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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 OSTI2020

Unraveling the Topological Phase of ZrTe 5 via Magnetoinfrared Spectroscopy

For materials near the phase boundary between weak and strong topological insulators (TIs), their band topology depends on the band alignment, with the inverted (normal) band corresponding to the strong (weak) TI phase. Here, taking the anisotropic transition-metal pentatelluride ZrTe 5 as an example, we show that the band inversion manifests itself as a second extremum (band gap) in the layer stacking direction, which can be probed experimentally via magnetoinfrared spectroscopy. Specifically, we find that the band anisotropy of ZrTe 5 features a slow dispersion in the layer stacking direction, along with an additional set of optical transitions from a band gap next to the Brillouin zone center. Furthermore, our work identifies ZrTe 5 as a strong TI at liquid helium temperature and provides a new perspective in determining band inversion in layered topological materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Compositions and methods for thermoelectric ceramics

In one aspect, the disclosure relates to thermoelectric ceramic oxide compositions comprising a CaMnO 3 ceramic. In a further aspect, the disclosed thermoelectric ceramic oxide compositions can dramatically increase the energy conversion efficiency of thermoelectric through a combination of modifying the chemistry of precursor materials, and simultaneously introducing a metal oxide liquid phase during sintering. In a further aspect, the present disclosure pertains to thermoelectric ceramic oxide compositions comprising a metal doped CaMnO 3 having with a metal oxide grain boundary phase; wherein the metal is selected from group 13, group 14, group 15, group 16, or a rare earth element. In a still further aspect, the disclosure relates to methods for making the thermoelectric ceramic oxide materials. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

Song, Xueyan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Global quantum phase diagram and non-Abelian chiral spin liquid in a spin- 3 2 square-lattice antiferromagnet

Since strong quantum fluctuations are essential for the emergence of quantum spin liquids, there have been extensive exploration and identification of spin liquid candidates in spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ systems, while such activities are rare in higher spin systems. Here we report an example of non-Abelian chiral spin liquid emerging in a spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ Heisenberg model on a square lattice. By tuning Heisenberg exchange interaction and scalar chirality interaction, we map out a quantum phase diagram enclosing three conventional magnetic orders and a chiral spin liquid based on density-matrix renormalization group studies. The nature of the spin liquid is identified as a long-sought bosonic version of the Read-Rezayi state that supports non-Abelian Fibonacci anyonic statistics, identified by the ground state entanglement spectrum. Significantly, we establish that the non-Abelian chiral spin liquid emerges through the enlarged local degrees of freedom and enhanced quantum fluctuations near the classical phase boundaries of competing magnetic orders. Finally, our numerical discovery of an exotic quantum spin liquid in a spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ system suggests a route for discovering fractionalized quantum phases in frustrated higher spin magnetic compounds.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2023

Group-equivariant autoencoder for identifying spontaneously broken symmetries

We introduce the group-equivariant autoencoder (GE autoencoder), a deep neural network (DNN) method that locates phase boundaries by determining which symmetries of the Hamiltonian have spontaneously broken at each temperature. We use group theory to deduce which symmetries of the system remain intact in all phases, and then use this information to constrain the parameters of the GE autoencoder such that the encoder learns an order parameter invariant to these “never-broken” symmetries. This procedure produces a dramatic reduction in the number of free parameters such that the GE-autoencoder size is independent of the system size. We include symmetry regularization terms in the loss function of the GE autoencoder so that the learned order parameter is also equivariant to the remaining symmetries of the system. By examining the group representation by which the learned order parameter transforms, we are then able to extract information about the associated spontaneous symmetry breaking. We test the GE autoencoder on the 2D classical ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Ising models, finding that the GE autoencoder (1) accurately determines which symmetries have spontaneously broken at each temperature; (2) estimates the critical temperature in the thermodynamic limit with greater accuracy, robustness, and time efficiency than a symmetry-agnostic baseline autoencoder; and (3) detects the presence of an external symmetry-breaking magnetic field with greater sensitivity than the baseline method. Lastly, we describe various key implementation details, including a quadratic-programming-based method for extracting the critical temperature estimate from trained autoencoders and calculations of the DNN initialization and learning rate settings required for fair model comparisons.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

A compartmentalized model of multiphase chemical kinetics

There are significant challenges in predicting multiphase chemical kinetics due to the complex coupling of reaction and mass transport across a phase boundary (i.e., interface). Here, we describe a framework for predicting multiphase kinetics that embeds the elementary kinetic steps of reaction, solvation, and diffusion into a coarse grain spatial description of two phases. The model is constructed to bridge the short-timescale interfacial dynamics observed in molecular simulations with the longer timescales observed in kinetic experiments. A simple set of governing differential equations is derived, which, when solved numerically or analytically, yield accurate predictions of multiphase kinetics in microdroplets. Although the equations are formulated for gas-liquid reactions, the underlying conceptual framework is general and can be applied to transformations in other two-phase systems (solid-liquid, liquid-liquid, etc.).

