Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “facet”

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.

At least 1,639 records · Page 91
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Zinc-oxide-based nanostructured materials for heterostructure solar cells

Results obtained in the deposition of nanostructured zinc-oxide layers by hydrothermal synthesis as the basic method are presented. The possibility of controlling the structure and morphology of the layers is demonstrated. The important role of the procedure employed to form the nucleating layer is noted. The faceted hexagonal nanoprisms obtained are promising for the fabrication of solar cells based on oxide heterostructures, and aluminum-doped zinc-oxide layers with petal morphology, for the deposition of an antireflection layer. The results are compatible and promising for application in flexible electronics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Oxidation model of polycrystalline lead-chalcogenide layers in an iodine-containing medium

Model concepts of control over the formation of oxide shells in the course of oxidation are confirmed on the basis of experimental results obtained in a study of the fundamental aspects of how nanostructured layers are formed upon diffusion annealing on faceted single crystals of lead chalcogenides. Auger-spectroscopic data on the distribution of the elemental composition over the thickness of layers based on lead selenide–cadmium selenide solid solutions are presented.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

High-temperature annealing of macroporous silicon in an inert-gas flow

Interest in the sintering of macroporous silicon is due to the possibility of purposefully modifying its structure. The annealing of macroporous structures in an atmosphere of Ar, instead of H{sub 2}, simplifies the requirements to equipment and safety engineering. The sintering of macroporous silicon as result of annealing at T = 1000–1280°C in a horizontal tube purged with high-purity gases: Ar or Ar + 3%H{sub 2} is examined. Experiments were conducted with layers having deep cylindrical macropores produced by the electrochemical etching of samples with seed pits on their surface (ordered pores) and without seeds (random pores). The morphology of the porous structure and the changes in this structure upon annealing are studied with electron and optical microscopes. It is shown that, depending on the pore diameter and treatment temperature, the following transformation occurs: the pore surface is smoothed, pores are closed and a surface crust is formed, cylindrical pores are spheroidized and decompose into isolated hollow spheres, and a fine structure and faceting are formed. It is shown that the (111) planes have the minimal surface energy. It is found that the annealing of macroporous silicon in an inert gas leads to strong thermal etching, which is manifested in the fact that the porosity increases or even the porous layer at the sample edge fully disappears. Moreover, an oxide layer appears as a film, beads, or long filaments forming a glass wool upon annealing, especially at low temperatures. These features can be attributed to the presence of trace amounts of an oxidizing agent in the inert gas, which causes the formation of highly volatile SiO and products formed in the reaction involving this compound.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Photoluminescence of perovskite CsPbX{sub 3} (X = Cl, Br, I) nanocrystals and solid solutions on their basis

Synthesis and also the structural and photoluminescence properties of nanocrystals with natural faceting of the “cesium–lead–halogen” system with crystalline structure of the perovskite type are examined. The possibility of continuously changing the position of the maximum in the photoluminescence spectrum in the wavelength range of 400–700 nm is demonstrated. Features of the formation of the continuous series of solid solutions CsPb(Cl{sub 1–x}Br{sub x}){sub 3} and CsPb(Br{sub 1–x}I{sub x}){sub 3} due to the aftergrowth treatment of CsPbBr{sub 3} nanocrystals as a result of anion exchange at room temperature are studied. The corresponding range of frequency change for the maximum of the photoluminescence spectrum amounts to 410–690 nm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Properties of Lead-Sulfide Nanoparticles in a Multicrystalline Structure

The structural and electrical properties of PbS nanoparticles (40–70 nm), produced by a chemical reaction of sodium hydroxide with lead nitrate and electrophoretically deposited onto a conductive substrate, are investigated. The composition and structure of the nanoparticles are identified by X-ray analysis as pure PbS phase with a face-centered cubic lattice. Several minima, related to plasma-resonance absorption at 10–17 μm, are observed in the frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) spectra. The layer morphology and the nanoparticle shape and sizes are determined by scanning electron and tunneling microscopy. The threedimensional topograms show that the surface fine structure is a set of faceted pyramidal spikes with a size of 5–10 nm and a density of ~400 μm{sup –2}. An analysis of the tunneling current–voltage characteristics of individual nanospikes shows the presence of low-field emission and makes it possible to determine the barrier heights (1.6–1.8 eV), which are explained within the quantum-dot (QD) model.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Field electron emission from a carbon-covered iridium tip

