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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 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Uniformly dispersed FeO x atomic clusters by pulsed arc plasma deposition: An efficient electrocatalyst for improving the performance of Li–O2 battery

The present study aims to explore a new method to improve the catalytic activity of non-precious metals, especially in electrochemical reactions. In this study, highly ionized Fe plasma produced by arc discharge uniformly deposit on porous carbon substrate and form atomic clusters by the Pulsed Arc Plasma Deposition technique. The as-prepared FeOx/C material was tested as a cathode material in rechargeable Li-O2 battery under different current rates. The results show a significantly improvement of the battery performance in both cycle life and reaction rate. Furthermore, XRD and SEM results show that the as-prepared cathode material has the ability to stabilize cathode and reduce side reactions, and current rate is a critical factor of the nucleation of the discharge products.

electrocatalyst↗
DOE OSTI2016

Atom-probe tomography of tribological boundary films resulting from boron-based oil additives

Correlative characterization using atom-probe tomography (APT) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was performed on a tribofilm formed during sliding frictional testing with a fully formulated engine oil, which also contains a boron-based additive. The tribofilm formed is ~15 nm thick and consists of oxides of iron and compounds of B, Ca, P, and S, which are present in the additive. This study provides strong evidence for boron being embedded in the tribofilm, which effectively reduces friction and wear losses.

Atom-probe tomography↗
DOE OSTI2023

CFD Simulation of the Dosing Behavior within the Atomic Layer Deposition Feeding System

The effective operation of atomic layer deposition (ALD) feeding system is the premise of realizing specific ALD processes. In the present work, a detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the feeding system has been developed and validated, which accounts for the roles of ALD valves and manifolds. A numerical simulation of the compressible fluid flow and heat/mass transfer within the feeding system was conducted. The dosing amounts and the spatiotemporal distributions of the precursors can be accurately predicted using the CFD model, as validated by experimental results. Different precursors, operating conditions, and structures of the feeding system were simulated and analyzed to examine the operating flexibility of the feeding system. The simulation results can be adopted as the upstream boundary conditions for simulations of the ALD process in the reaction chamber. The substrate-scale simulation indicates that the effect of the feeding system on the film deposition is highly related to the surface kinetics of ALD. The present work can serve as a guide for the development and optimization of different ALD-based processes via proper operation and even the design of the feeding system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly Durable and Active Pt/Sb-Doped SnO 2 Oxygen Reduction Reaction Electrocatalysts Produced by Atomic Layer Deposition

Platinum supported on mixed-metal oxides (MMOs) are a class of active and durable cathode catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) due to a combination of the high oxidative stability of the supports and strong-metal-support interactions (SMSI) that enable them to exceed the activity of Pt/C. Herein, we solve a significant remaining challenge with Pt/MMO systems, namely the relatively low surface area and porosity. This is achieved by dispersing nearly-uniform Pt clusters using atomic layer deposition (ALD) on highly conductive (6.2 S/cm) and stable antimony doped tin dioxide (ATO) support. ALD-Pt/ATO exhibited significantly higher electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) (74 m 2 /g) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity (102 mA/mg Pt at 0.9 V vs. RHE) compared to Pt/ATO synthesized using ethylene glycol (ECSA=31 m 2 /g Pt , mass activity=52 mA/mg Pt at 0.9 V vs. RHE) and formic acid reduction methods (ECSA=28 m 2 /g Pt , mass activity=46 mA/mg Pt at 0.9 V vs. RHE). Further characterization showed that wet chemical methods resulted in poorer Pt particle dispersion, poor control over Pt particle size distribution and chemical degradation of the support (during Pt deposition). Given the near-ideal Pt particle size distribution of the ALD-Pt/ATO, particle size growth and loss of ECSA was found to be minimal over the course of rigorous potential cycling. Thus, after 10,000 potential cycles between 1V and 1.5V vs. RHE, ALD-Pt/ATO and other Pt/ATOs were found to retain 100% of their initial ECSA compared to 57.6% retention for Pt/C. Upon testing in a H 2 /air PEMFC, following 1,000 potential cycles, the change in ALD-Pt/ATO performance was negligible while Pt/C exhibited a 68.2% loss of initial peak power density. Thus, ALD-Pt/ATO is an active and highly durable ORR electrocatalyst in PEMFCs under start-up-shut down conditions.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tailoring the Surface of Metal Halide Perovskites to Enable the Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Oxide Contacts

