Three Dimensional Indium–Tin-Oxide Nanorod Array for Charge Collection in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
bio-inspired↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “dimensional changes”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Shubnikov–de Haas–like Quantum Oscillations in Artificial One-Dimensional LaAlO 3 / SrTiO 3 Electron Channels
Not Available
Cheng, Guanglei↗
The Minkowski sum of a zonotope and the Voronoi polytope of the root lattice E{sub 7}
We show that the Minkowski sum P{sub V}(E{sub 7})+Z(U) of the Voronoi polytope P{sub V}(E{sub 7}) of the root lattice E{sub 7} and the zonotope Z(U) is a 7-dimensional parallelohedron if and only if the set U consists of minimal vectors of the dual lattice E{sub 7}{sup *} up to scalar multiplication, and U does not contain forbidden sets. The minimal vectors of E{sub 7} are the vectors r of the classical root system E{sub 7}. If the r{sup 2}-norm of the roots is set equal to 2, then the scalar products of minimal vectors from the dual lattice only take the values {+-}1/2. A set of minimal vectors is referred to as forbidden if it consists of six vectors, and the directions of some of these vectors can be changed so as to obtain a set of six vectors with all the pairwise scalar products equal to 1/2. Bibliography: 11 titles.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Coupling Chemical Energy with Protein Conformational Changes to Translocate Small Molecules Across Membranes
EmrE is a small, homodimeric membrane transporter that exploits the established pH gradient across the E. coli inner membrane to export polyaromatic cations that might otherwise inhibit cellular growth. While herculean efforts through experimental studies have established many fundamental facts about the specificity and rate of substrate transport in EmrE, the low resolution of the available structures have hampered efforts to tie those findings to the EmrE coupling mechanism between proton and small molecule substrates. Here we present a full three-dimensional structure of EmrE optimized against available cyro-EM data to delineate the critical interactions by which EmrE regulates its conformation. We use the generated structural model to conduct equilibrium and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to probe EmrE dynamics under different substrate loading states, representing different states in the transport cycle. The model is stable under extended simulation, and reveals that water dynamics within the EmrE lumen change substantially with the loading state. The water dynamics cause hydrogen bonding networks to shift radically when the protonation states change for a pair of solvent-exposed glutamate residues (E14) within the lumen of the transporter, which are proposed to act as proton binding sites during the transport cycle. One specific hydrogen bond from a tyrosine (Y60) of one monomer to a glutamate (E14) on the opposite monomer is especially critical, as it locks the protein conformation when the glutamate is deprotonated. Furthermore, the hydrogen bond provided by Y60 lowers the pK a of the interacting glutamate relative to its partner on the opposite monomer such that it will protonate second, establishing the need for both glutamates to be protonated for the hydrogen bond to break and a substrate-free transition to take place.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Architecture-Based Control of Temperature Gradient-Driven Water Transport in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells
Temperature gradients can move water within the porous media of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell through phase-change-induced (PCI) flow. It is critical to understand PCI flow so that control and distribution of water within a fuel cell can be accomplished. This work investigates the role of architecture, specifically anode land width, on overall cell water content and distribution in the through-plane direction. A specially-designed 4.8 cm 2 fuel cell with precise thermal boundary conditions was imaged with neutrons using two different anode flow field configurations. A new, non-dimensional thermal transport number was developed which quantifies the relative influence of PCI flow on cell water transport. It was found that anode lands larger than the cathode lands cause large thermal gradients that instigate net water flux from the cathode to the anode. An asymmetric configuration with larger anode lands was found to have large changes in water content that were strongly sensitive to cell operating conditions. The thermal transport number developed here enables deduction of the net flux condition based on operating conditions and architecture. This approach enables design of high-performance systems with balanced water management.