Chemical kinetics and dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Microscopic piezoelectric behavior of clamped and membrane (001) PMN-30PT thin films

Bulk single-crystal relaxor-ferroelectrics, like Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O- 3 -PbTiO 3 (PMN-PT), are widely known for their large piezoelectricity. This is attributed to polarization rotation, which is facilitated by the presence of various crystal symmetries for compositions near a morphotropic phase boundary. Relaxor-ferroelectric thin films, which are necessary for low-voltage applications, suffer a reduction in their piezoelectric response due to clamping by the passive substrate. To understand the microscopic behavior of this adverse phenomenon, we employ the AC electric field driven in-operando synchrotron x-ray diffraction on patterned device structures to investigate the piezoelectric domain behavior under an electric field for both a clamped (001) PMN-PT thin film on Si and a (001) PMN-PT membrane released from its substrate. In the clamped film, the substrate inhibits the field-induced rhombohedral (R) to tetragonal (T) phase transition resulting in a reversible R to Monoclinic (M) transition with a reduced longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d 33 < 100 pm/V. Releasing the film from the substrate results in recovery of the R to T transition and results in a d 33 > 1000 pm/V. Here, using diffraction with spatial mapping, we find that lateral constraints imposed by the boundary between the active and inactive materials also inhibit the R to T transition. Phase-field calculations on both clamped and released PMN-PT thin films simulate our experimental findings. Resolving the suppression of thin film piezoelectric response is critical to their application in piezo-driven technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Non-volatile electric-field control of inversion symmetry

Competition between ground states at phase boundaries can lead to significant changes in properties under stimuli, particularly when these ground states have different crystal symmetries. A key challenge is to stabilize and control the coexistence of symmetry-distinct phases. Using BiFeO 3 layers confined between layers of dielectric TbScO 3 as a model system, we stabilize the mixed-phase coexistence of centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric BiFeO 3 phases at room temperature with antipolar, insulating and polar semiconducting behaviour, respectively. Application of orthogonal in-plane electric (polar) fields results in reversible non-volatile interconversion between the two phases, hence removing and introducing centrosymmetry. Counterintuitively, we find that an electric field 'erases' polarization, resulting from the anisotropy in octahedral tilts introduced by the interweaving TbScO 3 layers. Consequently, this interconversion between centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric phases generates changes in the non-linear optical response of over three orders of magnitude, resistivity of over five orders of magnitude and control of microscopic polar order. Here our work establishes a platform for cross-functional devices that take advantage of changes in optical, electrical and ferroic responses, and demonstrates octahedral tilts as an important order parameter in materials interface design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Learning two-phase microstructure evolution using neural operators and autoencoder architectures

Abstract Phase-field modeling is an effective but computationally expensive method for capturing the mesoscale morphological and microstructure evolution in materials. Hence, fast and generalizable surrogate models are needed to alleviate the cost of computationally taxing processes such as in optimization and design of materials. The intrinsic discontinuous nature of the physical phenomena incurred by the presence of sharp phase boundaries makes the training of the surrogate model cumbersome. We develop a framework that integrates a convolutional autoencoder architecture with a deep neural operator (DeepONet) to learn the dynamic evolution of a two-phase mixture and accelerate time-to-solution in predicting the microstructure evolution. We utilize the convolutional autoencoder to provide a compact representation of the microstructure data in a low-dimensional latent space. After DeepONet is trained in the latent space, it can be used to replace the high-fidelity phase-field numerical solver in interpolation tasks or to accelerate the numerical solver in extrapolation tasks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of surface steps on chemical ordering in the subsurface of Cu(Au) solid solutions

Atomic steps are typically assumed to only influence surface phenomena of solids. In contrast, in this paper we show, using in-situ atomic-resolution electron microscopy observations and atomistic modeling, the pronounced effect from surface stepsin inducing compositional and structural evolution in the subsurface of a Cu(Au) solid solution. We find that Au surface segregation results in a stacked sequence of Cu-Au ordered phases in the subsurface. The presence of a monatomic step at the surface induces the formation of an anti-phase boundary that extends from the surface step to deeper layers by maintaining the same composition profile associated with each terrace. The bunching of surface steps induces chemical disordering of the Cu-Au ordered phases in the subsurface region of the bunched steps. These results demonstrate the instant propagation of surface dynamics of atomic steps into the subsurface region and can find broader applicability in utilizing surface defects to tune the composition and structure in the subsurface of alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Kinetic pathways of ionic transport in fast-charging lithium titanate

