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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Simultaneously improved reversibility and hydrogen production of solid oxide cells through infiltrating air electrode

Among the various fuel cells, solid oxide cells (SOCs) are the unique type that can principally operate reversibly as either fuel cells to produce electricity or as an electrolyser to split water and produce green hydrogen (H 2 ). Nevertheless, the SOCs' reversibility presents enormous challenges that are manifested by the fast degradation through the cycling between fuel cell and electrolysis mode. While the La 0.8 Sr 0.2 MnO 3 /yttria-stabilized zirconia (LSM/YSZ) air electrode possesses significant advantages in terms of high electrical conductivity and high thermal stability under fuel cell mode, the SOCs with the LSM/YSZ air electrode experience rapid performance degradation with catastrophic electrode delamination shortly after switching from fuel cell to electrolysis mode. To prevent such catastrophic delamination and enable the electrolysis H 2 production, a chemical solution with the designed chemistry of SrFe 2 O 4-d was infiltrated into the LSM/YSZ air electrode. The infiltration immediately mitigates the catastrophic delamination, and the infiltrated cells exhibit significantly improved reversibility upon the electrochemical operation. Nanostructure examination reveals nanoscale cracks and second-phase nanograins formed in the air electrode from the baseline cell. By contrast, no delamination was observed at either the micron or the nanoscale for the infiltrated cell, which is attributed to the increased ion conductivity of the Fe-doped LSM mixed conductor induced by the significant interdiffusion between the LSM backbone and infiltrates. Here, this study presents a viable method for preventing electrode delamination while enhancing the durability of H 2 production and power generation for reversible fuel cell/electrolysis cell operation. It further opens new research directions of modifying the electrochemical activity of the electrode of inherently functional cells through the infiltration of the solutions with different chemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Signal propagation in reversible digital mechanics

Digital mechanics explores information processing through binary, mechanical circuits. This work demonstrates a flexural, mechanical integrated circuit (m-IC) that achieves reversible, non-reciprocal signal propagation through integrated AND logic and memory. Our approach exploits sequential bistable transitions with symmetric energy wells, tunable stiffness, impedance matching, and AND gate non-linearity, to enable signal propagation, repeatability, and reversibility. We present a generalized model of logic kinematics and energetics, validated experimentally, to study energy flows, quantify energetic limits, and identify operating regimes for reversible logic. Macro-scale experiments confirm propagation dynamics, and new fabrication methods extend the architecture to micro-scale devices. By achieving controlled, reversible signal transmission across interconnected logic and memory, this work establishes a scalable platform for robust mechanical computing and adaptive sensing.

Johnson, Hilary A. [Lawrence Livermore National La↗
DOE OSTI2025

Defect formation and microstructure tuning via proton irradiation to control electrochemical and phase reversibility in layered battery materials

The reversibility of phase transformation influences the functionality of electrode materials in batteries. In many battery materials, nanosized grains favor phase reversibility but at the cost of cyclability due to aggravated side reactions with the electrolyte. Here, in this study, we present a novel approach to enhance the phase transformation reversibility of layered oxide cathodes, exemplified by Na 2/3 Fe 1/2 Mn 1/2 O 2 through proton irradiation. In addition to forming defects, proton irradiation at sufficiently high doses can subdivide single grains into multiple nanodomains without physically rupturing them. Hence, the single grains of the material assume a pseudo-secondary particle nature without reducing the overall grain size. Preserving the grain size is advantageous, as it reduces side reactions, which is not possible with conventional grain size reduction methods. While chemical transformations and defect formation induced through proton irradiation can influence the stability of battery materials, it is expected that structural reorganization due to cycling-induced phase transformation will be contained within these nanodomains. Such confinement of phase transformation is potentially responsible for enhancing the reversibility of layered oxide materials in our study. Thus, our study suggests that grain subdivision could become an effective microstructure tuning strategy for managing electrochemical cycling-induced phase changes in battery electrodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sign reversal in magnetic field amplification by relativistic laser-driven microtube implosions

