV light yield). More importantly, Zn doping does not affect the ultrafast timing properties, with each composition maintaining a single-component decay time around 1–3 ns. A sub-100 ps coincidence time resolution (CTR) is also achieved with CsMgCl 3 :Zn 5 %. The results of this work reveal a new avenue towards obtaining brighter CVL materials, which could open up possibilities for more advanced ultrafast scintillators to be discovered moving forward.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mapping valence electron distributions with multipole density formalism using 4D-STEM

Recent advancement in aberration correction and detector technology opened a door to various applications using 4D-STEM, which yields a diffraction pattern for each scanning position within a crystal unit-cell in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and generates incredible amounts of data in momentum space. Currently 4D-STEM analysis relies on the center-of-mass of the diffraction patterns in electric field and charge density mapping. It only derives the total projected charge density and is limited to phase objects, e.g. extremely thin samples. Here, we propose a new analytical method to accurately map aspherical valence electron distributions with atom-centered multipolar functions formalism using the whole 4D-STEM dataset. We demonstrate that, with the full dynamical calculations for various sample thicknesses, the method is sensitive not only to the miniscule charge transfer, but also to the atomic site symmetry and aspherical electron orbitals. The process of the refinement is much more robust and reliable than quantitative convergent beam electron diffraction.

4D-STEM↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simulating Valence-to-Core X-ray Emission Spectroscopy of Transition Metal Complexes with Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory

Valence-to-core (VtC) X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) has emerged as a power- ful technique for the structural characterization of complex organometallic compounds in realistic environments. Since the spectrum represents electronic transitions from the ligand molecular orbitals to the core holes of the metal centers, the approach is more chemically sensitive to the metal-ligand bonding character compared with con- ventional X-ray absorption techniques. In this paper we study how linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (LR-TDDFT) can be harnessed to simulate K-edge VtC X-ray emission spectra reliably. LR-TDDFT allows one to go beyond the single-particle picture that has been extensively used to simulate VtC-XES. We con- sider seven low- and high-spin model complexes involving chromium, manganese and iron transition metal centers. Our results are in good agreement with experiment.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2014

Characterization of InGaN/GaN quantum well growth using monochromated valence electron energy loss spectroscopy

The early stages of InGaN/GaN quantum well growth for In-reduced conditions have been investigated for varying thickness and composition of the wells. The structures were studied by monochromated scanning transmission electron microscopy–valence electron energy loss spectroscopy spectrum imaging at high spatial resolution. It is found that beyond a critical well thickness and composition, quantum dots (width >20 nm) are formed inside the well. These are buried by compositionally graded InGaN, which is formed as GaN is grown while residual In is incorporated into the growing structure. It is proposed that these dots act as carrier localization centers inside the quantum wells.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Valence and conduction band alignment at ScN interfaces with 3C-SiC (111) and 2H-GaN (0001)

In order to understand and predict the behavior of future scandium nitride (ScN) semiconductor heterostructure devices, we have utilized in situ x-ray and ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the valence band offset (VBO) present at ScN/3C-SiC (111) and 2H-GaN (0001)/ScN (111) interfaces formed by ammonia gas source molecular beam epitaxy. The ScN/3C-SiC (111) VBO was dependent on the ScN growth temperature and resistivity. VBOs of 0.4 ± 0.1 and 0.1 ± 0.1 eV were, respectively, determined for ScN grown at 925 °C (low resistivity) and 800 °C (high resistivity). Using the band-gaps of 1.6 ± 0.2 and 1.4 ± 0.2 eV previously determined by reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy for the 925 and 800 °C ScN films, the respective conduction band offsets (CBO) for these interfaces were 0.4 ± 0.2 and 0.9 ± 0.2 eV. For a GaN (0001) interface with 925 °C ScN (111), the VBO and CBO were similarly determined to be 0.9 ± 0.1 and 0.9 ± 0.2 eV, respectively.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ab initio potential energy curves of the valence, Rydberg, and ion-pair states of iodine monochloride, ICl

We present for the first time a coherent ab initio study of 39 states of valence, Rydberg, and ion-pair character of the diatomic interhalogen ICl species through large scale multireference variational methods including spin-orbit effects coupled with quantitative basis sets. Various avoided crossings are responsible for a non-adiabatic behaviour creating a wonderful vista for its theoretical description. Our molecular constants are compared with all available experimental data with the aim to assist experimentalists especially in the high energy regime of up to ∼95 000 cm{sup −1}.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Vibrational effects on valence electron momentum distributions of CH{sub 2}F{sub 2}

