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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Analysis of alkaline exchange membrane fuel cells performance at different operating conditions using DC and AC methods

We report membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) were manufactured from commercial materials: Pt/C catalyst, A201 AEM and AS4 ionomer by using an industrial mass-production digital printing method. The MEA designs selected are close to those recommended by US Department of Energy, including low loading of platinum on the cathode side (0.2 mg cm -2 ). Polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were applied for MEA evaluation in fuel cell conditions with variation of gas humidification and oxygen partial pressure (air vs oxygen). The typical impedance curves recorded at H 2 /O 2 gas configuration consist of high- and medium-frequency arcs responsible for hydrogen oxidation and oxygen reduction, respectively. Operation with air as a cathode feed gas resulted in a decrease in AEMFC performance due to possible CO 2 poisoning and mass transfer losses. At the same time, EIS demonstrated formation of a low frequency loop due to diffusion limitations. Despite the low loading of platinum on the cathode (0.2 mg cm -2 ), a peak power density of ~330 mW cm -2 was achieved (at 50/50% of RH on anode and cathode), which is substantially higher performance than for AEMFC MEAs tested at similar conditions.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparison of passivation properties of plasma-assisted ALD and APCVD deposited Al 2 O 3 with SiN x capping

In this paper, we report on the direct comparison of Al 2 O 3 films deposited by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) techniques on the passivation properties of both bare and boron diffused Si surfaces. It is found that ALD and APCVD deposited Al 2 O 3 layers with SiN x capping have very similar chemical composition, hydrogen concentration at the Al 2 O 3 /Si interface, and interface defect density (D it ), but the ALD film has slightly higher negative fixed charge (Q f ) after a high temperature (~750 °C) contact firing cycle typically used for solar cell fabrication. Both films showed excellent surface recombination velocities of <5 cm/s on planar and textured un-diffused Si wafers, but the ALD films gave 1 to 8 fA/cm 2 lower emitter saturation current densities (J 0e ) on implanted boron emitters with sheet resistance in the range of 90–180 Ω/. This is attributed to the observed slightly higher negative charge-induced field-effect passivation in the ALD films. However, SiN x /Al 2 O 3 /p + /n/n + passivated emitter rear totally diffused (PERT) cell structures fabricated with 110 and 150 Ω/ emitter in this study showed no appreciable difference in cell efficiency. Device analysis and simulations showed that even for >23% high-performance solar cells design, with very low bulk and rear contact recombination, the observed small difference in J 0e has negligible effect on cell efficiency. Furthermore, APCVD Al 2 O 3 passivation of B emitter can produce comparable efficiencies to their counterpart ALD Al 2 O 3 passivated n-type Si solar cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Lin28a is a putative factor in regulating cancer stem cell-like properties in side population cells of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are among the target cells of cancer therapy because they are uniquely involved in both cancer progression and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents. We identified side population (SP) cells, which are known to be an enriched population of CSC, in five oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells (SCC9, SCC25, TOSCC7, TOSCC17, and TOSCC23). The percentages of SP cells ranged from 0% to 3.3%, with TOSCC23 cells showing the highest percentages of SP cells (3.3% of the total cell population). The SP cells isolated from TOSCC23 cells also showed greater cell proliferation and invasion compared to non-SP (MP) cells. Therefore, our initial findings suggested that SP cells were enriched for CSC-like cells. Furthermore, DNA microarray analysis revealed that the expression of cell proliferation-related and anti-apoptotic genes was greater in SP cells compared to MP cells. We focused on Lin28a, which showed the highest expression (approximately 22-fold) among the upregulated genes. The overexpression of Lin28a in TOSCC23 cells increased their proliferation, colony formation, and invasion. These findings suggest that Lin28a is an appropriate CSC target molecule for OSCC treatment - Highlights: ► Lin28a is a SP cell-specific factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells. ► SP cells in OSCC cells show cancer stem cell-like properties. ► Lin28a regulates OSCC proliferative and invasive activities.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Nanoscale mapping and organization analysis of target proteins on cancer cells from B-cell lymphoma patients

CD20, a membrane protein highly expressed on most B-cell lymphomas, is an effective target demonstrated in clinical practice for treating B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody against CD20. In this work, we applied atomic force microscopy (AFM) to map the nanoscale distribution of CD20 molecules on the surface of cancer cells from clinical B-cell NHL patients under the assistance of ROR1 fluorescence recognition (ROR1 is a specific cell surface marker exclusively expressed on cancer cells). First, the ROR1 fluorescence labeling experiments showed that ROR1 was expressed on cancer cells from B-cell lymphoma patients, but not on normal cells from healthy volunteers. Next, under the guidance of ROR1 fluorescence, the rituximab-conjugated AFM tips were moved to cancer cells to image the cellular morphologies and detect the CD20-rituximab interactions on the cell surfaces. The distribution maps of CD20 on cancer cells were constructed by obtaining arrays of (16×16) force curves in local areas (500×500 nm{sup 2}) on the cell surfaces. The experimental results provide a new approach to directly investigate the nanoscale distribution of target protein on single clinical cancer cells. - Highlights: • Cancer cells were recognized from healthy cells by ROR1 fluorescence labeling. • The nanoscale distribution of CD20 on cancer cells was characterized. • The distribution of CD20 was non-uniform on the surface of cancer cells.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

siRNA - Mediated LRP/LR knock-down reduces cellular viability of malignant melanoma cells through the activation of apoptotic caspases

