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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 1,099 records · Page 61
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Carbon-based Supercapacitors Produced by Activation of Graphene

Supercapacitors, also called ultracapacitors or electrochemical capacitors, store electrical charge on high-surface-area conducting materials. Their widespread use is limited by their low energy storage density and relatively high effective series resistance. Using chemical activation of exfoliated graphite oxide, we synthesized a porous carbon with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of up to 3100 square meters per gram, a high electrical conductivity, and a low oxygen and hydrogen content. This sp{sup 2}-bonded carbon has a continuous three-dimensional network of highly curved, atom-thick walls that form primarily 0.6- to 5-nanometer-width pores. Two-electrode supercapacitor cells constructed with this carbon yielded high values of gravimetric capacitance and energy density with organic and ionic liquid electrolytes. The processes used to make this carbon are readily scalable to industrial levels.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Homogeneous titanium hydroxide yields hydroxyl decorated nanofiber separator with improved electrolyte uptake and device capacitance

Good wettability of separators in batteries and capacitors is crucial for performance. Titanium hydroxide (Ti(OH) x ) has been shown to greatly improve the wettability of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers (NFs). Here, PVDF/Ti(OH) x NFs were evaluated for their potential use as separators. Results show that PVDF NFs incorporated with Ti(OH) x have improved electrolyte uptake (EU) between 550 and 1200 EU% compared to untreated PVDF with less than 100 EU%. Significant improvements in capacitance are seen from capacitors utilizing PVDF/Ti(OH) x NF separators with the best performing PVDF/Ti(OH) x NF at 15 wt% Ti(OH)x with 446.8 mF/cm 2 compared to untreated PVDF NF separator with 262.7 mF/cm 2 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Electrical Shock During Phone Assisted Troubleshooting of Laboratory Equipment

We report researchers have the potential to be exposed to a wide variety of hazards inherent to the equipment they use and maintain. When equipment does not function as expected, researchers sometimes reach out to their vendors for assistance. Early diagnostic or troubleshooting interactions between researcher and vendor are often conducted over the telephone and can lead to researchers performing work outside of their area of expertise and exposure to unknown hazards. This type of interaction significantly contributed to an incident where during diagnostic activities a researcher accidentally contacted, and discharged, a capacitor in an X-ray diffraction instrument. While this incident did not produce a serious injury, if the capacitor discharge path had occurred hand-to-hand across the heart, a serious injury may have been possible.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2016

Boosting the Performance of Ionic-Liquid-Based Supercapacitors with Polar Additives

Recent years have witnessed growing interests in both the fundamentals and applications of electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), also known as supercapacitors. A number of strategies have been explored to optimize the device performance in terms of both the energy and power densities. Because the properties of electric double layers (EDL) are sensitive to ion distributions in the close vicinity of the electrode surfaces, the supercapacitor performance is sensitive to both the electrode pore structure and the electrolyte composition. In this work, we study the effects of polar additives on EDLC capacitance using the classical density functional theory within the framework of a coarse-grained model for the microscopic structure of the porous electrodes and room-temperature ionic liquids. The theoretical results indicate that a highly polar, low-molecular-weight additive is able to drastically increase the EDLC capacitance at low bulk concentration. Additionally, the additive is able to dampen the oscillatory dependence of the capacitance on the pore size, thereby boosting the performance of amorphous electrode materials. The theoretical predictions are directly testable with experiments and provide new insights into the additive effects on EDL properties.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Capacitive Energy Storage from - 50o to 100o Using an Ionic Liquid Electrolyte

Relying on redox reactions, most batteries are limited in their ability to operate at very low or very high temperatures. While performance of electrochemical capacitors is less dependent on the temperature, present-day devices still cannot cover the entire range needed for automotive and electronics applications under a variety of environmental conditions. We show that the right combination of the exohedral nanostructured carbon (nanotubes and onions) electrode and a eutectic mixture of ionic liquids can dramatically extend the temperature range of electrical energy storage, thus defying the conventional wisdom that ionic liquids can only be used as electrolytes above room temperature. We demonstrate electrical double layer capacitors able to operate from 50 to 100 C over a wide voltage window (up to 3.7 V) and at very high charge/discharge rates of up to 20 V/s.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Nitrogen-enriched ordered mesoporous carbons through direct pyrolysis in ammonia with enhanced capacitive performance

Self-assembly of phenolic resins and a Pluronic block copolymer via the soft-template method enables the formation of well-organized polymeric mesostructures, providing an easy way for preparation of ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs). However, direct synthesis of OMCs with high nitrogen content remains a significant challenge due to the limited availability of nitrogen precursors capable of co-polymerizing with phenolic resins without deterioration of the order of mesostructural arrangement and significant diminishment of nitrogen content during carbonization. In this work, we demonstrate pyrolysis of the soft-templated polymeric composites in ammonia as a direct, facile way towards nitrogen-enriched OMCs (N-OMCs). We find thisapproach does not require any nitrogen-containing carbon precursors or post-treatment, but takes advantage of the preferential reaction and/or replacement of oxygen with nitrogen species, generated by decomposition of ammonia at elevated temperatures, in oxygen-rich polymers during pyrolysis. It combines carbonization, nitrogen functionalization, and activation into one simple process, generating N-OMCs with a uniform pore size, large surface area (up to 1400 m 2 g -1 ), and high nitrogen content (up to 9.3 at%). More importantly, the ordering of the meso-structure is well-maintained as long as the heating temperature does not exceed 800 °C, above which (e.g., 850 °C) a slight structural degradation is observed. In conclusion, when being used as electrode materials for symmetric electric double layer capacitors, N-OMCs demonstrate enhanced capacitance (6.8 μF cm ₋2 vs. 3.2 μF cm ₋2 ) and reduced ion diffusion resistance compared to the non-NH 3 -treated sample.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Numerical investigation of closed-loop control for Hall accelerators

