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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 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Optimal Gas-Electric Energy System Decarbonization Planning

As energy utilities implement climate change mitigation policies, system planners require strategies for achieving affordable emissions reductions. Coordinated planning of electric power and natural gas systems will allow synergistic investments to address cross-sector operational constraints, competing uses for net-zero emissions fuels, and shifts in energy demands across energy carriers. In this study, we develop a novel optimization program that finds the cost-minimizing mix of infrastructure expansion or reduction across gas and electric systems to satisfy sector-specific emissions constraints. Alongside energy supply resources, our framework allows for central-planning of end-use equipment stocks to allow switching between gas and electric appliances upon failure or premature replacement. The proposed model is used to simulate case study scenarios for a benchmark 24-pipe gas network coupled to a 24-node power system test network. We find that electrification of greater than 80% of core gas demands is a component of the least-cost solution for modeled energy systems. Despite this substitution, the gas system is maintained to service difficult-to-electrify customers and to deliver net-zero emissions gas to electricity generators in times of peak electricity demand. Restricting electrification of gas appliances increases reliance on power- to-gas technologies and increases annual costs by 15% in 2040. Neglecting constraints on pipeline blending of hydrogen can produce a misleading result that relies on hydrogen blend fractions of greater than 50%. In all cases, we find the average costs of delivered gas increase nearly 5-fold across the decarbonization transition, highlighting the importance of future work investigating cost-allocation strategies for ensuring an equitable energy transition.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Refining water and carbon fluxes modeling in terrestrial ecosystems via plant hydraulics integration

Plant hydraulics substantially affects terrestrial water and carbon cycles by modulating water transport and carbon assimilation. Despite improved drought simulations in certain ecosystems through their integration into land surface models (LSMs), the broader application of plant hydraulics in diverse ecosystems and hydroclimates is still underexplored. Here, in this study, we implemented the recently developed Noah-Multiparameterization Land Surface Model (Noah-MP LSM) equipped with a plant hydraulics scheme (Noah-MP-PHS) across 40 FLUXNET sites globally. Employing the Shuffled Complex Evolution-University of Arizona (SCE-UA) auto-calibration algorithm, we optimized key plant hydraulics parameters for these sites spanning eight vegetation types in both arid and humid climates. Noah-MP-PHS significantly improves the simulation of evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary production (GPP) by better representing atmospheric and soil water stress compared to traditional soil hydraulic schemes (SHSs, such as Noah and CLM). The augmented Noah-MP-PHS models reduce surface flux overestimation and underestimation, exhibiting an average increase of 0.14 and 0.15 in Kling-Gupta Efficiency (KGE) compared to Noah and CLM, respectively. The explicit consideration of plant capacitance in PHS reveals substantial deep-layer and nocturnal root water uptake especially under dry conditions. We employed eXplainable Machine learning (XML) to quantify the model’s relative sensitivity to newly introduced leaf-, stem and root-related parameters in PHS. The sensitivity analysis reveals a rise in root parameter importance and a decline in leaf and stem parameters as conditions shift from humid to arid. These findings indicate that as aridity states vary, the most influential parameters affecting surface fluxes variation may change in parameter calibration for PHS applications. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating plant hydraulics into LSMs to enhance simulations of terrestrial water and carbon dynamics. These findings are crucial for understanding ecosystem responses to global climate changes and guide the broader application of PHS at larger scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Lie group analysis of the point-reactor neutron kinetics equations for various reactivity models

This work applies Lie Group Theory to the nonlinear point-reactor neutron kinetics equations for several reactivity feedback and reactivity insertion models. The goal of this work is to connect known analytical solutions to their corresponding Lie groups as well as to obtain new analytical solutions and the circumstances from which they arise. The reactivity models we consider are the Nordheim-Fuchs Model, an arbitrary-order polynomial reactivity insertion model, and the Fuchs Ramp-Insertion Model. In all three models, we generalize the analysis when possible and obtain analytical solutions in every case. For the first two models, we succeed in finding the Lie groups corresponding to classical solutions and find additional solutions that were otherwise unknown. Finally, for the final model, we obtain a reduced-order nonlinear kinetics equation which is not analytically solvable, but by applying a second-order truncation, we find a novel closed-form solution and demonstrate its validity with a numerical example.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation of potential aerosol transmission and infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 through central ventilation systems

