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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 163 records · Page 9

The effect of acid hydrolysis pretreatment on crystallinity and solubility of kenaf cellulose membrane

Cellulose was extracted from kenaf core pulp (KCP) by series of bleaching steps in the sequence (DEED) where D and E are referred as acid and alkali treatment. The bleached kenaf pulp (BKCP) is then pretreated with acid hydrolysis at room temperature for 1 and 3 h respectively. The pretreated cellulose is dissolved in lithium hydroxide/urea (LiOH/urea) and cellulose solution produced was immersed in distilled water bath. BKCP without treatment was also conducted for comparison purpose. The effects of acid hydrolysis pretreatment on solubility and crystallinity are investigated. Higher solubility of cellulose solution is achieved for treated samples. Cellulose II formation and crystallinity index of the cellulose membrane were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD)

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Surface scanning through a cylindrical tank of coupling fluid for clinical microwave breast imaging exams

Purpose: Microwave tomographic image quality can be improved significantly with prior knowledge of the breast surface geometry. The authors have developed a novel laser scanning system capable of accurately recovering surface renderings of breast-shaped phantoms immersed within a cylindrical tank of coupling fluid which resides completely external to the tank (and the aqueous environment) and overcomes the challenges associated with the optical distortions caused by refraction from the air, tank wall, and liquid bath interfaces. Methods: The scanner utilizes two laser line generators and a small CCD camera mounted concentrically on a rotating gantry about the microwave imaging tank. Various calibration methods were considered for optimizing the accuracy of the scanner in the presence of the optical distortions including traditional ray tracing and image registration approaches. In this paper, the authors describe the construction and operation of the laser scanner, compare the efficacy of several calibration methods-including analytical ray tracing and piecewise linear, polynomial, locally weighted mean, and thin-plate-spline (TPS) image registrations-and report outcomes from preliminary phantom experiments. Results: The results show that errors in calibrating camera angles and position prevented analytical ray tracing from achieving submillimeter accuracy in the surface renderings obtained from our scanner configuration. Conversely, calibration by image registration reliably attained mean surface errors of less than 0.5 mm depending on the geometric complexity of the object scanned. While each of the image registration approaches outperformed the ray tracing strategy, the authors found global polynomial methods produced the best compromise between average surface error and scanner robustness. Conclusions: The laser scanning system provides a fast and accurate method of three dimensional surface capture in the aqueous environment commonly found in microwave breast imaging. Optical distortions imposed by the imaging tank and coupling bath diminished the effectiveness of the ray tracing approach; however, calibration through image registration techniques reliably produced scans of submillimeter accuracy. Tests of the system with breast-shaped phantoms demonstrated the successful implementation of the scanner for the intended application.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Interfacial corrosion of copper in concentrated chloride solution and the formation of copper hydroxychloride

This work aims to investigate the waterline corrosion of pure copper in 4 M NaC1 solution. Three distinct regions are identified. Corrosion products formed at the waterline are characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy, complemented by SEM/EDS, as a function of immersion time. The co-existence of four copper species is explained by thermodynamic equilibrium consideration. The composition of spreading region is determined and compared with the oxide film formation in different pH NaOH solutions. The anodic dissolution of copper exposed to the bulk electrolyte is investigated by electrochemical methods. The pH and potential profiles across three regions are proposed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Method for electrochemical roughening of thin film electrodes

The present invention relates to surface roughening methods and more particularly to a method for electrochemical roughening of thin film macro- and micro-electrodes. In one embodiment, an electrochemical etch template is formed comprising polymer particles adsorbed on a surface of a substrate to be roughened, followed by electrochemically etching of exposed regions of the substrate between the polymer particles in the electrochemical etch template so as to selectively roughen the surface of the substrate. In another embodiment, a surface of the electrode is immersed in either a adsorbing acidic solution, such as sulfuric acid, or a non-adsorbing acidic solution, such as perchloric acid, followed by electrochemically pulse etching the surface of the substrate at a narrow frequency range for adsorbing acidic solutions, or at a wide frequency range for non-adsorbing acidic solutions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A charge optimized many-body potential for iron/iron-fluoride systems

