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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

Managing photon flux in a miniaturized photoionization detector

Miniaturized photoionization detectors (PIDs) are used in conjunction with gas chromatography systems to detect volatile compounds in gases by collecting the current from the photoionized gas analytes. PIDs should be inexpensive and compatible with a wide range of analyte species. One such PID is based on the formation of a He plasma in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), which generates vacuum UV (VUV) photons from excited states of He to photoionize gas analytes. There are several design parameters that can be leveraged to increase the ionizing photon flux to gas analytes to increase the sensitivity of the PID. To that end, the methods to maximize the photon flux from a pulsed He plasma in a DBD-PID were investigated using a two-dimensional plasma hydrodynamics model. The ionizing photon flux originated from the resonance states of helium, He(3P) and He(2 1 P), and from the dimer excimer He 2 *. While the photon flux from the resonant states was modulated over the voltage pulse, the photon flux from He 2 * persisted long after the voltage pulse passed. Several geometrical optimizations were investigated, such as using an array of pointed electrodes. However, increasing the capacitance of the dielectric enclosing the plasma chamber had the largest effect on increasing the VUV photon fluence to gas analytes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Method to create cuprate tunnel junctions with atomically sharp interfaces

In this work, we present a method for producing tunnel junctions from cuprate thin films grown by atomic layer-by-layer molecular beam epitaxy (ALL-MBE). Our approach utilizes microfabrication processing and relies on the atomically precise interfaces provided by the ALL-MBE synthesis technique. The method is suitable for a wide range of junction dimensions and materials and allows for more complex designs such as superconducting quantum interference devices and junction arrays. Fully superconducting electrodes ensure that the contact resistances in the devices created by this method remain very low.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Connectivity from spike trains of neocortex neuron populations

A principal goal of this work is to determine connectivity in cultured neuronal networks as they mature so that we can understand the relationship between connectivity and behavior in biologically generated neuronal networks. A challenge of this aim is that we are able to measure only a relatively small number of neurons. In our lab the cultures are grown on a arrays of 60 electrodes. With current techniques we can distinguish at most a handful of spiking neurons while mature cultures comprise more than 10K neurons. At this stage in the work we have collected data during development of cultures over a full 30 minutes of sub-millisecond samples.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

High Efficacy, Long Lifetime Flexible White OLED Lighting Panels

In this project, OLEDWorks and partners made significant progress in advancing OLED light extraction technology. Improving light extraction efficiency remains one of the most important research topics for OLEDs. Current state-of-the-art white OLED products extract only about 50% of the photons that are generated within the device. Promising new light extraction concepts, such as those based on sub electrode micro lens arrays (SEMLAs), were explored in this project with the potential to achieve extraction efficiency of 60% or higher. Flexible thin glass substrates with integrated SEMLAs were successfully fabricated and scaled to large area. When combined with optimized high efficiency stacked white OLED structures, we achieved the program goals of 120 LPW efficacy and long lifetime more than 100,000 hours.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

An Experimental Platform for Pulsed-Power Driven Magnetic Reconnection

We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle, L. G. et al. PRL, 116, 225001]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows for the duration of the generator current pulse (250 ns), resulting in a long-lasting reconnection layer. The layer exists for long enough to allow evolution of complex processes such as plasmoid formation and movement to be diagnosed by a suite of high spatial and temporal resolution laser-based diagnostics. We can access a wide range of magnetic reconnection regimes by changing the wire material or moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays. We present results with aluminium and carbon wires, in which the parameters of the inflows and the layer which forms are significantly different. By moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays, we change how strongly the inflows are driven. This enables us to study both symmetric reconnection in a range of different regimes, and asymmetric reconnection.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

An experimental platform for pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection

We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on the exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 225001 (2016)]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows for the duration of the generator current pulse (250 ns), resulting in a long-lasting reconnection layer. The layer exists for long enough to allow the evolution of complex processes such as plasmoid formation and movement to be diagnosed by a suite of high spatial and temporal resolution laser-based diagnostics. We can access a wide range of magnetic reconnection regimes by changing the wire material or moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays. We present results with aluminium and carbon wires, in which the parameters of the inflows and the layer that forms are significantly different. By moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays, we change how strongly the inflows are driven. This enables us to study both symmetric reconnection in a range of different regimes and asymmetric reconnection.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Quantifying biogeochemical heterogeneity in soil systems

Soils are increasingly perceived as complex systems with properties and biogeochemical functions that vary on millimeter scales. Quantitative information about the resulting biogeochemical heterogeneity is needed to improve process knowledge and to render biogeochemical models more mechanistic. Here in this work, we demonstrate how standardized arrays of Pt-electrodes can be used to quantify biogeochemical or ‘functional’ soil heterogeneity, defined as the extent to which the soil is subdivided into microenvironments. Our case study confirmed the validity of this approach for a soil sequence consisting of a well-drained, a moderately well drained and a poorly drained Mollisol. We found that (i) variations in soil moisture content are the immediate cause for variations in functional heterogeneity, with (ii) soil porosity influencing rates and the magnitude of change. We posit that the deployment of standardized arrays of Pt-electrodes will offer an affordable option to monitor the general metabolic state of the soil system and simultaneously quantify the functional heterogeneity of underlying processes at any point in time. Such information should be useful to improve quantitative estimates of processes as diverse as trace gas emissions, trace gas consumption, reductive dehalogenation and mobilization of metals in the subsurface biosphere. Lastly, we recommend that parameterization of functional soil heterogeneity be included in long-term soil monitoring programs such as Superfund Sites, Critical Zone Observatories, Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) sites.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Electrode Degradation Study of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes on a 3D Integrated Current Collector

