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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 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Understanding the Mechanism of High Capacitance in Nickel Hexaaminobenzene-Based Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks in Aqueous Electrolytes

Recently, intrinsically conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have demonstrated promising performance in fast-charging energy storage applications and may outperform some current electrode materials (e.g., porous carbons) for supercapacitors in terms of both gravimetric and volumetric capacitance. In this report, we examine the mechanism of high capacitance in a nickel hexaaminobenzene-based MOF (NiHAB). Using a combination of in situ Raman and X-Ray absorption spectroscopies, as well as detailed electrochemical studies in a series of aqueous electrolytes, we demonstrate in this work that the charge storage mechanism is in fact a pH-dependent surface pseudocapacitance, and, unlike typical inorganic systems, where transition metals change oxidation state during charge/discharge cycles, NiHAB redox activity is ligand-centered.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Versatile Graphitized Carbon Nanofibers in Energy Applications

Graphitized carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are the allotropic forms of carbon that offer exceptional electrical conductivity, high aspect ratio, large surface-to-volume ratio, flexibility, mechanical robustness, and structural stability. These properties render CNFs as useful materials in energy applications, including water electrocatalysis and electrochemical energy storage devices (EESDs). Graphitized CNFs manifest huge versatility in EESDs and have been employed as electrode materials, as supports for other electrode materials, and conductive additives. This perspective summarizes the production methods, structural aspects, and energy applications of graphitized CNFs. Different design strategies have been employed to produce CNFs with diverse and distinct morphologies and structures. Their fabrication methods, along with precursors and dopants or cocatalysts, impact the overall structural, functional, and topographical properties. Recent developments on the state-of-the-art interests of graphitic CNFs in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs), supercapacitors, and water splitting have explored the many possibilities in energy sectors. Finally, the assembly and functioning of CNFs in water splitting and EESDs as well as primary challenges are discussed in this perspective.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

AI for Materials Design and Discovery Using Atomistic Scale Information [Industrial and Governmental Activities]

The design and discovery of materials with desired functional properties is pivotal to the scientific mission of the United States Department of Energy (US-DOE) [1], which includes within its portfolio several important applications for the national economy and security. Importantly, these applications range from: renewable energy (e.g., solar cells, organic photovoltaics, and organic light-emitting diodes), energy storage (e.g., batteries and supercapacitors), and carbon capture and sequestration, to synthesis of manufacturing of new materials (e.g., drugs, or materials with desired conductivity, thermal stability, and catalytic activity), and nuclear energy (e.g., highly performant nuclear fuels and materials with improved nuclear shielding properties).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Commissioning of the Power Supplies and Coils of the SMART Tokamak

The small aspect ratio tokamak (SMART) is a spherical tokamak (ST) that offers unique capabilities for studying the potential of negative triangularity. It has been designed, constructed, and is currently being operated by the Plasma Science Fusion Technology (PSFT) Laboratory at the University of Seville. SMART has a total of 21 coils, organized into seven independent circuits and driven by five modular power supplies (PS). The PS operation relies on switching converter technology based on IGBT and supercapacitors (SCs). The PS delivers predefined current waveforms to the copper coil system consisting of the central solenoid (CS), 12 toroidal field (TF) coils, three series pairs of poloidal field (PF) coils, and two independent PF coils. This study details the commissioning and validation of the PS toroidal and solenoid coils, as well as the assembly of coils in SMART. The maximum rated current and slope were measured, along with the series impedance of the coils, the output current ripple, and the noise levels. The internal parameters of the SCs were measured, and optimized current profiles were proposed to enhance overall performance. A comparison has been made between the theoretical values and the experimental results, providing insight into the performance of the PS and areas for improvement.

Power electronics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Upcycling Polyethylene Waste Into Advanced Carbon Materials Used for Energy Storage Applications

Upcycling plastic into advanced carbons, such as graphite and graphene, offers attractive options to manage waste streams by converting the plastic into carbon electrode materials for energy storage devices. However, polyethylene (PE) is notoriously difficult to upcycle because it decomposes into light gases at approximately 350-400 °C which prevents processing it at higher temperatures to convert it into advanced carbons. This work addresses this challenge by oxidatively functionalizing PE between 300-330 C which stabilizes it for higher temperature processing into graphite & graphene. In addition, the graphite & graphene are tested as lithium-ion battery or supercapacitor electrodes where their electrochemical performances outperform commercial materials.

graphene↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electro-mechanical Modeling of Wind Turbine and Energy Storage Systems with Enhanced Inertial Response