Low frequency discharge current oscillations in Hall accelerators are conventionally damped with external inductor-capacitor (LC) or resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) networks. The role of such network in the stabilization of the plasma discharge is investigated with a numerical model and the potential advantages of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) closed-loop control over RLC networks are subsequently assessed using either discharge voltage or magnetic field modulation. Simulations confirm the reduction of current oscillations in the presence of a RLC network, but suggest that PID control could ensure nearly oscillation-free operation with little sensitivity toward the PID settings.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2010

Cu penetration into low-k dielectric during deposition and bias-temperature stress

Cu penetration into low-k dielectrics can cause serious reliability issues in on-chip interconnect systems. Using secondary ion mass spectrometry with both front-side and back-side depth profiling strategies, Cu was found to diffuse into SiCOH low-k dielectric in a Cu/SiCOH/Si capacitor during Cu deposition. After bias-temperature stressing the capacitor at 270 deg. C and 2.5 MV/cm, Cu penetrates further into SiCOH, but its distribution profile is the same as that after the same temperature annealing without electrical bias, suggesting no Cu ion drift. The implication of these findings on the Cu/low-k dielectric time-dependent dielectric breakdown modeling is discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

Note: A portable pulsed neutron source based on the smallest sealed-type plasma focus device

Development and operation of a portable and compact pulsed neutron source based on sealed-type plasma focus (PF) device are reported. The unit is the smallest sealed-type neutron producing PF device. The effective volume of the PF unit is 33 cm{sup 3} only. A compact size single capacitor (4 {mu}F) is used as the energy driver. A battery based power supply unit is used for charging the capacitor and triggering the spark gap. The PF unit is operated at 10 kV (200 J) and at a deuterium gas filling pressure of 8 mb. The device is operated over a time span of 200 days and the neutron emissions have been observed for 200 shots without changing the gas in between the shots. The maximum yield of this device is 7.8 x 10{sup 4} neutrons/pulse. Beyond 200 shots the yield is below the threshold (1050 neutrons/pulse) of our {sup 3}He detector. The neutron energy is evaluated using time of flight technique and the value is (2.49 {+-} 0.27) MeV. The measured neutron pulse width is (24 {+-} 5) ns. Multishot and long duration operations envisage the potentiality of such portable device for repetitive mode of operation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2011

Characteristics of a symmetrical Cockcroft-Walton power supply of 50 Hz 1.2 MV/50 mA

A 1.2 MV/50 mA symmetrical Cockcroft-Walton (SCW) power supply of over 83% power efficiency, driven by 50 Hz frequency, was developed for an industrial electron beam irradiator. It is constructed by capacitors of 45 nF and 28.13 nF in the coupling column and capacitors of 18.75 nF in the smoothing column. Working status of the rectifier in high power output condition was analyzed, and the conduction angle of the rectifier was calculated. The power factor (PF) of the SCW circuit has been studied, and the equivalent condensance of the circuit has been derived. Measurements were done for the PF compensation. The surge impact during the short circuit transient process was considered in choosing the protection resistance. Test results showed that design specifications of the power supply were achieved, with the non-load voltage being up to 1.32 MV and the ratio of ripple voltage to output voltage as 9.4%.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Controllable giant dielectric constant in AlO{sub x}/TiO{sub y} nanolaminates.

Dielectric materials exhibiting high dielectric constants play critical roles in a wide range of applications from microchip energy storage embedded capacitors for implantable biomedical devices to energy storage capacitors for a new generation of renewable energy generation/storage systems. Instead of searching for new materials, we demonstrate that giant dielectric constants can be achieved by integrating two simple oxides with low dielectric constants into nanolaminate structures. In addition, the obtained dielectric constant values are highly tunable by manipulating the sub-layer thicknesses of the component oxides to control the number of interfaces and oxygen redistribution. The work reported here opens a new pathway for the design and development of high dielectric constant materials based on the nanolaminate concept.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Impact of post deposition annealing in the electrically active traps at the interface between Ge(001) substrates and LaGeO{sub x} films grown by molecular beam deposition

Changes in the electron trapping at the interface between Ge substrates and LaGeO{sub x} films grown by atomic O assisted molecular beam deposition are inferred upon post deposition annealing treatment on the as-deposited films from electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) spectroscopy and from the electrical response of Pt/LaGeO{sub x}/Ge metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. The improved electrical performance of the MOS capacitors upon annealing is consistent with the EDMR detected reduction of oxide defects which are associated with GeO species in the LaGeO{sub x} layer as evidenced by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Electric field-perturbation measurement of the interaction between two laser-induced plasmas