Here we evaluate the concentrations and probabilities of infection for both building interior and exterior exposure sources using a well-mixed model in a connected multizone building. As a central hub of many community and economic activities, buildings provide social connectivity, but the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced social connectivity due to concerns of viral spread within buildings. Although single zone models of infectious spread are well studied, the impact of aerosolized spread of SARS-CoV-2 via air handling systems in multizone buildings remains unexplored. Here we evaluate the influence of filtration, air exchange rates, and the fraction of outdoor air on the probability of infection using the well-known well-mixed modeling approach for a multizone. We find filtration lowers the concentration and probability of infection in both source and connected rooms provided at least some air is recirculated, but that probability is not zero. Filtration has no influence without recirculation or unless the outdoor air contains virus. We find that increasing the air exchange rate removes virus from the source room faster but also increases the rate of exposure to connected rooms. Therefore, slower air exchange rates reduce infectivity in connected rooms at shorter durations, but higher air exchange rates reduce infectivity at longer durations. We further find that when outdoor air is virus free, increasing the fraction of outdoor air is helpful, but, when outdoor air is infective, pathogen exposure inside can persist for hours after a short-term release.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Computational synthesis of 2D materials: A high-throughput approach to materials design

2D materials find promising applications in next-generation devices, however, large-scale, low-defect, and reproducible synthesis of 2D materials remains a challenging task. Here, to assist in the selection of suitable substrates for the synthesis of as-yet hypothetical 2D materials, we have developed an open-source high-throughput workflow package, Hetero2d, that searches for low-lattice mismatched substrate surfaces for any 2D material and determines the stability of these 2D-substrate heterostructures using density functional theory (DFT) simulations. Hetero2d automates the generation of 2D-substrate heterostructures, the creation of DFT input files, the submission and monitoring of computational jobs on supercomputing facilities, and the storage of relevant parameters alongside the post-processed results in a MongoDB database. We demonstrate the capability of Hetero2d in identifying stable 2D-substrate heterostructures for four 2D materials, namely 2H-MoS 2 , 1T- and 2H-NbO 2 , and hexagonal-ZnTe, considering 50 cubic elemental substrates. We find Cu, Hf, Mn, Nd, Ni, Pd, Re, Rh, Sc, Ta, Ti, V, W, Y, and Zr substrates sufficiently stabilize the formation energies of these 2D materials, with binding energies in the range of ~0.1–0.6 eV/atom. Upon examining the z-separation, the charge transfer, and the electronic density of states at the 2D-substrate interface, we find a covalent type bonding at the interface which suggests that these substrates can be used as contact materials for the 2D materials. Hetero2d is available on GitHub as an open-source package under the GNU license.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Graviton-photon oscillations in an expanding universe

Through the Gertsenshtein effect, the presence of a large external B-field may allow photons and gravitons to mix in a way that resembles neutrino oscillations and is even more similar to axion-photon mixing. Assuming a background B-field (or any field that behaves like one), we examine the Gertsenshtein mechanism in the context of FLRW expanding universe models, as well as de Sitter space. The conformal invariance of Maxwell’s equations and the conformal noninvariance of the Einstein equations preclude the operation of the Gertsenshtein effect at all scales. In general we find for the matter- and radiation-dominated cases, graviton-oscillations are possible only at late conformal times or when the wavelengths are much shorter than the horizon (kn $\gg$ 1), but that the time-dependent oscillations eventually damp out in any case. Further, the presence of charged particles additionally damps out the oscillations. For the de Sitter universe, we find that oscillations are possible only at early conformal times (n $\ll$ H -1 ) and for wavelengths short compared to the Hubble radius, but eventually freeze in when wavelengths become longer than the Hubble radius. In principle a Gertsenshtein-like mechanism might influence the balance of particle species in an inflationary phase before freezing in; however, we find that in all our models the mixing length is larger than the Hubble radius. We discuss several possible remedies to this situation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A susceptibility gene signature for ERBB2-driven mammary tumour development and metastasis in collaborative cross mice

