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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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30 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Theoretical insights on the electro-thermal transport properties of monolayer MoS{sub 2} with line defects

Two dimensional (2D) materials demonstrate several novel electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties which are quite distinctive to those of their bulk form. Among many others, one important potential application of the 2D material is its use in the field of energy harvesting. Owing to that, here we present a detailed study on electrical as well as thermal transport of monolayer MoS{sub 2}, in quasi ballistic regime. Besides the perfect monolayer in its pristine form, we also consider various line defects which have been experimentally observed in mechanically exfoliated MoS{sub 2} samples. For calculating various parameters related to the electrical transmission, we employ the non-equilibrium Green's function-density functional theory combination. However, to obtain the phonon transmission, we take help of the parametrized Stillinger-Weber potential which can accurately delineate the inter-atomic interactions for the monolayer MoS{sub 2}. Due to the presence of line defects, we observed significant reductions in both the charge carrier and the phonon transmissions through a monolayer MoS{sub 2} flake. Moreover, we also report a comparative analysis showing the temperature dependency of the thermoelectric figure of merit values, as obtained for the perfect as well as the other defective 2D samples.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Shell Model for Atomistic Simulation of Lithium Diffusion in Mixed Mn/Ti Oxides

Mixed Mn/Ti oxides present attractive physicochemical properties such as their ability to accommodate Li for application in Li-ion batteries. In this work, atomic parameters for Mn were developed to extend an existing shell model of the Li-Ti-O system and allow simulations of pure and lithiated Mn and mixed Mn/Ti oxide polymorphs. The shell model yielded good agreement with experimentally-derived structures (i.e. lattice parameters and inter-atomic distances) and represented an improvement over existing potential models. The shell model was employed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of Li diffusion in the 1×1 c direction channels of LixMn1 yTiyO2 with the rutile structure, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25 and 0 ≤ y ≤ 1. In the infinite dilution limit, the arrangement of Mn and Ti ions in the lattice was found to have a significant effect on the activation energy for Li diffusion in the c channels due to the destabilization of half of the interstitial octahedral sites. Anomalous diffusion was demonstrated for Li concentrations as low as x = 0.125, with a single Li ion positioned in every other c channel. Further increase in Li concentration showed not only the substantial effect of Li-Li repulsive interactions on Li mobility but also their influence on the time dependence of Li diffusion. The results of the MD simulations can inform intrinsic structure-property relationships for the rational design of improved electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2018

Bose–Einstein condensation under the cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation in radial domains

We study stationary and quasi-stationary solutions for the cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation modeling Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in one, two, and three spatial dimensions under the assumption of radial symmetry with the BEC dynamics influenced by a confining potential. We consider both repulsive and attractive cubic interactions – corresponding respectively to repulsive and attractive two-body interactions – under similar frameworks in order to deduce the effects of the potentials in each case. We also carefully consider the role played by the quintic nonlinearity (modeling the strength of inter-atomic coupling) in modifying the solutions arising due to a purely cubic interaction term. In one spatial dimension, we obtain a variety of exact solutions in the zero-potential limit (including new periodic solutions which generalize known soliton solutions) as well as perturbation solutions for small amplitude confining potentials. For more general forms of the confining potential, we rely on numerical simulations, but these agree with the analytical results when the latter are valid. We also consider the limit where the quintic term dominates the cubic term (with such a limit relevant in the study of a Tonks–Girardeau gas). Under the assumption of radial symmetry, we also consider cylindrical (or, cigar-shaped) and spherical BECs. We consider the nonperturbative regime where either the potential or the amplitude of the solutions is large, obtaining various qualitative analytical results. When the kinetic energy term is small (relative to the nonlinearity and the confining potential), we recover the expected Thomas–Fermi approximation for the stationary solutions. Numerical simulations, under a variety of external confining potentials, are then used to understand the role these potentials play on the BEC solution structure for both the attractive and repulsive regimes. This assortment of analytical and numerical results allows us to better understand the structure of BECs modeled via cubic–quintic Gross–Pitaevskii equation under confining potentials with radial symmetry. Some of the results are natural extensions of those for the cubic Gross–Pitaevskii equation, while others appear new.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Thermal motion in proteins: Large effects on the time-averaged interaction energies

