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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Controlling the Crystal Packing and Morphology of Metal–Organic Macrocycles through Side-Chain Modification

Supramolecular nanotubes constructed from the self-assembly of conjugated metal–organic macrocycles provide a unique collection of materials properties, including solution processability, porosity, and electrical conductivity. Here we show how small modifications to the macrocycle periphery subtly alter the noncovalent interactions governing self-assembly, leading to large changes in crystal packing, crystal morphology, and materials properties. Specifically, we synthesized five distinct copper-based macrocycles that differ in either the steric bulk, polarity, or hydrogen-bonding ability of the peripheral side chains. We show that the electrical conductivity of these macrocycles is highly sensitive to steric bulk, decreasing by 3 orders of magnitude upon introduction of peripheral neopentyl substituents. Here, we further show that the introduction of hydrogen-bonding groups leads to more ordered packing and a dramatic increase in crystallite size. Together, these results establish side-chain engineering as a rich toolkit for controlling the packing structure, particle morphology, and bulk properties of conjugated metal–organic macrocycles.

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

Comparison of microprecipitation methods for polonium source preparation for alpha spectrometry

Detection of radioactive isotopes of polonium is important for understanding natural processes, management and assessment of radioactive waste, and nuclear forensics applications. Further, the most common methods for preparation of polonium samples for alpha spectrometry are electrodeposition and spontaneous deposition which are time consuming. Here, we compare three approaches utilizing rapid microprecipitation from bismuth phosphate, copper sulfide, or tellurium alongside traditional spontaneous deposition methods. From these experiments, results show that copper sulfide microprecipitation recoveries are similar to spontaneous deposition on silver and less time consuming with an approximate five-fold decrease in preparation time, including in the presence of complex matrices like seawater.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2026

Chemical beneficiation of cobaltiferous pyrite: a thermodynamic and parametric study

Despite ongoing efforts to identify substitute materials, cobalt remains indispensable for the production of rechargeable batteries essential to the global energy transition. Currently, most cobalt is sourced as a by-product of nickel and copper extraction from politically and ethically unstable regions. To address this vulnerability, certain primary cobalt deposits—where cobalt occurs within the crystal lattice of pyrite (FeS 2 )—have been identified as potential alternatives. Nonetheless, conventional beneficiation methods have proven largely ineffective for the potential processing of these minerals. This study investigated the thermal decomposition of cobaltiferous pyrite contained in flotation concentrates as a subsequent chemical beneficiation stage aimed at (i) selectively removing sulfur to further increase cobalt grades and (ii) producing a ferromagnetic product suitable for downstream magnetic separation. A thermodynamic analysis was first conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the decomposition reactions and the temperature-dependent evolution of sulfur species. A parametric experimental study then assessed the influence of temperature, residence time, and gas flow rate under N 2 and CO 2 atmospheres. Under the most favorable experimental conditions tested (650 °C, 15 min), cobalt grades increased by up to 15% with negligible cobalt losses and the co-production of high-purity sulfur (>95%). Magnetic separation of the resulting calcine yielded a final concentrate containing 2.09% cobalt at 82.5% recovery, representing a 16–74% improvement over previous baseline studies on similar feedstocks.

Beneficiation↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of Best Practices in Mitigating Startup Costs on Leadership-Class Supercomputers

Supercomputers at Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories face a widening range of workloads, from traditional modeling and simulation to Artificial Intelligence model training or complex multi-stage workflows, and beyond. At DOE Leadership Computing Facilities like the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), these workloads demand concurrent access to large portions of the supercomputer’s resources. Launching a job across massive supercomputers is challenging from the start; the file system struggles with a large backlog of metadata requests as tens of thousands of processes read thousands of the same files, and the compute job cannot start until this is completed. There are multiple existing approaches to calm this metadata storm, ranging from vendor-developed tools like sbcast to National Laboratory-developed tools like Spindle and Copper. In this paper, we benchmark and discuss three common approaches to improving compute job launch latencies on Frontier: Slurm’s sbcast tool, Spindle, and Copper. We evaluate these tools by measuring the launch latencies of four workloads: OSU Microbenchmark’s osu_init, Pynamic, Python import mpi4py, and Python import torch. We provide discussion of the results, highlighting data that meet expectations and that do not meet expectations.

