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At least 307 records · Page 17

Structural and Spectroscopic Trends in Alkali Tris(Acetato)Actinyl(VI) Complexes

A series of alkali tris(acetato)actinyl(VI) compounds M[AnO 2 (CH 3 COO) 3 ] (M=Na, K, Rb, Cs and An=U, Np, Pu) is reported, applying a combination of singlecrystal X-ray diffraction, solid-state Raman spectroscopy, and U(VI) luminescence spectroscopy for their structural and spectroscopic characterization. The results show that complexes formed from the same alkali metal but different actinyl ions are mostly isostructural. The symmetric actinyl stretch (ν 1 (An=O yl )) in these isostructural complexes undergoes a redshift within the actinide series despite the shortening of the actinyl bond due to the actinide contraction. Complexes formed from the same actinyl but co-crystallized with different alkali metals show a progression toward lower space group symmetry. While the actinyl bond length remains unmodulated within the alkali series, a small redshift of ν 1 (An=O yl ) is observed, indicating minor changes in the vibrational properties of the actinyl moiety caused by the structural progression towards lower symmetry. This subtle change is also evidenced by a redshift of the U(VI) luminescence spectra within the M[UO 2 (CH 3 COO) 3 ] series.

Raman↗

Controls From Above and Below: Snow, Soil, and Steepness Drive Diverging Trends of Subsurface Water and Streamflow Dynamics

ABSTRACT The importance of subsurface water dynamics, such as water storage and flow partitioning, is well recognised. Yet, our understanding of their drivers and links to streamflow generation has remained elusive, especially in small headwater streams that are often data‐limited but crucial for downstream water quantity and quality. Large‐scale analyses have focused on streamflow characteristics across rivers with varying drainage areas, often overlooking the subsurface water dynamics that shape streamflow behaviour. Here we ask the question: What are the climate and landscape characteristics that regulate subsurface dynamic storage, flow path partitioning, and dynamics of streamflow generation in headwater streams? To answer this question, we used streamflow data and a widely‐used hydrological model (HBV) for 15 headwater catchments across the contiguous United States. Results show that climate characteristics such as aridity and precipitation phase (snow or rain) and land attributes such as topography and soil texture are key drivers of streamflow generation dynamics. In particular, steeper slopes generally promoted more streamflow, regardless of aridity. Streams in flat, rainy sites (< 30% precipitation as snow) with finer soils exhibited flashier regimes than those in snowy sites (> 30% precipitation as snow) or sites with coarse soils and deeper flow paths. In snowy sites, less weathered, thinner soils promoted shallower flow paths such that discharge was more sensitive to changes in storage, but snow dampened streamflow flashiness overall. Results here indicate that land characteristics such as steepness and soil texture modify subsurface water storage and shallow and deep flow partitioning, ultimately regulating streamflow response to climate forcing. As climate change increases uncertainty in water availability, understanding the interacting climate and landscape features that regulate streamflow will be essential to predict hydrological shifts in headwater catchments and improve water resources management.

Kerins, Devon [Department of Civil and Environment↗

Periodic trends in gas–phase oxidation and hydrogenation reactions of lanthanides and 5d transition metal cations

Of the many publications coming from the laboratory of Diethard K. Bohme, among the most valuable were the surveys of reactivity throughout the periodic table as studied using selected ion flow tube (SIFT) mass spectrometry. In all cases, quantitative rate constants at 295 K and 0.35 Torr of He were obtained for metal cations generated by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). This source creates ions at a temperature characterized as 5500 K. Here, it was believed that radiative relaxation and interactions with the flow gases would rapidly deplete most excited electronic states of the metal cations, although this is unknown

transition metals↗

International collaboration framework for the calculation of performance loss rates: Data quality, benchmarks, and trends (towards a uniform methodology)

Abstract The IEA PVPS Task 13 group, experts who focus on photovoltaic performance, operation, and reliability from several leading R&D centers, universities, and industrial companies, is developing a framework for the calculation of performance loss rates of a large number of commercial and research photovoltaic (PV) power plants and their related weather data coming across various climatic zones. The general steps to calculate the performance loss rate are (i) input data cleaning and grading; (ii) data filtering; (iii) performance metric selection, corrections, and aggregation; and finally, (iv) application of a statistical modeling method to determine the performance loss rate value. In this study, several high‐quality power and irradiance datasets have been shared, and the participants of the study were asked to calculate the performance loss rate of each individual system using their preferred methodologies. The data are used for benchmarking activities and to define capabilities and uncertainties of all the various methods. The combination of data filtering, metrics (performance ratio or power based), and statistical modeling methods are benchmarked in terms of (i) their deviation from the average value and (ii) their uncertainty, standard error, and confidence intervals. It was observed that careful data filtering is an essential foundation for reliable performance loss rate calculations. Furthermore, the selection of the calculation steps filter/metric/statistical method is highly dependent on one another, and the steps should not be assessed individually.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Amplified drought trends in Nepal increase the potential for Himalayan wildfires