The formation of a carbon coating on an iridium field-emission electron emitter by benzene vapor pyrolysis has been studied. Processes on an emitting tip differ from those studied earlier on flat metal surfaces. The resulting coating either represents a monoatomic graphene film on the flat faces of the emitter or consists of graphene clusters. The field electron emission is localized on the edges and in the corners of a faceted graphite outgrowth. After alkali metals are adsorbed on the carbon coating, emissions from the flat faces anomalously grows and localizes on graphene-coated faces with alkali atoms present on the surface and under the graphene film.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Geographic variation in body size and sexual size dimorphism of North American Ratsnakes ( Pantherophis spp. s.l.)

Because body size affects nearly all facets of an organism’s life history, ecologists have long been interested in large-scale patterns of body-size variation, as well as why those large-scale patterns often differ between sexes. We explored body-size variation across the range of the sexually dimorphic Ratsnake complex (species of the genus Pantherophis Fitzinger, 1843 s.l.; formerly Elaphe obsoleta (Say in James, 1823)) in North America. We specifically explored whether variation in body size followed latitudinal patterns or varied with climatic variables. We found that body size did not conform to a climatic or latitudinal gradient, but instead, some of the populations with the largest snakes occurred near the core of the geographic range and some with the smallest occurred near the northern, western, and southern peripheries of the range. Males averaged 14% larger than females, although the degree of sexual size dimorphism varied between populations (range: 2%–25%). There was a weak trend for male body size to change in relation to temperature, whereas female body size did not. Our results indicate that relationships between climate and an ectotherm’s body size are more complicated than linear latitudinal clines and likely differ for males and females.

Zoology↗
DOE OSTI2019

Channeling and radiation experiments at SLAC

Since 2014, a SLAC-Aarhus-Ferrara-CalPoly collaboration augmented by members of ANL and MIT has performed electron and positron channeling experiments using bent silicon crystals at the SLAC End Station A Test Beam as well as the FACET accelerator test facility. These experiments have revealed a remarkable channeling efficiency of about 24% under our conditions. Volume reflection is even more efficient with almost the whole beam taking part in the reflection process. A positron experiment demonstrated quasi-channeling oscillations for the first time at high beam energy. In our most recent experiment we measured the spectrum of gamma radiation for crystal orientations covering channeling and volume reflection. We report this series of experiments supports the development of more advanced crystalline devices capable e.g. of producing narrow-band gamma rays with electron beams or studying the interaction of the electrons with the wakefields generated in the crystal at high beam intensity.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

General-Purpose Unsupervised Cyber Anomaly Detection via Non-Negative Tensor Factorization

Distinguishing malicious anomalous activities from unusual but benign activities is a fundamental challenge for cyber defenders. Prior studies have shown that statistical user behavior analysis yields accurate detections by learning behavior profiles from observed user activity. These unsupervised models are able to generalize to unseen types of attacks by detecting deviations from normal behavior, without knowledge of specific attack signatures. However, approaches proposed to date based on probabilistic matrix factorization are limited by the information conveyed in a two-dimensional space. Non-negative tensor factorization, on the other hand, is a powerful unsupervised machine learning method that naturally models multi-dimensional data, capturing complex and multi-faceted details of behavior profiles. Herein, our new unsupervised statistical anomaly detection methodology matches or surpasses state-of-the-art supervised learning baselines across several challenging and diverse cyber application areas, including detection of compromised user credentials, botnets, spam e-mails, and fraudulent credit card transactions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Innovations Toward the Valorization of Plastics Waste

