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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 1,351 records · Page 75
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Optical and electronic properties of delafossite CuBO{sub 2}p-type transparent conducting oxide

CuBO{sub 2} delafossite was prepared by solid state reaction and calcined/sintered at 1005 °C. The optical properties of this p-type transparent conducting oxide were investigated. Its crystal structure, morphology, composition, oxygen decomposition, and optical and electronic properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) and fluorescence spectroscopies, Seebeck coefficient, and electrical conductivity measurements. CuBO{sub 2} delafossite possesses a hexagonal space group R3{sup ¯}m. TGA indicated a weight loss of 10%, which was attributed to excess oxygen. The positive Seebeck coefficient confirmed p-type behavior. Emission at 355 nm indicated a direct band type transition, and the UV-VIS-NIR spectrum indicated an optical direct gap of 3.6 eV. Activation energies for carrier production and electrical conduction were 0.147 and 0.58 eV, respectively, indicating the thermal activation of carriers. CuBO{sub 2} delafossite is a p-type transparent conducting oxide with a wide band gap and may have potential in industrial p-type electrodes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Electrical conduction mechanism in La{sub 3}Ta{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 5.3}Al{sub 0.2}O{sub 14} single crystals

The electrical conduction mechanism in La{sub 3}Ta{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 5.3}Al{sub 0.2}O{sub 14} (LTGA) single crystals was studied by nonstoichiometric defect formation during crystal growth. Since stoichiometric LTGA is not congruent, the single crystal grown from the stoichiometric melt was Ta-poor and Al-rich, where Al atoms were substituted not only in Ga sites but also in Ta sites. The population of the substitutional Al in Ta sites increased with increasing oxygen partial pressure during growth (growth-pO{sub 2}) in the range from 0.01 to 1 atm. Below 600 °C, substitutional Al atoms in Ta sites were ionized to yield holes, and thus the electrical conductivity of the LTGA crystal depended on temperature and the growth-pO{sub 2}. The dependence of the electrical conductivity on the growth-pO{sub 2} decreased as temperature increased. The temperature rise increases ionic conductivity, for which the dominant carriers are oxygen defects formed by the anion Frenkel reaction.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Conductivity behavior of very thin gold films ruptured by mass transport in photosensitive polymer film

We report on conductivity behavior of very thin gold layer deposited on a photosensitive polymer film. Under irradiation with light interference pattern, the azobenzene containing photosensitive polymer film undergoes deformation at which topography follows a distribution of intensity, resulting in the formation of a surface relief grating. This process is accompanied by a change in the shape of the polymer surface from flat to sinusoidal together with a corresponding increase in surface area. The gold layer placed above deforms along with the polymer and ruptures at a strain of 4%. The rupturing is spatially well defined, occurring at the topographic maxima and minima resulting in periodic cracks across the whole irradiated area. We have shown that this periodic micro-rupturing of a thin metal film has no significant impact on the electrical conductivity of the films. We suggest a model to explain this phenomenon and support this by additional experiments where the conductivity is measured in a process when a single nanoscopic scratch is formed with an AFM tip. Our results indicate that in flexible electronic materials consisting of a polymer support and an integrated metal circuit, nano- and micro cracks do not alter significantly the behavior of the conductivity unless the metal is disrupted completely.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Software optimization for electrical conductivity imaging in polycrystalline diamond cutters

We previously reported on an electrical conductivity imaging instrument developed for measurements on polycrystalline diamond cutters. These cylindrical cutters for oil and gas drilling feature a thick polycrystalline diamond layer on a tungsten carbide substrate. The instrument uses electrical impedance tomography to profile the conductivity in the diamond table. Conductivity images must be acquired quickly, on the order of 5 sec per cutter, to be useful in the manufacturing process. This paper reports on successful efforts to optimize the conductivity reconstruction routine, porting major portions of it to NVIDIA GPUs, including a custom CUDA kernel for Jacobian computation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conductivity control by oxygen defect concentration modification in reducible oxides: The case of Pr{sub 0.1}Ce{sub 0.9}O{sub 2−δ} thin films