Hagerty, Nick [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000330014414)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cation Data for the East River Watershed, Colorado (2014-2025)

This data package contains mean values for cation concentration for water samples taken from the East River Watershed in Colorado. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been used to measure the concentrations of elements of interest simultaneously for the East River Watershed, Colorado groundwater and surface water samples to inform insights on the biogeochemistry processes within the watershed. The East River is part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (WFSFA) located in the Upper Colorado River Basin, United States. For samples collected prior to 06-16-2021, the instrumentation, Elan DRC II, PerkinElmer SCIEX, automatically switches among the three models necessary to analyze all 37 elements. These 37 elements include: (1) Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Boron (B), Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminium (Al), Silicon (Si), Phosphorus (P), Titanium (Ti), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Germanium (Ge), Arsenic (As), Rubidium (Rb), Strontium (Sr), Zirconium (Zr), Molybdenum (Mo), Silver (Ag), Cadmium (Cd), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Caesium (Cs), Barium (Ba), Europium (Eu), Lead (Pb), Thorium (Th), Uranium (U) using standard model, argon Ar as reaction gas, (2) Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe) using dynamic reaction cell (DRC) model, ammonia NH3 as reaction gas, and (3) Phosphorus (P) and Selenium (Se) using DRC model, oxygen O2 as reaction gas. Note for the samples with higher concentrations of chloride (Cl-), asenic (As) concentrations were analysed with DRC model (oxygen O2 as reaction gas) to avoid the interference of chloride. For samples collected on and after 06-16-2021, an advanced Agilent 8900 triple quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry system (Agilent 8900 QQQ ICP-MS, Agilent Technologies) has been used to measure the concentrations of interested 36 elements simultaneously for environmental samples, including (1) Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be) and Boron (B) using standard no gas mode, (2) Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Aluminium (Al) Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Germanium (Ge), Arsenic (As), Rubidium (Rb), Strontium (Sr), Zirconium (Zr), Molybdenum (Mo), Silver (Ag), Cadmium (Cd), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Cesium (Cs), Barium (Ba), Europium (Eu), Lead (Pb), Thorium (Th) and Uranium (U) using standard helium (He) collision mode, (3) Titanium (Ti) and Vanadium (V) using high Energy (HEHe) helium (He) collision mode, and (4) Silicon (Si), Calcium (Ca) and Selenium (Se) using standard H2 reaction mode. All samples were prepared/diluted with 2% (v/v) ultrapure nitric acid in Milli-Q water (18.2 mega ohm-cm), and analyzed under a rigorous quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) process. This data package contains (1) a zip file (cation_data_2014_2025.zip) containing a total of 5,849 files: 5.848 data files of cation data from across the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (SFA) which is reported in .csv files per location and a locations.csv (1 file) with latitude and longitude for each location; (2) a file-level metadata (v6_20260901_flmd.csv) file that lists each file contained in