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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 1,729 records · Page 96
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Influence of Xe{sub 2}{sup +} ions on the micro-hollow cathode discharge driven by thermionic emission

The influence of Xe{sub 2}{sup +} dimer ions and excited Xe* atoms on the hollow cathode discharge driven by electron thermionic emission is studied using two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo Collisions modeling. A comparison with the results of two-component (electrons and Xe{sup +} ions) plasma modeling showed that the presence of the Xe{sub 2}{sup +} dimer ions and excited Xe* atoms in the plasma affects the plasma parameters (density, potential, and ion fluxes toward the cathode). The influence of Xe{sub 2}{sup +} ions and Xe* atoms on the plasma sheath parameters, such as thickness and the ion velocity at the sheath edge, is analyzed.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Self-pulsing of hollow cathode discharge in various gases

In this paper, we investigate the self-pulsing phenomenon of cavity discharge in a cylindrical hollow cathode in various gases including argon, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, and air. The current-voltage characteristics of the cavity discharge, the waveforms of the self-pulsing current and voltage as well as the repetition frequency were measured. The results show that the pulsing frequency ranges from a few to tens kilohertz and depends on the averaged current and the pressure in all gases. The pulsing frequency will increase with the averaged current and decrease with the pressure. The rising time of the current pulse is nearly constant in a given gas or mixture. The self-pulsing does not depend on the external ballast but is affected significantly by the external capacitor in parallel with the discharge cell. The low-current self-pulsing in hollow cathode discharge is the mode transition between Townsend and glow discharges. It can be described by the charging-discharging process of an equivalent circuit consisting of capacitors and resistors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Observations of a mode transition in a hydrogen hollow cathode discharge using phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy

Two distinct operational modes are observed in a radio frequency (rf) low pressure hydrogen hollow cathode discharge. The mode transition is characterised by a change in total light emission and differing expansion structures. An intensified CCD camera is used to make phase resolved images of Balmer α emission from the discharge. The low emission mode is consistent with a typical γ discharge, and appears to be driven by secondary electrons ejected from the cathode surface. The bright mode displays characteristics common to an inductive discharge, including increased optical emission, power factor, and temperature of the H{sub 2} gas. The bright mode precipitates the formation of a stationary shock in the expansion, observed as a dark region adjacent to the source-chamber interface.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Understanding local degradation of cycled Ni-rich cathode materials at high operating temperature for Li-ion batteries

We utilize transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with electron energy loss spectroscopy to investigate local degradation that occurs in Li{sub x}Ni{sub 0.8}Co{sub 0.15}Al{sub 0.05}O{sub 2} cathode materials (NCA) after 30 cycles with cutoff voltages of 4.3 V and 4.8 V at 55 °C. NCA has a homogeneous crystallographic structure before electrochemical reactions; however, we observed that 30 cycles of charge/discharge reactions induced inhomogeneity in the crystallographic and electronic structures and also introduced porosity particularly at surface area. These changes were more noticeable in samples cycled with higher cutoff voltage of 4.8 V. Effect of operating temperature was further examined by comparing electronic structures of oxygen of the NCA particles cycled at both room temperature and 55 °C. The working temperature has a greater impact on the NCA cathode materials at a cutoff voltage of 4.3 V that is the practical the upper limit voltage in most applications, while a cutoff voltage of 4.8 V is high enough to cause surface degradation even at room temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Higher harmonics generation in relativistic electron beam with virtual cathode

The study of the microwave generation regimes with intense higher harmonics taking place in a high-power vircator consisting of a relativistic electron beam with a virtual cathode has been made. The characteristics of these regimes, in particular, the typical spectra and their variations with the change of the system parameters (beam current, the induction of external magnetic field) as well as physical processes occurring in the system have been analyzed by means of 3D electromagnetic simulation. It has been shown that the system under study demonstrates the tendency to the sufficient growth of the amplitudes of higher harmonics in the spectrum of current oscillations in the VC region with the increase of beam current. The obtained results allow us to consider virtual cathode oscillators as promising high power mmw-to-THz sources.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Neutron scattering study on cathode LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} and solid electrolyte 5(Li{sub 2}O)(P{sub 2}O{sub 5})

Neutron scattering is very important technique in order to investigate the energy storage materials such as lithium-ion battery. The unique advantages, neutron can see the light atoms such as Hydrogen, Lithium, and Oxygen, where those elements are negligible by other corresponding X-ray method. On the other hand, the energy storage materials, such as lithium ion battery is very important for the application in the electric vehicles, electronic devices or home appliances. The battery contains electrodes (anode and cathode), and the electrolyte materials. There are many challenging to improve the existing lithium ion battery materials, in order to increase their life time, cyclic ability and also its stability. One of the most scientific challenging is to investigate the crystal structure of both electrode and electrolyte, such as cathodes LiCoO{sub 2}, LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} and LiFePO{sub 4}, and solid electrolyte Li{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. Since all those battery materials contain Lithium ions and Oxygen, the used of neutron scattering techniques to study their structure and related properties are very important and indispensable. This article will review some works of investigating electrodes and electrolytes, LiMn{sub 2}O{sub 4} and 5(Li{sub 2}O)(P{sub 2}O{sub 5}), by using a high resolution powder diffraction (HRPD) at the multipurpose research reactor, RSG-Sywabessy of the National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN), Indonesia.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Current waveform reconstruction from an explosively emissive cathode at a subnanosecond voltage front

