Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Conductivity”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 991 records · Page 55
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

A New Class of Ionically Conducting Fluorinated Ether Electrolytes with High Electrochemical Stability

Increasing battery energy density is greatly desired for applications such as portable electronics and transportation. However, many next-generation batteries are limited by electrolyte selection because high ionic conductivity and poor electrochemical stability are typically observed in most electrolytes. For example, ether-based electrolytes have high ionic conductivity but are oxidatively unstable above 4 V, which prevents the use of high-voltage cathodes that promise higher energy densities. In contrast, hydrofluoroethers (HFEs) have high oxidative stability but do not dissolve lithium salt. Here, we synthesize a new class of fluorinated ether electrolytes that combine the oxidative stability of HFEs with the ionic conductivity of ethers in a single compound. We show that conductivities of up to 2.7 × 10 –4 S/cm (at 30 °C) can be obtained with oxidative stability up to 5.6 V. The compounds also show higher lithium transference numbers compared to typical ethers. Furthermore, we use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and molecular dynamics (MD) to study their ionic transport behavior and ion solvation environment, respectively. Finally, we demonstrate that this new class of electrolytes can be used with a Ni-rich layered cathode (NMC 811) to obtain over 100 cycles at a C/5 rate. The design of new molecules with high ionic conductivity and high electrochemical stability is a novel approach for the rational design of next-generation batteries.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Machine learning-enabled discovery of ionic liquid–solvent electrolytes exhibiting high ionic conductivity

Ionic liquids (ILs), which are a class of materials with versatile nature and growing popularity, are facing impediments toward widespread usage as electrolytes due to various factors such as low ionic conductivity, high viscosity, high market price etc. One of the ways these limitations can be addressed is by mixing ILs with a molecular solvent. In a combinatorial sense, there exists an immense number of specific IL–solvent combinations. An exhaustive experimental or even simulation-based investigation of the chemical space spanned by such combinations can be extremely time-consuming, expensive, and nearly impossible. An alternative approach is to employ machine learning-based models developed from available databases. Although there exists prior literature that integrates machine learning to investigate mixtures of specific solvents with ILs, these models lack generalization necessitating development of a large number of ML models to handle various solvents. To remedy this shortcoming, as a part of designing green electrolytes with high ionic conductivity that can have potential applications in next-generation batteries and solar cells, this work aims to develop a unified machine learning model to predict ionic conductivity of any IL–solvent mixture system. In this regard, three models, namely, Random Forest, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and artificial neural network (ANN) were formulated using the NIST ILThermo database. The dataset contained 549 unique ionic liquids from 16 cation families and 81 unique solvents, representing a total of 23 712 datapoints. SHAPLEY additive explanation (SHAP) method was used to assess the impact of various features on model prediction and their significance was compared with literature to gain physical insight about the model behavior. Finally, using the developed models, approximately 2.5 million IL–solvent mixtures at five different compositions were screened at room temperature. The high-throughput screening yielded nearly 19 000 IL–solvent mixtures for which ionic conductivity was found to exceed the ionic conductivity of conventional Li-ion battery electrolyte.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Thermal conductivity profile determination in proton-irradiated ZrC by spatial and frequency scanning thermal wave methods