the dataset with associated metadata; (3) a data dictionary (v6_20260901_dd.csv) file that contains terms/column_headers used throughout the files along with a definition, units, and data type; (4) PDF and docx files for the detemination of Method Detection Limits (MDLs) for ICP-MS PerkinElmer DRC II instrumentation (Detemination_of_Method_Detection_Limits__MDLs__for_ICP_MS__PerkinElmer_Elan_DRC_II__LBL_Bldg74_Lab214D) for samples before November 2021; (5) PDF and docx files for the determination of MDLs for ICP-MS Agilent 8900 QQQ instrumentation (ICP_MS_Analysis_detection_limits_and_QA_QC_WenmingDong_updated_2026-08-06) for samples November 2021 and onward. Missing values within the anion data files are noted as either "-9999" or "0.0" for not detectable (N.D.) data. There are a total of 113 locations containing cation data. Update on 2021-04-11: Added Detemination of Method Detection Limits (MDLs) for ICP-MS document, which can be accessed as a PDF or with Microsoft Word. Update on 2022-06-10: versioned updates to this dataset was made along with these changes: (1) updated cation data for all locations up to 2021-12-31, (2) removal of units from column headers in datafiles, (3) added row underneath headers to contain units of variables, (4) removed suffix and prefix on two variables (“aqberylliumion_asberyllium” and “aqlithiumion_aslithium”), (5) added -9999 for empty numerical cells, and (6) the addition of the file-level metadata (flmd.csv) and data dictionary (dd.csv) were added to comply with the File-Level Metadata Reporting Format. Update on 2022-09-09: Updates were made to reporting format specific files (file-level metadata and data dictionary) to correct swapped file names, add additional details on metadata descriptions on both files, add a header_row column to enable parsing, and add version number and date to file names (v2_20220909_flmd.csv and v2_20220909_dd.csv). Update on 2023-08-08: Updates were made to both the data files and reporting format specific files. New available anion data was added, up until 2023-01-05. The file level metadata and data dictionary files were updated to reflect the additional data added. Update on 2024-03-11: Updates were made to both the data files and reporting format specific files. New available anion data was added, up until 2023-10-16. Further, revisions to the data files were made to remove incorrect data points (from 1970 and 2001). The reporting format specific files were updated to reflect the additional data added. Updated versions of the PDF and docx files for determination of MDLs for ICP-MS data were added to this dataset for samples starting in November 2021. Update on 2025-05-15: Updates were made to both the data files and reporting format specific files. New available cation data was added, up until the end of WY2024 (September 30, 2024). International Generic Sample Numbers (IGSNs), when registered, were added to the data files. The reporting format specific files were updated to reflect the additional data added. Update on 2026-09-01: Updates were made to both the data files and reporting format specific files. New available cation data was added, up until the end of WY2025 (September 30, 2025). Updated versions, as of 2026-08-06, of the PDF and docx files for determination of MDLs for ICP-MS data were added to this dataset for samples starting in November 2021.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Catalytic Reduction of Carbon Monoxide to Liquid Fuels with Recyclable Hydride Donors

