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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 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Atomic layer deposition of nanofilms on porous polymer substrates: Strategies for success

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a versatile technique for engineering the surfaces of porous polymers, imbuing the flexible, high-surface-area substrates with inorganic and hybrid material properties. Previously reported enhancements include fouling resistance, electrical conductance, thermal stability, photocatalytic activity, hydrophilicity, and oleophilicity. However, there are many poorly understood phenomena that introduce challenges in applying ALD to porous polymers. In this paper, we address five common challenges and ways to overcome them: (1) entrapped precursor, (2) embrittlement, (3) film fracture, (4) deformation, and (5) pore collapse. These challenges are often interrelated and can exacerbate one another. To investigate these phenomena, we applied various ALD chemistries to porous polymers including polyethersulfone, polysulfone, polyvinylidene fluoride, and polycarbonate track-etched membranes. Reaction-diffusion modeling revealed why certain precursors and processing conditions result in embrittling subsurface material growth, entrapment of unreacted precursors, and nongrowth. We quantify the limits of ALD processing temperatures that are dictated by thermal expansion mismatch and can lead to fractured ALD films. The results herein allow us to make recommendations to avoid, mitigate, or overcome the difficulties encountered when performing ALD and plasma-enhanced ALD on porous polymers. We intend this article to serve as a “lessons learned” guide informed by previous experience to provide a better understanding of the difficulties and limitations of ALD on porous polymers and knowledge-based guidelines for successful depositions. This knowledge can accelerate future research and help experimentalists navigate and troubleshoot as they expose porous polymers to reactive precursor vapors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2002

Mathematical model of diffusion-limited gas bubble dynamics in unstirred tissue with finite volume

Models of gas bubble dynamics for studying decompression sickness have been developed by considering the bubble to be immersed in an extravascular tissue with diffusion-limited gas exchange between the bubble and the surrounding unstirred tissue. In previous versions of this two-region model, the tissue volume must be theoretically infinite, which renders the model inapplicable to analysis of bubble growth in a finite-sized tissue. We herein present a new two-region model that is applicable to problems involving finite tissue volumes. By introducing radial deviations to gas tension in the diffusion region surrounding the bubble, the concentration gradient can be zero at a finite distance from the bubble, thus limiting the tissue volume that participates in bubble–tissue gas exchange. It is shown that these deviations account for the effects of heterogeneous perfusion on gas bubble dynamics, and are required for the tissue volume to be finite. The bubble growth results from a difference between the bubble gas pressure and an average gas tension in the surrounding diffusion region that explicitly depends on gas uptake and release by the bubble. For any given decompression, the diffusion region volume must stay above a certain minimum in order to sustain bubble growth.

NASA Discipline Environmental Health↗
DOE OSTI2017

N 2 O production and consumption from stable isotopic and concentration data in the Peruvian coastal upwelling system: N 2 O Production and Consumption off Peru

The ocean is an important source of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) to the atmosphere, yet the factors controlling N 2 O production and consumption in oceanic environments are still not understood nor constrained. We measured N 2 O concentrations and isotopomer ratios, as well as O 2 , nutrient and biogenic N 2 concentrations, and the isotopic compositions of nitrate and nitrite at several coastal stations during two cruises off the Peru coast (~5–16°S, 75–81°W) in December 2012 and January 2013. N 2 O concentrations varied from below equilibrium values in the oxygen deficient zone (ODZ) to up to 190nmol L -1 in surface waters. We used a 3-D-reaction-advection-diffusion model to evaluate the rates and modes of N 2 O production in oxic waters and rates of N 2 O consumption versus production by denitrification in the ODZ. Intramolecular site preference in N 2 O isotopomer was relatively low in surface waters (generally -3 to 14‰) and together with modeling results, confirmed the dominance of nitrifier-denitrification or incomplete denitrifier-denitrification, corresponding to an efflux of up to 0.6 Tg N yr -1 off the Peru coast. Other evidence, e.g., the absence of a relationship between ΔN 2 O and apparent O 2 utilization and significant relationships between nitrate, a substrate during denitrification, and N 2 O isotopes, suggest that N 2 O production by incomplete denitrification or nitrifier-denitrification decoupled from aerobic organic matter remineralization are likely pathways for extreme N 2 O accumulation in newly upwelled surface waters. We observed imbalances between N 2 O production and consumption in the ODZ, with the modeled proportion of N 2 O consumption relative to production generally increasing with biogenic N 2 . However, N 2 O production appeared to occur even where there was high N loss at the shallowest stations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental and computational design tools for industrial drying processes: Challenges in process‐limit prediction