We report an electron momentum spectroscopy study of vibrational effects on the electron momentum distributions for the outer valence orbitals of difluoromethane (CH{sub 2}F{sub 2}). The symmetric noncoplanar (e,2e) experiment has been performed at an incident electron energy of 1.2 keV. Furthermore, a theoretical calculation of the electron momentum distributions of the CH{sub 2}F{sub 2} molecule has been carried out with vibrational effects being involved. It is shown from comparisons between experiment and theory that it is essential to take into account influences of the CH{sub 2} asymmetric stretching and CH{sub 2} rocking vibrational modes for a proper understanding of the electron momentum distribution of the 2b{sub 1} orbital having the CH-bonding character. The results of CH{sub 2}F{sub 2}and additional theoretical calculations for (CH{sub 3}){sub 2}O and H{sub 2}CO molecules strongly suggest that vibrational effects on electron momentum distributions tend to be appreciable for non-total symmetry molecular orbitals delocalized over some equivalent CH-bond sites.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of leaching on surface composition, microstructure, and valence band of single grain icosahedral Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal

The use of quasicrystals as precursors to catalysts for the steam reforming of methanol is potentially one of the most important applications of these new materials. To develop application as a technology requires a detailed understanding of the microscopic behavior of the catalyst. Here, we report the effect of leaching treatments on the surface microstructure, chemical composition, and valence band of the icosahedral (i-) Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal in an attempt to prepare a model catalyst. The high symmetry fivefold surface of a single grain i-Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal was leached with NaOH solution for varying times, and the resulting surface was characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The leaching treatments preferentially remove Al producing a capping layer consisting of Fe and Cu oxides. The subsurface layer contains elemental Fe and Cu in addition to the oxides. The quasicrystalline bulk structure beneath remains unchanged. The subsurface gradually becomes Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} rich with increasing leaching time. The surface after leaching exhibits micron sized dodecahedral cavities due to preferential leaching along the fivefold axis. Nanoparticles of the transition metals and their oxides are precipitated on the surface after leaching. The size of the nanoparticles is estimated by high resolution transmission microscopy to be 5-20 nm, which is in agreement with the AFM results. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirms the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. SAED further reveals the formation of an interface between the high atomic density lattice planes of nanoparticles and the quasicrystal. These results provide an important insight into the preparation of model catalysts of nanoparticles for steam reforming of methanol.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

The variational subspace valence bond method

The variational subspace valence bond (VSVB) method based on overlapping orbitals is introduced. VSVB provides variational support against collapse for the optimization of overlapping linear combinations of atomic orbitals (OLCAOs) using modified orbital expansions, without recourse to orthogonalization. OLCAO have the advantage of being naturally localized, chemically intuitive (to individually model bonds and lone pairs, for example), and transferrable between different molecular systems. Such features are exploited to avoid key computational bottlenecks. Since the OLCAO can be doubly occupied, VSVB can access very large problems, and calculations on systems with several hundred atoms are presented.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Valence state change and defect centers induced by infrared femtosecond laser in Yb:YAG crystals

The broad band upconversion luminescence in Yb{sup 3+}:YAG crystal has been observed in experiments under the irradiation of focused infrared femtosecond laser. The dependence of the fluorescence intensity on the pump power shows that the upconversion luminescence is due to simultaneous two-photon absorption process, which indicates that the broad emission bands at 365 and 463 nm could be assigned to the 5d → 4f transitions of Yb{sup 2+} ions and the one at 692 nm could be attributed to the electron-hole recombination process on (Yb{sup 2+}-F{sup +}) centers. The absorption spectra of the Yb:YAG crystal samples before and after femtosecond laser irradiation, and after further annealing reveal that permanent valence state change of Yb ions from Yb{sup 3+} to Yb{sup 2+} and (Yb{sup 2+}-F{sup +}) centers have been induced by infrared femtosecond laser irradiation in Yb{sup 3+}:YAG crystal.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electronic and thermoelectric properties of van der Waals materials with ring-shaped valence bands