Highlights: • Late stage malignant A375SM melanoma cells exhibit higher cell surface and total LRP/LR levels in comparison to the early stage malignant A375 melanoma cells. • siRNA technology lead to successful down-regulation of LRP expression in early and late stage malignant melanoma cells. • siRNA- mediated knock-down of LRP expression results in significantly reduced cellular viability of A375 and A375SM cells. • Knock-down of LRP levels results in nuclear morphological changes indicating apoptotic induction in A375 and A375SM cells. • Increased levels of apoptotic induction post siRNA-mediated LRP knock-down in A375 and A375SM melanoma cells. • Significant increase in caspase-3 activity in both early and late stage malignant melanoma cells post siRNA transfection. • Apoptosis occurrs via the extrinsic pathway in A375 cells and via the intrinsic pathway inA375SM cells. • High correlation between total LRP levels post siRNA transfection and induction of apoptosis in both melanoma cell lines. • Apoptosis occurred via decreased laminin-1/LRP/LR interaction and activation of survival pathways as well as activated caspase-3. • siRNAs targeting LRP expression may act ter as a alternative therapeutic tool for treatment of A375 and A375SM cells. The 37 kDa/67 kDa laminin receptor (LRP/LR) is over-expressed in tumor cells and has been implicated in several tumourigenic processes such as metastasis and telomerase activation, however, more importantly the focus of the present study is on the maintenance of cellular viability and the evasion of apoptosis. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of LRP/LR on the cellular viability of early (A375) and late stage (A375SM) malignant melanoma cells. Flow cytometry and western blot analysis revealed that A375SM cells contain more cell-surface and total LRP/LR levels in comparison to the A375 cells, respectively. In order to determine the effect of LRP/LR on cell viability and apoptosis, LRP was down-regulated via siRNA technology. MTT assays revealed that LRP knock-down led to significant reductions in the viability of A375 and A375SM cells. Confocal microscopy indicated nuclear morphological changes suggestive of apoptotic induction in both cell lines and Annexin-V FITC/PI assays confirmed this observation. Additionally, caspase-3 activity assays revealed that apoptosis was induced in both cell lines after siRNA-mediated down-regulation of LRP. Caspase-8 and −9 activity assays suggested that post LRP knock-down; A375 cells undergo apoptosis solely via the extrinsic pathway, while A375SM cells undergo apoptosis via the intrinsic pathway. Implications: siRNAs mediated LRP knock-down might represent a powerful alternative therapeutic strategy for the treatment of malignant melanoma through the induction of apoptosis.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Hepatitis B virus suppresses the secretion of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 to facilitate anti-apoptotic IGF-1 effects in HepG2 cells

Highlights: • HBV replication alters host cell gene expression in HepG2 cells. • HBV replication downregulates IGFBP1 expression and secretion. • HBx expression alone is sufficient to modulate IGFBP1 expression. • Knockdown of IGFBP1 reduces thapsigargin- and staurosporine-induced apoptosis. • IGFBP1 inhibits the anti-apoptotic effects of IGF-1. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health burden as chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is associated with the development of liver diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To gain insight into the mechanisms causing HBV-related HCC, we investigated the effects of HBV replication on global host cell gene expression using human HepG2 liver cells. By microarray analysis, we identified 54 differentially expressed genes in HBV-replicating HepG2 cells. One of the differentially-expressed genes was insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP1) which was downregulated in HBV-replicating cells. Consistent with the gene expression data, IGFBP1 was suppressed at both the cellular and secreted protein levels in the presence of HBV replication. Transient transfection experiments with an inducible plasmid encoding the HBV X protein (HBx) revealed that HBx alone was sufficient to modulate IGFBP1 expression. Small interference RNA (siRNA)-mediated loss of function studies revealed that knockdown of IGFBP1 reduced apoptosis induced by either thapsigargin (TG) or staurosporine (STS). Treatment of cells with recombinant insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) decreased both TG- or STS-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, addition of recombinant IGFBP1 reversed the anti-apoptotic effect of IGF-1 on TG-induced, but not STS-induced, apoptosis. In conclusion, our results suggest an anti-apoptotic autocrine function of HBV-mediated downregulation of IGFBP1 in HepG2 cells. Such an effect may contribute to the development of HBV-mediated HCC by increasing pro-survival and anti-apoptotic IGF-1 effects.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Carrier-Assisted Single-Tube Processing Approach for Targeted Proteomics Analysis of Low Numbers of Mammalian Cells