Here we report in the spring 2021, Nepal underwent a record wildfire season in which active fires were detected at a rate 10 times greater than the 2002–2020 average. Prior to these major wildfire events, the country experienced a prolonged precipitation deficit and extreme drought during the post-monsoon period (starting in October 2020). An analysis using observational, reanalysis, and climate model ensemble data indicates that both climate variability and climate change-induced severe drought conditions were at play. Further analysis of climate model outputs suggests the likely reoccurrence of drought conditions, thus favoring active wildfire seasons in Nepal throughout the twenty-first century. While the inter-model uncertainty is large and direct modeling of wildfire spread and suppression has not been completed, the demonstrated relationship between a drought index (the standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index) and subsequent fire activity may offer actionable opportunities for forest managers to employ the monitoring and projection of climate anomalies at sub-seasonal to decadal timescales to inform their management strategies for Nepal’s wildlands.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Fundamental microscopic properties as predictors of large-scale quantities of interest: Validation through grain boundary energy trends

Correlations between fundamental microscopic properties computable from first principles, which we term canonical properties, and complex large-scale quantities of interest (QoIs) provide an avenue to predictive materials discovery. Here, we propose that such correlations can be efficiently discovered through simulations utilizing approximate interatomic potentials (IPs), which serve as an ensemble of “synthetic materials”. As a proof of principle we build a regression model relating canonical properties to the symmetric tilt grain boundary (GB) energy curves in face-centered cubic crystals, characterized by the scaling factor in the universal lattice matching model of Runnels et al. (2016), which we take to be our QoI. Our analysis recovers known correlations of GB energy to other properties and discovers new ones. We also demonstrate, using available density functional theory (DFT) GB energy data, that the regression model constructed from IP data is consistent with DFT results, confirming the assumption that the IPs and DFT belong to same statistical pool and thereby validating the approach. Regression models constructed in this fashion can be used to predict large-scale QoIs based on first-principles data and provide a general method for training IPs for QoIs beyond the scope of first-principles calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Deactivation trends of Pd/SSZ-13 under the simultaneous presence of NO, CO, hydrocarbons and water for passive NO x adsorption

Pd-functionalized chabazite (Pd/SSZ-13) was evaluated for passive NO x adsorption (PNA) using low temperature combustion with diesel (LTC-D) reaction feed of the “United States Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability” (U.S.DRIVE) protocol. Notably as per the protocol conditions, 12% O 2 + 6% CO 2 + 6% H 2 O was flown in all cases. NO-uptake studies in the presence of the LTC-D feed showed a systematic decline with (NO:Pd)molar changing from 0.5 to 0.4 after 10 trials. Control experiments showed more pronounced decline for NO + CO case, with appreciable intial (NO:Pd)molar value of 0.4 yet comparable-to-the-LTC-D-feed decline after 8 trials. CO-induced particle formation and larger extent of particle sintering was also evident from TEM analysis. Other controls did not exhibit trial-dependent deactivation as(NO:Pd)molar values were constant, at 0.3, 0.2, 0.5 and 0.2 for the NO, NO+H 2 , NO + unsaturated hydrocarbon (C 2 H 4 , C 3 H 6 ) and NO + saturated HC (C 3 H 8 , C 10 H 22 ) feeds respectively. In addition to these quantitative differences, desorption behaviors are qualitatively different. While only one major desorption event is observed for the full LTC-D, NO+ CO and NO+ unsaturated HC-controls, desorption occurs in two distinct stages for NO, NO + saturated HCs and initial-NO+H 2 trials. This arises due to inherent differences in Pd sites while exposed to these chemically distinct feeds. Furthermore, presence of reducing agents such as CO and unsaturated HCs in the feed result in almost complete elimination of lower, sub-200 °C desorption peak. The higher temperature desorption peaks, at > 300 °C is associated with NO strongly bound to ionic Pd sites and are prevalent under reducing conditions. Using DRIFTS also, three complexes leading to PNA are assigned, [O = N–Pd 2 +(OH)–Z], [O = N–Pd 2 +(Z2)] and [O = N–Pd 2 +(H 2 O)y–Z] with the latter being clearly observed upon water exposure. Pd/SSZ-13 showed higher hydrocarbon trapping than the SSZ-13 counterpart.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