In this work, we demonstrate and explain the surprising phenomenon of sign reversal in magnetic field amplification by the laser-driven implosion of a structured target. Relativistically intense laser pulses incident on the outer surface of a microtube target consisting of a thin opaque shell surrounding a μm-scale cylindrical void drive an initial ion implosion and later explosion capable of generating and subsequently amplifying strong magnetic fields. While the magnetic field generation is enhanced and spatially smoothed by the application of a kilotesla-level seed field, the sign of the generated field does not always follow the sign of the seed field. One unexpected consequence of the amplification process is a reversal in the sign of the amplified magnetic field when, for example, the target outer cross section is changed from square to circular. Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate that sign reversal is linked to the stability of the surface magnetic field of opposite sign from the seed, which arises at the target inner surface during laser irradiation. The stability of the surface magnetic field and, consequently, the sign of the final amplified field depend sensitively on the target, laser, and seed magnetic field conditions, which could be leveraged to make laser-driven microtube implosions an attractive platform for the study of magnetic fields in high energy density plasma in regimes where sign reversal either is or is not desired.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tailoring magnetization reversal of a single-domain bar nanomagnet via its end geometry

Nanoscale single-domain bar magnets are building blocks for a variety of fundamental and applied mesoscopic magnetic systems, such as artificial spin ices, magnetic shape-morphing microbots, and magnetic majority logic gates. The magnetization reversal switching field of the bar nanomagnets is a crucial parameter that determines the physical properties and functionalities of their constituted artificial systems. Previous methods on tuning the magnetization reversal switching field of a bar nanomagnet usually relied on modifying its aspect ratio, such as its length, width, and/or thickness. Here, we show that the switching field of a bar nanomagnet saturates when extending its length beyond a certain value, preventing further tailoring of the magnetization reversal via aspect ratios. We showcase a highly tunable switching field of a bar nanomagnet by tailoring its end geometry without altering its size. This provides an easy method to control the magnetization reversal of a single-domain bar nanomagnet. It would enable new research and/or applications, such as designing artificial spin ices with additional tuning parameters, engineering magnetic microbots with more flexibility, and developing magnetic quantum-dot cellular automata systems for low power computing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

In situ observation of the magnetization configuration and reversal in cylindrical nanowires

Curvilinear magnetic structures often have unique magnetic behavior compared to their rectilinear counterparts. This is due to the unique curvilinear boundary conditions as well as the curvature induced Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya-like interaction and the curvature induced anisotropy. The effects of a curvilinear geometry are best studied in 3D structures, where the curvature can have a significant spatial extent. Of these 3D structures, the simplest structure to study is the cylindrical nanowire. Here, we have simulated the magnetization reversal in cylindrical NiFe nanowires and present in situ Lorentz TEM images to support the findings of the simulations. We studied the domain formation and reversal of nanowires with two distinct diameters that give rise to a different reversal behavior. We have, thus, found that the zero-field magnetization configuration in these wires can take on a double helix type of configuration. The reversal in these structures then proceeds through the winding and unwinding of these helical configurations rather than through domain wall propagation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Identity of the reversible hole traps in InP/ZnSe core/shell quantum dots

Density functional theory calculations are combined with time-resolved photoluminescence experiments to identify the species responsible for reversible trapping of holes following photoexcitation of InP/ZnSe/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots (QDs) having excess indium in the shell. Several possible assignments are considered, and a substitutional indium adjacent to a zinc vacancy, In 3+ /V Zn 2- , is found to be the most likely. This assignment is consistent with the observation that trapping occurs only when the QD has excess indium and is supported by experiments showing that the addition of zinc oleate or acetate decreases the extent of trapping, presumably by filling some of the vacancy traps. We also show that addition of alkyl carboxylic acids causes increased trapping, presumably by creation of additional zinc vacancies. The calculations show that either a single In 2+ ion or an In 2+ -In 3+ dimer is much too easily oxidized to form the reversible traps observed experimentally, while In 3+ is far too difficult to oxidize. Additional experimental data on InP/ZnSe/ZnS QDs synthesized in the absence of chloride demonstrates that the reversible traps are not associated with Cl - . Furthermore, a zinc vacancy adjacent to a substitutional indium is calculated to have its highest occupied orbitals about 1 eV above the top of the valence band of bulk ZnSe, in the appropriate energy range to act as reversible traps for quantum confined holes in the InP valence band. The associated orbitals are predominantly composed of p orbitals on the Se atoms adjacent to the Zn vacancy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Chirality reversal at finite magnetic impurity strength and local signatures of a topological phase transition

