Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Sizing”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Coexisting Phases in NaNbO 3 Thin Films Influenced by Epitaxial Strain and Size Effects

Coherently strained NaNbO 3 thin films are synthesized across a range of thicknesses, enabling the study of size effects under epitaxial strain in antiferroelectric thin films without relaxation. Competing antiferroelectric‐ferroelectric phases are observed, leading to the stabilization of phase coexistence, multistate switching with strong retention and fatigue performance, and potential avenues to boost energy storage properties.

antiferroelectrics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Mechanistic insights into low-temperature oxidation of carbon fibers: Influence of hydrogen defects and crystallite size

Although oxidation mechanisms have been exhaustively studied for graphite, similar analyses of carbon fibers are comparatively sparse. Most prior work has focused on quantifying weight loss or assessing protective surface coatings designed to slow oxidation. The use of optical spectroscopic techniques for oxidation analyses is comparatively unexplored, but such techniques could provide an early indicator of fiber oxidation that would undermine carbon fiber performance. Here, in this work, we applied Raman spectroscopy to study oxidation-induced spectral alterations in 16 carbon fiber types from 7 manufacturers oxidized at 300 °C for 72 h, 400 °C for 8 h, and 500 °C for 1 h. We connect these results with structural properties of the carbon fibers obtained through wide-angle X-ray scattering, identifying a linear dependence between the reactivity of carbon fibers and the crystallite size of the unperturbed fibers. We then demonstrate that substituted hydrogen defects are likely removed from the fiber surface during oxidation and use the relative defect concentration to predict the Raman spectral change as a function of temperature and time, assuming Arrhenius behavior.

Carbon fiber↗
DOE OSTI2025

Deploying advanced supervisory control strategies to small- and medium-sized commercial buildings: Case study and lessons learned

Deploying advanced supervisory control strategies (ASCSs) in small- and medium-sized commercial buildings (SMBs) is vital but faces two issues: (1) a lack of building control and communication infrastructure (BCCI) in SMBs and (2) the significant engineering efforts required to implement and configurate ASCSs. Despite hindering the large-scale adoption of ASCSs in SMBs, these issues have not been adequately explored in the literature, which tends to focus more on feasibility than scalability. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of these two issues through a case study of an occupied SMB in eastern Tennessee of the United States. Specifically, we design and implement a BCCI for the studied building with commercial off-the-shelf products to accommodate the needs for deploying ASCSs. Here, we then deploy two ASCSs—a rule-based setback control and a model predictive control (MPC)—with the BCCI and evaluate their performance throughout the summer of 2024. This study reveals that the main bottlenecks in establishing BCCIs for SMBs are the high initial cost (∼$56/m 2 ) and communication delays (up to 9 min). Additionally, the assessment of the two ASCSs indicates that the majority (∼75 %) of the engineering effort required for implementation and configuration is spent on model identification, debugging, and tuning.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Field evaluation of zone temperature response to control actions in cooling systems of small and medium-sized office buildings

The response of zone temperature to control actions in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, known as zone temperature response, has been a central focus of building control research owing to its crucial role in determining control performance. However, existing studies often overlook the representativeness of the buildings being studied, resulting in unclear generalizations. In addition, those studies tend to focus on a single aspect of the response. Furthermore, this paper provides the first comprehensive characterization of zone temperature response applicable to a clearly defined building sector—small and medium-sized office (SMO) buildings (<5000 m 2 ) in the US. Specifically, two representative SMO buildings, selected based on the US Department of Energy’s commercial prototype buildings, were studied. Field tests were conducted over a 2-month period during summer, and the collected data were analyzed with two key metrics—delay time and nonlinearity index—to quantify zone temperature response, capturing both short- and long-term patterns. Beyond this quantitative characterization, the analysis reveals that the HVAC system type, rather than factors like floor area or zone location, is the primary determinant of the zone temperature response. Drawing on the field test results, we recommend that building control strategies monitor zone temperatures at intervals shorter than 10 minutes, configure controls independently for VAV- and RTU-served zones, and implement nonlinear methods at the zone level—particularly for VAV zones—rather than across the entire building.

Building control↗
DOE OSTI2026

Interplay of Quantum Size Effect and Tensile Strain on Surface Morphology of β-Sn(100) Islands

The quantum size effect (QSE) and strain effect are two key factors influencing the surface morphology of thin films, which can increase film surface roughness through QSE-induced thickness oscillation and strain-induced island formation, respectively. Surface roughness usually manifests in the early stages of film growth and diminishes beyond a critical thickness. In this work, we employ molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow β-Sn(100) islands with varying thickness N on bilayer graphene-terminated 6H-SiC(0001) substrates. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements reveal an inverse surface roughness effect that highlights the interplay of QSE and misfit strain in shaping the surface morphology of β-Sn(100) islands. For N ≤ 10, the islands exhibit flat surfaces, while for N ≥ 26, the island surfaces become corrugated and patterned. For the intermediate range, i.e., 12 ≤ N ≤ 24, both flat and patterned surfaces coexist, with the percentage coverage of the patterned surface oscillating as a function of N. By performing density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that the unusual surface pattern evolution in our MBE-grown β-Sn(100) islands is a result of the interplay between QSE-induced surface roughing and tensile strain-induced smoothening effect.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Strong‐Yet‐Ductile Eutectic Alloys Employing Cocoon‐Like Nanometer‐Sized Dislocation Cells