Abstract The coating and drying of inks and slurries are important steps to manufacture a plethora of products. Drying processes, particularly, comprise energy‐intensive steps that affect product cost and quality. Prior work has highlighted failures of various multicomponent diffusivity models to conserve mass in dryer modeling and challenges in predicting process limits given variability in published values of key thermodynamic parameters. Herein, we develop a computational model and benchtop drying experiments to investigate these concerns for drying polymer‐laden coatings. Model predictions of process limits in a single‐zone drying oven demonstrate that published variability in Flory–Huggins parameter yields large variations in predicted operating temperatures above which blistering occurs. This indicates that caution should be exercised when choosing approaches to obtain or predict the Flory–Huggins parameter, and that both benchtop drying experiments and a set of additional experiments, such as sorption experiments, are needed to fully characterize and optimize a given drying process.

Parrish, Chance↗
DOE OSTI2020

DNA Reaction–Diffusion Attractor Patterns

Abstract Living systems can form and recover complex chemical patterns with precisely sized features in the ranges of tens or hundreds of microns. We show how designed reaction–diffusion processes can likewise produce precise patterns, termed attractor patterns, that reform their precise shape after being perturbed. We use oligonucleotide reaction networks, photolithography, and microfluidic delivery to form precisely controlled attractor patterns and study the responses of these patterns to different localized perturbations. Linear and “hill”‐shaped patterns formed and stabilized into shapes and at time scales consistent with reaction–diffusion models. When patterns were perturbed in particular locations with UV light, they reliably reformed their steady‐state profiles. Recovery also occurred after repeated perturbations. By designing the far‐from‐equilibrium dynamics of a chemical system, this study shows how it is possible to design spatial patterns of molecules that are sustained and regenerated by continually evolving towards a specific steady state configuration.

Dorsey, Phillip James↗
DOE OSTI2020

DNA Reaction–Diffusion Attractor Patterns

Living systems can form and recover complex chemical patterns with precisely sized features in the ranges of tens or hundreds of microns. We show how designed reaction-diffusion processes can likewise produce precise patterns, termed attractor patterns, that reform their precise shape after being perturbed. We use oligonucleotide reaction networks, photolithography and microfluidic delivery to form precisely controlled attractor patterns and study the responses of these patterns to different localized perturbations. Linear and ‘hill’-shaped patterns formed and stabilized into shapes and at time scales consistent with reaction-diffusion models. When patterns were perturbed in particular locations with UV light, they reliably reformed their steady state profiles. Recovery also occurred after repeated perturbations. As a result, by designing the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of a chemical system, this study shows how it is possible to design spatial patterns of molecules that are sustained and regenerated by continually evolving towards a specific steady state configuration

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

Side chain dynamics in semiconducting polymer MEH-PPV

We report that the characteristic nanoscale dynamics of the alkyl side groups in the light-emitting polymer poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] have been investigated using quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). The measurements were taken below the polymer's glass transition (T ≤ T g ≃ 353 K), where the main backbone is in a rigid state and does not contribute to the broadening of the QENS signal. An analytical diffusion model consisting of a static term and two dynamical components, characterizing the flexible side groups, provide an excellent fit to the experimental data. The two observed dynamical processes are all localized in character, with no meaningful dependence on temperature. The faster process, with characteristic timescale of ~18 ps at room temperature (RT), can be linked to the average mobility of the terminal protons of the alkyl chain, while the slower process, with characteristic timescale of ~170 ps at RT, to those protons at the other end of the alkyl chain, closest to the backbone. Lastlyl, while the fraction of mobile protons contributing to the QENS signal increases with increasing temperature, the characteristic timescale and confining volume within which the protons are able to move locally depend chiefly on the polymer conformational state.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Novel Equilibrium Passive Sampling Device for Methylmercury in Sediment and Soil Porewaters