In this paper, a coordinated control scheme for wind turbine generator (WTG) and supercapacitor energy storage system (ESS) is proposed for temporary frequency supports. Inertial control is designed by using generator torque limit considering the security of WTG system, while ESS releases its energy to compensate the sudden active power deficit during the recovery process of turbine rotor. WTG is modeled using the fatigue, aerodynamic, structure, turbulence (FAST) code, which identifies the mechanical loadings of the turbine and addresses electro-mechanical interactions in the wind energy system. A damping controller is augmented to the inertial control to suppress severe mechanical oscillations in the shaft and tower of the turbine during frequency supports. Furthermore, the result of small-signal stability analysis shows that the WTG-ESS tends to improve the stability of the whole multi-energy power grid. The major contributions of this paper will be validated by utilizing the proposed control method that combines the grid support capability and maintaining the integrity of structural design of the turbine for normal operations.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Oxidation‐Driven Enhancement of Intrinsic Properties in MXene Electrodes for High‐Performance Flexible Energy Storage

Abstract MXenes, a novel class of 2D materials, exhibit great potential for energy storage due to their unique layered structure and excellent electrical conductivity. However, improving the intrinsic electrochemical storage capacity of MXenes remains a significant challenge, often requiring the incorporation of other Faradaic materials. Oxidation, in particular, poses a key issue that impacts the capacity of MXene devices. In this study, controlled oxidation is employed to create nanoscale holes within MXene, transforming them into holey MXene (H‐MXene) nanosheets. These porous structures shorten ion transport distances and increase ion transport pathways, thereby significantly enhancing the electrochemical storage capacity of MXenes. The resulting H‐MXene micro‐supercapacitors (MSCs) demonstrate exceptional performance, achieving an aerial capacitance 2.5 times that of unmodified MXene electrodes, along with excellent cycling stability, retaining 91.7% of their capacitance after 10 000 cycles. Additionally, a flexible integrated system combining energy storage and sensing functionalities is developed, showcasing its scalability in self‐powered sensing applications. The incorporation of self‐healing polyurethane (PU) enables the device to retain 90% of its storage capacity after undergoing self‐healing. This study presents a novel approach for developing high‐performance MXene‐based energy storage devices and provides valuable insights into efficient ion transport and storage in 2D materials.

Cheng, Yongfa [Department of Materials Science and↗
DOE OSTI2020

Supramolecular Energy Materials

Self-assembly is a bioinspired strategy to craft materials for renewable and clean energy technologies. In plants, the alignment and assembly of the light-harvesting protein machinery in the green leaf optimize the ability to efficiently convert light from the sun to form chemical bonds. In artificial systems, strategies based on self-assembly using noncovalent interactions offer the possibility to mimic this functional correlation among molecules to optimize photocatalysis, photovoltaics, and energy storage. Here, one of the long-term objectives of the field described here as supramolecular energy materials is to learn how to design soft materials containing light-harvesting assemblies and catalysts to generate fuels and useful chemicals. Supramolecular energy materials also hold great potential in the design of systems for photovoltaics in which intermolecular interactions in self-assembled structures, for example, in electron donor and acceptor phases, maximize charge transport and avoid exciton recombination. Possible pathways to integrate organic and inorganic structures by templating strategies and electrodeposition to create materials relevant to energy challenges including photoconductors and supercapacitors are also described. The final topic discussed is the synthesis of hybrid perovskites in which organic molecules are used to modify both structure and functions, which may include chemical stability, photovoltaics, and light emission.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Recent Advances in Functional Materials through Cellulose Nanofiber Templating

Advanced templating techniques have enabled delicate control of both nano- and microscale structures and have helped thrust functional materials into the forefront of society. Cellulose nanomaterials are derived from natural polymers and show promise as a templating source for advanced materials. Use of cellulose nanomaterials in templating combines nanoscale property control with sustainability, an attribute often lacking in other templating techniques. Use of cellulose nanofibers for templating has shown great promise in recent years, but previous reviews on cellulose nanomaterial templating techniques have not provided extensive analysis of cellulose nanofiber templating. Cellulose nanofibers display several unique properties, including mechanical strength, porosity, high water retention, high surface functionality, and an entangled fibrous network, all of which can dictate distinctive aspects in the final templated materials. Many applications exploit the unique aspects of templating with cellulose nanofibers that help control the final properties of the material, including, but not limited to, applications in catalysis, batteries, supercapacitors, electrodes, building materials, biomaterials, and membranes. A detailed analysis on the use of cellulose nanofibers templating is provided, addressing specifically how careful selection of templating mechanisms and methodologies, combined toward goal applications, can be used to directly benefit chosen applications in advanced functional materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Operando Tailoring of Defects and Strains in Corrugated β-Ni(OH) 2 Nanosheets for Stable and High-Rate Energy Storage