Background: Deeper insights into ERBB2-driven cancers are essential to develop new treatment approaches for ERBB2+ breast cancers (BCs). We employed the Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse model to unearth genetic factors underpinning Erbb2-driven mammary tumour development and metastasis. Methods: 732 F1 hybrid female mice between FVB/N MMTV-Erbb2 and 30 CC strains were monitored for mammary tumour phenotypes. GWAS pinpointed SNPs that influence various tumour phenotypes. Multivariate analyses and models were used to construct the polygenic score and to develop a mouse tumour susceptibility gene signature (mTSGS), where the corresponding human ortholog was identified and designated as hTSGS. The importance and clinical value of hTSGS in human BC was evaluated using public datasets, encompassing TCGA, METABRIC, GSE96058, and I-SPY2 cohorts. The predictive power of mTSGS for response to chemotherapy was validated in vivo using genetically diverse MMTV-Erbb2 mice. Findings: Distinct variances in tumour onset, multiplicity, and metastatic patterns were observed in F1-hybrid female mice between FVB/N MMTV-Erbb2 and 30 CC strains. Besides lung metastasis, liver and kidney metastases emerged in specific CC strains. GWAS identified specific SNPs significantly associated with tumour onset, multiplicity, lung metastasis, and liver metastasis. Multivariate analyses flagged SNPs in 20 genes (Stx6, Ramp1, Traf3ip1, Nckap5, Pfkfb2, Trmt1l, Rprd1b, Rer1, Sepsecs, Rhobtb1, Tsen15, Abcc3, Arid5b, Tnr, Dock2, Tti1, Fam81a, Oxr1, Plxna2, and Tbc1d31) independently tied to various tumour characteristics, designated as a mTSGS. hTSGS scores (hTSGSS) based on their transcriptional level showed prognostic values, superseding clinical factors and PAM50 subtype across multiple human BC cohorts, and predicted pathological complete response independent of and superior to MammaPrint score in I-SPY2 study. The power of mTSGS score for predicting chemotherapy response was further validated in an in vivo mouse MMTV-Erbb2 model, showing that, like findings in human patients, mouse tumours with low mTSGS scores were most likely to respond to treatment. Interpretation: Our investigation has unveiled many new genes predisposing individuals to ERBB2-driven cancer. Translational findings indicate that hTSGS holds promise as a biomarker for refining treatment strategies for patients with BC.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Intensive and extensive margins of the peak load: Measuring adaptation with mixed frequency panel data

In this work we investigate the response of daily electricity peak load to daily maximum temperatures across states in Europe and India. We propose a method that decomposes short- from medium/long-run effects, retains the high frequency nature of the load-weather covariation and treats economic growth as a modulating factor. By simultaneously exploiting variation in unexpected daily weather anomalies and decade-long climatic changes in each location we decompose transitory - intensive margin - adjustments from permanent - extensive margin - adjustments. We find that the shocks over the long-run differ substantially from the short-run dynamics. Furthermore, we find evidence that per capita income modulates the adjustments over the short- and long-run. We project that in response to climate change around 2050 the peak load may increase by up to 20%-30% in Southern Europe and in several states in India, depending on the degree of warming and the evolution of socio-economic conditions. Even with a limited scope to two world regions, we identify that the structure of the economy and differences in future income growth matter in shaping the adaptation to climate change. Our decomposition allows to identify how future weather anomalies can further amplify the relative increase associated to the shift in the climate norm. Assuming that the interannual variability of maximum temperatures follows the distribution observed in the past, we find a doubling of the impacts of climate change during the summer in Europe. Uncertainty around the distribution of future weather anomalies may lead to further unexpected peak load amplifications. Our results have important policy implications for power systems’ generation capacity, transmission and storage, as we show that the challenges to accommodate the peak load in days with extreme temperatures may substantially increase already around mid-century.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Severe weather, utility spending, and the long-term reliability of the U.S. power system