Here, a classical interatomic potential for iron/iron-fluoride systems is developed in the framework of the charge optimized many-body (COMB) potential. This interatomic potential takes into consideration the effects of charge transfer and many-body interactions depending on the chemical environment. The potential is fitted to a training set composed of both experimental and ab initio results of the cohesive energies of several Fe and FeF 2 crystal phases, the two fluorine molecules F 2 and the F 2 –1 dissociation energy curve, the Fe and FeF 2 lattice parameters of the ground state crystalline phase, and the elastic constants of the body centered cubic Fe structure. The potential is tested in an NVT ensemble for different initial structural configurations as the crystal ground state phases, F 2 molecules, iron clusters, and iron nanospheres. In particular, we model the FeF 2 /Fe bilayer and multilayer interfaces, as well as a system of square FeF 2 nanowires immersed in an iron solid. It has been shown that there exists a reordering of the atomic positions for F and Fe atoms at the interface zone; this rearrangement leads to an increase in the charge transfer among the atoms that make the interface and put forward a possible mechanism of the exchange bias origin based on asymmetric electric charge transfer in the different spin channels.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Pair mobility functions for rigid spheres in concentrated colloidal dispersions: Force, torque, translation, and rotation

The formulation of detailed models for the dynamics of condensed soft matter including colloidal suspensions and other complex fluids requires accurate description of the physical forces between microstructural constituents. In dilute suspensions, pair-level interactions are sufficient to capture hydrodynamic, interparticle, and thermodynamic forces. In dense suspensions, many-body interactions must be considered. Prior analytical approaches to capturing such interactions such as mean-field approaches replace detailed interactions with averaged approximations. However, long-range coupling and effects of concentration on local structure, which may play an important role in, e.g., phase transitions, are smeared out in such approaches. An alternative to such approximations is the detailed modeling of hydrodynamic interactions utilizing precise couplings between moments of the hydrodynamic traction on a suspended particle and the motion of that or other suspended particles. For two isolated spheres, a set of these functions was calculated by Jeffrey and Onishi [J. Fluid Mech. 139, 261–290 (1984)] and Jeffrey [J. Phys. Fluids 4, 16–29 (1992)]. Along with pioneering work by Batchelor, these are the touchstone for low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamic interactions and have been applied directly in the solution of many important problems related to the dynamics of dilute colloidal dispersions [G. K. Batchelor and J. T. Green, J. Fluid Mech. 56, 375–400 (1972) and G. K. Batchelor, J. Fluid Mech. 74, 1–29 (1976)]. Toward extension of these functions to concentrated systems, here we present a new stochastic sampling technique to rapidly calculate an analogous set of mobility functions describing the hydrodynamic interactions between two hard spheres immersed in a suspension of arbitrary concentration, utilizing accelerated Stokesian dynamics simulations. These mobility functions provide precise, radially dependent couplings of hydrodynamic force and torque to particle translation and rotation, for arbitrary colloid volume fraction ϕ. The pair mobilities (describing entrainment of one particle by the disturbance flow created by another) decay slowly with separation distance: as 1/r, for volume fractions 0.05 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.5. For the relative mobility, we find an initially rapid growth as a pair separates, followed by a slow, 1/r growth. Up to ϕ ≤ 0.4, the relative mobility does not reached the far-field value even beyond separations of many particle sizes. In the case of ϕ = 0.5, the far-field asymptote is reached but only at a separation of eight radii and after a slow 1/r growth. At these higher concentrations, the coefficients also reveal liquid-like structural effects on pair mobility at close separations. These results confirm that long-range many-body hydrodynamic interactions are an essential part of the dynamics of concentrated systems and that care must be taken when applying renormalization schemes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Immersive Visualization for Materials Science Data Analysis using the Oculus Rift