Nickel hydroxide represents a technologically important material for energy storage, such as hybrid supercapacitors. It has two different crystallographic polymorphs, α- and β-Ni(OH) 2 , showing advantages in either theoretical capacity or cycling/rate performance, manifesting a trade-off trend that needs to be optimized for practical applications. In this work, the synergistic superiorities in both activity and stability of corrugated β-Ni(OH) 2 nanosheets are demonstrated through an electrochemical abuse approach. With ≈91% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles, the corrugated β-Ni(OH) 2 nanosheets can deliver a gravimetric capacity of 457 C g -1 at a high current density of 30 A g -1 , which is nearly two and four times that of the regular α- and β-Ni(OH) 2 , respectively. Operando spectroscopy and finite element analysis reveal that greatly enhanced chemical activity and structural robustness can be attributed to the in situ tailored lattice defects and the strain-induced highly curved micromorphology. This work demonstrates a multi-scale defect-and-strain co-design strategy, which is helpful for rational design and tuned fabrication of next-generation electrode materials for stable and high-rate energy storage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

A General Strategy for Bandgap Engineering Via Anion‐Lattice Doping in High‐Entropy Oxides

Bandgap engineering is a critical tool for tailoring the electronic properties of functional materials, traditionally achieved by modifying the cation sublattice. Here, a generalizable strategy is introduced that leverages facile anion-lattice doping in high entropy materials to modulate the bandgap in high-entropy metal oxides (HEMOs). By incorporating nitrogen into a single-phase high-entropy metal oxide/nitride (HEMO:HEMN) solid solution, a substantial bandgap reduction is achieved from 3.55 eV (HEMO) to ≈2.46 eV (HEMO:HEMN), significantly enhancing electronic conductivity. Unlike conventional bandgap tuning approaches that rely on cation substitution or heterojunction formation, this method exploits anion-mediated entropy stabilization, enabling uniform bandgap narrowing across the entire solid solution. This anion-lattice engineering strategy is broadly applicable to high-entropy systems, providing a new pathway for designing energy materials with tailored electronic properties. The resulting HEMO:HEMN solid solution exhibits a tenfold increase in capacitance and capacity compared to HEMO in supercapacitor and lithium-ion battery tests, demonstrating the transformative potential of anion-driven bandgap modulation for next-generation energy storage and conversion technologies.

energy storage↗
DOE OSTI2025

Subvoxel Control of Fiber Orientation via Multidirectional Shearing in 3D Printing

Anisotropy, the characteristic of materials exhibiting different properties based on their direction, is widespread in nature. Conventional manufacturing techniques often fall short in recreating such complex anisotropy. While 3D printing allows for precise fiber deposition in anisotropic composites, previous studies have only achieved bulk reorientation of fibers at the voxel level in two dimensions. This limits the replication of localized 3D anisotropies found in natural materials. To address this, a novel 3D printing technique is presented that enables subvoxel control of fiber orientation in all three directions using multidirectional shearing via nozzle rotation and inclination. The fiber orientation control in these experimental tests is driven by a numerical model, enabling a fully digital approach to program microstructures within a strand. This programmability is demonstrated through mechanical and thermal tests, illustrating a localized and controllable response to external stimuli. Achieving such complex anisotropy holds potential across several fields, including wearables and biomedical implants, lightweight composite structures, and energy storage technologies such as batteries and supercapacitors.

3D printing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Enhanced Rate Capability of Ion‐Accessible Ti 3 C 2 T x ‐NbN Hybrid Electrodes

Abstract Although 2D Ti 3 C 2 T x is a good candidate for supercapacitors, the restacking of nanosheets hinders the ion transport significantly at high scan rates, especially under practical mass loading (>10 mg cm −2 ) and thickness (tens of microns). Here, Ti 3 C 2 T x ‐NbN hybrid film is designed by self‐assembling Ti 3 C 2 T x with 2D arrays of NbN nanocrystals. Working as an interlayer spacer of Ti 3 C 2 T x , NbN facilitates the ion penetration through its 2D porous structure; even at extremely high scan rates. The hybrid film shows a thickness‐independent rate performance (almost the same rate capabilities from 2 to 20 000 mV s −1 ) for 3 and 50 µm thick electrodes. Even a 109 µm thick Ti 3 C 2 T x ‐NbN electrode shows a better rate performance than 25 µm thick pure Ti 3 C 2 T x electrodes. This method may pave a way to controlling ion transport in electrodes composed of 2D conductive materials, which have potential applications in high‐rate energy storage and beyond.