There has been a limited amount of peer-reviewed literature on long-term trends in electricity reliability including the underlying factors that impact reliability across the United States. In this analysis, we considered up to 16 years of data from 203 U S. utilities—representing about 70% of electricity sales. Annual frequency of interruptions for an average customer—at the regional and U.S. national-level—has generally decreased over this timeframe. But we do not find that there is a statistically significant trend in the annual duration of interruptions for an average customer. We find that more explicit measures of severe weather are correlated with reliability. We are able to explain 7% and 16% of past variation in the reliability metrics system average interruption duration and frequency indices, respectively, is due to severe weather—a significant improvement over earlier studies. We find that current year spending by utilities is correlated with worse reliability and that cumulative spending over the preceding three years is correlated with better reliability. Finally, we demonstrate that using a statistical instrument to represent the annual frequency of interruptions for an average customer can greatly improve analysis of trends in the annual duration of interruptions for an average customer.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Will Consumers Really Pay for Green Electricity? Comparing Stated and Revealed Preferences for Residential Programs in the United States

Public support is growing for policy initiatives to spur a transition from a fossil to renewable energy portfolio in the electricity sector. Some utilities in the United States offer programs that allow consumers to voluntarily pay premiums (0.1-7.0 cents/kWh) for electricity from renewable sources. However, it is unclear whether public support translates to paying for green electricity if given the option. Our analysis employs data from two national, longitudinal surveys on energy attitudes and willingness to pay for renewables to investigate whether environmental concerns and stated preferences for renewable energy translate to consumer behavior as measured through ratepayer participation in voluntary utility renewable energy programs known as utility green pricing. We find higher green pricing program participation rates in areas where consumers have stronger feelings about the environmental impacts of energy. Consumers in high-participation areas also have a higher stated willingness to pay for renewable energy, on average, than consumers in low-participation areas. We also find income, homeownership, and home value explain some of the difference between high- and low-participation programs. Further, program participation is lower in areas where utilities charge higher green pricing program premiums. These findings suggest that green power programs - such as utility green pricing - offer a market-based mechanism for consumers to realize their desire to purchase renewable energy. Policymakers may use these results to support further expansion of green power programs in areas where customers currently lack accessible and affordable options to act on their environmental beliefs and concerns.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Winds of fortune? Understanding the geographic, sociodemographic, and temporal distribution of benefit mechanisms from land-based wind projects in the United States

Despite decades of research on factors shaping local responses to wind development, there is relatively little known about benefit mechanisms (e.g., agreements, funds, donations) used by developers in the U.S. land-based wind sector. To address this gap, we collected benefit mechanism data across all current utility-scale land-based wind projects installed between 1982 and 2024 (n = 1047), finding that just under one-third of projects had a benefit mechanism attached to them. We find the use of benefit mechanisms has become more common over time, is associated with larger projects, and varies by region. In terms of host community characteristics, the use of benefit mechanisms is associated with characteristics like higher education level, higher percent white, higher percent Republican, higher decision-making capacity, lower unemployment rate, and higher poverty rate. Building on a theoretical framework of purposes, we discuss what these findings could suggest about the motivations driving developers' use of these mechanisms, such as increasing local acceptance of a wind project or supporting distributive fairness. This first-of-its-kind study builds a comprehensive understanding of how benefit mechanisms have been used in the U.S. wind industry throughout its history, which can inform future approaches to benefit-sharing across sectors.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

An exploration of online-simulation-driven portfolio scheduling in Workflow Management Systems

Workflow Management Systems used to automate the execution of scientific workflow applications on parallel and distributed computing platforms must make scheduling decisions at runtime. A large number of workflow scheduling algorithms have been proposed in the literature, but often these algorithms are evaluated based on simplifying assumptions that may not hold in practice. Furthermore, published algorithm evaluation and/or comparison results are necessarily only for a subset of all possible scenarios, and thus may not include scenarios relevant to particular use-cases. Consequently, it is difficult for Workflow Management Systems (WMSs) developers to decide which scheduling algorithm should be implemented. To obviate this difficulty, one possible approach is to implement a portfolio of scheduling algorithms and select the most effective algorithm at runtime. One method for performing this selection is to run an online simulation for each algorithm in the portfolio. The algorithm that leads to the best performance, in simulation, is selected for future use. The above simulation-driven portfolio scheduling (SDPS) approach has been proposed in a few parallel and distributed computing contexts. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the feasibility and potential merit of SDPS if implemented in WMSs. Here we perform this evaluation using simulated WMS executions, where the simulations are instantiated from real-world platform and workflow configurations. Our main finding is that SDPS is on par with or outperforms an approach in which a single algorithm is used, where this algorithm is the one that performs best on average across all our experimental scenarios. Furthermore, we find that SDPS remains an attractive proposition even in the presence of high levels of simulation error and for simulators with relatively low levels of sophistication. In many of our experimental scenarios we find that mitigating simulation error at runtime can further improve performance. Finally, we show that simulation overhead can be made sufficiently low for SDPS to be feasible in practice.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Metastable solubility and local structure of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC)