In this paper, we propose strategies and objectives for immersive data visualization with applications in materials science using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. We provide background on currently available analysis tools for neutron scattering data and other large-scale materials science projects. In the context of the current challenges facing scientists, we discuss immersive virtual reality visualization as a potentially powerful solution. We introduce a prototype immersive visual- ization system, developed in conjunction with materials scientists at the Spallation Neutron Source, which we have used to explore large crystal structures and neutron scattering data. Finally, we offer our perspective on the greatest challenges that must be addressed to build effective and intuitive virtual reality analysis tools that will be useful for scientists in a wide range of fields.

analytics↗

Corrosion impact of reductant on DWPF and downstream facilities

Glycolic acid is being evaluated as an alternate reductant in the preparation of high level waste for the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at the Savannah River Site (SRS). During processing, the glycolic acid is not completely consumed and small quantities of the glycolate anion are carried forward to other high level waste (HLW) facilities. The impact of the glycolate anion on the corrosion of the materials of construction throughout the waste processing system has not been previously evaluated. A literature review had revealed that corrosion data in glycolate-bearing solution applicable to SRS systems were not available. Therefore, testing was recommended to evaluate the materials of construction of vessels, piping and components within DWPF and downstream facilities. The testing, conducted in non-radioactive simulants, consisted of both accelerated tests (electrochemical and hot-wall) with coupons in laboratory vessels and prototypical tests with coupons immersed in scale-up and mock-up test systems. Eight waste or process streams were identified in which the glycolate anion might impact the performance of the materials of construction. These streams were 70% glycolic acid (DWPF feed vessels and piping), SRAT/SME supernate (Chemical Processing Cell (CPC) vessels and piping), DWPF acidic recycle (DWPF condenser and recycle tanks and piping), basic concentrated recycle (HLW tanks, evaporators, and transfer lines), salt processing (ARP, MCU, and Saltstone tanks and piping), boric acid (MCU separators), and dilute waste (HLW evaporator condensate tanks and transfer line and ETF components). For each stream, high temperature limits and worst-case glycolate concentrations were identified for performing the recommended tests. Test solution chemistries were generally based on analytical results of actual waste samples taken from the various process facilities or of prototypical simulants produced in the laboratory. The materials of construction for most vessels, components and piping were not impacted with the presence of glycolic acid or the impact is not expected to affect the service life. However, the presence of the glycolate anion was found to affect corrosion susceptibility of some materials of construction in the DWPF and downstream facilities, especially at elevated temperatures. The following table summarizes the results of the electrochemical and hot wall testing and indicates expected performance in service with the glycolate anion present.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Method for the production of fabricated hollow microspheroids

The method relates to the fabrication of a polymer microspheres comprised of an asymmetric layer surrounding a hollow interior. The fabricated hollow microsphere is generated from a nascent hollow microsphere comprised of an inner core of core fluid surrounded by a dope layer of polymer dope, where the thickness of the dope layer is at least 10% and less than 50% of the diameter of the inner core. The nascent hollow microsphere is exposed to a gaseous environment, generating a vitrified hollow microsphere, which is subsequently immersed in a coagulation bath. Solvent exchange produces a fabricated hollow microsphere comprised of a densified outer skin surrounding a macroporous inner layer, which surrounds a hollow interior. In an embodiment, the polymer is a polyimide or a polyamide-imide, and the non-solvent in the core fluid and the coagulation bath is water. The fabricated hollow microspheres are particularly suited as solvent supports for gas separation processes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SHOCK-CLUMP EVOLUTION WITH SELF-CONTAINED MAGNETIC FIELDS

