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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 1,045 records · Page 58

On Energy Storage Chemistry of Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries: From Cathode to Anode

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have resurged in large-scale energy storage applications due to their intrinsic safety, affordability, competitive electrochemical performance, and environmental friendliness. Extensive efforts have been devoted to exploring high-performance cathodes and stable anodes. However, many fundamental issues still hinder the development of aqueous ZIBs. Here, we critically review and assess the energy storage chemistries of aqueous ZIBs for both cathodes and anodes. First, this review presents a comprehensive understanding of the cathode charge storage chemistry, probes the existing deficiencies in mechanism verification, and analyzes contradictions between the experimental results and proposed mechanisms. Then, a detailed summary of the representative cathode materials and corresponding comparative discussion is provided with typical cases encompassing structural features, electrochemical properties, existing drawbacks, and feasible remedies. Subsequently, the fundamental chemical properties, remaining challenges, and improvement strategies of both Zn metal and non-Zn anodes are presented to thoroughly explore the energy storage chemistry of ZIBs and pursue the development of high-performance ZIBs. Furthermore, the progress of mechanistic characterization techniques and theoretical simulation methods used for ZIBs is timely reviewed. Finally, here we provide our perspectives, critical analysis, and insights on the remaining challenges and future directions for development of aqueous ZIBs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Discovering Dinuclear Dioxygen-Bridged Cobalt(III) Complexes for Selective Binding of O 2 from Air

The design and development of dioxygen activation in porous crystalline materials is a useful avenue for exploring selective adsorption of O 2 that shows significant potential to enable separations of O 2 and N 2 from air. Porous materials featuring redox-active metal centers have received attention regarding selective O 2 adsorption via chemisorption. Drawing inspiration from a dinuclear cobalt material ([(Co(III) 2 (bpbp)O 2 ) 2 bdc](PF 6 ) 4 (CSD code: GAMVIB; bpbp – = 2,6-bis(N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)aminomethyl)-4-tert-butylphenolato; bdc 2– = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylato)) that displays reversible and selective O 2 adsorption, we focus on searching for potential O 2 -selective materials with dinuclear cobalt clusters that have dioxygen-bridged Co(III) complexes. We combine structure screening with a high-level hybrid periodic density functional theory (DFT) workflow to investigate O 2 and N 2 adsorption in materials from validated crystal structure databases (e.g., the CSD database). These calculations identify multiple materials that are predicted to have superior O 2 binding capability relative to GAMVIB. Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations based on DFT-developed force fields were performed for selected candidates to estimate the adsorption performance for O 2 /N 2 mixtures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Intrinsic donor-bound excitons in ultraclean monolayer semiconductors

The monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides are an emergent semiconductor platform exhibiting rich excitonic physics with coupled spin-valley degree of freedom and optical addressability. Here, we report a new series of low energy excitonic emission lines in the photoluminescence spectrum of ultraclean monolayer WSe 2 . These excitonic satellites are composed of three major peaks with energy separations matching known phonons, and appear only with electron doping. They possess homogenous spatial and spectral distribution, strong power saturation, and anomalously long population (>6 µs) and polarization lifetimes (>100 ns). Resonant excitation of the free inter- and intravalley bright trions leads to opposite optical orientation of the satellites, while excitation of the free dark trion resonance suppresses the satellites' photoluminescence. Defect-controlled crystal synthesis and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements provide corroboration that these features are dark excitons bound to dilute donors, along with associated phonon replicas. Our work opens opportunities to engineer homogenous single emitters and explore collective quantum optical phenomena using intrinsic donor-bound excitons in ultraclean 2D semiconductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

MFDn Kernels v1.0

MFDn kernels is a collection of small subroutines designed to capture essential characteristics of the Many-Fermion Dynamics---nuclear (MFDn) application (DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2010.04.012). It features multiple implementations with different programming models/languages of simplified routines analogous to those found in the full application. The main use is to explore the performance and utility of different programming models, languages and compilers.

Cook, Brandon↗

Tsuchinoko v1.0.0

Tsuchinoko is a Qt application for adaptive experiment execution and tuning. Live visualizations show details of measurements, and provide feedback on the adaptive engine's decision-making process. The parameters of the adaptive engine can also be tuned live to explore and optimize the search procedure. While Tsuchinoko is designed to allow custom adaptive engines to drive experiments, the gpCAM engine is a featured inclusion. This tool is based on a flexible and powerful Gaussian process regression at the core. A Tsuchinoko system includes 4 distinct components: the GUI client, an adaptive engine, and execution engine, and a core service. These components are separable to allow flexibility with a variety of distributed designs.