The properties of amorphous calcium carbonate provide the foundation for understanding mineralization of calcified skeletons but inconsistencies between studies suggest the physical picture is incomplete. This study quantifies the metastable solubility and structure of ACC produced under a series of chemical conditions. Using complementary in situ methods that quantify ACC structure (in situ PDF analysis) in parallel with chemical composition (TGA, ICP-OES), we find two short-range structures are produced that also show distinct morphological differences. Conditions with high carbonate ion concentrations stabilize a Ca-rich ACC with short-range order that is independent of Mg content. In contrast, low carbonate solutions favor Mg-rich ACC with mixed Ca- and Mg-short range order. Measurements of solubility product determined from supersaturated and undersaturated conditions find the distinctive structures are related to solution carbonate activity while solubility is primarily determined by the magnesium content of the solid. Bulk solubility is a composite that concurs with established values. The findings demonstrate the type of ACC that forms is tuned by Mg2+ and CO3-2- concentration and suggest ACC structure, not bulk composition, is a reliable indicator of intermediate phase. This chemical framework also provides a basis for interpreting apparent differences between observations of ACC in synthetic and natural systems that reconciles previous structural studies.

Mergelsberg, Sebastian T.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reassessing the proposed “CY chondrites”: Evidence for multiple meteorite types and parent bodies from Cr-Ti-H-C-N isotopes and bulk elemental compositions

Here, we report a coordinated bulk Cr-Ti-H-C-N isotopic and compositional study of six carbonaceous chondrites from Antarctica that are often considered to be related and termed Yamato-like carbonaceous (CY) chondrites. These meteorites are known to have undergone extensive aqueous alteration followed by different degrees of thermal alteration, to be similar to one another in regard to mineralogy, and share affinities with both the Ivuna-like carbonaceous (CI) and Mighei-like carbonaceous (CM) chondrites. While mineralogically similar, a key difference among these samples is that chondrules have been found in some of these samples, but not in others. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship of these meteorites to one another, and investigate how they relate to the CI and CM chondrite groups. We find that with the addition of the isotopic compositions of these ‘CY’ chondrites, there is now a continuum of isotopic compositions among the carbonaceous chondrites. The CI chondrites are no longer separate in O isotopic compositions from the other carbonaceous chondrite groups in plots of Cr-O and Ti-O. We also find that the ‘CY’ chondrites represent two distinct populations, which correlate with their heating stage. However, the peak temperatures experienced by each population can only explain the differences in H and C isotopes and abundances and N abundances between samples, and cannot have caused the differences in N, Cr, and Ti isotopes, or all the volatile element depletions of the sample’s bulk compositions. Instead, we conclude that the compositional and isotopic data of these two populations correlate with their known chondrule abundances, indicating distinct precursors for each population. We find it most likely that these samples originate from two distinct asteroids, implying that among the six samples studied here, there are not five related samples to constitute a new meteorite group. The chondrule-free heating Stage III samples are most likely heated CI chondrites, while the chondrule-bearing heating Stage IV samples could be heated CM chondrites.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

The impact of Uber and Lyft on vehicle ownership, fuel economy, and transit across U.S. cities