We describe the methods of registration and reconstruction of an envelope of explosive electron emission current from the edge of a cylindrical cathode, which provides a picosecond time reference of the emitted electron beam with a subnanosecond voltage front applied to the accelerating gap. Variation of the front steepness allows one to determine the beam onset time in the experiments, where a collector-type current probe can be used. The advanced method of dynamic time domain reflectometry provides exact data on electron beam current rise and track changes in the cathode emission from pulse to pulse with a precision of less than 10 ps.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Experimental investigation of a 1 kA/cm{sup 2} sheet beam plasma cathode electron gun

In this paper, a cold cathode based sheet-beam plasma cathode electron gun is reported with achieved sheet-beam current density ∼1 kA/cm{sup 2} from pseudospark based argon plasma for pulse length of ∼200 ns in a single shot experiment. For the qualitative assessment of the sheet-beam, an arrangement of three isolated metallic-sheets is proposed. The actual shape and size of the sheet-electron-beam are obtained through a non-conventional method by proposing a dielectric charging technique and scanning electron microscope based imaging. As distinct from the earlier developed sheet beam sources, the generated sheet-beam has been propagated more than 190 mm distance in a drift space region maintaining sheet structure without assistance of any external magnetic field.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Spatio-temporal characteristics of self-pulse in hollow cathode discharge

The characteristics of self-pulse in hollow cathode discharge at low pressure have been investigated. The voltage-current (V-I) curves, the influence of ballast resistor on the self-pulses, and the evolution of current and voltage are measured. Both the axial and radial spatio-temporal discharge images of self-pulse are recorded. The results show that there exists the hysteresis effect in the present hollow cathode discharge. The high value of ballast resistors is favourable for the observation of self-pulses. The process of the self-pulse can be divided into three stages from the temporal discharge images, i.e., the pre-discharge, the transition from mainly axial electric field to mainly radial electric field, and the decaying process. The self-pulse is suggested to originate from the mode transition of the discharge in essence.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Note: A new regulation method of stable operation of high power cathode ion source

The hot cathode ion source will tend to be unstable when operated with high power and long pulse. In order to achieve stable operation, a new regulation method based on the arc power (discharge power) feedback control was designed and tested on the hot cathode ion source test bed with arc discharge and beam extraction. The results show that the new regulation method can achieve stable arc discharge and beam extraction. It verifies the success of feedback control of arc source with arc power.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Influence of the floating potential on micro-hollow cathode operation

The influence of a keeper electrode with a floating potential on the operation of a micro-hollow cathode is studied using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collisions model. The floating potential is determined self-consistently, taking into account the electron and ion charges collected by the keeper and the potential induced by the plasma non-compensated space charge. It is shown that the parameters of the micro-hollow cathode operation vary significantly, according to whether the keeper potential is floating or has a specified constant value.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

High performance planar p-i-n perovskite solar cells with crown-ether functionalized fullerene and LiF as double cathode buffer layers

Double cathode buffer layers (CBLs) composed of fullerene derivative functionalized with a crown-ether end group in its side chain (denoted as PCBC) and a LiF layer were introduced between the PCBM acceptor layer and the top cathode in planar p-i-n perovskite solar cells (pero-SCs) based on CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}PbI{sub 3−X}Cl{sub X}. The devices with the PCBC/LiF double CBLs showed significant improvements in power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long-term stability when compared to the device with LiF single CBL. Through optimizing the spin-coating speed of PCBC, a maximum PCE of 15.53% has been achieved, which is approximately 15% higher than that of the device with single LiF CBL. The remarkable improvement in PCE can be attributed to the formation of a better ohmic contact in the CBL between PCBC and LiF/Al electrode arising from the dipole moment of PCBC, leading to the enhanced fill factor and short-circuit current density (J{sub sc}). Besides the PCE, the long-term stability of the devices with PCBC interlayer is also superior to that of the device with LiF single CBL, which is due to the more effective protection for the perovskite/PCBM interface.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

An ultrafast electron microscope gun driven by two-photon photoemission from a nanotip cathode

We experimentally and numerically investigate the performance of an advanced ultrafast electron source, based on two-photon photoemission from a tungsten needle cathode incorporated in an electron microscope gun geometry. Emission properties are characterized as a function of the electrostatic gun settings, and operating conditions leading to laser-triggered electron beams of very low emittance (below 20 nm mrad) are identified. The results highlight the excellent suitability of optically driven nano-cathodes for the further development of ultrafast transmission electron microscopy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