Solar light absorption and catalysis are physically separated processes in natural photosynthesis. Natural cofactors, such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotides (NADH), transport electrons and hydrogen to regulate and activate enzymes at remote locations. The physical separation of light absorption from catalysis provides some inspiration for artificial photosynthesis. One rather extreme implementation is to use copper wires to transport carriers from photovoltaic cells to dark electrodes, where catalysis occurs. Indeed, with a futuristic electrical grid powered solely by photovoltaics, solar capture could be separated from catalysis by hundreds of miles. An alternative approach, that bares more similarity to natural photosynthesis, employs mobile NADH/NAD + -like species that shuttle between the light absorber and a proximate, yet unilluminated, location where catalysis occurs. Additionally, such a remote approach to solar photocatalysis was recently proposed for the reduction of carbon oxides, CO 2 and CO, to methanol by cascade catalysis. This developing artificial photosynthetic approach offers the promise of catalytic generation of methanol and oxygen gas with sunlight as the sole energy source and CO 2 and water as the only chemical feedstocks. This Viewpoint evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of this approach with an emphasis on CO reduction catalysis with photorecyclable hydride donors while looking forward to what might reasonably be achieved with continued research.

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

DIRECT RF SAMPLING BASED LLRF CONTROL SYSTEM FOR C-BAND LINEAR ACCELERATOR

Low Level RF (LLRF) control systems of linear accel- erators (LINACs) are typically implemented with hetero- dyne based architectures, which have complex analog RF mixers for up and down conversion. The Gen 3 Radio Fre- quency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) device from AMD Xilinx integrates data converters with maximum RF frequency of 6 GHz. This enables direct RF sampling of C-band LLRF signal typically operated at 5.712 GHz without any analogue mixers, which can significantly simplify the system architec- ture. The data converters sample RF signals in higher order Nyquist zones and then up or down convert digitally by the integrated data path in RFSoC. The closed-loop feedback control firmware implemented in FPGA integrated in RF- SoC can process the base-band signal from the ADC data path and calculate the updated phase and amplitude to be up- mixed by the DAC data path. We have developed a C-band LLRF control RFSoC platform with direct RF sampling, which targets Cool Copper Collider (𝐶3) and other C or S band LINAC research and development projects. In this paper, the architecture of the platform will be described. We have optimized the configuration of the data converter and characterized performance of them with RF pulses. The test results for some of the key performance parameters for the LLRF platform with our custom solid-state amplifier, such as phase and amplitude stability, will be discussed in this paper.

Liu, C↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preparation and Characterization of YBa 2 Cu 4 O 8 Superconductor

Solid-state reaction of appropriate amounts of Y 2 O 3 , BaCOs, and CuO for 2 h at 800°C in flowing oxygen with a total pressure of 2.7 x 10 2 Pa (2 mm Hg), followed by cooling and annealing at 750°C for 10 h in oxygen at ambient pressure, has produced orthorhombic YBa 2 Cu 4 O 8 (124) as the main phase with YBa 2 Cu 3 O x (123) as an impurity phase. After the as-calcined powder was annealed in oxygen at 800°C for 24 h under ambient pressure, the phase purity improved considerably. Calcined 124 powder was pressed into pellets and rapidly annealed at temperatures from 870°C to 935°C. At these temperatures, the 124 decomposed into 123. The superconducting transition temperature, T c , of the annealed samples depended upon the annealing temperature and atmosphere. The decomposed samples have been characterized by low field RF SQUID magnetometer and high resolution transmission electron microscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Automated Construction of Artificial Lattice Structures with Designer Electronic States

Manipulating matter with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) enables the creation of atomically defined artificial structures that host designer quantum states. However, the time-consuming nature of the manipulation process, coupled with the sensitivity of the STM tip, constrains the exploration of diverse configurations and limits the size of the designed features. In this study, we present a reinforcement learning (RL)-based framework for creating artificial structures by spatially manipulating carbon monoxide (CO) molecules on a copper substrate by using the STM tip. The automated workflow combines molecule detection and manipulation, employing deep-learning-based object detection to locate CO molecules and linear assignment algorithms to allocate these molecules to designated target sites. We initially perform molecule maneuvering based on randomized parameter sampling for sample bias, tunneling current set point, and manipulation speed. This data set is then structured into an action trajectory used to train an RL agent. The model is subsequently deployed on the STM for real-time fine-tuning of the manipulation parameters during structure construction. Our approach incorporates path-planning protocols coupled with active drift compensation to enable atomically precise fabrication of structures with significantly reduced human input while realizing larger-scale artificial lattices with the desired electronic properties. Furthermore, using our approach, we demonstrate the automated construction of an extended artificial graphene lattice and confirm the existence of a characteristic Dirac point in its electronic structure. Further challenges regarding the RL-based structural assembly scalability are discussed.

Algorithms↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mechanical Design of the MARCO Solenoid Detector Magnet

MARCO is the superconducting solenoid for ePIC, the new particle physics detector of the upcoming Electron Ion Collider (EIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (NY, USA). The magnet has a 2.84 m warm bore diameter and is 3.85 m long. This 15 tons magnet provides a 2.0 T central field at the interaction point with a nominal current of about 4 kA at 4.5 K. The coil is composed of 6 layers of copper stabilized NbTi Rutherford in channel conductor (RIC) and it is wound internally to the brass mandrel. Here, this paper presents the detailed mechanical design of the magnet, starting with the magnet description, the material properties and the acceptance criteria considered. Then, the coil pack properties homogenization process is described. Subsequently, the 2D and 3D calculation models and their assumptions are described. At last, the computational results for the cool down and the energization are discussed. Index Terms—Superconducting Detector Magnet, material properties, homogenization, detector, EIC.