We estimate the effects of transportation network companies (TNCs) Uber and Lyft on vehicle ownership, fleet average fuel economy, and transit use in U.S. urban areas using a set of difference-in-difference propensity score-weighted regression models that exploit staggered market entry across the U.S. from 2011 to 2017. We find evidence that TNC entry into urban areas causes an average 0.7% increase in vehicle registrations with significant heterogeneity in these effects across urban areas: TNC entry produces larger vehicle ownership increases in urban areas with higher initial ownership (car-dependent cities) and in urban areas with lower population growth (where TNC-induced vehicle adoption outpaces population growth). We also find no statistically significant average effect of TNC entry on fuel economy or transit use but find evidence of heterogeneity in these effects across urban areas, including larger transit ridership reductions after TNC entry in areas with higher income and more childless households.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scattering by whistler-mode waves during a quiet period perturbed by substorm activity

We study the dynamics of radiation belt electrons during a 10-day quiet period perturbed by substorm activity and preceding a high-speed stream (HSS), aiming at a global description of the radiation belts in L-shell, L in [2, 6], and energy [0.1, 10] MeV. We combine Van Allen Probes observations and Fokker-Planck numerical simulations of pitch-angle diffusion. The Fokker-Planck model uses event-driven pitch angle diffusion coefficients from whistler-mode waves, built from the wave properties and the ambient plasma density measurements from the Van Allen Probes. We first find this event has some similar characteristics to regular quiet times previously studied; a widely extended plasmasphere within which we observe strong and varying whistler-mode waves. These ambient conditions lead to strong pitch-angle scattering, which contributes to the creation of a wide slot region as well as a significant decay of the outer radiation belts, which are observed and qualitatively well simulated. In addition, we find the substorm activity causes short duration (within ± 4h) decay of the plasma density and a lowering amplitude of the whistler-mode waves within the plasmasphere, both causing opposite effects in terms of pitch angle diffusion. This leads to a diminution of pitch-angle diffusion at the time of the main substorm activity. Conversely, whistler-mode waves become enhanced in the time periods between the substorm injections. All effects cumulated, we find an enhancement of pitch angle diffusion by whistler-mode waves above L~4.7 during the 10-day period. This directly relates to the combination of quietness and substorm activity which allows pitch angle diffusing of up to 1 MeV electrons in the outer belt. Relativistic electrons of 1–2 MeV remain trapped in the outer belt, from L~4.7 to L~5.2, forming, in both the observations and the simulations, a distinct pocket of remnant electrons.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geophysical signatures of soil AFFF contamination from spectral induced polarization and low field nuclear magnetic resonance methods

Few field methods are available for characterizing source zones contaminated with aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). Non-invasive geophysical characterization of AFFF source zone contamination in situ could assist with the delineation and characterization of these sites, allowing for more informed sampling regimes aimed at quantifying subsurface poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. In this study, we present initial results from the investigation of the sensitivity of two existing surface and borehole-deployable geophysical technologies, spectral induced polarization (SIP), and low field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), to soils impacted with AFFF. To investigate the sensitivity of these methods to AFFF-impacted soil, bench-scale column experiments were conducted on samples consisting of natural and synthetic soils and groundwater. While our findings do not show strong evidence of NMR sensitivity to soil PFAS contamination, we do find evidence that SIP has sufficient sensitivity to detect PFAS sorption to soils. This finding is based on evidence that AFFF constituents associated with the pore surface produce a measurable polarization response in both freshly contaminated synthetic soils and in soils historically impacted with AFFF.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Kinetics of moisture-induced phase transformation in inorganic halide perovskite

The high-temperature (high-T) phase of cesium lead iodide (CsPbI 3 ) presents great promise for photovoltaic applications; however, exposure to ambient moisture at room temperature transforms it into its less-desirable low-temperature (low-T) phase with a larger band gap. While there have been theoretical predictions on the influence of moisture level on the phase transformation kinetics, the corresponding quantitative experimental evidence has remained limited. Tracking CsPbI 3 phase transformation under controlled relative humidity (RH), we find that rising RH increases the nucleation rate of low-T CsPbI 3 exponentially, but has a weak effect on its growth. The overall transformation is nucleation limited, with higher RH leading to a lower nucleation barrier. Finally, we find that heating between 40°C and 80°C facilitates water desorption and suppresses phase transformation. Our findings elucidate the relationship between moisture and the phase energetics of CsPbI 3 , which can serve as references for thin film applications of CsPbI 3 and future designs of stable photovoltaics systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