25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
Postmortem analysis of sand grain crushing from pile interface using X-ray tomography
Pile foundations of offshore platforms, wind and water turbines are typically subjected to a variety of cyclic loading paths due to their complex environment. While many studies focus on global pile behaviour, the soil-pile interface is explored here by a micromechanical study of the soil layer in contact with the pile surface. This work is devoted to the analysis of frozen post-mortem silica sand samples recovered at the pile interface following installation and cyclic loading tests in a calibration chamber using x-ray tomography. An experimental procedure developed for three dimensional (3D) snow imaging was adapted for the recovery of the in-situ sand samples to preserve their structure during tomography scans. 3D images at a pixel size of 7 {mu}m were then obtained using a cryogenic cell. Results confirm the presence of a shear band at the pile surface as well as void ratios changes in the direction of the pile's radius.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Pore structure development during hydration of tricalcium silicate by X-ray nano-imaging in three dimensions
We report that tricalcium silicate (C 3 S) is the most important component among the four main clinker phases of Portland cement. Pure C 3 S is widely used as a simplified model system of cement in various researches. However, the spatial structure development of cement, even pure C 3 S during hydration at the nano-scale has been rarely directly reported. In this work, X-ray nano-computed tomography (X-ray Nano-CT), a non-destructive X-ray analytical method, was used to study the hydration of a pure C 3 S sample with a water/C 3 S mass ratio of 0.5. The three-dimensional (3D) structure of the hydrating C 3 S specimen was investigated to see the internal pore structure evolution within the hardened C 3 S paste. Investigation of the 3D structural development of the C 3 S specimen at different hydration times was performed to monitor the changes of pore shapes and sizes/volumes. Lastly, it is found that volumes of the sealed pores generally grow larger, and the open pores become smaller while the volume and the external morphology of the whole hardened C 3 S paste remains almost the same during hydration.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Silver nanoparticles with tunable work functions
To improve the efficiencies of electronic devices, materials with variable work functions are required to decrease the energy level differences at the interfaces between working layers. Here, we report a method to obtain silver nanoparticles with tunable work functions, which have the same silver core of 5 nm in diameter and are capped by myristates and 1-octanethoilates self-assembled monolayers, respectively. The silver nanoparticles capped by organic molecules can form a uniform two-dimensional sheet at air-water interface, and the sheet can be transferred on various hydrophobic substrates. The surface potential of the two-dimensional nanoparticle sheet was measured in terms of Kelvin probe force microscopy, and the work function of the sheet was then calculated from the surface potential value by comparing with a reference material. The exchange of the capping molecules results in a work function change of approximately 150–250 meV without affecting their hydrophobicity. We systematically discussed the origin of the work function difference and found it should come mainly from the anchor groups of the ligand molecules. The organic molecule capped nanoparticles with tunable work functions have a potential for the applications in organic electronic devices.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
The effects of pulse duration on ablation pressure driven by laser radiation
The effects of laser pulse duration on the ablation pressure induced by laser radiation are investigated using Al target. Numerical simulation results using one dimensional radiation hydro code for laser intensities from 5×10{sup 12}W/cm{sup 2} to 5×10{sup 13}W/cm{sup 2} and pulse durations from 0.5 ns to 20 ns are presented. These results suggest that the laser intensity scaling law of ablation pressure differs for different pulse durations. And the theoretical analysis shows that the effects of laser pulse duration on ablation pressure are mainly caused by two regimes: the unsteady-state flow and the radiative energy loss to vacuum.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Practical aspects and uncertainty analysis of biological effective dose (BED) regarding its three-dimensional calculation in multiphase radiotherapy treatment plans
Purpose: There is a growing interest in the radiation oncology community to use the biological effective dose (BED) rather than the physical dose (PD) in treatment plan evaluation and optimization due to its stronger correlation with radiobiological effects. Radiotherapy patients may receive treatments involving a single only phase or multiple phases (e.g., primary and boost). Since most treatment planning systems cannot calculate the analytical BED distribution in multiphase treatments, an approximate multiphase BED expression, which is based on the total physical dose distribution, has been used. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mathematical properties of the approximate BED formulation, relative to the true BED. Methods: The mathematical properties of the approximate multiphase BED equation are analyzed and evaluated. In order to better understand the accuracy of the approximate multiphase BED equation, the true multiphase BED equation was derived and the mathematical differences between the true and approximate multiphase BED equations were determined. The magnitude of its inaccuracies under common clinical circumstances was also studied. All calculations were performed on a voxel-by-voxel basis using the three-dimensional dose matrices. Results: Results showed that the approximate multiphase BED equation is accurate only when the dose-per-fractions (DPFs) in both the first and second phases are equal, which occur when the dose distribution does not significantly change between the phases. In the case of heterogeneous dose distributions, which significantly vary between the phases, there are fewer occurrences of equal DPFs and hence the inaccuracy of the approximate multiphase BED is greater. These characteristics are usually seen in the dose distributions being delivered to organs at risk rather than to targets. Conclusions: The finding of this study indicates that the true multiphase BED equation should be implemented in the treatment planning systems due to the inconsistent accuracy of the approximate multiphase BED equation in most of the clinical situations.