Reymond, Hugo [Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique e↗
DOE OSTI2024

Power Electronics Materials and Bonded Interfaces - Reliability and Lifetime

The need for reliable bonded interface materials is critical to realize the performance benefits of wide-bandgap devices in power electronic modules, especially in operating temperatures greater than 150 degrees Celsius. In this paper, we investigate the thermomechanical performance of sintered copper (Cu) as a large-area attachment, bonded between Cu baseplates and active-metal-bonded substrates, under accelerated thermal shock (-40 degrees Celsius to 200 degrees Celsius) conditions. In the fabrication phase of the samples, we used different stencil patterns and found out that the grid and stripe patterns resulted in a better outgassing of the residual organics during the sintering process, thereby ensuring a substantially improved bond quality than a full-area print. The paste consisted of Cu microflakes and we performed sintering using a Budatec SP300 sintering press at 275 degrees Celsius with 15 MPa of bonding pressure for 5 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere. Under accelerated experiments, we monitored the degradation of the sintered Cu bond in the samples through C-mode scanning acoustic microscope (C-SAM) images. To quantify the defect percentage in C-SAM images, we investigated image denoising techniques to exclude the pattern prints. Finally, we cross-sectioned a sample and obtained digital microscope images, which revealed adhesive fracture as the dominant failure mechanism.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Amine Structure Governs Corrosion Rates of Copper Catalysts in Electrochemical Reactive Capture of CO 2

Reactive capture of CO 2 (RCC) offers an integrated approach that combines CO 2 capture with its direct electrochemical conversion, eliminating the need for CO 2 release from the capture agent. By avoiding the pH, pressure, and temperature swings required for the release step, RCC has the potential to reduce both energy consumption and capital costs compared to the conventional sequential process of CO 2 capture, release, concentration, and conversion. Amines, widely used in industrial CO 2 capture, face challenges in RCC systems due to their incompatibility with transition metal catalysts as well as their tendency to promote electrode corrosion and parasitic hydrogen evolution. Identifying suitable combinations of amines and catalysts is therefore critical to enabling integrated CO 2 capture and conversion. Here, this work systematically investigates the performance of four primary and four secondary amines for RCC on polycrystalline Cu catalysts. Among the eight tested amines, only dimethylamine showed no measurable Cu corrosion near the open circuit potential. In contrast, ammonia, methylamine, ethylamine, monoethanolamine, diethylamine, diethanolamine, and piperazine all induced Cu corrosion. Corrosion rates correlate with the pK a and steric hindrance of the amines, highlighting key parameters for catalyst–amine codesign. Grand canonical DFT calculations indicate a correlation between the adsorption strength of protonated amines, their pK a , and the extent of Cu corrosion, suggesting that both the surface binding of protonated amines and the lability of their protons play critical roles in corrosion acceleration near open circuit potentials. These finding suggest that amines with high pK a values and weak binding of their protonated forms to Cu surfaces are preferred, as they offer better corrosion resistance.

Choi, Jounghwan [Univ. of California, Los Angeles,↗
DOE OSTI2024

Elemental profiling and genomewide association studies reveal genomic variants modulating ionomic composition in Populus trichocarpa leaves