As a consequence of thermal motion, inter-atomic distances in proteins fluctuate strongly around their average values, and hence, also interaction energies (i.e. the pair-potentials evaluated at the fluctuating distances) are not constant in time but exhibit pronounced fluctuations. These fluctuations cause that time-averaged interaction energies do generally not coincide with the energy values obtained by evaluating the pair-potentials at the average distances. More precisely, time-averaged interaction energies behave typically smoother in terms of the average distance than the corresponding pair-potentials. This averaging effect is referred to as the thermal smoothing effect. Here, we estimate the strength of the thermal smoothing effect on the Lennard-Jones pair-potential for globular proteins at ambient conditions using x-ray diffraction and simulation data of a representative set of proteins. For specific atom species, we find a significant smoothing effect where the time-averaged interaction energy of a single atom pair can differ by various tens of cal/mol from the Lennard-Jones potential at the average distance. Importantly, we observe a dependency of the effect on the local environment of the involved atoms. The effect is typically weaker for bulky backbone atoms in beta sheets than for side-chain atoms belonging to other secondary structure on the surface of the protein. The results of this work have important practical implications for protein software relying on free energy expressions. We show that the accuracy of free energy expressions can largely be increased by introducing environment specific Lennard-Jones parameters accounting for the fact that the typical thermal motion of protein atoms depends strongly on their local environment.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1984

Theoretical study of electron correlation effects in transition metal dimers

Introduction of partially localized orbitals is shown to reduce the number of terms needed to describe the bonding in transition metal clusters. Using this formalism, it is possible to compute the various intra- and inter-atomic electron correlation contributions to the bond energy. Calculations demonstrate the relative importance of several kinds of electron correlation terms involving the 3p, 3d, and 4s electrons. Improved interaction potentials are obtained for the dimers V(2) and Cr(2) when additional correlation is added to the CAS SCF results of Walch, Bauschlicher, Roos, and Nelin (1983).

Das, G. P.↗
DOE OSTI2014

A compact and accurate semi-global potential energy surface for malonaldehyde from constrained least squares regression

We present a new approach to semi-global potential energy surface fitting that uses the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) constrained least squares procedure to exploit an extremely flexible form for the potential function, while at the same time controlling the risk of overfitting and avoiding the introduction of unphysical features such as divergences or high-frequency oscillations. Drawing from a massively redundant set of overlapping distributed multi-dimensional Gaussian functions of inter-atomic separations we build a compact full-dimensional surface for malonaldehyde, fit to explicitly correlated coupled cluster CCSD(T)(F12*) energies with a root mean square deviations accuracy of 0.3%–0.5% up to 25 000 cm{sup −1} above equilibrium. Importance-sampled diffusion Monte Carlo calculations predict zero point energies for malonaldehyde and its deuterated isotopologue of 14 715.4(2) and 13 997.9(2) cm{sup −1} and hydrogen transfer tunnelling splittings of 21.0(4) and 3.2(4) cm{sup −1}, respectively, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental values of 21.583 and 2.915(4) cm{sup −1}.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

FP-LAPW calculations of the elastic, electronic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu{sub 4}Sb{sub 12}

We have investigated the electronic structure, elastic and thermoelectric properties of the filled skutterudite CeRu{sub 4}Sb{sub 12} using the density functional theory (DFT). The full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method within a framework of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) approach is used to perform the calculations presented here. The electronic structure calculation suggests an indirect band gap semiconducting nature of the material with energy band gap of 0.08 eV. The analysis of the elastic constants at relaxed positions reveals the ductile nature of the sample material with covalent contribution in the inter-atomic bonding. The narrow band gap semiconducting nature with high value of Seebeck coefficient suggests the possibility of the thermoelectric application of the material. The analysis of the thermal transport properties confirms the result obtained from the energy band structure of the material with high thermopower and dimensionless figure of merit 0.19 at room temperature.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Probing periodic potential of crystals via strong-field re-scattering