Pandolfi, Ronald↗

Traversing large graphs on GPUs with unified memory

Due to the limited capacity of GPU memory, the majority of prior work on graph applications on GPUs has been restricted to graphs of modest sizes that fit in memory. Recent hardware and software advances make it possible to address much larger host memory transparently as a part of a feature known as unified virtual memory. While accessing host memory over an interconnect is understandably slower, the problem space has not been sufficiently explored in the context of a challenging workload with low computational intensity and an irregular data access pattern such as graph traversal. We analyse the performance of breadth first search (BFS) for several large graphs in the context of unified memory and identify the key factors that contribute to slowdowns. Next, we propose a lightweight offline graph reordering algorithm, HALO (Harmonic Locality Ordering), that can be used as a pre-processing step for static graphs. HALO yields speedups of 1.5x-1.9x over baseline in subsequent traversals. Our method specifically aims to cover large directed real world graphs in addition to undirected graphs whereas prior methods only account for the latter. Additionally, we demonstrate ties between the locality ordering problem and graph compression and show that prior methods from graph compression such as recursive graph bisection can be suitably adapted to this problem.

Gera, Prasun↗

Navigator function for the conformal bootstrap

Current numerical conformal bootstrap techniques carve out islands in theory space by repeatedly checking whether points are allowed or excluded. We propose a new method for searching theory space that replaces the binary information "allowed"/"excluded" with a continuous "navigator" function that is negative in the allowed region and positive in the excluded region. Such a navigator function allows one to efficiently explore high-dimensional parameter spaces and smoothly sail towards any islands they may contain. The specific functions we introduce have several attractive features: they are well-defined in large regions of parameter space, can be computed with standard methods, and evaluation of their gradient is immediate due to an SDP gradient formula that we provide. The latter property allows for the use of efficient quasi-Newton optimization methods, which we illustrate by navigating towards the 3d Ising island.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An investigation of mountain waves with lidar observations.

In March and April of 1969 and 1970, lidar (laser radar) observations of the atmospheric structure were made in the lee of the Sierra Nevada during the occurrence of mountain lee waves. Rawinsonde ascents and, on some occasions, research aircraft flights supported the lidar observations. The objective of the program was to explore the applicability of the lidar technique to atmospheric turbulence detection. The observations demonstrate that a ground-based lidar can delineate significant features of the atmospheric flow pattern by monitoring echoes from concentrations of particulate matter that characterize the airflow structure in the form of either visible or subvisible clouds and dust.

Viezee, W.↗

Imaging of the outer planets and satellites.

Imaging is the most widely applicable single means of exploring the outer planets and their satellites and also complements other planet-oriented instruments. Photography of Jupiter from terrestrial telescopes has revealed features which were neither predictable or predicted. Close-up imaging from fly-bys and orbiters affords the opportunity for discovery of atmospheric phenomena on the outer planets forever beyond the reach of terrestrial laboratories and intuition. On the other hand, a large number of specific applications of close-up imaging to study the giant planets are suggested by experience in photography from Earth and Mars orbit, and by ground-based telescopic studies of Jupiter and Saturn. The satellites of the outer planets actually constitute three distinct classes: lunar-sized objects, asteroidal-sized objects, and particulate rings. Imaging promises to be the primary observational tool for each category with results that could impact scientific thinking in the late 70's and 80's as significantly as has close-up photography of Mars and the Moon in the last 10 yr.

Murray, B. C.↗

An in-flight simulation of lateral control nonlinearities

An in-flight simulation program was conducted to explore, in a generalized way, the influence of spoiler-type roll-control nonlinearities on handling qualities. The roll responses studied typically featured a dead zone or very small effectiveness for small control inputs, a very high effectiveness for mid-range deflections, and low effectiveness again for large inputs. A linear force gradient with no detectable breakout force was provided. Given otherwise good handling characteristics, it was found that moderate nonlinearities of the types tested might yield acceptable roll control, but the best level of handling qualities is obtained with linear, aileron-like control.

Ellis, D. R.↗

XV-15 tilt rotor test - Progress report

In a continuing effort to expand the versatility of their aircraft, VTOL designers have for many years tried to combine the desirable features of various concepts into a single aircraft. This is a formidable task and most efforts have met with limited success. This paper explores the need for an aircraft combining the efficient VTOL capability of a helicopter with the efficient high speed characteristics of a fixed wing turboprop. The ability of the tilt rotor concept to fill this requirement and examples as to its potential usefulness in both military and civil missions is discussed. The history of the concept and the status of the current Army/NASA/Bell XV-15 program and its role in proving the viability of the concept are reviewed.