The valence band of a variety of few-layer, two-dimensional materials consist of a ring of states in the Brillouin zone. The energy-momentum relation has the form of a “Mexican hat” or a Rashba dispersion. The two-dimensional density of states is singular at or near the band edge, and the band-edge density of modes turns on nearly abruptly as a step function. The large band-edge density of modes enhances the Seebeck coefficient, the power factor, and the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT. Electronic and thermoelectric properties are determined from ab initio calculations for few-layer III–VI materials GaS, GaSe, InS, InSe, for Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}, for monolayer Bi, and for bilayer graphene as a function of vertical field. The effect of interlayer coupling on these properties in few-layer III–VI materials and Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} is described. Analytical models provide insight into the layer dependent trends that are relatively consistent for all of these few-layer materials. Vertically biased bilayer graphene could serve as an experimental test-bed for measuring these effects.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Introduction of a valence space in QRPA: Impact on vibrational mass parameters and spectroscopy

For the first time, using a unique finite range interaction (D1M Gogny force), a fully coherent and time-feasible calculation of the Bohr Hamiltonian vibrational mass is envisioned in a Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov + Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) framework. In order to reach handable computation time, we evaluate the feasibility of this method by considering the insertion of a valence space for QRPA. We validate our approach in the even-even tin isotopes comparing the convergence scheme of the mass parameter with those of built-in QRPA outputs: excited state energy and reduced transition probability. The seeming convergence of these intrinsic quantities is shown to be misleading and the difference with the theoretical expected value is quantified. This work is a primary step towards the systematic calculation of mass parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Composition-induced structural, electrical, and magnetic phase transitions in AX-type mixed-valence cobalt oxynitride epitaxial thin films

Synthesis of mid- to late-transition metal oxynitrides is generally difficult by conventional thermal ammonolysis because of thermal instability. In this letter, we synthesized epitaxial thin films of AX-type phase-pure cobalt oxynitrides (CoO{sub x}N{sub y}) by using nitrogen-plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition and investigated their structural, electrical, and magnetic properties. The CoO{sub x}N{sub y} thin films with 0 ≤ y/(x + y) ≤ 0.63 grown on MgO (100) substrates showed a structural phase transition from rock salt (RS) to zinc blend at the nitrogen content y/(x + y) ∼ 0.5. As the nitrogen content increased, the room-temperature electrical resistivity of the CoO{sub x}N{sub y} thin films monotonically decreased from the order of 10{sup 5} Ω cm to 10{sup −4} Ω cm. Furthermore, we observed an insulator-to-metal transition at y/(x + y) ∼ 0.34 in the RS-CoO{sub x}N{sub y} phase, which has not yet been reported in Co{sup 2+}/Co{sup 3+} mixed-valence cobalt oxides with octahedral coordination. The low resistivity in the RS-CoO{sub x}N{sub y} phase, on the 10{sup −3} Ω cm order, may have originated from the intermediate spin state of Co{sup 3+} stabilized by the lowered crystal field symmetry of the CoO{sub 6−n}N{sub n} octahedra (n = 1, 2,…5). Magnetization measurements suggested that a magnetic phase transition occurred in the RS-CoO{sub x}N{sub y} films during the insulator-to-metal transition. These results demonstrate that low-temperature epitaxial growth is a promising approach for exploring novel electronic functionalities in oxynitrides.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of valence-band offset at native oxide/BaSi{sub 2} interfaces by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Undoped n-type BaSi{sub 2} films were grown on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy, and the valence band (VB) offset at the interface between the BaSi{sub 2} and its native oxide was measured by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) at room temperature. HAXPES enabled us to investigate the electronic states of the buried BaSi{sub 2} layer non-destructively thanks to its large analysis depth. We performed the depth-analysis by varying the take-off angle (TOA) of photoelectrons as 15°, 30°, and 90° with respect to the sample surface and succeeded to obtain the VB spectra of the BaSi{sub 2} and the native oxide separately. The VB maximum was located at −1.0 eV from the Fermi energy for the BaSi{sub 2} and −4.9 eV for the native oxide. We found that the band bending did not occur near the native oxide/BaSi{sub 2} interface. This result was clarified by the fact that the core-level emission peaks did not shift regardless of TOA (i.e., analysis depth). Thus, the barrier height of the native oxide for the minority-carriers in the undoped n-BaSi{sub 2} (holes) was determined to be 3.9 eV. No band bending in the BaSi{sub 2} close to the interface also suggests that the large minority-carrier lifetime in undoped n-BaSi{sub 2} films capped with native oxide is attributed not to the band bending in the BaSi{sub 2}, which pushes away photogenerated minority carriers from the defective surface region, but to the decrease of defective states by the native oxide.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