We study the interaction of strong shock waves with magnetized clumps. Previous numerical work focused on a simplified scenario in which shocked clumps are immersed in a globally uniform magnetic field that extends through both the clump and the ambient medium. Here, we consider the complementary circumstance in which the field is completely self-contained within the clumps. This situation could arise naturally during clump formation via dynamical or thermal instabilities, for example, as a magnetic field pinches off from the ambient medium. Using our adaptive mesh refinement magnetohydrodynamics code AstroBEAR, we carry out a series of simulations with magnetized clumps that have different self-contained magnetic field configurations. We find that the clump and magnetic evolution are sensitive to the fraction of the magnetic field aligned with, or perpendicular to, the shock normal. The relative strength of magnetic pressure and tension in the different field configurations allows us to analytically understand the different cases of post-shock evolution. We also show how turbulence and the mixing it implies depends of the initial field configuration and suggest ways in which the observed shock-clump morphology may be used as a proxy for identifying internal field topologies a posteriori.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Quantifying the Extent of Hydration of a Surface-Bound Peptide Using Neutron Reflectometry

Establishing how water, or the absence of water, affects the structure, dynamics, and function of proteins in contact with inorganic surfaces is critical to developing successful protein immobilization strategies. In this work, the quantity of water hydrating a monolayer of helical peptides covalently attached to self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkyl thiols on Au was measured using neutron reflectometry (NR). The peptide sequence was composed of repeating LLKK units in which the leucines were aligned to face the SAM. When immersed in water, NR measured 2.7 ± 0.9 water molecules per thiol in the SAM layer and between 75 ± 13 and 111 ± 13 waters around each peptide. The quantity of water in the SAM was nearly twice that measured prior to peptide functionalization, suggesting that the peptide disrupted the structure of the SAM. To identify the location of water molecules around the peptide, we compared our NR data to previously published molecular dynamics simulations of the same peptide on a hydrophobic SAM in water, revealing that 49 ± 5 of 95 ± 8 total nearby water molecules were directly hydrogen-bound to the peptide. Finally, we show that immersing the peptide in water compressed its structure into the SAM surface. Together, these results demonstrate that there is sufficient water to fully hydrate a surface-bound peptide even at hydrophobic interfaces. Given the critical role that water plays in biomolecular structure and function, these results are expected to be informative for a broad array of applications involving proteins at the bio/abio interface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Aqueous pyridinium cation-based redox flow batteries

The present invention provides an aqueous redox flow battery comprising a negative electrode immersed in an aqueous liquid negative electrolyte, a positive electrode immersed in an aqueous liquid positive electrolyte, and a cation-permeable separator (e.g., a porous membrane, film, sheet, or panel) between the negative electrolyte from the positive electrolyte. During charging and discharging, the electrolytes are circulated over their respective electrodes. The electrolytes each comprise an electrolyte salt (e.g., a lithium or sodium salt), a redox reactant. The negative redox reactant comprises a pyridinium compound of Formula (I) as described in the specification.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

FINAL SCIENTIFIC REPORT Southwest United States of America – Distributed Technology Training Consortia (SWUSA-DTTC) Contract Number: DE-EE0006339