The interaction between two ns-laser-induced plasmas in air at the early-stage of expansion has been analyzed by using a method based on the direct measurement of the perturbation of an externally applied electric field. In this experimental method, the plasmas were produced by focusing two laser beams between the plates of a parallel-plane-charged capacitor. These plasmas produce a perturbation in the electric field of the capacitor which can be measured as a voltage change across a resistor connected to the ground plate. It was found that for delays shorter than 5 ns, the interaction between plasmas is mainly due to the interaction of the dipole-charge distribution of each plasma. For longer time delays, the shielding effect was dominant.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Energy spectrum of argon ions emitted from Filippov type Sahand plasma focus

The energy and flux of the argon ions produced in Sahand plasma focus have been measured by employing a well-designed Faraday cup. The secondary electron emission effects on the ion signals are simulated and the dimensions of Faraday cup are optimized to minimize these effects. The measured ion energy spectrum is corrected for the ion energy loss and charge exchange in the background gas. The effects of the capacitor bank voltage and working gas pressure on the ion energy spectrum are also investigated. It has been shown that the emitted ion number per energy increases as the capacitor bank voltage increases. Decreasing the working gas pressure leads to the increase in the number of emitted ion per energy.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Magnetic dipole discharges. II. Cathode and anode spot discharges and probe diagnostics

The high current regime of a magnetron-type discharge has been investigated. The discharge uses a permanent magnet as a cold cathode which emits secondary electrons while the chamber wall or a grounded electrode serves as the anode. As the discharge voltage is increased, the magnet develops cathode spots, which are short duration arcs that provide copious electrons to increase the discharge current dramatically. Short (1 μs), high current (200 A) and high voltage (750 V) discharge pulses are produced in a relaxation instability between the plasma and a charging capacitor. Spots are also observed on a negatively biased plane Langmuir probe. The probe current pulses are as large as those on the magnet, implying that the high discharge current does not depend on the cathode surface area but on the properties of the spots. The fast current pulses produce large inductive voltages, which can reverse the electrical polarity of the magnet and temporarily operate it as an anode. The discharge current may also oscillate at the frequency determined by the charging capacitor and the discharge circuit inductance. Each half cycle of high-current current pulses exhibits a fast (≃10 ns) current rise when a spot is formed. It induces high frequency (10–100 MHz) transients and ringing oscillations in probes and current circuits. Most probes behave like unmatched antennas for the electromagnetic pulses of spot discharges. Examples are shown to distinguish the source of oscillations and some rf characteristics of Langmuir probes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Design and initial results from a kilojoule level dense plasma focus with hollow anode and cylindrically symmetric gas puff

We have designed and built a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) Z-pinch device using a kJ-level capacitor bank and a hollow anode, and fueled by a cylindrically symmetric gas puff. Using this device, we have measured peak deuteron beam energies of up to 400 keV at 0.8 kJ capacitor bank energy and pinch lengths of ∼6 mm, indicating accelerating fields greater than 50 MV/m. Neutron yields of on the order of 10{sup 7} per shot were measured during deuterium operation. The cylindrical gas puff system permitted simultaneous operation of DPF with a radiofrequency quadrupole accelerator for beam-into-plasma experiments. This paper describes the machine design, the diagnostic systems, and our first results.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Insights into ultraviolet-induced electrical degradation of thermally grown SiO{sub 2}/4H-SiC(0001) interface

The harmful impact of ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation on thermally grown SiO{sub 2}/4H-SiC structures was investigated by means of electrical measurements of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. Unlike Si-based MOS devices, significant electrical degradation, such as positive flatband voltage (V{sub FB}) shift and hysteresis in the capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves of SiC-MOS capacitors was induced by UV irradiation with a low-pressure mercury lamp. The interfacial fixed charge density increased with UV-irradiation (22.6 mW/cm{sup 2} for 16 h) to 1.7 × 10{sup 12} cm{sup −2}, which was an order of magnitude larger than that of the as-grown SiO{sub 2}/SiC interface. A detailed study based on single wavelength solid-state UV lasers revealed that there was a threshold photon energy at around 5 eV and a moderate dependence of UV-induced degradation on temperature. These experimental findings imply that pre-existing inactive defects accumulated at the thermally grown SiO{sub 2}/SiC interface were transformed to active carrier traps with high-energy UV irradiation through transparent SiO{sub 2} layers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

A physical interpretation of impedance at conducting polymer/electrolyte junctions

We monitor the process of dedoping in a planar junction between an electrolyte and a conducting polymer using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy performed during moving front measurements. The impedance spectra are consistent with an equivalent circuit of a time varying resistor in parallel with a capacitor. We show that the resistor corresponds to ion transport in the dedoped region of the film, and can be quantitatively described using ion density and drift mobility obtained from the moving front measurements. The capacitor, on the other hand, does not depend on time and is associated with charge separation at the moving front. This work offers a physical description of the impedance of conducting polymer/electrolyte interfaces based on materials parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