Here, we study the honeycomb lattice with a single magnetic impurity modeled by adding imaginary next-nearest-neighbor hopping 𝑖⁢ℎ on a single hexagon. This Haldane defect gives a topological mass term to the gapless Dirac cones and generates chirality. For a small density of defects, Neehus et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 126604 (2025)] found that the system's chirality reverses at a critical ℎ 𝑐 ≈ 0.95 associated with an unexpected tricritical point of Dirac fermions at zero defect density. We investigate this zero-density limit by analyzing a single defect and computing two experimentally relevant measures of chirality: (1) orbital magnetization via local Chern marker, a bulk probe of all occupied states; and (2) electronic currents of low-energy states. Both probes show a chirality reversal at a critical ℎ 𝑐 ≈ 0.9–1.0. Motivated by this consistency, we propose a defect-scale toy model whose low-energy states reverse their chirality at ℎ$^{'}_{c}$ ≈ 0.87. Remarkably, the same pair of zero-energy bound states also generates the critical point ℎ 𝑐 in the full impurity projected T-matrix. Our results show how the chirality reversal produced by an impurity can be observed either in local probes or in the global topology, and suggest a possible role of the microscopic defect structure at the critical point.

Chern insulators↗
DOE OSTI2023

Breakdown of helical edge state topologically protected conductance in time-reversal-breaking excitonic insulators

Gapless helical edge modes are a hallmark of the quantum spin Hall effect. Protected by time-reversal symmetry, each edge contributes a quantized zero-temperature conductance quantum G 0 ≡ e 2 /h. However, the experimentally observed conductance in WT e2 decreases below G 0 per edge already at edge lengths around 100 nm, even in the absence of explicit time-reversal breaking due to an external field or magnetic impurities. Here we show how a time-reversal breaking excitonic condensate with a spin-spiral order that can form in WT e2 leads to the breakdown of conductance quantization. We perform Hartree-Fock calculations to compare time-reversal breaking and preserving excitonic insulators. Using these mean-field models we demonstrate via quantum transport simulations that weak nonmagnetic disorder reproduces the edge length scaling of resistance observed in the experiments. We complement this by analysis in the Luttinger liquid picture, shedding additional light on the mechanism behind the quantization breakdown.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fast Dynamic Aperture Optimization with Reversal Integration

A fast method for dynamic aperture (DA) optimization of storage rings has been developed through the use of reversal integration. Even if dynamical systems have an exact reversal symme- try, a numerical forward integration di ers from its reversal. For chaotic trajectories, cumulative round-o errors are scaled, which results in an exponential growth in the di erence. The exponential e ect, intrinsically associated with the Lyapunov exponent, is a generic indicator of chaos because it represents the sensitivity of chaotic motion to an initial condition. A chaos indicator of the charged particle motion is then obtained by comparing the forward integrations of particle trajectories with corresponding reversals, a.k.a. \backward integrations." The indicator was con rmed to be ob- servable through short-term particle tracking simulations. Therefore, adopting it as an objective function could speed up optimization. The DA of the National Synchrotron Light Source II storage ring, and another test di raction-limited light source ring, were optimized using this method for the purpose of demonstration.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1972

Reversed creep deformation behavior of metals.

It is shown that the creep deformation resistance of a variety of metals is reduced by repeated reversed deformation at temperatures above 0.4 Tm, where Tm is the absolute melting temperature of each metal. The reduction of creep deformation resistance due to stress reversals is most prominent at approximately 0.5 Tm where the average creep rate may increase by as much as a factor of twenty due to 50-100 stress reversals. Metallographic studies show that the observed acceleration of creep at high temperatures is in part due to the enhancement of grain boundary sliding as a result of gradual grain boundary migration toward planes of maximum shear stress during reversed creep deformation.

Morrow, J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Analysis of the flow field generated near an aircraft engine operating in reverse thrust

A computer solution is developed to the exhaust gas reingestion problem for aircraft operating in the reverse thrust mode on a crosswind-free runway. The computer program determines the location of the inlet flow pattern, whether the exhaust efflux lies within the inlet flow pattern or not, and if so, the approximate time before the reversed flow reaches the engine inlet. The program is written so that the user is free to select discrete runway speeds or to study the entire aircraft deceleration process for both the far field and cross-ingestion problems. While developed with STOL applications in mind, the solution is equally applicable to conventional designs. The inlet and reversed jet flow fields involved in the problem are assumed to be noninteracting. The nacelle model used in determining the inlet flow field is generated using an iterative solution to the Neuman problem from potential flow theory while the reversed jet flow field is adapted using an empirical correlation from the literature. Sample results obtained using the program are included.