Abstract Eutectic alloys (EAs) with superior fluidity are known to be the easiest to cast into high‐quality ingots, making them the alloys of choice for making large‐sized structural parts. However, conventional EAs (CEAs) have never reached strength–ductility combinations on par with the best in other alloy categories. Via thermomechanical processing of cast Ni‐32.88wt%Fe‐9.53wt%Al CEAs, a cocoon‐like nano‐meshed (as fine as 26 nm) network of dislocations (CNN‐D) is produced via recovery annealing, through the rearrangement of cold‐work‐accumulated dislocations anchored by dense pre‐existing nanoprecipitates. In lieu of traditional plasticity mechanisms, such as TWIP and TRIP, the CNN‐D is particularly effective in eutectic lamellae with alternating phases, as it instigates nanometer‐spaced planar slip bands that not only dynamically refine the microstructure but also transmit from the FCC (face‐centered‐cubic) layers into the otherwise brittle B2 layers. These additional mechanisms for strengthening and strain hardening sustain stable tensile flow, resulting in a striking elevation of both strength and ductility to outrank not only all previous CEAs, but also the state of the art—additively manufactured eutectic high‐entropy alloys. The CNN‐D thus adds a novel microstructural strategy for performance enhancement, especially for compositionally complex alloys that increasingly make use of nanoprecipitates or local chemical order.

Chemistry↗
DOE OSTI2025

High‐Speed Embedded Ink Writing of Anatomic‐Size Organ Constructs

Embedded ink writing (EIW) is an emerging 3D printing technique that fabricates complex 3D structures from various biomaterial inks but is limited to a printing speed of ∼10 mm s −1 due to suboptimal rheological properties of particulate-dominated yield-stress fluids when used as liquid baths. In this work, a particle-hydrogel interactive system to design advanced baths with enhanced yield stress and extended thixotropic response time for realizing high-speed EIW is developed. In this system, the interactions between particle additive and three representative polymeric hydrogels enable the resulting nanocomposites to demonstrate different rheological behaviors. Accordingly, the interaction models for the nanocomposites are established, which are subsequently validated by macroscale rheological measurements and advanced microstructure characterization techniques. Filament formation mechanisms in the particle-hydrogel interactive baths are comprehensively investigated at high printing speeds. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed high-speed EIW method, an anatomic-size human kidney construct is successfully printed at 110 mm s −1 , which only takes ∼4 h. This work breaks the printing speed barrier in current EIW and propels the maximum printing speed by at least 10 times, providing an efficient and promising solution for organ reconstruction in the future.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Coordination of Anle138b to Silver Results in Selective Reduction of a C-terminal truncated Alpha-synuclein Protein and Increased Aggregate Size

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent age-related neurodegenerative syndrome, partially thought to be caused by a decrease in alpha-synuclein proteostasis. Anle138b = 5-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-3-(3-bromophenyl)-1H-pyrazole (HL), is undergoing clinical trials as a promising mitigator of alpha-synuclein aggregation. Because complexation to metals is known to modulate the activity of several drugs, we have prepared and characterized: H2L(ClO4), [CuI(µ-L)]3, and [AgI(µ-L)]3. To better understand the bioviability of these compounds, we monitored their effects in a cell culture model of alpha-synuclein protein aggregation using human alpha-synuclein pre-formed fibrils (PFFs). Using two different anti-alpha-synuclein antibodies, our data suggests that [AgI(µ-L)]3 decreases a C-terminal truncated protein that is approximately 12.4 kDa, as well as increases the size and alters the shape of PFF-induced aggregates. This indicates that [AgI(µ-L)]3 impacts aggregation in a manner different from HL and may serve as a novel tool for studying C-terminal truncation related aggregation chemistry.

Rue, Kelly L.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Volcano‐like Activity Trends in Au@Pd Catalysts: The Role of Pd Loading and Nanoparticle Size

The addition of palladium (Pd) to preformed gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) enables the formation of core‐shell structures with enhanced catalytic performance in oxidation reactions. However, predicting the precise palladium content required to achieve maximum catalytic activity remains difficult based on current understanding. Herein, Pd was systematically introduced onto titania‐supported Au NPs (2, 6, and 10 nm) to evaluate their performance in benzyl alcohol oxidation. A volcano‐like trend in catalytic activity was observed, where activity increased with Pd addition, peaked, and then declined. The Pd loading required for maximum activity depended on Au NP size: ≈40 at% Pd/Au for 2.6 nm, ≈20 at% Pd/Au for 6.4 nm, and ≈12.5 at% Pd/Au for 10.6 nm. For Au NPs > 6 nm, peak activity aligned with monolayer Pd coverage, while for smaller NPs (2–3 nm), optimal Pd content was below monolayer predictions. X‐ray absorption spectroscopy revealed a core‐shell structure at low Pd content, but higher Pd loadings led to Pd diffusion into the Au core. This structural transformation likely caused activity decline, indicating that AuPd alloying negatively impacts catalysis. These results highlight that core‐shell Au@Pd catalysts outperform AuPd alloys and provide crucial insights for designing highly active bimetallic catalysts.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Artificial ground reflector size and position effects on energy yield and economics of single‐axis‐tracked bifacial photovoltaics