Plastics are an extremely important class of materials that are prevalent in all facets of society; however, their widespread use over time, combined with limited end-of-life strategies, has led to increasing levels of waste accumulation. Although currently considered a burden, plastics waste is potentially an untapped feedstock for numerous chemical and manufacturing processes. In this study, we discuss the state of the art of approaches for valorization of plastics waste from a materials research perspective, including previous efforts to utilize plastics waste and recent innovations that have opportunities to add significant value. Although additional progress is necessary, we present several diverse capabilities and strategies for valorization that, when brought together, address end-of-life challenges for plastics at every stage of design and product consumption. In short, a materials research–based framework offers a unique perspective to address the urgent issues posed by plastics, unlocking the potential of polymers and plastics waste.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Excitons in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Their Dynamics

Understanding exciton dynamics in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is essential to unlocking the many potential applications of these materials. This review summarizes recent progress in understanding exciton photophysics and, in particular, exciton dynamics in SWCNTs. We outline the basic physical and electronic properties of SWCNTs, as well as bright and dark transitions within the framework of a strongly bound one-dimensional excitonic model. We discuss the many facets of ultrafast carrier dynamics in SWCNTs, including both single-exciton states (bright and dark) and multiple-exciton states. Photophysical properties that directly relate to excitons and their dynamics, including exciton diffusion lengths, chemical and structural defects, environmental effects, and photoluminescence photon statistics as observed through photon antibunching measurements, are also discussed. Finally, we identify a few key areas for advancing further research in the field of SWCNT excitons and photonics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Long-Term Effects of Humidity on Stainless Steel Pitting in Sea Salt Exposures

Ground 304 stainless steel (SS) samples were exposed to sea salt particles at 35 °C and two relative humidity (RH) levels for durations ranging from 1 week to 2 years. For all exposure times, pit number density and total pit volume at 40% RH were observed to be considerably greater than those at 76% RH. Statistical analysis of distributions of pit populations for both RH conditions showed that pit number density and total pit volume increased rapidly at first but slowed as exposure time increased. Cross-hatched features were observed in the 40% RH pits while ellipsoidal, faceted pits were observed at 76% RH. Optical profilometry indicated that most pits were not hemispherical. X-ray tomography provided evidence of undercutting and fissures. Piecewise curve fitting modeled the 40% RH data closely, predicting that corrosion damage would eventually plateau. However, a similar treatment of the 76% RH data suggested that corrosion damage would continuously increase, which implied that the piecewise power-law fit was limited in its ability to model atmospheric corrosion generally. Based on these observations, the operative mechanisms determining long-term corrosion behavior were hypothesized to be different depending on the RH of exposure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multiple Reaction Pathways for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction May Contribute to IrO 2 (110)’s High Activity

Density functional theory calculations in conjunction with statistical mechanical arguments are performed on the rutile IrO 2 (110) facet in order to characterize multiple reaction pathways on the surface at the highest active limit (the stoichiometric surface with all metal sites available) and at the lowest active limit (the oxygen-terminated surface). Alternative pathways to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are found, with multiple pathways determined at each step of the four proton-coupled electron transfer reaction. Of particular interest is the detailed characterization of a co-adsorption pathway utilizing neighboring, adsorbed O, OH species in order to evolve oxygen; activation energies of this pathway are <0.5 eV and therefore easily surmountable at the high operating potentials of OER. We also determined that surface Ir atoms can potentially participate in deprotonating an OOH* intermediate; the activation energy to this is 0.67 eV on the oxygen-terminated surface. These theoretical findings explain in part the high activity present in iridium oxide catalysts and also provide insight into the mechanistic pathways available on metal oxide catalysts, which may require the concerted interaction of nearest neighbor co-adsorbates to produce chemicals of interest.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Ab Initio Study of the Interface of the Solid-State Electrolyte Li 9 N 2 Cl 3 with a Li-Metal Electrode