The Southwest United States of America – Distributed Technology Training Consortia (SWUSA-DTTC) leveraged the highest concentration of renewable resources in the U.S. as well as operation of the leading independent microgrid installations and other distributed technologies to collect and analyze real-time data streams, advance power system simulations and analysis, identify educational and training gaps and develop solutions-focused curricula. The SWUSA-DTTC consortium posed a unique collaboration between universities and utilities to ensure that classes were focused on subjects and topics of interest to the utilities and ones that had practical benefit related to the preparedness for accommodating high penetration of solar and other distributed energy technologies. This approach to have a close collaboration and shared effort to develop the course content and curriculum is unique and a significant departure from conventional course development. This coursework and training was intended to endure over a long time horizon (10-20 year time frame), and include professionals over the entire Southwest region and the rest of the US, and even outreach into foreign countries. Project Objectives In order to support the increase in power systems research, development, and analytical capacity, the SWUSA-DTTC brought together respected professors in Power Systems education, student/professor research and development, and valuable industry and utility experience. Through this program, the partnered universities created and/or modified existing curricula available to students and professionals in the form of university courses, short courses, videos, consortia-led training, and online materials. During this time, the supporting vendors and utilities provided the SWUSA-DTTC with technical advisory roles as well as providing input and feedback in terms of utility and related energy industry needs. The goals were to create power and energy systems training, curricula, and workforce preparedness through the inclusion of data collection and analysis, power systems expertise, and application-specific training activities which build on fundamental principles, modeling and simulation tools, field-immersed training and methods of performance validation. The outcome of the program was to result in better prepared and greater number of graduates ready to contribute to the field of power systems which depend upon the safe, reliable and efficient generation sources which make up an increasingly diverse mix of renewable power. Additionally, the program was to deliver critical training modules which are intended to support mid-career professionals and be woven into utility training programs used all over the country. Discontinuation Summary On September 29, 2014, Electricore received notice of discontinuation of federal funding under subject Award DE-EE0006339. DOE’s notice of discontinuation was the first indication provided to Electricore that the work completed against Task 1 - Program Planning and Evaluation during Budget Period 1 was inadequate. Significantly, the discontinuation was based in large part on the erroneous assertion that many of the tasks were incomplete as indicated in the Continuation Application. However, the Continuation Application was submitted July 29, 2014, while the period of performance for this last quarter in Budget Period 1 did not end until September 30, 2014. Accordingly, the performance for this last quarter in Budget Period 1 will be reported in the upcoming Quarterly Report which is not due until October 30, 2014. Nevertheless, in response to DOE’s letter and in further support of Electricore’s Continuation Application, we are providing a detailed status demonstrating adherence to all program requirements for each Task 1, Budget Period 1 SOPO activity and milestones in response to the DOE review.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Activating MoS 2 for pH-Universal Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis

MoS 2 presents a promising catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in water splitting, but its worse catalytic performance in neutral and alkaline media than in acidic environment may be problematic for practical application. This is because the other half reaction of water splitting, i.e., oxygen evolution reaction, often needs to be implemented in alkaline environment. Here we demonstrate a universal strategy that may be used to significantly improve the HER catalysis of MoS 2 in all kinds of environments from acidic to alkaline, proton intercalation. Protons may be enabled to intercalate between monolayer MoS 2 and underlying substrates or in the interlayer space of thicker MoS 2 by two processes: electrochemically polarizing MoS 2 at negative potentials (vs RHE) in acidic media or immersing MoS2 into certain acid solutions like TFSI. The improvement in catalytic performance is due to the activity enhancement of the active sites in MoS 2 by the intercalated protons, which might be related with the effect of the intercalated protons on electrical conductance and the adsorption energy of hydrogen atoms. The enhancement in catalytic activity by the intercalated proton is very stable even in neutral and alkaline electrolytes.

, mechanical behavior↗

An analysis of the spatio-temporal resolution of the immersed boundary method with direct forcing