Replacing organic contact layers with inorganic counterparts, such as metal oxides, is one strategy for improving long-term device stability in metal halide perovskite solar cells. Often, the methods used to deposit metal oxide thin films are incompatible with metal halide perovskites, creating challenges for the fabrication of contacts above the perovskite absorber layer. In this study, we utilize a one-step, solution treatment of the top surface of Cs 0.25 FA 0.75 Pb(Br 0.20 I 0.80 ) 3 to create a thin (~1 nm) overlayer of lead sulfide (PbS) to protect the underlying perovskite during subsequent deposition. X-ray characterization of the surface region shows that the PbS overlayer limits undesirable changes to the perovskite structure and stoichiometry during atomic layer deposition (ALD) of SnO 2 . This protection enables ALD growth of SnO 2 electron contacts on top of the perovskite without an organic transport layer (e.g., C 60 ), resulting in a solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 5.8%. This result is a marked improvement over devices with ALD SnO 2 grown directly on the perovskite without a PbS overlayer, which produce no power output. Furthermore, the interface characterization and device results in this study highlight some of the key challenges associated with ALD metal oxide growth on perovskite materials and can help inform the future design of inorganic contact layer deposition in solar photovoltaic technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A Comparison of the Predictive Capabilities of the Embedded-Atom Method and Modified Embedded-Atom Method Potentials for Lithium

Here, we compare six lithium potentials by examining their ability to predict coexistence properties and liquid structure using molecular dynamics. All potentials are of the embedded-atom-method (EAM) type. The coexistence properties we focus on are the melting curve, vapor pressure, saturated liquid density, and vapor-liquid surface tension. For each property studied, the simulation results are compared to available experimental data in order to properly assess the accuracy of each potential. We find that the Cui 2NN MEAM is the most robust potential, giving adequate agreement with most of the properties examined. For example, the zero-pressure melting point of this potential is shown to be around 443 K, while experimentally is it about 454 K. This potential also gives excellent agreement with saturated liquid densities, even though no liquid properties were used in the fitting procedure. Our study allows us to conclude that the Cui 2NN MEAM should be used for further simulations of lithiums.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Uranium recovery from seawater: development of fiber adsorbents prepared via atom-transfer radical polymerization

We developed a novel adsorbent preparation method using atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) combined with radiation-induced graft polymerization (RIGP) in order to synthesize an adsorbent for uranium recovery from seawater. Furthermore, the ATRP method allowed a much higher degree of grafting on the adsorbent fibers (595 2818%) than that allowed by RIGP alone. The adsorbents were prepared with varied composition of amidoxime groups and hydrophilic acrylate groups. The successful preparation revealed that both ligand density and hydrophilicity were critical for optimal performance of the adsorbents. Adsorbents synthesized in this study showed a relatively high performance (141 179 mg/g at 49 62 % adsorption) in laboratory screening tests using a uranium concentration of ~6 ppm. This performance is much higher than that of known commercial adsorbents. However, actual seawater experiment showed impeded performance compared to the recently reported high-surface-area-fiber adsorbents, due to slow adsorption kinetics. The impeded performance motivated an investigation of the effect of hydrophilic block addition on the graft chain terminus. The addition of hydrophilic block on the graft chain terminus nearly doubled the uranium adsorption capacity in seawater, from 1.56 mg/g to 3.02 mg/g. Our investigation revealed the importance of polymer chain conformation, in addition to ligand and hydrophilic group ratio, for advanced adsorbent synthesis for uranium recovery from seawater.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Atomic-scale characterization of germanium isotopic multilayers by atom probe tomography

We report comparison of the interfacial sharpness characterization of germanium (Ge) isotopic multilayers between laser-assisted atom probe tomography (APT) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). An alternating stack of 8-nm-thick naturally available Ge layers and 8-nm-thick isotopically enriched {sup 70}Ge layers was prepared on a Ge(100) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The APT mass spectra consist of clearly resolved peaks of five stable Ge isotopes ({sup 70}Ge, {sup 72}Ge, {sup 73}Ge, {sup 74}Ge, and {sup 76}Ge). The degree of intermixing at the interfaces between adjacent layers was determined by APT to be around 0.8 {+-} 0.1 nm which was much sharper than that obtained by SIMS.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Calculation of the state-to-state S-matrix for tetra-atomic reactions with transition-state wave packets: H{sub 2}/D{sub 2} + OH → H/D + H{sub 2}O/HOD

This work is concerned with the calculation of state-to-state S-matrix elements for four-atom reactions using a recently proposed method based on the quantum transition-state theory. In this approach, the S-matrix elements are computed from the thermal flux cross-correlation functions obtained in both the reactant and product arrangement channels. Since transition-state wave packets are propagated with only single arrangement channels, the bases/grids required are significantly smaller than those needed in state-to-state approaches based on a single set of scattering coordinates. Furthermore, the propagation of multiple transition-state wave packets can be carried out in parallel. This method is demonstrated for the H{sub 2}/D{sub 2} + OH → H/D + H{sub 2}O/HOD reactions (J = 0) and the reaction probabilities are in excellent agreement with benchmark results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