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
A new dynamical mass measurement for the Virgo cluster using the radial velocity profile of the filament galaxies
The radial velocities of the galaxies in the vicinity of a cluster show deviation from the pure Hubble flow due to their gravitational interaction with the cluster. According to a recent study by Falco et al. based on a high-resolution N-body simulation, the radial velocity profile of galaxies located at distances larger than three times the virial radius of a neighboring cluster can be well approximated by a universal formula, and could be reconstructed from direct observables provided that the galaxies are distributed along a one-dimensional filament. They suggested an algorithm designed to estimate the dynamic mass of a cluster M{sub v} by fitting the universal formula from the simulation to the reconstructed radial velocity profile of the filament galaxies around the cluster from observations. We apply the algorithm to two narrow, straight filaments (referred to as Filaments A and B) that were recently identified by Kim et al. in the vicinity of the Virgo cluster from the NASA-Sloan-Atlas catalog. The dynamical mass of the Virgo cluster is estimated to be M{sub v}=(0.84{sub −0.51}{sup +2.75})×10{sup 15} h{sup −1} M{sub ⊙} and M{sub v}=(3.24{sub −1.31}{sup +4.99})×10{sup 15} h{sup −1} M{sub ⊙} for the cases of Filaments A and B, respectively. We discuss the observational and theoretical systematics intrinsic to the method of Falco et al. as well as the physical implication of the final results.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Time-dependent Models of Magnetospheric Accretion onto Young Stars
Accretion onto Classical T Tauri stars is thought to take place through the action of magnetospheric processes, with gas in the inner disk being channeled onto the star’s surface by the stellar magnetic field lines. Young stars are known to accrete material in a time-variable manner, and the source of this variability remains an open problem, particularly on the shortest (∼day) timescales. Using one-dimensional time-dependent numerical simulations that follow the field line geometry, we find that for plausibly realistic young stars, steady-state transonic accretion occurs naturally in the absence of any other source of variability. However, we show that if the density in the inner disk varies smoothly in time with ∼day-long timescales (e.g., due to turbulence), this complication can lead to the development of shocks in the accretion column. These shocks propagate along the accretion column and ultimately hit the star, leading to rapid, large amplitude changes in the accretion rate. We argue that when these shocks hit the star, the observed time dependence will be a rapid increase in accretion luminosity, followed by a slower decline, and could be an explanation for some of the short-period variability observed in accreting young stars. Our one-dimensional approach bridges previous analytic work to more complicated multi-dimensional simulations and observations.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
A mesh-independent method for planar three-dimensional crack growth in finite domains: A mesh-independent method for crack growth in 3D finite domains
The discrete crack mechanics (DCM) method is a dislocation-based crack modeling technique where cracks are constructed using Volterra dislocation loops. The method allows for the natural introduction of displacement discontinuities, avoiding numerically expensive techniques. Mesh dependence in existing computational modeling of crack growth is eliminated by utilizing a superposition procedure. The elastic field of cracks in finite bodies is separated into two parts: the infinite-medium solution of discrete dislocations and an finite element method solution of a correction problem that satisfies external boundary conditions. In the DCM, a crack is represented by a dislocation array with a fixed outer loop determining the crack tip position encompassing additional concentric loops free to expand or contract. Solving for the equilibrium positions of the inner loops gives the crack shape and stress field. The equation of motion governing the crack tip is developed for quasi-static growth problems. Additionally, convergence and accuracy of the DCM method are verified with two- and three-dimensional problems with well-known solutions. Crack growth is simulated under load and displacement (rotation) control. In the latter case, a semicircular surface crack in a bent prismatic beam is shown to change shape as it propagates inward, stopping as the imposed rotation is accommodated.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Accelerating geostatistical modeling using geostatistics-informed machine Learning
Ordinary Kriging (OK) is a popular geostatistical algorithm for spatial interpolation and estimation. The computational complexity of OK changes quadratically and cubically for memory and speed, respectively, given the number of data. Therefore, it is computationally intensive and also challenging to process a large set of data, especially in three-dimensional (3D) cases. This paper develops a geostatistics-informed machine learning (GIML) model to improve the efficiency of OK by reducing the number of points required to be estimated using OK. Specifically, only a very few of the unknown points are estimated by OK to get the weights and estimations, which are used as the training dataset. Moreover, the governing equations of OK are used to guide our proposed machine learning to better reproduce the spatial distributions. Our results show that the proposed GIML can reduce the computational time of OK by at least one order of magnitude. The effectiveness of the GIML is evaluated and compared using a 2D case. Furthermore, we demonstrate its efficiency and robustness by considering a different number of training samples on various 3D simulation grids.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Uncertainty Studies of Real Anode Surface Area in Computational Analysis for Molten Salt Electrorefining