An X-band high-impedance relativistic klystron amplifier with an annular explosive cathode

The feasibility of employing an annular beam instead of a solid one in the X-band high-impedance relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA) is investigated in theory and simulation. Small-signal theory analysis indicates that the optimum bunching distance, fundamental current modulation depth, beam-coupling coefficient, and beam-loaded quality factor of annular beams are all larger than the corresponding parameters of solid beams at the same beam voltage and current. An annular beam RKA and a solid beam RKA with almost the same geometric parameters are compared in particle-in-cell simulation. Output microwave power of 100 MW, gain of 50 dB, and power conversion efficiency of 42% are obtained in an annular beam RKA. The annular beam needs a 15% lower uniform guiding magnetic field than the solid beam. Our investigations demonstrate that we are able to use a simple annular explosive cathode immersed in a lower uniform magnetic field instead of a solid thermionic cathode in a complicated partially shielding magnetic field for designing high-impedance RKA, which avoids high temperature requirement, complicated electron-optical system, large area convergence, high current density, and emission uniformity for the solid beam. An equivalent method for the annular beam and the solid beam on bunching features is proposed and agrees with the simulation. The annular beam has the primary advantages over the solid beam that it can employ the immersing uniform magnetic field avoiding the complicated shielding magnetic field system and needs a lower optimum guiding field due to the smaller space charge effect.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Instability of plasma plume of micro-hollow cathode discharge

The micro-hollow cathode gas discharge driven by thermionic emission is studied using the two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collisions simulation. The electron current is extracted from the plasma plume penetrating into the keeper–anode space through a small keeper orifice from the cathode-keeper space. The results of simulations and a simplified analytical model showed that the plasma density and extracted current can exhibit deep modulation in the range of frequencies of tens of MHz. This modulation appears when the space-charge limited current between the plume boundary and the anode exceeds the plasma thermal electron current through the orifice.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Existence of a virtual cathode close to a strongly electron emissive wall in low density plasmas

The interaction between an electron emissive wall, electrically biased in a plasma, is revisited through a simple fluid model. We search for realistic conditions of the existence of a non-monotonic plasma potential profile with a virtual cathode as it is observed in several experiments. We mainly focus our attention on thermionic emission related to the operation of emissive probes for plasma diagnostics, although most conclusions also apply to other electron emission processes. An extended Bohm criterion is derived involving the ratio between the two different electron densities at the potential minimum and at the background plasma. The model allows a phase-diagram analysis, which confirms the existence of the non-monotonic potential profiles with a virtual cathode. This analysis shows that the formation of the potential well critically depends on the emitted electron current and on the velocity at the sheath edge of cold ions flowing from the bulk plasma. As a consequence, a threshold value of the governing parameter is required, in accordance to the physical nature of the electron emission process. The latter is a threshold wall temperature in the case of thermionic electrons. Experimental evidence supports our numerical calculations of this threshold temperature. Besides this, the potential well becomes deeper with increasing electron emission, retaining a fraction of the released current which limits the extent of the bulk plasma perturbation. This noninvasive property would explain the reliable measurements of plasma potential by using the floating potential method of emissive probes operating in the so-called strong emission regime.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

The influence of reduced graphene oxide on electrical conductivity of LiFePO{sub 4}-based composite as cathode material

LiFePO{sub 4} is fascinating cathode active materials for Li-ion batteries application because of their high electrochemical performance such as a stable voltage at 3.45 V and high specific capacity at 170 mAh.g{sup −1}. However, their low intrinsic electronic conductivity and low ionic diffusion are still the hindrance for their further application on Li-ion batteries. Therefore, the efforts to improve their conductivity are very important to elevate their prospecting application as cathode materials. Herein, we reported preparation of additional of reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) into LiFePO{sub 4}-based composite via hydrothermal method and the influence of rGO on electrical conductivity of LiFePO{sub 4}−based composite by varying mass of rGO in composition. Vibration of LiFePO{sub 4}-based composite was detected on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra, while single phase of LiFePO{sub 4} nanocrystal was observed on X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern, it furthermore, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images showed that rGO was distributed around LiFePO4-based composite. Finally, the 4-point probe measurement result confirmed that the optimum electrical conductivity is in additional 2 wt% rGO for range 1 to 2 wt% rGO.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Examination of ionic wind and cathode sheath effects in a E-field premixed flame with ion density measurements

The effect of the ionic wind on a premixed methane-air flame under a DC electric field is studied via mapping of the ion density with Langmuir probes. Ion densities were observed to increase near the burner with increasing electrode voltage up to 6 kV. Past this electrode supply voltage, ion densities ceased increasing and began to decline in some locations within the premixed flame. The increased ion density is caused by an increase in ionic wind force and cathode sheath thickness. The plateau in density is due to the cathode sheath fully encompassing the flame front which is the ion source, thereby collecting all ions in the flame. The spatial density data support the ionic wind hypothesis and provide further explanation of its limits based on the plasma sheath.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