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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Growth, Spectroscopy and Photorefractive Investigation of Vanadium Doped CdSSe

We present two-wave mixing results obtained with a CdS(0.8)Se(0.2):V crystal. The CdS(0.8)Se(0.2):V crystal was grown by physical vapor transport (PVT) along with a concentration of 150 ppm (nominal) vanadium for creating trap centers. The as-grown crystal has a large crystal size, good optical quality, and a medium resistivity of 10(exp 6) - 108 ohms-cm. A large photorefractive gain coefficient of ().24 cm-' was observed at 633 nm with an optical intensity of 60 mW/cm(exp 2) and a grating period of 1.6 microns. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of the photorefractive effect in a vanadium doped CdSSe crystal. Room temperature absorption and low temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements are also discussed. With a significant photorefractive effect, the CdSSe:V crystals are promising for device applications based on photorefractive effect, in the wavelength range of 600-700 nm.

Davis, Michelle↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Supercool(ed) Olivine Morphology in Shergottites Revealed Using X-ray Computed Tomography

Shergottites comprise most of the Martian meteorites and have a mafic to ultramafic bulk composition and a diversity of igneous textures [1].Olivine-phyric and poikilitic shergottites are sub-classes of shergottites and characterized by having a crystal cargo of large mafic minerals. Olivine-phyric shergottites have porphyritic textures of large olivinemegacrysts set in a fine-grained groundmass of pyroxene and maskelynite [2]. The poikilitic shergottites have assemblages of olivine chadocrysts poikilitically-enclosed by cm-sized pyroxene oikocrysts set in a coarse-grained groundmass of olivine and maskelynite [3,4]. The large crystal cargos in these samples are some of the first minerals to crystallize from their respective parent melts and have been extensively studied to understand shergottite petrogenesis. For instance, compositions of early-formed olivine and pyroxene in equilibrium with other phases (e.g. spinels) are used to establish depths, temperatures, and redox conditions of crystallization. There is increasing agreement that olivine megacrysts and poikilitic assemblages formed at or near the crust – mantle boundary (~85 km) before entrainment, ascent, and complete crystallization at or near the surface [1,3,4,6,7,8,9]. Additionally, linear olivine megacryst crystal size distribution (CSD)patterns and observations of polyhedral morphologies[8,9,10] are commonly interpreted to reflect steady-state crystallization under equilibrium conditions. However, oscillatory phosphorus zonation patterns in olivine from many samples indicate fluctuations in growth rates[10,12]. Recent studies measuring dendritic phosphorus zonation in terrestrial olivines [13] and experimental studies measuring how undercooling (undercooling is defined as the liquidus temperature minus the temperature being considered) controls changes in olivine morphology [14] have questioned the canonical view that large olivine megacrysts grow slowly and concentrically under equilibrium conditions. Here we present X-ray CT results from olivine-phyric and poikilitic shergottites that challenge the notion that early-formed minerals grew slowly under equilibrium conditions.

S A Eckley↗
NASA NTRS1980

Occurrence and mineral chemistry of high pressure phases, Portrillo basalt, southcentral New Mexico

Inclusions of clinopyroxenite, kaersutiteclinopyroxenite, kaersutite-rich inclusions, wehrlite and olivine-clinopyroxenite together with megacrysts of feldspar, kaersutite and spinel are found loose on the flanks of cinder cones, as inclusions within lava flows and within the cores of volcanic bombs in the Quaternary alkali-olivine basalt of the West Potrillo Mountains, southcentral New Mexico. Based on petrological and geochemical evidence the megacysts are interpreted to be phenocrysts which formed at great depth rather that xenocrysts of larger crystal aggregates. These large crystals are believed to have formed as stable phases at high temperature and pressure and have partially reacted with the basalt to produce subhedral to anhedral crystal boundaries. It can be demonstrated that the mafic and ultramafic crystal aggregates were derived from an alkali-basalt source rock generated in the mantle. The inclusions are believed to represent a cumulus body or bodies injected within the lower crust or upper mantle.

Hoffer, J. M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Growth mechanisms of large, faceted crystals grown from solutions

Here, the paper describes optical techniques and methods used to study growth mechanisms and phenomena occurring on multiple faces of real bulk crystals grown from aqueous and organic solutions. Using examples of ionic KDP and molecular trans-stilbene crystals, it shows how in-situ and ex-situ surface observations can be applied to identify growth structures characteristic for the dislocation, two-dimensional (2D), and 3D cluster deposition mechanisms. Results are analyzed and applied to understanding of defects origins and methods for their elimination in practical growth of large, high optical quality crystals.