We demonstrate the impact on thermal conductivity of varying the concentration of oxygen vacancies and reduced cations in Pr{sub 0.1}Ce{sub 0.9}O{sub 2−δ} thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The oxygen vacancy concentration is controlled by varying the oxygen partial pressure between 1 × 10{sup −4} and 1 atm at 650 °C. Corresponding changes in the oxygen non-stoichiometry (δ) are monitored by detecting the lattice parameters of the films with high-resolution X-ray diffraction, while the thermal properties are characterized by time-domain thermoreflectance measurements. The films are shown to exhibit a variation in oxygen vacancy content, and in the Pr{sup 3+}/Pr{sup 4+} ratio, corresponding to changes in δ from 0.0027 to 0.0364, leading to a reduction in the thermal conductivity from k = 6.62 ± 0.61 to 3.82 ± 0.51 W/m-K, respectively. These values agree well with those predicted by the Callaway and von Baeyer model for thermal conductivity in the presence of point imperfections. These results demonstrate the capability of controlling thermal conductivity via control of anion and cation defect concentrations in a given reducible oxide.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Calculation of the lattice thermal conductivity in granular crystals

This paper provides a general model for the lattice thermal conductivity in granular crystals. The key development presented in this model is that the contribution of surface phonons to the thermal conductivity and the interplay between phonon anharmonic scattering and phonon scattering by boundaries are considered explicitly. Exact Boltzmann equation including spatial dependence of phonon distribution function is solved to yield expressions for the rates at which phonons scatter by the grain boundaries in the presence of intrinsic phonon scattering mechanisms. The intrinsic phonon scattering rates are calculated from Fermi's golden rule, and the vibration parameters of the model are derived as functions of temperature and crystallographic directions by using a lattice dynamics approach. The accuracy of the model is demonstrated with reference to experimental measurements regarding the effects of surface orientation and isotope composition on the thermal conductivity in single crystals, and the effect of grains size and shape on the thermal conductivity tensor in granular crystals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ionic conductivity of Bi{sub 2}Ni{sub x}V{sub 1−x}O{sub 5.5−3x/2} (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) oxides prepared by a low temperature sol-gel route

Solid oxides fuel cells (SOFCs) is one technology that could contribute toward future sustainable energy. One of the most important components of an SOFC is the electrolyte, which must have high ionic conductivity. Cation substitution of vanadium in Bi{sub 4}V{sub 2}O{sub 11} yields a family of fast oxide ion conducting solids known collectively as the BIMEVOXes (bismuth metal vanadium oxide), which have the potential to be applied as electrolytes in SOFCs. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of Ni concentration, when used as a dopant, on the ionic conductivity of Bi{sub 2}Ni{sub x}V{sub 1−x}O{sub 5.5−3x/2} (BINIVOX) oxides (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) when prepared by a sol gel method. The gels were calcined at 600 °C for 24 h to produce pure BINIVOX. These oxides were found to exhibit the γ-phase structure with tetragonal symmetry in space group I4/mmm. Ionic conductivity of BINIVOX at 300 °C were 6.9 × 10{sup −3} S cm{sup −1}, 1.2 × 10{sup −3} S cm{sup −1}, and 8.2 × 10{sup −4} S cm{sup −1}, for x = 0.1; 0.15; and 0.2; respectively; and at 600 °C were 1.1 × 10{sup −1} S cm{sup −1}, 5.3 × 10{sup −2} S cm{sup −1}, and 2.8 ×10{sup −2} S cm{sup −1}, for x = 0.1; 0.15; and 0.2; respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

An environment-dependent semi-empirical tight binding model suitable for electron transport in bulk metals, metal alloys, metallic interfaces, and metallic nanostructures. II. Application—Effect of quantum confinement and homogeneous strain on Cu conductance

The Semi-Empirical tight binding model developed in Part I Hegde et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 115, 123703 (2014)] is applied to metal transport problems of current relevance in Part II. A systematic study of the effect of quantum confinement, transport orientation, and homogeneous strain on electronic transport properties of Cu is carried out. It is found that quantum confinement from bulk to nanowire boundary conditions leads to significant anisotropy in conductance of Cu along different transport orientations. Compressive homogeneous strain is found to reduce resistivity by increasing the density of conducting modes in Cu. The [110] transport orientation in Cu nanowires is found to be the most favorable for mitigating conductivity degradation since it shows least reduction in conductance with confinement and responds most favorably to compressive strain.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermal conductivity of silicene from first-principles