This study examines how much cell potential changes with five differently assumed real anode surface area cases. Determining real anode surface area is a significant issue to be resolved for precisely modeling molten salt electrorefining. Based on a three-dimensional electrorefining model, calculated cell potentials compare with an experimental cell potential variation over 80 hours of operation of the Mark-IV electrorefiner with driver fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II. We succeeded to achieve a good agreement with an overall trend of the experimental data with appropriate selection of a mode for real anode surface area, but there are still local inconsistencies between theoretical calculation and experimental observation. In addition, the results were validated and compared with two-dimensional results to identify possible uncertainty factors that had to be further considered in a computational electrorefining analysis. These uncertainty factors include material properties, heterogeneous material distribution, surface roughness, and current efficiency. Zirconium's abundance and complex behavior have more impact on uncertainty towards the latter period of electrorefining at given batch of fuel. The benchmark results found that anode materials would be dissolved from both axial and radial directions at least for low burn-up metallic fuels after active liquid sodium bonding was dissolved.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Imaging of 3D morphological evolution of nanoporous silicon anode in lithium ion battery by X-ray nano-tomography
Nanostructured silicon with its high theoretical capacity and ability to accommodate volume expansion has attracted great attention as a promising anode material for Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries. Liquid metal dealloying method, is a novel method to create nanoporous silicon (np-Si). The assembled Li-ion batteries based on such np- Si anode can be cycled beyond 1500 cycles, in 1000 mA h/g constant capacity cycling mode with consistent performance; however, it suffers from degradation after ~ 460 cycles, while being cycled under 2000 mA h/g. To reveal the failure mechanism and differences in the morphological evolution in different capacity cycling modes in the np-Si anode, we conducted synchrotron X-ray nano-tomography studies. The three dimensional (3D) morphological evolution was visualized and quantified as a function of the number of cycles and cycling capacities. By comparing the 3D morphology under each cycling condition and correlating these 3D morphological changes with cycling-life performance, we elucidate the failure mechanism of the np-Si electrodes resulting from a mesoscopic to macroscopic deformation, involving volume expansion and gradual delamination. In particular, the shorter cycling life in higher-capacity cycling mode stems from particle agglomeration. Overall, while the nanoporous structure can accommodate the volume expansion locally, these mesoscopic and macroscopic deformations ultimately result in heterogeneous stress distribution with faster delamination. As a result, the work thus sheds the light on the importance to consider the structural evolution at the mesoscopic and macroscopic scales, while designing nano-structured energy storage materials for enhanced performances, particularly for long cycling-life durability.
25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
Spline based least squares integration for two-dimensional shape or wavefront reconstruction
In this paper, we present a novel method to handle two-dimensional shape or wavefront reconstruction from its slopes. The proposed integration method employs splines to fit the measured slope data with piecewise polynomials and uses the analytical polynomial functions to represent the height changes in a lateral spacing with the pre-determined spline coefficients. The linear least squares method is applied to estimate the height or wavefront as a final result. Numerical simulations verify that the proposed method has less algorithm errors than two other existing methods used for comparison. Especially at the boundaries, the proposed method has better performance. The noise influence is studied by adding white Gaussian noise to the slope data. Finally, experimental data from phase measuring deflectometry are tested to demonstrate the feasibility of the new method in a practical measurement.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Review of NMR characterization of pyrolysis oils
Here, pyrolysis of renewable biomass has been developed as a method to produce green fuels and chemicals in response to energy security concerns as well as to alleviate environmental issues incurred with fossil fuel usage. However, pyrolysis oils still have limited commercial application, mainly because unprocessed oils cannot be readily blended with current petroleum-based transportation fuels. To better understand these challenges, researchers have applied diverse characterization techniques in the development of bio-oil studies. In particular, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a key spectroscopic characterization method through analysis of bio-oil components. This review highlights the NMR strategies for pyrolysis oil characterization and critically discusses the applications of 1 H, 13 C, 31 P, 19 F, and two-dimensional (2-D NMR) analyses such as heteronuclear single quantum correlation (HSQC) in representative pyrolysis oil studies.
09 BIOMASS FUELS↗