Fast-charging batteries typically use electrodes capable of accommodating lithium continuously by means of solid-solution transformation because they have few kinetic barriers apart from ionic diffusion. One exception is lithium titanate (Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 ), an anode exhibiting extraordinary rate capability apparently inconsistent with its two-phase reaction and slow Li diffusion in both phases. Through real-time tracking of Li+ migration using operando electron energy-loss spectroscopy, we reveal that facile transport in Li 4+x Ti 5 O 12 is enabled by kinetic pathways comprising distorted Li polyhedra in metastable intermediates along two-phase boundaries. Our work demonstrates that high-rate capability may be enabled by accessing the energy landscape above the ground state, which may have fundamentally different kinetic mechanisms from the ground-state macroscopic phases. This insight should present new opportunities in searching for high-rate electrode materials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of Disconnection Content Associated with Grain Boundary Motion in Tungsten

The objective of this study is to develop a new computational methodology to predict the motion of grain boundaries in tungsten associated with recrystallization. This approach accounts recently discovered high-temperature grain boundary phases in tungsten and other metals and alloys. This paper reports the initial work in the project that developed a novel technique for molecular dynamics to characterize disconnections, dislocation-like defects in grain boundaries that mediate grain boundary motion. Grain boundary properties are needed for a thermomechanical model of recrystallization of tungsten for magnetic fusion applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Entropy Oxide Relaxor Ferroelectrics

Relaxor ferroelectrics are important in technological applications due to strong electromechanical response, energy storage capacity, electrocaloric effect, and pyroelectric energy conversion properties. Current efforts to discover and design materials in this class generally rely on substitutional doping as slight changes to local compositional order can significantly affect the Curie temperature, morphotropic phase boundary, and electromechanical responses. In this work, we demonstrate that moving to the strong limit of compositional complexity in an ABO 3 perovskite allows stabilization of relaxor responses that do not rely on a single narrow phase transition region. Entropy-assisted synthesis approaches are utilized to synthesize single-crystal Ba(Ti 0.2 Sn 0.2 Zr 0.2 Hf 0.2 Nb 0.2 )O 3 [Ba(5B)O] films. The high levels of configurational disorder present in this system are found to influence dielectric relaxation, phase transitions, nanopolar domain formation, and Curie temperature. Temperature-dependent dielectric, Raman spectroscopy, and second-harmonic generation measurements reveal multiple phase transitions, a high Curie temperature of 570 K, and the relaxor ferroelectric nature of Ba(5B)O films. The first-principles theory calculations are used to predict possible combinations of cations to design relaxor ferroelectrics and quantify the relative feasibility of synthesizing these highly disordered single-phase perovskite systems. Further, the ability to stabilize single-phase perovskites with various cations on the B-sites offers possibilities for designing high-performance relaxor ferroelectric materials for piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and electrocaloric applications.

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

Active Fluids Form System-Spanning Filamentary Networks

Recent experimental realizations of liquid-liquid phase separation of active liquid crystals have offered an insight into the interaction between phase separation, ubiquitous in soft matter and biology, and chaotic active flows. Here, in this Letter, we use continuum theory to examine phase separation of an active liquid crystal and a passive fluid and report two new results. First, we provide an analytical derivation of the activity-induced suppression of the phase boundary of the coexistence region—a result first reported in simulations and experiments. We show that the shift in the critical point is a result of the balance between self-stirring active flows and phase-separating diffusive fluxes. Second, we show that this same balance is responsible for dramatically changing the morphology of the phase separated state, resulting in the emergence of a new mixed active phase consisting of a dynamical filamentous active network that invades the entire system area, trapping droplets of passive material. This structure exists even for very low volume fractions of active material. Our work provides an important step towards the goal of understanding how to use activity as a new handle for sculpting interfaces.

active nematics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Doping Metallic Grain Boundaries to Control Atomic Structure and Damage Tolerance

Grain boundaries often act as sites for crack and void nucleation during plastic deformation of metallic materials. While it is known that grain boundary character and structure can greatly influence this damage nucleation process, the current level of control over such details is limited. The objective of this project was to obtain a fundamental understanding of how metallic grain boundary structure can be controlled through intelligent doping, with the idea of inducing planned amorphous grain boundary phases or complexions. The effect of amorphous complexion structure on dislocation accommodation mechanisms was studied, to improve the field’s understanding of damage nucleation at a promising type of interface. Different microstructural descriptors were studied, as grain boundaries can have large variations and complexity of local structure, and influence the mechanical damage resistance of these features was tested. Nanocrystalline systems that contain amorphous grain boundary complexions were prioritized, as these have more extreme variations in interfacial structure and damage tolerance, with an emphasis on isolating the importance of complexion population (type, thickness, etc.), network topology, local structure, and local chemistry. This research used a combination of computational, experimental, and characterization techniques to isolate and understand the importance of nanoscale grain boundary structure and interfacial chemistry. Amorphous grain boundary complexions were found to clearly increase a material’s resistance to mechanical damage, with the local distribution of structural short-range order within the complexions found to be an important descriptor for damage and the proposed focus of future work in this area.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Extracted Water Induces Concentration Fluctuations in Model Ternary Liquid–Liquid Extraction System