2D growth mechanism↗
NASA NTRS1982

Measurements of the aerosol and ice crystal populations in tropical stratospheric cumulonimbus anvils

A pair of particle size spectrometers was flown aboard the NASA U-2 operating from the Canal Zone to make measurements of the aerosol and ice crystal budgets in cirrus produced by thunderstorms in the tropics. Measurements indicate that fairly large crystals up to 1 mm in size are injected into the stratosphere during cumulonimbus activity. Ice water contents range from a few thousandths to a few hundredths of a gram per cubic meter. Because the ambient temperature is typically around -80 C the mass of the larger crystals largely returns to lower altitudes before evaporating. Aerosol size distributions indicate a curious narrow growth mode between 0.15 and 0.2 micron in cirrus anvils which is absent outside these clouds. The presence of this narrow mode is attributed to near water saturation produced at cloud top. Nucleation of new ice crystals as well as aerosol is hypothesized

Knollenberg, R. G.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Unveiling nano-scale crystal deformation using coherent X-ray dynamical diffraction

Visualization of internal deformation fields in crystalline materials helps bridge the gap between theoretical models and practical applications. Applying Bragg coherent diffraction imaging under X-ray dynamical diffraction conditions provides a promising approach to the longstanding challenge of investigating the deformation fields in micron-sized crystals. Here, we present an automatic differentiation-based reconstruction method that integrates dynamical scattering theory to accurately reconstruct deformation fields in large crystals. Using this forward model, our simulated and experimental results demonstrate that three-dimensional local strain information inside a large crystal can be accurately reconstructed under coherent X-ray dynamical diffraction conditions with Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging. These findings open an avenue for extending the investigation of local deformation fields to microscale crystals while maintaining nanoscale resolution, leveraging the enhanced coherence and brightness of advanced X-ray sources.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

Lead halide perovskites: Crystal-liquid duality, phonon glass electron crystals, and large polaron formation

Lead halide perovskites have been demonstrated as high performance materials in solar cells and light-emitting devices. These materials are characterized by coherent band transport expected from crystalline semiconductors, but dielectric responses and phonon dynamics typical of liquids. This “crystal-liquid” duality implies that lead halide perovskites belong to phonon glass electron crystals, a class of materials believed to make the most efficient thermoelectrics. We show that the crystal-liquid duality and the resulting dielectric response are responsible for large polaron formation and screening of charge carriers, leading to defect tolerance, moderate charge carrier mobility, and radiative recombination properties. Large polaron formation, along with the phonon glass character, may also explain the marked reduction in hot carrier cooling rates in these materials.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1986

Solvability condition for needle crystals at large undercooling in a nonlocal model of solidification

It is explicitly shown that, in a realistic model of diffusion-controlled dendritic solidification, Ivantsov's continuous family of steady-state needle crystals is destroyed by the addition of surface tension. The starting point is in the exact integro-differential equation for the one-sided model, in two dimensions, in a moving frame of reference. In the limit of large undercooling, where the range of the diffusion field is much smaller than the radius of curvature of the tip of the needle, this problem is reduced to a linear, inhomogeneous differential equation of infinite order. A solvability condition for this equation is derived and it is shown that solutions cease to exist for arbitrarily small but finite isotropic surface tension.

Caroli, B.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Ultra-stable and poison tolerant oxygen evolution activity enabled by surface In 2 O 3- x (OH) y of Co 3 In 2 S 2 large single crystals

Water is an earth-abundant source for clean hydrogen production via electrochemical water electrolysis (WE). However, the surface poisoning that occurs in aqueous electrolytes drastically deactivates the electrocatalytic performance of electrodes. Here, in this study, we report electrochemically formed In 2 O 3-x (OH) y on the surface of a large (1–1.5 mm long, 0.5–0.6 mm wide and 0.3–0.5 mm thick) single crystal of Weyl semimetal Co 3 In 2 S 2 (Co 3 In 2 S 2 /In 2 O 3-x (OH) y ) as an ultra-stable and poison tolerant electrode for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 M KOH, addressing a bottleneck in WE. The OER activity of the powder form of Co 3 In 2 S 2 is limited by its aerophilic nature. Remarkably, the single-crystal electrodes maintained their high activity for a continuous operational period of 5 h in 1 M KOH electrolyte with/without 10 mM strong surface-poisoning ligands i.e., potassium cyanide, bipyridine, and ethylenediaminetetraacetate disodium salt. The electrodes exhibited stable OER activity for 1000 h at 100 mA cm -2 (1.73 V vs. RHE). The temperature-dependent OER polarization curves (10–70 °C) unambiguously revealed surface poisoning through the suppression of precatalytic Co-redox peaks on the bipyridine poisoned electrode, which led to the stabilization of surface Co-sites. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of pristine, poisoned and post-electrocatalytic single-crystal Co 3 In 2 S 2 electrodes revealed the existence of an In 2 O 3-x (OH) y surface phase, which could be the potential heterostructure for the origin of ultra-stable and poison tolerant OER activity.