Assembling nanostructured materials into rationally designed mesoscale arrays for use as electrodes in electrochemical systems is anticipated to reveal new challenges, particularly concerning new synthesis modes, architecture-related performance limitations, and degradation mechanisms. In this work, we focus on characterizing the degradation of densely packed vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) grown directly on a metallic foam to form a self-supporting, hierarchically porous 3D electrode architecture with an integrated current collector. The degradation pathways of this electrode, observed with microscopy and semi in-situ XPS after cycling as a redox scaffold in aprotic Li—O2 and Li—S batteries, shed new light on important design, performance, and degradation considerations for integrated mesoscale electrode architectures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Oriented nanotube electrodes for lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors

An electrode having an oriented array of multiple nanotubes is disclosed. Individual nanotubes have a lengthwise inner pore defined by interior tube walls which extends at least partially through the length of the nanotube. The nanotubes of the array may be oriented according to any identifiable pattern. Also disclosed is a device featuring an electrode and methods of fabrication.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Electron spin-based information shuttling for a computer system

A silicon metal-oxide semiconductor device transports a spin-polarized single electron. An array of silicon quantum dot electrodes is arranged atop a silicon dioxide layer of a silicon metal-oxide semiconductor. The array comprises at least a first electrode and a second electrode adjacent to the first electrode. A transport control logic for individually controls a voltage applied to the electrodes. The transport control logic is configured to gradually decrease a voltage at the first electrode while gradually increasing a voltage at the second electrode. Localization of the single electron is adiabatically transferred from the first electrode to the second electrode while maintaining a desired energy gap between a ground state and a first excited state of the single electron.

Gamble, IV, John King↗

Rapid Charge Transport in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Made from Vertically Aligned Single-Crystal Rutile TiO2 Nanowires

A rapid solvothermal approach was used to synthesize aligned 1D single-crystal rutile TiO2 nanowire (NW) arrays on transparent conducting substrates as electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. The NW arrays showed a more than 200 times faster charge transport (see picture) and a factor four lower defect state density than conventional rutile nanoparticle films.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Plasmon-induced charge separation at two-dimensional gold semishell arrays on SiO{sub 2}@TiO{sub 2} colloidal crystals

Photoelectrodes based on plasmonic Au semishell (or halfshell) arrays are developed. A colloidal crystal consisting of SiO{sub 2}@TiO{sub 2} core-shell particles is prepared on a TiO{sub 2}-coated transparent electrode. A Au semishell (or halfshell) array is deposited by sputtering or evaporation on the colloidal crystal. An electrode with the semishell (or halfshell) array exhibits negative photopotential shifts and anodic photocurrents under visible light at 500-800 nm wavelengths in an aqueous electrolyte containing an electron donor. In particular, hydroquinone and ethanol are good electron donors. The photocurrents can be explained in terms of plasmon-induced charge separation at the Au-TiO{sub 2} interface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Novel methods for improvement of a Penning ion source for neutron generator applications

Penning ion source performance for neutron generator applications is characterized by the atomic ion fraction and beam current density, providing two paths by which source performance can be improved for increased neutron yields. We have fabricated a Penning ion source to investigate novel methods for improving source performance, including optimization of wall materials and electrode geometry, advanced magnetic confinement, and integration of field emitter arrays for electron injection. Effects of several electrode geometries on discharge characteristics and extracted ion current were studied. Additional magnetic confinement resulted in a factor of two increase in beam current density. First results indicate unchanged proton fraction and increased beam current density due to electron injection from carbon nanofiber arrays.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Stopping potential and ion beamlet control for micro-resistive patterning through sub-Debye length plasma apertures

Focused multiple ion beamlets from a microwave plasma source is investigated for localized micron-scale modification of substrates in a patterned manner. Plasma electrodes (PE) with an array of through apertures having aperture diameters of the order of plasma Debye length are investigated for generating the beamlets. Extraction through sub-Debye length apertures becomes possible when the PE is kept at floating potential. It is found that the current – voltage characteristics of the extracted beamlets exhibits interesting features such as a space-charge-limited region that has a different behaviour than the conventional Child-Langmuir’s law and an extraction-voltage-limited region that does not undergo saturation but exhibits a Schottky-like behaviour similar to that of a vacuum diode. A switching technique to control the motion of individual beamlets is developed and the stopping potential determined. The beamlets are thereafter used to create localized micro-resistive patterns. The experimental results are compared with simulations and reasonably good agreement is obtained.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