Strong-field ionization and re-scattering phenomena have been used to image angstrom-scale structures of isolated molecules in the gas phase. These methods typically make use of the anisotropic response of the participating molecular orbital. Recently, an anisotropic strong-field response has also been observed in high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from bulk crystals. In a (100) cut magnesium oxide crystal, extreme ultraviolet high-harmonics are found to depend strongly on the crystal structure and inter-atomic bonding. Here, we extend these measurements to other two important crystal orientations: (111) and (110). We find that HHG from these orientations is also strongly anisotropic. The underlying dynamics is understood using a real-space picture, where high-harmonics are produced via coherent collision of strong-field driven electrons from the atomic sites, including from the nearest neighbor atoms. We find that harmonic efficiency is enhanced when semi-classical electron trajectories connect to the concentrated valence charge distribution regions around the atomic cores. Similarly, the efficiency is suppressed when the trajectories miss the atomic cores. Furthermore, these results further support the real-space picture of HHG with implications for retrieving the periodic potential of the crystal, if not the wavefunctions in three-dimensions.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Enabling Computational Nanotechnology through JavaGenes in a Cycle Scavenging Environment

A genetic algorithm procedure is developed and implemented for fitting parameters for many-body inter-atomic force field functions for simulating nanotechnology atomistic applications using portable Java on cycle-scavenged heterogeneous workstations. Given a physics based analytic functional form for the force field, correlated parameters in a multi-dimensional environment are typically chosen to fit properties given either by experiments and/or by higher accuracy quantum mechanical simulations. The implementation automates this tedious procedure using an evolutionary computing algorithm operating on hundreds of cycle-scavenged computers. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the procedure for evaluating the Stillinger-Weber (S-W) potential by (a) reproducing the published parameters for Si using S-W energies in the fitness function, and (b) evolving a "new" set of parameters using semi-empirical tightbinding energies in the fitness function. The "new" parameters are significantly better suited for Si cluster energies and forces as compared to even the published S-W potential.

Globus, Al↗
DOE OSTI2014

Covalent bonds are created by the drive of electron waves to lower their kinetic energy through expansion

An analysis based on the variation principle shows that in the molecules H{sub 2}{sup +}, H{sub 2}, B{sub 2}, C{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, O{sub 2}, F{sub 2}, covalent bonding is driven by the attenuation of the kinetic energy that results from the delocalization of the electronic wave function. For molecular geometries around the equilibrium distance, two features of the wave function contribute to this delocalization: (i) Superposition of atomic orbitals extends the electronic wave function from one atom to two or more atoms; (ii) intra-atomic contraction of the atomic orbitals further increases the inter-atomic delocalization. The inter-atomic kinetic energy lowering that (perhaps counter-intuitively) is a consequence of the intra-atomic contractions drives these contractions (which per se would increase the energy). Since the contractions necessarily encompass both, the intra-atomic kinetic and potential energy changes (which add to a positive total), the fact that the intra-atomic potential energy change renders the total potential binding energy negative does not alter the fact that it is the kinetic delocalization energy that drives the bond formation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

A platform for quantum information and large-scale entanglement with Rydberg atoms in programmable optical potentials

Large-scale quantum systems with controllable interactions are important for understanding complex phenomena in nature, and are the basis for advanced quantum technologies. Realizing a controllable platform for controlling, understanding, and ultimately harnessing the entanglement is an outstanding challenge in quantum science. This project demonstrated reconfigurable arrays of individually-trapped ultracold atoms, thus realizing a platform that could demonstrate large-scale quantum entanglement with the addition of strong inter-atomic interactions. Arrays of more than 50 trap sites were formed via digital holography and a high-numerical aperture imaging system that featured in-situ trap diagnostics and single-atom imaging resolution. We further discovered a new implementation of a controlled-phase gate that utilized coherent excitation to Rydberg states. This method will enable robust entanglement protocols in many-atom systems such as the one developed here.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Protein Conformational States—A First Principles Bayesian Method

Automated identification of protein conformational states from simulation of an ensemble of structures is a hard problem because it requires teaching a computer to recognize shapes. We adapt the naïve Bayes classifier from the machine learning community for use on atom-to-atom pairwise contacts. The result is an unsupervised learning algorithm that samples a ‘distribution’ over potential classification schemes. We apply the classifier to a series of test structures and one real protein, showing that it identifies the conformational transition with >95% accuracy in most cases. A nontrivial feature of our adaptation is a new connection to information entropy that allows us to vary the level of structural detail without spoiling the categorization. This is confirmed by comparing results as the number of atoms and time-samples are varied over 1.5 orders of magnitude. Further, the method’s derivation from Bayesian analysis on the set of inter-atomic contacts makes it easy to understand and extend to more complex cases.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