In this work, we explored the concept of equilibrium passive sampling for methylmercury (MeHg) using the strategy developed for hydrophobic organic chemicals. Passive sampling should allow prediction of the concentration of the chemically labile fraction of MeHg in sediment porewaters based on equilibrium partitioning into the sampler, without modeling diffusion rates through the sampler material. Our goals were to identify sampler materials with the potential to mimic MeHg partitioning into animals and sediments and provide reversible sorption in a time frame appropriate for in situ samplers. Candidate materials tested included a range of polymers embedded with suitable sorbents for MeHg. The most promising were activated carbon (AC) embedded in agarose, thiol–self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports embedded in agarose, and cysteine-functionalized polyethylene terephthalate, which yielded log sampler–water partition coefficients of 2.8 to 5 for MeHgOH and MeHg complexed with dissolved organic matter (Suwannee River humic acid). Sampler equilibration time in sediments was approximately 1 to 2 wk. Investigation of the MeHg accumulation mechanism by AC embedded in agarose suggested that sampling was kinetically influenced by MeHg interactions with AC particles and not limited by diffusion through the gel for this material. Also, AC exhibited relatively rapid desorption of Hg and MeHg, indicating that this sorbent is capable of reversible, equilibrium measurements. In sediment:water microcosms, porewater concentrations made with isotherm-calibrated passive samplers agreed within a factor of 2 (unamended sediment) or 4 (AC-amended sediment) with directly measured concentrations. The present study demonstrates a potential new approach to passive sampling of MeHg.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of interface recombination on the efficiency of intracavity double diode structures

In the past ten years, there has been significant progress in solid-state optical refrigeration, causing a renewed interest in the possibility of electroluminescent cooling (ELC) in light emitting diodes (LEDs). More recently, our work on III-As based intracavity double diode structures (DDSs) indicates that the threshold for ELC can be reached, in practice, at high powers and 300 K if certain non-radiative recombination mechanisms and photodetector (PD) losses are minimized. The studied DDSs consist of a LED, incorporating a high-quality GaAs active layer, optically coupled to a GaAs p–n homojunction PD. Both the LED and PD are integrated in a single device, offering a unique environment for studying ELC. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the DDS characteristics and investigate the impact of non-radiative interface recombination on the LED, showing how the choice of the barrier layer materials can suppress this effect. We use experimental characterization techniques to calibrate numerical simulations, coupling the drift-diffusion model for charge transport to a photon transport model. To explore the interface effects, we compare DDSs with either GaInP/GaAs or AlGaAs/GaAs double heterojunctions. The results suggest that GaInP barriers allow interface recombination suppression that is sufficient to reach internal cooling in the LED.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Plausibility of the Formose Reaction in Alkaline Hydrothermal Vent Environments

Prebiotic processes required a reliable source of free energy and complex chemical mixtures that may have included sugars. The formose reaction is a potential source of those sugars. At moderate to elevated temperature and pH ranges, these sugars rapidly decay. Here it is shown that CaCO 3 -based chemical gardens catalyze the formose reaction to produce glucose, ribose, and other monosaccharides. These thin inorganic membranes are explored as analogs of hydrothermal vent materials—a possible place for the origin of life—and similarly exposed to very steep pH gradients. Supported by simulations of a simple reaction-diffusion model, this study shows that such gradients allow for the dynamic accumulation of sugars in specific layers of the thin membrane, effectively protecting formose sugar yields. Furthermore, the formose reaction may be a plausible prebiotic reaction in alkaline hydrothermal vent environments, possibly setting the stage for an RNA world.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Global stability of a diffusive and delayed virus infection model with general incidence function and adaptive immune response