Ab initio molecular dynamics study of an electrochemical interface between a solid-state-electrolyte Li 9 N 2 Cl 3 and a Li-metal is performed to analyze interphase formation due to electrochemical instability. An external electric field is applied to emulate the interface under charging conditions. At open circuit, we observed electrochemical stability at both sides of the interface, without electrolyte decomposition, or new phase formation, in good agreement with reported experiments. However, a structural re-accommodation takes place at both sides of the interface. Some oxidation of the surface Li-atoms takes place when Cl and N anions capture Li from the metal to complete octahedral structures, a Bader charge and electron density analyses explain the difference between Cl and N behavior. At the interface with the Li 9 N 2 Cl 3 (002) facet, the larger negative charge on low-coordinated N atoms is able to retain more Li atoms than the Cl atoms do. At charging conditions applying an external electric field (0.5 V/Å), no major changes are observed in atomic diffusion or structural changes at the interphase; however, the main difference is the change of the Li-metal crystal structure. Due to migration of Li from the metal anode to the electrolyte, vacancies are created on the anode, causing a structural re-arrangement at the anode surface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Platinum Monolayer Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation

The direct methanol oxidation fuel cell (DMFC) yields great promise as a power source. It reached that stage as a result of extraordinary contributions of Shimshon Gottesfeld, whom we are honoring by this issue of JES. We briefly comment on his main contributions and, in this context, we present new catalysts for methanol oxidation. They comprise a platinum monolayer (Pt ML ) under tensile strain that produce a large enhancement in the catalytic activity. Pt ML /Au(111), where Pt ML is stretched by over 4%, displayed a significantly enhanced activity. The tensile strain induced by Au(100) has a similar effect. In situ IRRAS study showed the oxidation of COH ads to CO 2 . CO ads was not formed, which is a major breakthrough in methanol electrocatalysis. We synthesized Au Octahedra nanocrystals (NCs) enclosed with Au{111} facets and placed a Pt ML on them. This catalyst indicates a potential for practical application. Further improvements were achieved using Ru nanoclusters as co-catalyst. In another class of nanocatalysts, core-shell PdAuM (M = Co, Fe, Ni) nanoparticles served as substrates for Pt ML . Besides enhanced activity, a cost reduction is achieved. Incorporated in DMFC optimized by Shimshon Gottesfeld and his coworkers these catalysts may facilitate a long-awaited application of this power source.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Fast Charging of Li-Ion Cells: Part II. Nonlinear Contributions to Cell and Electrode Polarization

In this series, Li/Cu microprobes are used to monitor potentials of individual electrodes in situ during high-rate charging of Li-ion cells. Here we focus on capacity-limited charging of these cells to 6C, and present a general treatment of polarization that allows for data reduction and accurate interpolation/extrapolation over a wide range of charge rates. We show that the anode impedance as measured both using this new treatment and the more established pulsed-current techniques is not significantly changed after high-rate aging of the cell, including the conditions under which Li plating has occurred. Our measurements suggest that the changes in cell and electrode polarization to a large extent occur through nonlinear effects that involve time-delayed processes. An electrochemical model that includes phase dynamics in lithiated graphite is shown to capture some but not all of the observed trends suggesting that important facets of the high-rate behavior need to be included in such models.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Editorial: Functional nanomaterials for energy applications

In order to leap forward from the energy crisis issues and improve lifestyle, we all are looking positively toward nanomaterials or nanostructures. Thus, the exploration of new features of both typical and novel materials at the nanoscale level is playing important role in the development of innovative and improved energy technologies that have the capability of conserve/convert energy at large extend. By tailoring the surface morphology of materials in its nanoforms, the functional properties can be significantly adapted and specifically combined to produce highly potent multifunctional materials for conversion, storage, and consumption of energy in various forms. The papers selected for this special issue represent a good panel for addressing various energy applications including solar cell, fuel cells, nanofluid twisters, and gas sensors. Of course, the selected topic and the papers are not an exhaustive representation of the utilization of functional nanomaterials for energy applications. Nevertheless, they represent the rich and many-facet knowledge, which we have the pleasure of sharing with the readers.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