Samples were collected from a population of 1,089 black cottonwood genotypes (P. trichocarpa) assembled from native stands to encompass the central portion of the natural range of the species, stretching from 38.8° to 54.3° N Q13 latitude from California, USA, to British Columbia, Canada. Establishment of the common garden, growth conditions, and site maintenance have been described by Muchero et al (2015). In this study, leaf samples for ionomic profiling were collected from 4-year-old trees, during the growing season, in July 2012, from a field located in Clatskanie, Oregon, USA (46°6′11″N 123°12′13″W). The field site was located in a protected alluvial floodplain containing a uniform Wauna-Locoda silt loam soil area characterized by an acidic pH, in Columbia County, Oregon. A subset of 584 out of the 1,089 P. trichocarpa genotypes were represented in this sampling. These genotypes were randomly selected to represent the geographical distribution of the population. A single fully mature (LPI 7-9) leaf on the south side of the tree exposed to full sunlight conditions was removed from the tree within a 6-hour window centering on solar noon and immediately frozen under dry ice before processing. Leaf samples of 584 P. trichocarpa genotypes were finely ground to 40 mm particle size using a mortar and pestle, and ionomic composition was analyzed using ICP-MS. In total, 20 elements were profiled, including aluminum (Al27), arsenic (As75), boron (B11), cadmium (Cd111), calcium (Ca43), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe57), magnesium (Mg25), manganese (Mn55), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni60), phosphorus (P31), potassium (K39), rubidium (Rb85), selenium (Se82), sodium (Na23), strontium (Sr88), sulfur (S34), and zinc (Zn66), following a protocol established by Ziegler et al. (2013). For each sample, 75mg of powder was digested overnight in 2.5 mL HNO3 containing 20 parts per billion (ppb) indium as an internal standard, following the protocol described in Ziegler et al. (2013). Following a dilution, concentration of the 20 elements was measured using an Elan 6000 DRC-e mass spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer SCIEX) connected to a PFA microflow nebulizer (Elemental Scientific) and Apex HF desolvator (Elemental Scientific). One measurement per sample per genotype was done. For subsequent analyses, the quantifications were converted to total element concentration.

CBI ionomics, GWAS, plasma-mass spectrometry, neut↗
DOE OSTI2024

First-Principles Insights into the Thermodynamics of Variable-Temperature Ammonia Synthesis on Transition-Metal-Doped Cu (100) and (111)

Ammonia (NH 3 ) is one of the most produced chemicals worldwide. NH 3 synthesis predominantly utilizes the Haber–Bosch (HB) process, requiring high temperatures and pressures. Despite significant process advances, ample opportunity remains for improving the rate, selectivity, catalyst stability, and energy efficiency. Inspired by a recently developed programmable heating and quenching (PHQ) technique, we present in this paper a first-principles screening of candidate single-atom alloy catalysts generated from doping (111) and (100) surfaces of copper (Cu), an ineffective HB catalyst in its pure form. We predict the thermodynamics of two rate-limiting reactions, N 2 dissociative adsorption and the final hydrogenation step leading up to NH 3 release, at 400 and 900 K. Thermodynamically, the former reaction is favored at low temperatures, while the latter is favored at high temperatures. Vanadium-, chromium-, and molybdenum-doped Cu surfaces, due to intermediate M–N covalent bonding character, emerge as appealing candidate catalysts for PHQ NH 3 synthesis, as they balance the thermodynamics of the above-mentioned reaction steps at their respective optimal temperatures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cost Competitive Process of Battery Grade Oxides Preparation from Aged LIBs

The increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is driving development of advanced recycling and refining methods. In this project, new cathode active materials are prepared from recycled lithium battery materials and subsequently electrochemically evaluated in coin cells. In detail, scrap LIBs were mechanically processed into a metal rich black mass, then reductive acid leached into an aqueous metal solution, and finally high-purity metal hydroxide precursor materials were prepared by selective electrochemical flow precipitation. Closed-loop LIB recycling into active electrode materials will enable US manufacturers to break their reliance on foreign sources of critical materials. For example, electroextraction process used here has potential to significantly reduce chemical & water use as well as waste production as compared to traditional metallurgic techniques. To this end, electroextracted materials refined from used batteries were collected and processed to be tested as precursor cathode active material (pCAM). For this project, two samples of high purity recycled NMC hydroxide (~1 kg each) were received from N th Cycle’s Ohio demonstration facility. The NMC compositions of the two materials are similar, and the levels of impurities have been confirmed. Indeed, impurities like copper, boron and sodium are present in quantities that could negatively impact battery performance. However, some studies have demonstrated that the control of the quantity of elements like copper or boron may improve the electrochemistry properties of Lithium-NMC batteries. The principal objective is to determine the electrochemical performance of these 2 NMC hydroxide batches and clearly determine the effect of the impurities on the performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Computational Workflow of Elucidating Viral Impact on Mediating Microbial Response to In-situ Experimental Warming: Bridging microbial modeling to carbon and mineral modeling