Using complementary thermal wave methods, the irradiation damaged region of zirconium carbide (ZrC) is characterized by quantifiably profiling the thermophysical property degradation. The ZrC sample was irradiated by a 2.6 MeV proton beam at 600 °C to a dose of 1.75 displacements per atom. Spatial scanning techniques including scanning thermal microscopy (SThM), lock-in infrared thermography (lock-in IRT), and photothermal radiometry (PTR) were used to directly map the in-depth profile of thermal conductivity on a cross section of the ZrC sample. The advantages and limitations of each system are discussed and compared, finding consistent results from all techniques. SThM provides the best resolution finding a very uniform thermal conductivity envelope in the damaged region measuring ∼52 ± 2 μm deep. Frequency-based scanning PTR provides quantification of the thermal parameters of the sample using the SThM measured profile to provide validation of a heating model. Measured irradiated and virgin thermal conductivities are found to be 11.9 ± 0.5 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} and 26.7 ±1 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1}, respectively. A thermal resistance evidenced in the frequency spectra of the PTR results was calculated to be (1.58 ± 0.1) × 10{sup −6} m{sup 2} K W{sup −1}. The measured thermal conductivity values compare well with the thermal conductivity extracted from the SThM calibrated signal and the spatially scanned PTR. Combined spatial and frequency scanning techniques are shown to provide a valuable, complementary combination for thermal property characterization of proton-irradiated ZrC. Such methodology could be useful for other studies of ion-irradiated materials.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Anisotropic thermal conductivity of thin polycrystalline oxide samples

This paper reports about the development of a modified laser-flash technique and relation to measure the in-plane thermal diffusivity of thin polycrystalline oxide samples. Thermal conductivity is then calculated with the product of diffusivity, specific heat and density. Design and operating features for evaluating in-plane thermal conductivities are described. The technique is advantageous as thin samples are not glued together to measure in-plane thermal conductivities like earlier methods reported in literature. The approach was employed to study anisotropic thermal conductivity in alumina sheet, textured kaolin ceramics and montmorillonite. Since it is rare to find in-plane thermal conductivity values for such anisotropic thin samples in literature, this technique offers a useful variant to existing techniques.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Characterization of intrinsic and induced lateral conduction in space dielectric materials

Characterization of lateral charge carrier conduction in space dielectrics is of high importance for the prediction of charging behavior and electrostatic discharges on satellites. In the present paper, a new experimental approach for the analysis of surface conduction, which is not well understood and characterized in the literature, is established and discussed. Though this method, based on the use of two Kelvin probes, we have been able to discriminate between lateral and bulk charge transports and to reveal the presence of an intrinsic lateral conductivity on Teflon{sup ®} FEP irradiated with low energy electron beam. We demonstrated that lateral intrinsic conductivity is enhanced when incident current density increases and when approaching the sample surface. The experimental results are analyzed through trapping/detrapping and hopping models. Depending on radiation configuration mode, we have revealed as well the presence of a lateral conductivity that is enhanced by radiation ionization processes, and explained as well with a trapping/recombination model.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conductivity of sputtered amorphous Ge films

We measured the thermal conductivity of amorphous Ge films prepared by magnetron sputtering. The thermal conductivity was significantly higher than the value predicted by the minimum thermal conductivity model and increased with deposition temperature. We found that variations in sound velocity and Ge film density were not the main factors in the high thermal conductivity. Fast Fourier transform patterns of transmission electron micrographs revealed that short-range order in the Ge films was responsible for their high thermal conductivity. The results provide experimental evidences to understand the underlying nature of the variation of phonon mean free path in amorphous solids.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Persistent conductive footprints of 109° domain walls in bismuth ferrite films

Using conductive and piezoforce microscopy, we reveal a complex picture of electronic transport at weakly conductive 109° domain walls in bismuth ferrite films. Even once initial ferroelectric stripe domains are changed/erased, persistent conductive paths signal the original domain wall position. The conduction at such domain wall “footprints” is activated by domain movement and decays rapidly with time, but can be re-activated by opposite polarity voltage. The observed phenomena represent true leakage conduction rather than merely displacement currents. We propose a scenario of hopping transport in combination with thermionic injection over interfacial barriers controlled by the ferroelectric polarization.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Influence of longitudinal isotope substitution on the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes: Results of nonequilibrium molecular dynamics and local density functional calculations