In this paper, the dynamical behaviors for a five-dimensional virus infection model with diffusion and two delays which describes the interactions of antibody, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) immune responses and a general incidence function are investigated. The reproduction numbers for virus infection, antibody immune response, CTL immune response, CTL immune competition and antibody immune competition, respectively, are calculated. By using the Lyapunov functionals and linearization methods, the threshold conditions on the global stability of the equilibria for infection-free, immune-free, antibody response, CTL response and antibody and CTL responses, respectively, are established if the space is assumed as homogeneous. When the space is inhomogeneous, the effects of diffusion, intracellular delay and production delay are obtained by the numerical simulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Epidermal growth factor induced macropinocytosis directs branch formation of lung epithelial cells

Highlights: • EGF is essential for branch pattern formation of lung epithelial cells. • EGF receptor is highly expressed at the tip of branches to supply driving force to cell to collectively migrate. • Macropinocytosis is induced by EGFR expression and highly active at the tip of branches. • The Reaction-Diffusion model supports for our understanding of the molecular dynamics for the branch pattern formations. Lung branching morphogenesis is a complex system involving many molecular interactions to filling the three dimensional spaces; however, the underlying developmental mechanisms are still not fully understood. In this paper, we have investigated the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on normal human bronchial epithelial cells and their three-dimensional (3D) branching pattern formation by using in vitro experiments and mathematical simulation. The results show that EGF is essential for 3D branch pattern formation and its receptor is highly expressed at the tip of branches to generate the drive force for cells to migrate. Macropinocytosis induced by EGFR expression is firmly contributed to the nutrition uptake at the tip of branches. Our findings for effective branching formation of human lung cells contribute to further understanding molecular mechanisms of organogenesis, and the important mechanisms also possibly participate in related lung disease such as malformation.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fine-tuning the release of molecular guests from mesoporous silicas by controlling the orientation and mobility of surface phenyl substituents

Phenyl-functionalized mesoporous silica materials were used to explore the effect of non-covalent interactions on the release of Ibuprofen into simulated body fluid. Variations in orientation and conformational mobility of the surface phenyl groups were introduced by selecting different structural precursors: a rigid upright orientation was obtained using phenyl groups directly bound to surface Si atoms (Ph-MSN), mobile groups were produced by using ethylene linkers to connect phenyl groups to the surface (PhEt-MSN), and groups co-planar to the surface were obtained by synthesizing a phenylene-bridged periodic mesoporous organosilica (Ph-PMO). The Ibuprofen release profiles from these materials and non-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) were analyzed using an adsorption-diffusion model. The model provided kinetic and thermodynamic parameters that evidenced fundamental differences in drug-surface interactions between the materials. All phenyl-bearing materials show lower Ibuprofen initial release rates than bare MSN. The conformationally locked Ph-MSN and Ph-PMO have stronger interactions with the drug (negative ΔG of adsorption) than the flexible PhEt-MSN and bare MSN (positive ΔG of adsorption). These differences in strength of adsorption are consistent with differences between interaction geometries obtained from DFT calculations. B3LYP-D3-optimized models show that π-π interactions contribute more to drug adsorption than H-bonding with silanol groups. Here, the results suggest that the type and geometry of interactions control the kinetics and extent of drug release, and should therefore serve as a guide to design new drug delivery systems with precise release behaviors customized to any desired target.

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

Programmable bionanocomposite coated fertilizers for prolonged controlled release of nitrogen

Controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs) present a promising solution for alleviating food and nutrient scarcity. However, their development has been mainly hindered by both rapid and unsynchronized nutrient release and unsustainable coating materials. In this study, we address this issue by developing a new coating layer for CRFs using a programmable biopolyurethane nanocomposite. This nanocomposite is prepared from diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI)-functionalized bentonite nanoclay (BNT-MDI) and a biopolyol from biomass waste. The results show that the BNT-MDI-doped CRFs (BCRFs) exhibit an impressive nitrogen (N)-release longevity of approximately 120 days at a 4 wt% coating ratio, surpassing previous CRF formulations. In a 30-day snap bean cultivation study, BCRF significantly improved root length (1000%), leaf length (257%), leaf width (400%), and plant height (1400%) compared to the control. The superior performance of BCRF is attributed to the PU-nanoclay biocomposite film, with full nano-exfoliation, controllable porosity, and high crosslinking density. Furthermore, we introduce a new dynamic release mechanism and establish a quantitative relationship between the nanostructure, property, and release performance of BCRF by combining the multiplicative and diffusion models for porous materials. Finally, this study provides a theoretical framework and a straightforward methodology for designing programmable nanocomposite structures for future biobased CRFs.