Silicene, as a graphene-like two-dimensional material, now receives exceptional attention of a wide community of scientists and engineers beyond graphene. Despite extensive study on its electric property, little research has been done to accurately calculate the phonon transport of silicene so far. In this paper, thermal conductivity of monolayer silicene is predicted from first-principles method. At 300 K, the thermal conductivity of monolayer silicene is found to be 9.4 W/mK and much smaller than bulk silicon. The contributions from in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations to thermal conductivity are quantified, and the out-of-plane vibration contributes less than 10% of the overall thermal conductivity, which is different from the results of the similar studies on graphene. The difference is explained by the presence of small buckling, which breaks the reflectional symmetry of the structure. The flexural modes are thus not purely out-of-plane vibration and have strong scattering with other modes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Cole-cole analysis and electrical conduction mechanism of N{sup +} implanted polycarbonate

In this paper, we present the analysis of the dielectric (dielectric constant, dielectric loss, a.c. conductivity) and electrical properties (I–V characteristics) of pristine and nitrogen ion implanted polycarbonate. The samples of polycarbonate were implanted with 100 keV N{sup +} ions with fluence ranging from 1 × 10{sup 15} to 1 × 10{sup 17} ions cm{sup −2}. The dielectric measurements of these samples were performed in the frequency range of 100 kHz to 100 MHz. It has been observed that dielectric constant decreases whereas dielectric loss and a.c. conductivity increases with increasing ion fluence. An analysis of real and imaginary parts of dielectric permittivity has been elucidated using Cole-Cole plot of the complex permittivity. With the help of Cole-Cole plot, we determined the values of static dielectric constant (ε{sub s}), optical dielectric constant (ε{sub ∞}), spreading factor (α), average relaxation time (τ{sub 0}), and molecular relaxation time (τ). The I–V characteristics were studied using Keithley (6517) electrometer. The electrical conduction behaviour of pristine and implanted polycarbonate specimens has been explained using various models of conduction.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Basal-plane thermal conductivity of few-layer molybdenum disulfide

We report the in-plane thermal conductivity of suspended exfoliated few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS{sub 2}) samples that were measured by suspended micro-devices with integrated resistance thermometers. The obtained room-temperature thermal conductivity values are (44–50) and (48–52) W m{sup −1} K{sup −1} for two samples that are 4 and 7 layers thick, respectively. For both samples, the peak thermal conductivity occurs at a temperature close to 120 K, above which the thermal conductivity is dominated by intrinsic phonon-phonon scattering although phonon scattering by surface disorders can still play an important role in these samples especially at low temperatures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Estimation of dc transport dynamics in strongly correlated (La,Pr,Ca)MnO{sub 3} film using an insulator-metal composite model for terahertz conductivity

Temperature-dependent conductivities at dc and terahertz (THz) frequency region (σ{sub THz}(ω,T)) were obtained for a strongly correlated (La{sub 0.275}Pr{sub 0.35}Ca{sub 0.375})MnO{sub 3} (LPCMO) film using THz time domain spectroscopy. A composite model that describes σ{sub THz}(ω,T) for LPCMO through the insulator-metal transition (IMT) was established by incorporating Austin-Mott model characterizing the hopping of localized electrons and Drude model explaining the behavior of free electrons. This model enables us to reliably investigate the dc transport dynamics from THz conductivity measurement, i.e., simultaneously evaluate the dc conductivity and the competing composition of metal and insulator phases through the IMT, reflecting the changes in microscopic conductivity of these phases.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Pump-probe measurements of the thermal conductivity tensor for materials lacking in-plane symmetry

We previously demonstrated an extension of time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) which utilizes offset pump and probe laser locations to measure in-plane thermal transport properties of multilayers. However, the technique was limited to systems of transversely isotropic materials studied using axisymmetric laser intensities. Here, we extend the mathematics so that data reduction can be performed on non-transversely isotropic systems. An analytic solution of the diffusion equation for an N-layer system is given, where each layer has a homogenous but otherwise arbitrary thermal conductivity tensor and the illuminating spots have arbitrary intensity profiles. As a demonstration, we use both TDTR and time-resolved magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements to obtain thermal conductivity tensor elements of <110> α-SiO{sub 2}. We show that the out-of-phase beam offset sweep has full-width half-maxima that contains nearly independent sensitivity to the in-plane thermal conductivity corresponding to the scanning direction. Also, we demonstrate a Nb-V alloy as a low thermal conductivity TDTR transducer layer that helps improve the accuracy of in-plane measurements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mode dependent lattice thermal conductivity of single layer graphene