We report reverse nonequilibrium molecular dynamics calculations of the thermal conductivity of isotope substituted (10,10) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at 300 K. {sup 12}C and {sup 14}C isotopes both at 50% content were arranged either randomly, in bands running parallel to the main axis of the CNTs or in bands perpendicular to this axis. It is found that the systems with randomly distributed isotopes yield significantly reduced thermal conductivity. In contrast, the systems where the isotopes are organized in patterns parallel to the CNTs axis feature no reduction in thermal conductivity when compared with the pure {sup 14}C system. Moreover, a reduction of approximately 30% is observed in the system with the bands of isotopes running perpendicular to the CNT axis. The computation of phonon dispersion curves in the local density approximation and classical densities of vibrational states reveal that the phonon structure of carbon nanotubes is conserved in the isotope substituted systems with the ordered patterns, yielding high thermal conductivities in spite of the mass heterogeneity. In order to complement our conclusions on the {sup 12}C-{sup 14}C mixtures, we computed the thermal conductivity of systems where the {sup 14}C isotope was turned into pseudo-atoms of 20 and 40 atomic mass units.

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

Effect of Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4} addition on structure and ionic conductivity of lithium borosilicotitanate glasses

Lithium borosilicotitanate glasses containing Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4} were prepared by melt quenching technique. Electrical conductivity, density, molar volume and glass transition temperature T{sub g} for all the glass samples were measured. IR spectroscopy was used for structural studies of these glasses in the range from 400 to 2000 cm{sub −1}. The conductivity of the Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4} containing glasses was found to be half an order higher than the base glass. The electrical conductivity was interpreted from the point of view of glass structure which suggests that an enhancement in conductivity is due to the incorporation of Li{sub 2}SO{sub 4} in the macromolecular network. The molar volume and glass transition temperature T{sub g} results are found to be in good correlation with conductivity results.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: Minimum in the thermal conductivity of supercooled water: A computer simulation study

We report the results of a computer simulation study of the thermodynamic properties and the thermal conductivity of supercooled water as a function of pressure and temperature using the TIP4P-2005 water model. The thermodynamic properties can be represented by a two-structure equation of state consistent with the presence of a liquid-liquid critical point in the supercooled region. Our simulations confirm the presence of a minimum in the thermal conductivity, not only at atmospheric pressure, as previously found for the TIP5P water model, but also at elevated pressures. This anomalous behavior of the thermal conductivity of supercooled water appears to be related to the maximum of the isothermal compressibility or the minimum of the speed of sound. However, the magnitudes of the simulated thermal conductivities are sensitive to the water model adopted and appear to be significantly larger than the experimental thermal conductivities of real water at low temperatures.

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

Thermal conductivity of high performance carbon nanotube yarn-like fibers

In the present paper, we present results of thermal conductivity measurements in free standing carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn-like fibers. The measurements are made using a T-type experimental configuration utilizing a Wollaston-wire hot probe inside a scanning electron microscope. In this technique, a suspended platinum wire is used both as a heater and a thermal sensor. A low frequency alternating current source is used to heat the probe wire while the third harmonic voltage across the wire is measured by a lock-in amplifier. The conductivity is deduced from an analytical model that relates the drop in the spatially averaged temperature of the wire to that of the sample. The average thermal conductivity of the neat CNT fibers and the CNT –polymer composite fibers is found to be 448 W/m-K and 225 W/m-K, respectively. These values for conductivity are amongst the highest measured for CNT yarn-like fibers fabricated using a dry spinning process from vertically aligned CNT arrays. The enhancement in thermal conductivity is understood to be due to an increase in the CNT fiber elastic stiffness during the draw and twist operations, lower CNT thermal contact resistance due to increase in CNT contact area, and better alignment of the CNT fibrils along the length of the fiber.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ultraviolet laser crystallized ZnO:Al films on sapphire with high Hall mobility for simultaneous enhancement of conductivity and transparency