The immersed boundary method (IBM) with direct forcing is very popular in the simulation of rigid particulate flows. In the IBM, an interaction force is introduced at the interface between fluid and particle in order to approximate the no-slip boundary condition. The interaction force is calculated through dividing the velocity difference (or error) between fluid and particle at the interface by the time step. Here, a dynamic equation for the velocity difference is derived. Additionally, analyses on the dynamic equation provide a few new findings: (i) The interaction force is the solution of a least-squares error problem, with the direct implication that the Lagrangian marker distribution has no effect on the large scale flow structure once the distribution of Lagrangian markers become saturated along the interface (i.e., each marker remains properly correlated with all its neighbors); (ii) The Lagrangian volume-weight is a relaxation factor to control how fast the velocity error decays to the ideal value of zero; (iii) The optimal choice of the Lagrangian volume-weight is the largest value permissible by a stability condition. A comprehensive convergence analysis with regard to the spatial and temporal resolution is presented for the velocity error and also for the shear-stress and surface pressure. In three simple canonical problems, it is analytically and numerically shown that the IBM results converge to the theoretical solutions obtained with precise imposition of no-slip and no-penetration boundary conditions. It is observed that it is not necessary to match the Lagrangian marker volume-weight to that of the local Eulerian cell volume and in fact this matching leads to lower than optimal computational efficiency. However, it is found that extremely high Eulerian grid resolution and small time step have to be used to obtain high precision simulation results. Especially, the time step should be inversely proportional to the particle Reynolds number for low Reynolds number flows. For high frequency oscillation problems, the grid size needs to be reduced by a factor of the square root of the frequency, and the time step to be reduced by a factor of the frequency. The theoretical findings here can be used to alleviate the technical difficulties in simulating non-spherical particles by not requiring the Lagrangian marker distribution to match the Eulerian grids and also in the implementation of IBM on non-uniform Eulerian grids. The present work also provides simple practical guidance on the choice of temporal and spatial resolution so as to control the simulation error a priori.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Mesoporous nanocrystalline film architecture for capacitive storage devices

A mesoporous, nanocrystalline, metal oxide construct particularly suited for capacitive energy storage that has an architecture with short diffusion path lengths and large surface areas and a method for production are provided. Energy density is substantially increased without compromising the capacitive charge storage kinetics and electrode demonstrates long term cycling stability. Charge storage devices with electrodes using the construct can use three different charge storage mechanisms immersed in an electrolyte: (1) cations can be stored in a thin double layer at the electrode/electrolyte interface (non-faradaic mechanism); (2) cations can interact with the bulk of an electroactive material which then undergoes a redox reaction or phase change, as in conventional batteries (faradaic mechanism); or (3) cations can electrochemically adsorb onto the surface of a material through charge transfer processes (faradaic mechanism).

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Chemically reactive species in liquids generated by atmospheric-pressure plasmas and their roles in plasma medicine

Plasmas whose gas temperatures are close to room temperature may be generated in ambient air or a gas at atmospheric pressure with the use of low-frequency high voltage or low-power radio-frequency (RF) or microwave power applied to electrodes. Such plasmas can serve as a powerful source of free radicals and/or chemically reactive species that arise from atoms and molecules of the ambient gas. Recently use of such plasmas for medical purposes has attracted much attention as they can be implemented in possible medical devices that can cause blood coagulation, heal wounds, facilitate angiogenesis, sterilize surgical devices as well as living tissues without harming healthy cells, and selectively inactivate cancer cells. Especially of interest among reactive species generated by atmospheric-pressure plasmas (APP) are reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) that are generated in liquid phase. Since most living tissues and cells are immersed in liquids (such as blood or culture media), reactive species generated by APPs in the gas phase are transported to the liquid phase and possibly converted to different types of reactive species therein before causing some influence on the tissues or cells. In this study, the rate equations are solved to evaluate concentrations of various reactive species in pure water that are originated by plasma reactions in atmosphere and possible effects of such species (including ROS/RNS) on living tissues and cells are discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Increasing Volume in Conjugated Polymers to Facilitate Electrical Doping with Phosphomolybdic Acid

Molecular p-type electrical dopants have been proven useful to fine-tune the optoelectronic properties of bulk organic semiconductors and their interfaces. In this work, the volume in polymer films and its role in solution-based electrical p-type doping using phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) are studied. The polymer film volume was controlled using two approaches. One is based on heating both the PMA solution and the film prior to immersion. The second is based on coating the polymer film with a liquid blend that contains the PMA solution and a swelling solvent. 31 P NMR and FTIR experiments indicate that the Keggin structure appears to be preserved throughout the doping process. Results show that increasing the polymer volume facilitates the infiltration of the PMA Keggin structure, which results in an increased electrical p-type doping level.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