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

Macroscopic Monochalcogenide van der Waals Ferroics: Growth, Domain Structures, and Curie Temperature

Two-dimensional and layered van der Waals materials promise to overcome the limitations of conventional ferroelectrics in terms of miniaturization and material integration, but synthesis has produced only small (up to few micrometer-sized) ferroic crystals. Here, we report the realization of in-plane ferroelectric few-layer crystals of the monochalcogenides tin(II) sulfide and selenide (SnS, SnSe) whose linear dimensions exceed the current state of the art by up to 1 order of magnitude. Such large crystals allow the investigation of ferroic domain patterns that are unaffected by edges and finite-size effects. Analysis of the abundant stripe domains by electron microscopy and nanobeam electron diffraction shows two distinct domain types: twin domains separated by positively charged walls with alternating head-to-head and tail-to-tail polarization as well as not previously observed purely rotational domains connected by neutral domain walls with head-to-tail dipoles. Access to large crystals allowed the determination of the Curie temperature of few-layer SnSe van der Waals ferroelectrics, and it enables the investigation of this class of ferroelectrics by widely available methods such as polarized optical microscopy. Furthermore, the combination with layer transfer protocols promises uniform materials for exploring fundamentals and for implementing devices for information processing and energy conversion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Flux growth and magnetic properties of rare earth cobalt germanide, RE{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1+x}Al{sub 3−x} (RE=Pr, Nd; x≈0.8)

The intermetallic compounds RE{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1+x}Al{sub 3−x} (RE=Pr{sub ,} Nd) were synthesized from the reaction of germanium and aluminum in RE/Co eutectic flux. These phases crystallize with the Nd{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 2.2} structure type in hexagonal space group P-6m2 (a=9.203(2)Å, c=4.202(1) Å, R{sub 1}=0.0109 for Pr{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1.80}Al{sub 2.20}; and a=9.170(3) Å, c=4.195(1) Å, R{sub 1}=0.0129 for Nd{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1.74}Al{sub 2.26}). The structure features chains of face-sharing Ge@RE{sub 9} clusters intersecting hexagonal cobalt nets linked by aluminum atoms. Magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that both phases exhibit ferromagnetic ordering of the cobalt layers with T{sub C} in the range of 130–140 K. The magnetic moments of the rare earth ions order at lower temperature (30–40 K). Magnetic measurements on oriented crystals of Nd{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1.74}Al{sub 2.26} show a strong preference of the moments to order along the c-axis. - Graphical abstract: RE{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1+x}Al{sub 3−x} (RE=Pr{sub ,} Nd) were grown as large crystals from reactions of Ge and Al in RE/Co eutectic melts. Magnetic measurements indicate ordering of the 2-D cobalt nets at 130–140 K, and ordering of the rare earth moments at 30–40 K. Display Omitted - Highlights: • RE{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1+x}Al{sub 3−x} (RE=Pr{sub ,} Nd) grown as large crystals from RE/Co eutectic flux. • RE{sub 6}Co{sub 5}Ge{sub 1+x}Al{sub 3−x} structure features hexagonal cobalt nets stacked along c-axis. • Cobalt layers order ferromagnetically with T{sub c}=130–140 K. • Rare earth magnetic moments order at low temperature (30–40 K).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1988

Mechanical Properties Of Large Sodium Iodide Crystals

Report presents data on mechanical properties of large crystals of thallium-doped sodium iodide. Five specimens in shape of circular flat plates subjected to mechanical tests. Presents test results for each specimen as plots of differential pressure versus center displacement and differential pressure versus stress at center. Also tabulates raw data. Test program also developed procedure for screening candidate crystals for gamma-ray sensor. Procedure eliminates potentially weak crystals before installed and ensures material yielding kept to minimum.