Heterogeneity in composition is inherent in all cell populations, even those containing a single cell type. Single-cell proteomics characterization of cell heterogeneity is currently achieved by antibody-based technologies, which are limited by the availability of highquality antibodies. In this paper we report a simple, easily implemented, mass spectrometry (MS)- based targeted proteomics approach, termed cLC-SRM (carrier-assisted liquid chromatography coupled to selected reaction monitoring), for reliable multiplexed quantification of proteins in low numbers of mammalian cells. We combine a new single-tube digestion protocol to process low numbers of cells with minimal loss together with sensitive LC-SRM for protein quantification. This single-tube protocol builds upon trifluoroethanol digestion and further minimizes sample losses by tube pretreatment and the addition of carrier proteins. We also optimized the denaturing temperature and trypsin concentration to significantly improve digestion efficiency. cLC-SRM was demonstrated to have sufficient sensitivity for reproducible detection of most epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway proteins expressed at levels =30 000 and =3000 copies per cell for 10 and 100 mammalian cells, respectively. Thus, cLC-SRM enables reliable quantification of low to moderately abundant proteins in less than 100 cells and could be broadly useful for multiplexed quantification of important proteins in small subpopulations of cells or in size-limited clinical samples. Further improvements of this method could eventually enable targeted single-cell proteomics when combined with either SRM or other emerging ultrasensitive MS detection.

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

Rework Recipe Development, Analysis and Results of Select 9-Cell Cavities for LCLS-II

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is currently constructing a major upgrade to its accelerator, the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II). Several Department of Energy laboratories, including the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), are collaborating in this project. The cryomodules for this project each consist of eight 1.3-GHz cavities produced by two vendors, Research Instruments GmbH in Germany (RI*) and Ettore Zanon S.p.a. in Italy (EZ*), using niobium cell material from Tokyo Denkai Co., Ltd. (TD) and Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co., Ltd. (OTIC/NX)). During the initial production run, cavity performance from one of the vendors (Vendor A) was far below expectation. All the cavities had low Q0, later attributed to minimal EP as well as high-flux-trapping NX material, early quench behaviour below 18 MV/m, with many having Q0 roll-off at 12-16 MV/m. Production was stopped multiple times over the following 6 months, with test batches of cavities being made to ascertain the root cause of the problem. The final root cause of the problem was found to be inappropriate grinding of the RF surface prior to welding which left normal conducting inclusions in the surface. In addition, most cavities showed internal and external weld spatter which required post weld grinding and a very rough surface from operating the electropolishing machine in an etching rather than polishing regime. All issues have been corrected on new cavities and rework is underway on the originally effected cavities.

Macha, Kurt M.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Stress Analysis and Design of Silicon Solar Cell Arrays and Related Material Properties

A systematic approach is presented for the design of solar cell arrays to eliminate mechanical failures that might arise in components of the arrays in a thermal environment. A prerequisite to the approach is the characterization of material properties at different temperatures. Significant data is obtained for the thermal behavior of the silicon solar cell material and adhesives. Upon determining the mechanical and thermal material properties of the components of the solar cell array, utilizing a finite element idealization for predicting the stress fields in the components, and employing the von Mises failure criterion, potential failure areas in various design configurations in a given thermal environment are identified. Guide lines and means to optimize a given design are illustrated by two examples.

Salama, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Analysis of GaAs and Si solar cell arrays for earth orbital and orbit transfer missions

Silicon and gallium arsenide arrays were studied and compared for low earth orbit (LE), geosynchronous orbit (GEO), and LEO to GEO electric propulsion orbit transfer missions. The sensitivities of total cost to parameters such as mission duration, array cost, cover glass thickness, and concentration ratio were determined along with cost tradeoffs between silicon and gallium arsenide arrays for selected mission classes. Results indicate that development of the technology for low cost, light weight concentrators should be increased and that cost reduction efforts for gallium arsenide cells be pursued.

Jeffries, K. D.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Design, fabrication, test, and qualification and price analysis of third generation design solar cell modules

The Block 4 shingle type module makes it possible to apply a photovoltaic array to the sloping roof of a residential building by simply nailing the overlapping hexagon shaped shingles to the plywood roof sheathing. This third-generation shingle module design consists of nineteen series connected 100 mm diameter solar cells which are arranged in a closely packed hexagon configuration to provide in excess of 75 watts/sq m of exposed module area under standard operating conditions. The solar cells are individually bonded to the embossed underside of a 4.4 mm thick thermally tempered piece of glass. An experimental silicone pottant was used as the transparent bonding adhesive between the cells and glass. The semi-flexible portion of each shingle module is a composite laminate construction consisting of an outer layer of FLEXSEAL bonded to an inner core of closed cell polyethylene foam. Silaprene is used as the substrate laminating adhesive. The module design has satisfactorily survived qualification testing program which includes 50 thermal cycles between -40 and +90 C, a seven day temperature-humidity exposure test, and a wind resistance test.

Shepard, N. F.↗