One of the most challenging issues in transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) is to improve their conductivity without compromising transparency. High conductivity in TCO films often comes from a high carrier concentration, which is detrimental to transparency due to free carrier absorption. Here we show that UV laser crystallization (UVLC) of aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO) films prepared by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire results in much higher Hall mobility, allowing relaxation of the constraints of the conductivity/transparency trade-off. X-ray diffraction patterns and morphological characterizations show grain growth and crystallinity enhancement during UVLC, resulting in less film internal imperfections. Optoelectronic measurements show that UVLC dramatically improves the electron mobility, while the carrier concentration decreases which in turn simultaneously increases conductivity and transparency. AZO films under optimized UVLC achieve the highest electron mobility of 79 cm{sup 2}/V s at a low carrier concentration of 7.9 × 10{sup +19} cm{sup −3}. This is realized by a laser crystallization induced decrease of both grain boundary density and electron trap density at grain boundaries. The infrared (IR) to mid-IR range transmittance spectrum shows UVLC significantly enhances the AZO film transparency without compromising conductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Density dependence of the room temperature thermal conductivity of atomic layer deposition-grown amorphous alumina (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3})

We report on the thermal conductivity of atomic layer deposition-grown amorphous alumina thin films as a function of atomic density. Using time domain thermoreflectance, we measure the thermal conductivity of the thin alumina films at room temperature. The thermal conductivities vary ∼35% for a nearly 15% change in atomic density and are substrate independent. No density dependence of the longitudinal sound speeds is observed with picosecond acoustics. The density dependence of the thermal conductivity agrees well with a minimum limit to thermal conductivity model that is modified with a differential effective-medium approximation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nonlinear alternating current conduction in polycrystalline manganites

The real part of ac conductance Σ(T, f) of yttrium-doped mixed-valent polycrystalline manganite systems La{sub 1−x−y}Y{sub y}Ca{sub x}MnO{sub 3} with x = 0.33 and 0.05 and y = 0.07 and iron doped LaMn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub x}O{sub 3} with x = 0.15 is measured as a function of frequency f by varying zero-frequency Ohmic conductance Σ{sub 0} by T. The former shows a metal-insulator transition, whereas the latter exhibits insulating character throughout the measured temperature range. At a fixed temperature T, Σ(T, f) remains almost constant to the value Σ{sub 0} up to a certain frequency, known as the onset frequency f{sub c} and increases from Σ{sub 0} as frequency is increased from f{sub c}. Scaled appropriately, the data for Σ(T, f) at different T fall on the same universal curve, indicating the existence of a general scaling formalism for the ac conductance. f{sub c} scales with Σ{sub 0} as f{sub c}∼Σ{sub 0}{sup x{sub f}}, where x{sub f} is the nonlinearity exponent characterising the onset. With the help of data for ac conduction, it is shown that x{sub f} is very much phase sensitive and can be used to characterize the different phases in a manganite system originated due to change in temperature or disorder. Scaling theories and existing theoretical models are used to analyze the results of ac conduction and the nonlinearity exponent x{sub f}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lattice thermal conductivity of crystalline and amorphous silicon with and without isotopic effects from the ballistic to diffusive thermal transport regime

Thermal conductivity of a material is an important physical parameter in electronic and thermal devices, and as the device size shrinks down, its length-dependence becomes unable to be neglected. Even in micrometer scale devices, materials having a long mean free path of phonons, such as crystalline silicon (Si), exhibit a strong length dependence of the thermal conductivities that spans from the ballistic to diffusive thermal transport regime. In this work, through non-equilibrium molecular-dynamics (NEMD) simulations up to 17 μm in length, the lattice thermal conductivities are explicitly calculated for crystalline Si and up to 2 μm for amorphous Si. The Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) is solved within a frequency-dependent relaxation time approximation, and the calculated lattice thermal conductivities in the BTE are found to be in good agreement with the values obtained in the NEMD. The isotopic effects on the length-dependent lattice thermal conductivities are also investigated both in the crystalline and amorphous Si.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conduction in lattice–matched superlattices of InGaAs/InAlAs