Lee, Henry M.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mechanical behaviors and phase transition of Ho{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanocrystals under high pressure

Mechanical properties and phase transition often show quite large crystal size dependent behavior, especially at nanoscale under high pressure. Here, we have investigated Ho{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanocrystals with in-situ x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy under high pressure up to 33.5 GPa. When compared to the structural transition routine cubic -> monoclinic -> hexagonal phase in bulk Ho{sub 2}O{sub 3} under high pressure, the nano-sized Ho{sub 2}O{sub 3} shows a much higher onset transition pressure from cubic to monoclinic structure and followed by a pressure-induced-amorphization under compression. The detailed analysis on the Q (Q = 2π/d) dependent bulk moduli reveals the nanosized Ho{sub 2}O{sub 3} particles consist of a clear higher compressible shell and a less compressible core. Insight into these phenomena shed lights on micro-mechanism studies of the mechanical behavior and phase evolution for nanomaterials under high pressure, in general.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nonlinear luminescence response of CaF{sub 2}:Eu and YAlO{sub 3}:Ce to single-ion excitation

Understanding scintillation physics and nonproportionality is essential to accelerate materials discovery that has been restricted due to the difficulties inherent to large crystal growth and complex nature of gamma-solid interaction. Taking advantage of less restrictive growth and deposition techniques for smaller crystal sizes or thin films and better fundamental understanding of ion-solid interactions, a unique ion approach is demonstrated to effectively screen candidate scintillators with relatively small size and evaluate their nonlinear scintillation response. Response of CaF{sub 2}:Eu and YAlO{sub 3}:Ce scintillators to single ions of H{sup +}, He{sup +}, and O{sup 3+} are measured by the corresponding pulse height over a continuous energy range using a time-of-flight–scintillator–photoelectric multiplier tube apparatus. Nonlinear response of the scintillators under ionizing ion irradiation is quantitatively evaluated by considering the energy partitioning process. In a differential energy deposition region with negligible displacement damage, the low, medium and high excitation energy deposition density (D{sub exci}) can be produced by energetic H{sup +}, He{sup +} and O{sup 3+} ions, respectively, and significantly different impacts on the response characteristics of these two benchmark scintillators are observed. For CaF{sub 2}:Eu, the scintillation efficiency under ion irradiation monotonically decreases with increasing excitation-energy density. In contrast, the response efficiency of YAlO{sub 3}:Ce scintillation initially increases with excitation-energy density at low excitation-energy densities, goes through a maximum, and then decreases with further increasing excitation-energy density. The fundamental mechanism causing these different response behaviours in the scintillators is based on the competition between the scintillation response and the nonradiative quenching process under different excitation densities, which is also the main origin of the nonlinear response of the scintillators to irradiation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

X-Ray diffraction on large single crystals using a powder diffractometer

Information on the lattice parameter of single crystals with known crystallographic structure allows for estimations of sample quality and composition. In many cases it is sufficient to determine one lattice parameter or the lattice spacing along a certain, high- symmetry direction, e.g. in order to determine the composition in a substitution series by taking advantage of Vegard’s rule. Here we present a guide to accurate measurements of single crystals with dimensions ranging from 200 μm up to several millimeter using a standard powder diffractometer in Bragg-Brentano geometry. The correction of the error introduced by the sample height and the optimization of the alignment are discussed in detail. Finally, in particular for single crystals with a plate-like habit, the described procedure allows for measurement of the lattice spacings normal to the plates with high accuracy on a timescale of minutes.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Advanced Synthesis of Na 4 Si 24

The recently discovered orthorhombic allotrope of silicon, Si 24 , is an exciting prospective material for the future of solar energy due to a quasi-direct bandgap near 1.3 eV, coupled with the abundance and environmental stability of silicon. Synthesized via precursor Na 4 Si 24 at high temperature and pressure (~850 °C, 9 GPa), typical synthesis results have yielded polycrystalline samples with crystallites on the order of 20 μm. Several approaches to increase the crystal size have yielded success, including in-situ thermal spikes and refined selection of the starting materials. Microstructural analysis suggests that coherency exists between diamond silicon (d-Si) and Na 4 Si 24 . This hypothesis has led to the successful attempts at single crystal synthesis by selecting large crystals of d-Si along with metallic Na as the precursors rather than powdered and mixed precursor material. The new synthesis approach has yielded single crystals of Na 4 Si 24 greater than 100 μm. These results represent a breakthrough in synthesis that enables further characterization and utility. The promise of Si 24 for the future of solar energy generation and efficient electronics is strengthened through these advances in synthesis.

catalysis (heterogeneous)↗