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

A splice method for local-to–nonlocal coupling of weak forms

Here, we propose a method to couple local and nonlocal diffusion models. By inheriting desirable properties such as patch tests, asymptotic compatibility and unintrusiveness from related splice and optimization-based coupling schemes, it enables the use of weak (or variational) formulations, is computationally efficient and straightforward to implement. We prove well-posedness of the coupling scheme and demonstrate its properties and effectiveness in a variety of numerical examples.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Environmental degradation of electroplated nickel and copper coated SS316H in molten FLiNaK salt

Corrosion of nickel and copper electroplated coatings on SS316H in molten FLiNaK salt was studied. 500- and 1000-hour static corrosion tests were performed in molten FLiNaK at 700 degrees Celsius. Characterization of the coatings following corrosion indicated that they did not degrade in the molten salt during the corrosion experiment and fully protected the underlying SS316H from chromium dissolution. Interdiffusion between the copper coating and SS316H was extremely limited, interdiffusion between the nickel coating and SS316H. Diffusion modelling revealed that the nickel coatings still significantly reduced chromium dissolution over 60 years despite the interdiffusion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

On the role of electro-migration in the evolution of radiation damage in nanostructured ionic materials

We report that radiation resistant materials are needed for a large number of applications. One route to enhancing radiation resistance is to introduce a high density of defect sinks such as grain boundaries. However, there are still important questions regarding the role of grain boundaries in enhancing radiation tolerance, particularly in ionic materials. Experiments have found large improvements in the amorphization resistance of oxides at temperatures where defect mobilities are too low to easily reach the boundaries. Standard reaction-diffusion models are inadequate in explaining this behavior. Here, we examine the role of electro-migration in the overall transport of irradiation-induced defects in ionic systems. We find that electro-migration can have a large impact on the steady state point defect concentrations as compared to models that do not include the effect of electro-migration. In particular, defect concentrations can change by nearly seven orders of magnitude for certain conditions. Finally, we conclude that radiation tolerance in nanocrystalline ionic ceramics will be driven both by enhanced sink density via small grain sizes and, critically, the effects of electro-migration induced by charge segregation to grain boundaries.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mechanical and electrochemical response of a LiCoO 2 cathode using reconstructed microstructures

As LiCoO 2 cathodes are charged, delithiation of the LiCoO 2 active material leads to an increase in the lattice spacing, causing swelling of the particles. When these particles are packed into a bicontinuous, percolated network, as is the case in a battery electrode, this swelling leads to the generation of significant mechanical stress. In this study we performed coupled electrochemical-mechanical simulations of the charging of a LiCoO 2 cathode in order to elucidate the mechanisms of stress generation and the effect of charge rate and microstructure on these stresses. Energy dispersive spectroscopy combined with scanning electron microscopy imaging was used to create 3D reconstructions of a LiCoO 2 cathode, and the Conformal Decomposition Finite Element Method is used to automatically generate computational meshes on this reconstructed microstructure. Replacement of the ideal solution Fickian diffusion model, typically used in battery simulations, with a more general non-ideal solution model shows substantially smaller gradients of lithium within particles than is typically observed in the literature. Using this more general model, lithium gradients only appear at states of charge where the open-circuit voltage is relatively constant. While lithium gradients do affect the mechanical stress state in the particles, the maximum stresses are always found in the fully-charged state and are strongly affected by the local details of the microstructure and particle-to-particle contacts. These coupled electrochemical-mechanical simulations begin to yield insight into the partitioning of volume change between reducing pore space and macroscopically swelling the electrode. Lastly, preliminary studies that include the presence of the polymeric binder suggest that it can greatly impact stress generation and that it is an important area for future research.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