Brown, J. H., Jr.↗

Evidence for sulphur implantation in Europa's UV absorption band

The UV spectral characteristics of the Galilean satellites are investigated (using data from the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) spacecraft) as a function of the orbital position, large-scale areal variability, and temporal dynamics. The discovery of an absorption feature at 280 nm in Europa's reflection spectrum is reported and observations show that the absorption is strongest on the trailing hemisphere (central longitude 270 degrees). The feature resembles SO2 and seems to result from S-O bond formation between deeply implanted sulphur atoms and the adjacent damaged water-ice-lattice. The sulphur supposedly comes from energetic (hundreds of keV) sulphur ions that are present in the Jovian magnetosphere. An appropriate equilibrium condition can be found to match the observed spectral data if sputtering erosion occurs at no greater than approximately 20 meters per one billion years.

Lane, A. L.↗

NASA VCE test bed engine aerodynamic performance characteristics and test results

The Core Driven Fan Stage (CDFS) Variable Cycle Engine (VCE) has been identified as a leading candidate for advanced supersonic cruise aircraft. A scale demonstrator version of this engine has been designed and tested. This testbed engine features a split fan with double bypass capability, variable forward and aft mixers, and a variable area low pressure turbine nozzle to permit exploration and optimization of the cycle in both single and double bypass modes. This paper presents the aerodynamic performance characteristics and experimental results obtained from both the core engine and full engine tests.

French, M. W.↗

IUE observations of solar system objects and processes

International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observations of the planets and their satellites, comets, and asteroids are discussed. The use of IUE to identify previously undetected absorption features in planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres, and identify and map the distribution of constituents on the surfaces of solid bodies are covered. The advantages of the IUE over fly-by missions are outlined.

Nelson, R. M.↗

Constraints on the NH3 and PH3 distributions in the Great Red Spot

Medium resolution (10 A) UV spectra were obtained for the Great Red Spot (GRS) and South Tropical Zone (STZ) of Jupiter using the low dispersion mode of the IUE spectrometers at wavelengths from 1900-2200 A. The scans were carried out to determine the coloring agent for the GRS to improve the database for developing photochemical models of the feature. The wavelengths were selected to cover the absorption features of NH3 and PH3. The resulting data were interpreted using a vertically inhomogeneous Rayleigh scattering radiative transfer model. Various NH3 concentrations were explored in an effort to fit the data, taking into account changes which would occur at different atmospheric pressure levels and due to the projected temperature fields. A forbidden NH3/forbidden H2 mixing ratio that was calculated at the 80-125 mbar pressure level in the GRS was enhanced by 3-10 percent relative to the STZ. An upper limit was obtained for the mixing ratio of PH3 in the GRS that is significantly lower than previously predicted concentrations, implying that vertical transport in the GRS is not much greater than in adjacent regions.

Wagener, R.↗

Extragalactic infrared spectroscopy

The spectra of galaxies in the near infrared atmospheric transmission windows are explored. Emission lines were detected due to molecular hydrogen, atomic hydrogen recombination lines, a line attributed to FEII, and a broad CO absorption feature. Lines due to H2 and FEII are especially strong in interacting and merging galaxies, but they were also detected in Seyferts and normal spirals. These lines appear to be shock excited. Multi-aperture measurements show that they emanate from regions as large as 15 kpc. It is argued that starbursts provide the most plausible and consistent model for the excitation of these lines, but the changes of relative line intensity of various species with aperture suggest that other excitation mechanisms are also operating in the outer regions of these galaxies.

Joseph, R. D.↗

Physical interpretation and development of ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation techniques applied to the quantitative characterization of textile composite materials

In this Progress Report, we describe our current research activities concerning the development and implementation of advanced ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation methods applied to the characterization of stitched composite materials and bonded aluminum plate specimens. One purpose of this investigation is to identify and characterize specific features of polar backscatter interrogation which enhance the ability of ultrasound to detect flaws in a stitched composite laminate. Another focus is to explore the feasibility of implementing medical linear array imaging technology as a viable ultrasonic-based nondestructive evaluation method to inspect and characterize bonded aluminum lap joints. As an approach to implementing quantitative ultrasonic inspection methods to both of these materials, we focus on the physics that underlies the detection of flaws in such materials.

Miller, James G.↗

Volcanic thermal features observed by AVIRIS

In July 1991, Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) was flown over Mount Etna and Stromboli, Italy. Lava-filled vents were then present within summit craters of both volcanoes. Since surfaces at magmatic temperatures radiate strongly over the wavelength ranges of the AVIRIS C- and D-spectrometers, it was hoped that the data collected would reveal clear thermal signatures, even of sub-pixel sized features, as have been observed in the 1.65 and 2.22 microns bands of Landsat Thematic Mapper images. This would provide an opportunity to explore the potential of imaging spectrometers for deriving temperature distributions of hot volcanic surfaces. Such research has implications for volcano monitoring in the EOS era, and also for any future AVIRIS deployments above active lava flows, lakes, and domes, where understanding of their behavior may be advanced by detailed thermal observations.

Oppenheimer, Clive↗