Molecular dynamics simulation is performed to extract the phonon dispersion and phonon lifetime of single layer graphene. The mode dependent thermal conductivity is calculated from the phonon kinetic theory. The predicted thermal conductivity at room temperature exhibits important quantum effects due to the high Debye temperature of graphene. But the quantum effects are reduced significantly when the simulated temperature is as high as 1000 K. Our calculations show that out-of-plane modes contribute about 41.1% to the total thermal conductivity at room temperature. The relative contribution of out-of-plane modes has a little decrease with the increase of temperature. Contact with substrate can reduce both the total thermal conductivity of graphene and the relative contribution of out-of-plane modes, in agreement with previous experiments and theories. Increasing the coupling strength between graphene and substrate can further reduce the relative contribution of out-of-plane modes. The present investigations also show that the relative contribution of different mode phonons is not sensitive to the grain size of graphene. The obtained phonon relaxation time provides useful insight for understanding the phonon mean free path and the size effects in graphene.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Conductance enhancement due to interface magnons in electron-beam evaporated MgO magnetic tunnel junctions with CoFeB free layer deposited at different pressure

Electron-beam evaporated MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions have been fabricated with the CoFeB free layer deposited at Ar pressure from 1 to 4 mTorr, and their tunneling process has been studied as a function of temperature and bias voltage. By changing the growth pressure, the junction dynamic conductance dI/dV, inelastic electron tunneling spectrum d²I/dV², and tunneling magnetoresistance vary with temperature. Moreover, the low-energy magnon cutoff energy E {sub C} derived from the conductance versus temperature curve agrees with interface magnon energy obtained directly from the inelastic electron tunneling spectrum, which demonstrates that interface magnons are involved in the electron tunneling process, opening an additional conductance channel and thus enhancing the total conductance.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Pressure-induced amorphization of a dense coordination polymer and its impact on proton conductivity

The proton conductivity of a dense coordination polymer (CP) was investigated under high-pressure conditions. Impedance measurements under high pressures revealed that the proton conductivity of the CP decreased more than 1000-fold at pressures of 3–7 GPa and that the activation energy for proton conduction almost doubled compared with that at ambient pressure. A synchrotron X-ray study under high pressure identified the amorphization process of the CP during compression, which rationally explains the decrease in conductivity and increase in activation energy. This phenomenon is categorized as reversible pressure-induced amorphization of a dense CP and is regarded as a demonstration of the coupling of the mechanical and electrical properties of a CP.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mössbauer study of conductive oxide glass

Heat treatment of barium iron vanadate glass, BaO‐Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}‐V{sub 2}O{sub 5}, at temperatures higher than crystallization temperature causes a marked decrease in resistivity (ρ) from several MΩcm to several Ωcm. {sup 57}Fe Mössbauer spectrum of heat-treated vanadate glass shows a marked decrease in quadrupole splitting (Δ) of Fe{sup III}, reflecting a structural relaxation, i.e., an increased symmetry of 'distorted' FeO{sub 4} and VO{sub 4} tetrahedra which are connected to each other by sharing corner oxygen atoms. Structural relaxation of 3D-network of vanadate glass accompanies a decrease in the activation energy for the conduction, reflecting a decreased energy gap between the donor level and conduction band. A marked increase in the conductivity was observed in CuO- or Cu{sub 2}O-containing barium iron vanadate glass after heat treatment at 450 °C for 30 min or more. 'n-type semiconductor model combined with small polaron hopping theory' was proposed in order to explain the high conductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamic conductance in L-shaped graphene nanosystems

Dynamic conductance of nanocircuit, which demonstrates dc and ac transport properties, is regarded as vital indicator for device feature. With the help of nonequilibrium Green's function technology and Buttiker's ac transport theory, we present dynamic conductance in L-shaped graphene nanosystems (LGNSs). It is found that electronic transport is highly sensitive to the geometric feature as well as the size of LGNSs. The armchair edge lead determines whether LGNS shows ac response or not around Dirac point. The increase of width of zigzag edge lead suppresses dc conductance and induces capacitive responses at the anti-resonance states. This is due to large dwell time originated from edge state in zigzag edge lead. In the energy region far away from Dirac point, LGNS responds inductively with the transportation channel opens. Behaviors of dynamic conductance at Dirac point and anti-resonance states are discussed by interesting spacial-resolved local density of states.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