Wang, Hao↗
DOE OSTI2023

Engineering of Self‐Aggregation‐Resistant MnO 2 Heterostructure with A Built‐in Field for Enhanced High‐Mass‐Loading Energy Storage

Abstract Although MnO 2 has been intensively investigated for energy storage, further applications are limited by van der Waals force‐triggered self‐aggregation that always leads to poorly exposed active sites and compromised reaction dynamics, especially under high‐mass‐loading conditions. Herein, by synergistically coupling interfacial modulation with the Kirkendall effect, this work achieves in situ topological structure reorganization of MnOOH toward the high‐aspect‐ratio MnO 2 heterostructure (Heter‐MnO 2 ) with fully exposed active sites, which is ready to assemble into self‐supporting high‐mass‐loading film (30 mg cm −2 ) with restrained self‐aggregation. Theoretical calculation and dynamics analysis results demonstrate the generation of the built‐in field within the heterostructure, thus enhancing the electronic‐transfer and ionic‐adsorption/transport rates. As such, the 30 mg cm −2 Heter‐MnO 2 electrode achieves a superior areal capacitance of 4762 mF cm −2 at 1 mA cm −2 and a sound rate performance (79% at 100 mA cm −2 ) comparable to those of low‐mass‐loading/thin‐film electrodes. As a proof of concept, the fabricated planar interdigital quasi‐solid‐state symmetric micro‐supercapacitor (MSC) based on the Heter‐MnO 2 electrode can deliver a remarkable areal capacitance of 181 mF cm −2 and a considerable volumetric energy density of 10.3 mWh cm −3 . This methodology highlights the promise of surface/interface chemistry modulation for the configuration of easy‐to‐integrate hierarchical nanostructures to better meet practical energy applications.

Chemistry↗
DOE OSTI2025

Recent Progress on Cerium Oxide‐Based Nanostructures for Energy and Environmental Applications

Cerium oxide (CeO 2 ) photo/electrocatalysts for energy storage and environmental applications have attracted considerable interest because of stable crystal structure, low toxicity/cost, superior chemical stability, stable redox (Ce 3+ /Ce 4+ ) pairs, abundant oxygen defects, and capablility for intense interaction with other materials. However, the wide bandgap and poor conductivity lower the CeO 2 photo/electrocatalytic and energy storage performances. To overcome these limitations, various modification strategies (tuning morphology, doping or loading of metal nanoparticles, and heterostructures) have been applied for the improvement of photocatalytic (removal of organic contaminants from water/wastewater and H 2 production and CO 2 reduction reactions) efficiency, electrocatalytic (hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions and CO 2 reduction reactions), and energy storage performances (supercapacitor) of CeO 2 ‐based materials. Herein, the recent progress of CeO 2 ‐based materials for electro(photo)catalysis and energy storage applications has been discussed. The challenges and possible direction of CeO 2 ‐based materials for electro(photo)catalysis and energy storage applications have been emphasized. Furthermore, this comprehensive review is expected to advance the design of CeO 2 ‐based materials and their applications in electro(photo)catalysis and energy.

Ray, Schindra Kumar [Department of Chemistry North↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sulfidation and selenidation of nickel nanoparticles

Abstract Transition metal chalcogenide nanoparticles (NPs) are of interest for energy applications, including batteries, supercapacitors, and electrocatalysis. Many methods have been established for synthesizing Ni NPs, and conversion chemistry to form Ni oxide and phosphides from template Ni NPs is well‐understood. Sulfidation and selenidation of Ni NPs have been much less explored, however. We report a method for the conversion of Ni template NPs into sulfide and selenide product NPs using elemental sulfur, 1‐hexadecanthiol, thiourea, trioctylphosphine sulfide, elemental selenium, and selenourea. While maintaining mole ratios of 2 mmol sulfur/selenium precursor: mmol Ni, products with phases of Ni 3 S 2 , Ni 9 S 8 , NiS, NiSO 4 ·6H 2 O, Ni 3 S 4 , Ni 3 Se 2 , and NiSe have been obtained. The products have voids that form through the Kirkendall effect during interdiffusion. Trends relating the chemical properties of the precursors to the phases of the products have been identified. While some precursors contained phosphorus, there was no significant incorporation of phosphorus in any of the products. An increase of the NP size during sulfidation and selenidation is consistent with ripening. The application of Ni sulfide and selenide NPs as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction is also demonstrated.

Lynch, Brian B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Emerging Modification Technologies of Lignin-based Activated Carbon toward Advanced Applications

Lignin-based activated carbon (LAC) is a promising high-quality functional material due to high surface area, abundant porous structure, and various functional groups. Modification is the most important step to functionalize LAC by altering its porous and chemical properties. Here, this Review summarizes the state-of-the-art modification technologies of LAC toward advanced applications. Promising modification approaches are reviewed to display their effects on the preparation of LAC. The multiscale changes in the porosity and the surface chemistry of LAC are fully discussed. Advanced applications are then introduced to show the potential of LAC for supercapacitor electrode, catalyst support, hydrogen storage, and carbon dioxide capture. Finally, the mechanistic structure-function relationships of LAC are elaborated. These results highlight that modification technologies play a special role in altering the properties and defining the functionalities of LAC, which could be a promising porous carbon material toward industrial applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