Ledwith, W. A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Small-scale noise tests of a slot nozzle with V-gutter target thrust reverser

The noise generated by a 2.26- by 11.43-cm slot nozzle with a V-gutter reverser, as well as some aerodynamic data on flow, thrust-reversal efficiency, and nozzle jet velocity decay were studied. The experimental data are scaled up to sizes suitable for reversing the wing flow of a 45/400-kg augmentor-wing-type STOL airplane, yielding perceived noise levels well above the 95-PNdb design goal on the 152-m sideline. The reverser, in addition to being noisier than the nozzle alone, also had a more uniform directional distribution and more high frequency noise. The maximum overall sound pressure level and the effective sound power level both varied with the sixth power of nozzle jet velocity. Preliminary experiments indicated possible sideline noise reduction by shielding.

Stone, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Noise tests of a high-aspect-ratio slot nozzle with various V-gutter target thrust reversers

The results of experiments on the noise generated by a 1.33- by 91.4 cm slot nozzle with various V-gutter reversers, and some thrust measurements are presented. The experiments were conducted with near-ambient temperature jets at nozzle pressure ratios of 1.25 to 3.0, yielding jet velocities of about 190 to 400 m/sec. At pressure ratios of 2 or less, the reversers, in addition to being noisier than the nozzle alone, also had a more uniform directional distribution and more high-frequency noise. At pressure ratios above 2, the nozzle alone generated enough shock noise that the levels were about the same as for the reversers. The maximum overall sound pressure level and the effective overall sound power level both varied with the sixth power of jet velocity over the range tested. The data were scaled up to a size suitable for reversing the wing-flap slot nozzle flow of a 45 400-kg augmentor-wing-type airplane on the ground, yielding perceived noise levels well above 95 PNdB on a 152-m sideline.

Stone, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Performance of a model cascade thrust reverser for short-haul applications

Aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics are presented for a cowlmounted, model cascade thrust reverser suitable for short-haul aircraft. Thrust reverser efficiency and the influence on fan performance were determined from isolated fan-driven models under static and forward velocity conditions. Cascade reverser noise characteristics were determined statically in an isolated pipe-flow test, while aerodynamic installation effects were determined with a wind-tunnel, fan-powered airplane model. Application of test results to short-haul aircraft calculations demonstrated that such a cascade thrust reverser may be able to meet both the performance and noise requirements for short-haul aircraft operation. However, aircraft installation effects can be quite significant.

Dietrich, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Results from cascade thrust reverser noise and suppression experiments

Results from experimental work on model scale cascade reversers with cold airflow are presented. Sound power levels, directivity, and spectral characteristics for cascade reversers are reported. Effect of cascade exit area ratio, vane profile shape, and emission arc are discussed. Model equivalent diameters varied from 3 to 5 inches; pressure ratios ranged from 1.15 to 3.0. Depending on the reverser type, acoustic power was proportional to the 4.5- to 6-th power of ideal jet velocity. Reverser noise peaked at higher frequency and was more omnidirectional than nozzle-alone jet noise. Appreciable reduction in sideline noise was obtained from plane shields.

Gutierrez, O. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Calculations of unsteady turbulent boundary layers with flow reversal

The results are presented of a series of computational experiments aimed at studying the characteristics of time-dependent turbulent boundary layers with embedded reversed-flow regions. A calculation method developed earlier was extended to boundary layers with reversed flows for this purpose. The calculations were performed for an idealized family of external velocity distributions, and covered a range of degrees of unsteadiness. The results confirmed those of previous studies in demonstrating that the point of flow reversal is nonsingular in a time-dependent boundary layer. A singularity was observed to develop downstream of reversal, under certain conditions, accompanied by the breakdown of the boundary-layer approximations. A tentative hypothesis was advanced in an attempt to predict the appearance of the singularity, and is shown to be consistent with the calculated results.

Nash, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The 727 airplane target thrust reverser static performance model test for refanned JT8D engines

The results of a scale model static performance test of target thrust reverser configurations for the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft JT8D-100 series engine are presented. The objective of the test was to select a series of suitable candidate reverser configurations for the subsequent airplane model wind tunnel ingestion and flight controls tests. Test results indicate that adequate reverse thrust performance with compatible engine airflow match is achievable for the selected configurations. Tapering of the lips results in loss of performance and only minimal flow directivity. Door pressure surveys were conducted on a selected number of lip and fence configurations to obtain data to support the design of the thrust reverser system.

Chow, C. T. P.↗