Organic phase aggregation and phase splitting are two important (and connected) phenomena in liquid–liquid extraction of metal ions. Previously, we demonstrated how structure in binary mixtures of extractant and diluent originates from concentration fluctuations associated with the so-called “third-phase formation” liquid–liquid phase instability. For more complex systems, we sought to understand how extracted aqueous components affect these concentration fluctuations. Here, in this study, we use small-angle X-ray scattering and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate organic phase structural changes upon contact with water in a model ternary system of water/alkane/extractant. Critical exponents were determined from scattering with temperature variation and were consistent with mean field values. Then, by controlling the water content in the organic phase through direct dissolution of fixed quantities at constant temperature, we relate the observed increase in the fluctuation length scale to changes to the spinodal temperature of the third-phase formation phase boundary. We find a roughly linear relationship between water concentration and the spinodal temperature and a similar slope in that relationship for different linear alkane diluents. This suggests that the mechanism by which water extraction impacts the organic phase structure is to enhance concentration fluctuations through the introduction of additional polar extractant-water complexes, which increases the spinodal temperature and thereby decreases the reduced temperature, i.e., the distance to the instability. This explanation for how solutes induce aggregation in liquid–liquid extraction organic phases may extend to more complex systems, explaining the large increases in correlation lengths reported under high acid and metal loading.

Bonnett, Brittany L. [Argonne National Laboratory ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multiphase tin equation of state using density functional theory

In this work, we perform density functional theory (DFT) calculations of five solid phases and the liquid phase of tin. The calculations include cold curves of the five solid phases, phonon calculations in the quasiharmonic approximation over a range of volumes for each solid phase, and DFT-based molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) simulations of the liquid phase, including those of the melt curve using the Z method. Using the DFT results, we construct a tabular multiphase sesame equation of state for tin, referred to as sesame 2162. Comparisons to experimental data are made and show a high level of agreement in isobaric data, isothermal data, shock data, and phase boundary measurements, including measurements of the melt curve. The 2162 EOS will be useful for hydrodynamics simulations and has been designed with an eye toward hydrodynamics simulations that incorporate materials strength models and allow for modeling of the kinetics of phase transitions.

3-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2025

Metastable Clusters and Competitive Solvation Tune Ion Pairing at Liquid Interfaces

The balance of hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions underlies emergent phenomena in complex multicomponent chemical systems. Here, we show that a supposedly ‘non–interacting’ nonpolar phase can be used to competitively solvate amphiphilic molecules at an oil/aqueous interface. This solvation, as probed by surface specific nonlinear spectroscopy and simulations, results in a molecularly thin corrugated phase boundary featuring metastable assemblies that alter the hydrogen bonding networks of water and the apparent ‘hard/soft’ descriptors used to describe ionic interactions. We show that competitive solvation enhances amphiphile mobility, opening up otherwise energetically inaccessible complexes that transiently interact with aqueous phase ions. These transient species impact ensemble binding affinities and may represent the molecular agents responsible for aspects of ionic transport and function. In conclusion, the result of this work highlights how seemingly unrelated nonpolar interactions feedback onto aqueous phase chemical phenomena, providing a pathway to tune phase separation and self-assembly to access new reaction pathways using interfaces for a range of chemical and biological systems.

Anions↗
DOE OSTI2022

First principles prediction of the Al-Li phase diagram including configurational and vibrational entropic contributions

The whole Al-Li phase diagram is predicted from first principles calculations and statistical mechanics including the effect of configurational and vibrational entropy. The formation enthalpy of different configurations at different temperatures was accurately predicted by means of cluster expansions that were fitted from first principles calculations. The vibrational entropic contribution of each configuration was determined from the bond length vs. bond stiffness relationships for each type of bond and the Gibbs free energy of the different phases was obtained as a function of temperature from Monte Carlo simulations. The predicted phase diagram was in excellent agreement with the currently accepted experimental one in terms of the stable (AlLi, Al 2 Li 3 , AlLi 2 , Al 4 Li 9 ) and metastable (Al 3 Li) phases, of the phase boundaries between them and of the maximum stability temperature of line compounds. In addition, it provided accurate information about the gap between Al 3 Li and AlLi solvus lines. Finally, the influence of the vibrational entropy on the correct prediction of the phase diagram is discussed. Overall, the methodology shows that accurate phase diagrams of alloys of technological interest can be predicted from first principles calculations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