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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of PEDOT:PSS on the effectiveness of barrier layers prepared by atomic layer deposition in organic light emitting diodes

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are well suited for energy saving lighting applications, especially when thinking about highly flexible and large area devices. In order to avoid the degradation of the organic components by water and oxygen, OLEDs need to be encapsulated, e.g., by a thin sheet of glass. As the device is then no longer flexible, alternative coatings are required. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a very promising approach in this respect. The authors studied OLEDs that were encapsulated by 100 nm Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} deposited by ALD. The authors show that this coating effectively protects the active surface area of the OLEDs from humidity. However, secondary degradation processes still occur at sharp edges of the OLED stack where the extremely thin encapsulation layer does not provide perfect coverage. Particularly, the swelling of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) mixed with poly(styrenesulfonate), which is a popular choice for the planarization of the bottom electrode and at the same time acts as a hole injection layer, affects the effectiveness of the encapsulation layer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Role of low-energy ion irradiation in the formation of an aluminum germanate layer on a germanium substrate by radical-enhanced atomic layer deposition

Radical-enhanced atomic layer deposition uses oxygen radicals generated by a remote microwave-induced plasma as an oxidant to change the surface reactions of the alternately supplied trimethylaluminum precursor and oxygen radicals on a Ge substrate, which leads to the spontaneous formation of an aluminum germanate layer. In this paper, the effects that low-energy ions, supplied from a remote microwave plasma to the substrate along with the oxygen radicals, have on the surface reactions were studied. From a comparative study of aluminum oxide deposition under controlled ion flux irradiation on the deposition surface, it was found that the ions enhance the formation of the aluminum germanate layer. The plasma potential measured at the substrate position by the Langmuir probe method was 5.4 V. Assuming that the kinetic energy of ions arriving at the substrate surface is comparable to that gained by this plasma potential, such ions have sufficient energy to induce exchange reactions of surface-adsorbed Al atoms with the underlying Ge atoms without causing significant damage to the substrate. This ion-induced exchange reaction between Al and Ge atoms is inferred to be the background kinetics of the aluminum germanate formation by radical-enhanced atomic layer deposition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Atomic layer deposition of alternative glass microchannel plates

The technique of atomic layer deposition (ALD) has enabled the development of alternative glass microchannel plates (MCPs) with independently tunable resistive and emissive layers, resulting in excellent thickness uniformity across the large area (20 × 20 cm), high aspect ratio (60:1 L/d) glass substrates. Furthermore, the use of ALD to deposit functional layers allows the optimal substrate material to be selected, such as borosilicate glass, which has many benefits compared to the lead-oxide glass used in conventional MCPs, including increased stability and lifetime, low background noise, mechanical robustness, and larger area (at present up to 400 cm{sup 2}). Resistively stable, high gain MCPs are demonstrated due to the deposition of uniform ALD resistive and emissive layers on alternative glass microcapillary substrates. The MCP performance characteristics reported include increased stability and lifetime, low background noise (0.04 events cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}), and low gain variation (±5%)

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors

Many superconducting materials are composed of weakly coupled conducting layers. Such a layered structure has a very strong influence on the properties of vortex matter in a magnetic field. This review focuses on the properties of the Josephson vortex lattice generated by the magnetic field applied in the direction of the layers. The theoretical description is based on the Lawrence-Doniach model in the London limit, which takes only the phase degree of freedom of the superconducting order parameter into account. In spite of its simplicity, this model leads to an amazingly rich set of phenomena. We review in detail the structure of an isolated vortex line and various properties of the vortex lattice, in both dilute and dense limits. In particular, we extensively discuss the influence of the layered structure and thermal fluctuations on the selection of lattice configurations at different magnetic fields.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Study of heterostructures with a combined In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot/quantum well layer and a Mn δ layer

Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and photoelectric spectroscopy methods, the effect of Mn δ layer embedding and GaAs coating layer growth techniques in structures with In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots and wells on their structural and optoelectronic characteristics is studied. It is shown that the low-temperature GaAs coating layer in a structure with a Mn δ layer is structurally inhomogeneous and can cause a decrease in the quantum-dot photosensitivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Layer-by-Layer Analysis of the Thickness Distribution of Silicon Dioxide in the Structure SiO{sub 2}/Si(111) by Inelastic Electron Scattering Cross-Section Spectroscopy

The SiO{sub 2}-concentration profile in the structure SiO{sub 2}/Si(111) is determined from experimental spectra of the cross section for the inelastic scattering of reflected electrons in the primary electron energy range from 300 to 3000 eV. The spectra are analyzed with the use of a proposed algorithm and developed computer program for simulating the spectra of the cross section for the inelastic scattering of reflected electrons for layered structures with an arbitrary number of layers, arbitrary thickness, and variable concentration of components in each layer. The best agreement between the calculated and experimental spectra is attained by varying the silicon dioxide and silicon concentrations in each layer. The results obtained can be used for profiling film-substrate structures with an arbitrary composition.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Specific Features of Nonlinear Spin Wave Localization in a Layered Ferromagnet under the Action of the Magnetic Anisotropy of Layers

A trilayer structure model has been investigated, in which uniaxial ferromagnetic layers and thin-film interfaces between them are characterized by the magnetic anisotropy. The magnetization perturbation induced in this structure is described by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a nonlinear potential, which simulates the interfaces between ferromagnetic layers. It is shown that, in this structure, two types of nonlinear spin waves can propagate along the layers, which are induced by the nonlinearity of the interfaces caused by their magnetic anisotropy. The frequencies of such localized stationary states of spin waves have been obtained in the explicit analytical form. The conditions for the existence of these states, depending on the characteristics of the layers and interfaces between them, have been established.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Tunneling of Microwave Radiation through Three-Layer Structures Containing Ferrite Layer

Tunneling of microwave radiation through a symmetric three-layer structure in which the central ferrite layer is interfaced with two layers of a material with negative permittivity is considered. Conditions for perfect tunneling (i.e., transmission with zero reflection) are analyzed for normal incidence. It is shown that the transmittance of the structure can be controlled using external magnetic field that provides magnetization of the ferrite layer. A broad transmission band with a width of several gigahertzes in which almost perfect tunneling is implemented can exist in the frequency range corresponding to the negative effective permeability of the ferrite material.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Advanced Turbulence Models for Large-Scale Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flows

We present high-fidelity large-eddy-simulation (LES) modeling approaches for the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows. Wind energy is a prime example of an application driven by ABL. Generation of electrical energy from farms of wind turbines at night in the stable ABL is a particularly interesting situation. In this report, we consider the well-known GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) Atmospheric Boundary Layer Study (GABLS) stably stratified benchmark LES case. We use a high-order spectral element code Nek5000/RS, which is supported under the DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP) Center for Efficient Exascale Discretizations (CEED) project, targeting application simulations on various acceleration-device based exascale computing platforms. In our earlier ANL report, we demonstrated our newly developed subgrid-scale (SGS) models based on high-pass filter (HPF), mean-field eddy viscosity (MFEV), and Smagorinsky (SMG) with no-slip and traction boundary conditions, provided with low-order statistics, convergence and turbulent structure analysis. In this report, we extend the range of our SGS modeling approaches in the context of the mean-field eddy viscosity (MFEV), to include the solution of an SGS turbulent kinetic energy equation (TKE). We demonstrate the model fidelity of Nek5000/RS in comparison to that of AMR-Wind, a block-structured second-order finite-volume code with adaptive-mesh-refinement capabilities, with which we studied scaling performance for both codes in comparison on DOE's leadership computing platforms.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Distinct summer and winter bacterial communities in the active layer of Svalbard permafrost revealed by DNA- and RNA-based analyses