Understanding the relative importance of interface scattering and phonon-phonon interactions on thermal transport in superlattices (SLs) is essential for the simulation of practical devices, such as quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). While several studies have looked at the dependence of the thermal conductivity of SLs on period thickness, few have systematically examined the effect of varying material thickness ratio. Here, we study through-plane thermal conduction in lattice-matched In{sub 0.53}Ga{sub 0.47}As/In{sub 0.52}Al{sub 0.48}As SLs grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition as a function of SL period thickness (4.2 to 8.4 nm) and layer thickness ratio (1:3 to 3:1). Conductivities are measured using time-domain thermoreflectance and vary between 1.21 and 2.31 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1}. By studying the trends of the thermal conductivities for large SL periods, we estimate the bulk conductivities of In{sub 0.53}Ga{sub 0.47}As and In{sub 0.52}Al{sub 0.48}As to be approximately 5 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} and 1 W m{sup −1} K{sup −1}, respectively, the latter being an order of magnitude lower than theoretical estimates. Furthermore, we find that the Kapitza resistance between alloy layers has an upper bound of ≈0.1 m{sup 2} K GW{sup −1}, and is negligible compared to the intrinsic alloy resistances, even for 2 nm thick layers. A phonon Boltzmann transport model yields good agreement with the data when the alloy interfaces are modeled using a specular boundary condition, pointing towards the high-quality of interfaces. We discuss the potential impact of these results on the design and operation of high-power QCLs comprised of In{sub 1−x}Ga{sub x}As/In{sub 1−y}Al{sub y}As SL cores.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conductivity changes upon neutron transmutation of {sup 10}B doped diamond

{sup 10}B doped p-type diamond samples were subjected to neutron transmutation reaction using thermal neutron flux of 0.9 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} and fast neutron flux of 0.09 × 10{sup 13} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}. Another sample of epilayer grown on type IIa (110) single crystal diamond substrate was subjected to equal thermal and fast neutron flux of 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}. The defects in the diamond samples were previously characterized by different methods. In the present work, thermal conductivity of these diamond samples was determined at room temperature by transient thermoreflectance method. The thermal conductivity change in the samples as a function of neutron fluence is explained by the phonon scattering from the point defects and disordered regions. The thermal conductivity of the diamond samples decreased more rapidly initially and less rapidly for larger neutron fluence. In addition, the thermal conductivity in type IIb diamond decreased less rapidly with thermal neutron fluence compared to the decrease in type IIa diamond subjected to fast neutron fluence. It is concluded that the rate of production of defects during transmutation reaction is slower when thermal neutrons are used. The thermal conductivity of epilayer of diamond subjected to high thermal and fast neutron fluence is associated with the covalent carbon network in the composite structure consisting of disordered carbon and sp{sup 2} bonded nanocrystalline regions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Impact of internal crystalline boundaries on lattice thermal conductivity: Importance of boundary structure and spacing

The low thermal conductivity of nano-crystalline materials is commonly explained via diffusive scattering of phonons by internal boundaries. In this study, we have quantitatively studied phonon-crystalline boundaries scattering and its effect on the overall lattice thermal conductivity of crystalline bodies. Various types of crystalline boundaries such as stacking faults, twins, and grain boundaries have been considered in FCC crystalline structures. Accordingly, the specularity coefficient has been determined for different boundaries as the probability of the specular scattering across boundaries. Our results show that in the presence of internal boundaries, the lattice thermal conductivity can be characterized by two parameters: (1) boundary spacing and (2) boundary excess free volume. We show that the inverse of the lattice thermal conductivity depends linearly on a non-dimensional quantity which is the ratio of boundary excess free volume over boundary spacing. This shows that phonon scattering across crystalline boundaries is mainly a geometrically favorable process rather than an energetic one. Using the kinetic theory of phonon transport, we present a simple analytical model which can be used to evaluate the lattice thermal conductivity of nano-crystalline materials where the ratio can be considered as an average density of excess free volume. While this study is focused on FCC crystalline materials, where inter-atomic potentials and corresponding defect structures have been well studied in the past, the results would be quantitatively applicable for semiconductors in which heat transport is mainly due to phonon transport.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