Viruses are abundant in soils and shape microbial communities in ways that can potentially influence ecosystem processes, yet their contributions to carbon cycling and mineral transformations remain poorly understood. Here we present a multi-phase framework that links virus-host interactions to soil biogeochemistry by combining ecological simulations, genome- and community-scale metabolic modeling, and statistical and machine-learning analyses. We first calibrated microbial abundance profiles under explicit infection scenarios to capture how viral pressure alters community structure, then explored alternative interaction strategies, including kill-the-winner, piggyback-the-winner, and mixed lytic-lysogenic modes, through forward simulations. These ecological shifts were translated into metabolic consequences using exchange fluxes summarized into biologically meaningful categories, while integrated statistical and machine-learning screens elevated subtle but consistent signals. Application of this framework revealed that viral infections shift the balance between organic and inorganic fluxes, redirecting metabolism from diffuse organic transformations toward inorganic pools such as protons and CO 2 , directly linking viral regulation to respiration and soil carbon balance. The roll-up analysis also isolated perturbations in critical mineral ions, including magnesium, manganese, zinc, and copper, which serve as essential enzymatic cofactors. In piggyback-the-winner scenarios, uptake of these ions was strongly suppressed. Contrasting viral strategies produced distinct community structures and metabolic outcomes, from broad suppression under kill-the-winner dynamics to dramatic redistributions under high-lytic and high-gain lysogenic regimes that collapsed vulnerable microbial populations while promoting opportunists. Together, these results provide a tractable path to trace viral perturbations from host abundance shifts to metabolic flux adjustments and ecosystem-scale processes, offering a practical way to include viruses in earth system models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Experiments in 3D Printing Electric Motors

This paper catalogues a series of experiments we conducted to explore how to 3D print a DC electric motor. The individual parts of the electric motor were 3D printed but assembled by hand. First, we focused on a rotor with soft magnetic properties, for which we adopted ProtoPasta TM , which is a commercial off-the-shelf PLA filament incorporating iron particles. Second, we focused on the stator permanent magnets, which were 3D printed through binder jetting. Third, we focused on the wire coils, for which we adopted a form of laminated object manufacture of copper wire. The chief challenge was in 3D printing the coils, because the winding density is crucial to the performance of the motor. We have demonstrated that DC electric motors can be 3D printed and assembled into a functional system. Although the performance was poor due to the wiring problem, we showed that the other 3D printing processes were consistent with high performance. Nevertheless, we demonstrated the principle of 3D printing electric motors.

3D printed motor↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hydrogen isotope fractionation – Fundamental insights leaving to process scaleup

This final report summarizes the PhD research of Dr. Mayura Silva who was supported on the project from inception in August 2021 to his graduation in December 2023. Dr. Silva undertook a detailed examination of the eGicacy of graphene interlayers on H/D selectivity in electrochemical proton / deuteron pump cells. His work focused on the role of impurity cations (especially NH 4 * and Cu 2+ which are resident in membranes as a residual from the ammonium persulfate treatment used to remove copper backing from the graphene during membrane preparation), and on the composition of evolved gases from hydrogen / deuterium pump cells that were fed a 50:50 mixture of H 2 and D 2 gas. The key finding is that previous reports of very high H/D selectivity in hydrogen pump cells having Nafion | graphene | Nafion membranes installed were not reproduced.

08 HYDROGEN↗