The active layer of soil overlaying permafrost in the Arctic is subjected to dramatic annual changes in temperature and soil chemistry, which likely affect bacterial activity and community structure. We studied seasonal variations in the bacterial community of active layer soil from Svalbard (78°N) by co-extracting DNA and RNA from 12 soil cores collected monthly over a year. PCR amplicons of 16S rRNA genes (DNA) and reverse transcribed transcripts (cDNA) were quantified and sequenced to test for the effect of low winter temperature and seasonal variation in concentration of easily degradable organic matter on the bacterial communities. The copy number of 16S rRNA genes and transcripts revealed no distinct seasonal changes indicating potential bacterial activity during winter despite soil temperatures well below -10°C. Multivariate statistical analysis of the bacterial diversity data (DNA and cDNA libraries) revealed a season-based clustering of the samples, and, e.g., the relative abundance of potentially active Cyanobacteria peaked in June and Alphaproteobacteria increased over the summer and then declined from October to November. The structure of the bulk (DNA-based) community was significantly correlated with pH and dissolved organic carbon, while the potentially active (RNA-based) community structure was not significantly correlated with any of the measured soil parameters. A large fraction of the 16S rRNA transcripts was assigned to nitrogen-fixing bacteria (up to 24% in June) and phototrophic organisms (up to 48% in June) illustrating the potential importance of nitrogen fixation in otherwise nitrogen poor Arctic ecosystems and of phototrophic bacterial activity on the soil surface.

Alphaproteobacteria↗
DOE OSTI2022

Toward Ideal Metal–Organic Framework Thin-Film Growth via Automated Layer-by-Layer Deposition: Examples Based on Perylene Diimide Linkers

Photoactive metal-organic framework (MOF) thin films offer an opportunity for translating the advantages of periodic, crystalline, and tailorable light-harvesting materials directly into devices such as those for photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion. In this study, we report the fabrication of light-absorbing perylene-diimide-containing pillared-paddlewheel MOF thin films using an automated layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition technique. Our focus here is on optimizing the growth of representative chromophoric MOFs as oriented films of uniform and predefined thickness. Growth was examined as a function of metal identity, pillaring ligand composition, and supporting-surface chemical functionality. Further, application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and complementary techniques revealed that the surface-supported MOFs initially display island-type film growth (Volmer-Weber growth), resulting in comparatively rough films. Further growth is accompanied by the merging of islands, resulting in films that, depending on experimental details, can be remarkably smooth (i.e., roughness on the order of ±1 nm (one structural repeat unit in the pillaring direction)). These details include the use of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) as a MOF pillar and ALD-grown zinc oxide as a film support (ALD = atomic layer deposition). Also helpful for mitigating island-type growth, at least in part, is the replacement of Zn 2+ by Cu 2+ as the metal component of the MOF. Notably, each of these adjustments entails replacing weaker chemical bonds with stronger ones.

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

Composition and physical properties of the Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer and the North American Tropospheric Aerosol Layer: Composition of ATAL and NATAL

Recent studies revealed layers of enhanced aerosol scattering in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere over Asia (Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL)) and North America (North American Tropospheric Aerosol Layer (NATAL)). We use a sectional aerosol model (Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA)) coupled with the Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1) to explore the composition and optical properties of these aerosol layers. The observed aerosol extinction enhancement is reproduced by CESM1/CARMA. Both model and observations indicate a strong gradient of the sulfur-to-carbon ratio from Europe to the Asia on constant pressure surfaces. We found that the ATAL is mostly composed of sulfates, surface-emitted organics, and secondary organics; the NATAL is mostly composed of sulfates and secondary organics. In conclusion, the model also suggests that emission increases in Asia between 2000 and 2010 led to an increase of aerosol optical depth of the ATAL by 0.002 on average which is consistent with observations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain

High resolution numerical simulation can provide insight into important physical processes that occur within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The present work employs large eddy simulation (LES) nested within the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) framework to simulate real conditions in the convective PBL over an area of complex terrain. A multiple nesting approach has been used to downsize the grid spacing size from 12.15 km (mesoscale) to 0.03 km (LES). To minimize artifacts in theWRF-LES solutions resulting from using an inappropriate grid spacing on the WRF-Meso domain, a careful selection of grid spacing has been conducted. The WRF-LES results have been evaluated with in situ and remote sensing observations collected during the US Department of Energy supported Columbia BasinWind Energy Study (CBWES). The comparison for the first and second order moments, turbulence spectrum, and probability density function (pdf) of wind speed show good agreement between the simulation and data. Furthermore, the WRF-LES variables show a great deal of variability in space and time caused by the complex topography in the LES domain. The WRF-LES results show that the flow structures, such as roll vortices and convective cells, over the domain vary depending on both the spatial location and time of the day. In addition to basic studies related to boundary-layer meteorology, results from these simulations can be used in other applications, such as studying the wind energy resources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Atomic Layer Deposition of Nickel Using Ni(dmamb)2 and ZnO Adhesion Layer Without Plasma

Abstract In this study, a novel deposition technique that utilizes diethylzinc (C 4 H 10 ZnO) with H 2 O to form a ZnO adhesion layer was proposed. This technique was followed by the deposition of vaporized nickel(II) 1-dimethylamino-2-methyl-2-butoxide (Ni(dmamb) 2 ) and H 2 gas to facilitate the deposit of uniform layers of nickel on the ZnO adhesion layer using atomic layer deposition. Deposition temperatures ranged from 220 to 300 °C. Thickness, composition, and crystallographic structure results were analyzed using spectroscopic ellipsometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. An average growth rate of approximately 0.0105 angstroms per cycle at 260 °C was observed via ellipsometry. Uniform deposition of ZnO with less than 1% of Ni was displayed by utilizing the elemental analysis function via SEM, thereby providing high-quality images. XPS revealed ionizations consistent with nickel and ZnO through the kinetic and binding energies of each detected electron. XRD provided supplemental information regarding the validity of ZnO by exhibiting crystalline attributes, revealing the presence of its hexagonal wurtzite structure.

Baker, Kaiya↗
DOE OSTI2019

In-Situ Thermal Imaging for Single Layer Build Time Alteration in Large-Scale Polymer Additive Manufacturing

Ideally, objects are constructed as quickly as possible; however, short build times for a layer can present an issue. Short layer build times do not provide enough time for the material to cool sufficiently. As a result, an object cannot support its own weight nor deal with overhanging features. Additionally, the generation of support structures may be impractical either due to geometry or, in the case of large-scale polymer additive manufacturing, due to being difficult to remove. To address these issues, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility investigated the use of a thermal camera mounted to a gantry to collect data on an object under construction. This data provided feedback for an in-situ control system to adjust layer build times. Adjustments were made in the form of additional waiting to allow the material to cool to specific thermal thresholds. This additional cooling time allowed the construction of objects with low layer build times or overhanging features that would have otherwise failed.

Borish, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of Residual Lithium on the Adoption of High-Nickel Layered Oxide Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

High-nickel layered oxide cathodes are becoming appealing for lithium-ion batteries employed in portable electronics and electric vehicles because of their higher energy density, low or no cobalt content, and ability to be manufactured with existing infrastructure. However, high-nickel layered oxides are plagued by the formation of residual lithium species, such as LiOH and Li 2 CO 3 , on the surface, which are detrimental to the manufacturing process and performance. Despite the problems residual lithium causes for the industry, academia mainly focuses on the safety risks and electrochemical impacts of residual lithium. In this Perspective, we examine the residual lithium problem through a lens of its impact on cathode slurry instability and large-scale manufacturing of high-nickel layered oxides. Additionally, methods of measuring residual lithium are discussed from the perspective of their accuracy as well as practicality in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, we hope that this Perspective would encourage the academic endeavor to consider the practical obstacles caused by residual lithium on the industrialization of high-nickel layered oxides and their mitigation, while attempting to improve their electrochemical performance and safety through doping, surface modifications, or other approaches.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