Abstract Artificial ground reflectors improve bifacial energy yield by increasing both front and rear‐incident irradiance. Studies have demonstrated an increase in energy yield due to the addition of artificial reflectors; however, they have not addressed the effect of varying reflector dimensions and placement on system performance and the impact of these parameters on the reflectors' financial viability. We studied the effect of high albedo (70% reflective) artificial reflectors on single‐axis‐tracked bifacial photovoltaic systems through ray‐trace modeling and field measurements. In the field, we tested a range of reflector configurations by varying reflector size and placement and demonstrated that reflectors increased daily energy yield up to 6.2% relative to natural albedo for PERC modules. To confirm the accuracy of our model, we compared modeled and measured power and found a root mean square error (RMSE) of 5.4% on an hourly basis. We modeled a typical meteorological year in Golden, Colorado, to demonstrate the effects of artificial reflectors under a wide range of operating conditions. Seventy percent reflective material can increase total incident irradiance by 1.9%–8.6% and total energy yield by 0.9%–4.5% annually after clipping is considered with a DC–AC ratio of 1.2. Clipping has a significant effect on reflector impact and must be included when assessing reflector viability because it reduces reflector energy gain. We calculated a maximum viable cost for these improvements of up to $2.50–4.60/m 2 , including both material and installation, in Golden. We expanded our analysis to cover a latitude range of 32–48°N and demonstrated that higher‐latitude installations with lower energy yield and higher diffuse irradiance content can support higher reflector costs. In both modeling and field tests, and for all locations, the ideal placement of the reflectors was found to be directly underneath the module due to the optimized rear irradiance increase.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Steric Modulation of Protein‐Mediated Nanoparticle Assembly: Controlling Cluster Size, Polydispersity, and FRET Responses by Rebalancing Short‐ and Long‐Range Interactions

Understanding and manipulating protein-nanoparticle interactions is of broad interest to fields ranging from nanomedicine to the biological fabrication of functional hierarchical materials. This study investigates how steric forces introduced by a pegylated derivative of superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) that is monofunctional for silica binding modulate the delicate interplay of long-range (electrostatic and van der Waals) and short-range (protein-mediated) interactions in pH-responsive silica nanoparticle (SiNP) assembly by bifunctional silica-binding sfGFP. Increasing the length of the PEG segment and pre-incubating SiNPs with increasing concentrations of pegylated proteins enables precise control over cluster size within the 800–1450 nm range with a sixfold decrease in polydispersity index to a remarkable 0.1 endpoint. Weakening short-range attractive interactions via mutagenesis extends this control to clusters in the 50–250 nm range and reveals that the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency of clusters scales linearly with cluster diameter below 230 nm but increases only by 15% as clusters grow to 1450 nm. Furthermore, these findings enable the development of a system that provides an optical readout to dynamic changes in solution conditions enacted by a combination of pH adjustment and ion charge screening.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Concavity-based local erosion and sphere-size-based local dilation applied to lithium-ion battery electrode microstructures for particle identification

Performance metrics of lithium-ion batteries can be extracted from the analysis of electrode microstructures nanoscale imaging. The characterization workflow can involve a challenging particle identification, or instance segmentation, step. In this work, we propose a new identification method based on an original transformation: a sphere-size-based local dilation followed by a concavity-based local erosion, that is local morphology closing. The new transformation is much more efficient than the global morphology closing, with correct identification achieved with only 1.7 % dilation volume and 2.6 % erosion volume on a test geometry, compared to 39.2 % and more than 50 %, respectively, with its global counterpart. The new method has been then benchmarked versus other identification algorithms (watershed and pseudo coulomb repulsive field) on a real electrode microstructure with equal or better segmentation achieved.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Cheeger inequality for size-specific conductance

The μ-conductance measure proposed by Lovász and Simonovits is a size-specific conductance score that identifies the set with smallest conductance while disregarding those sets with volume smaller than a μ fraction of the whole graph. Using μ-conductance enables us to study the network structures in new ways. Here, in this manuscript, we study a modified spectral cut for μ-conductance that is a natural relaxation of the integer program of μ-conductance and show that the optimum of this program has a two-sided Cheeger inequality with μ-conductance.

Graph theory↗
DOE OSTI2025

Substituent size versus metal binding of inhibitors with variants of influenza endonuclease

The influenza virus causes a significant burden of illness each year. Although vaccination is the most effective method to prevent seasonal influenza infection, viral escape mechanisms make vaccine composition difficult to predict. Antivirals are crucial for decreasing rates of morbidity and mortality from influenza viral infection. The newest anti-influenza drugs target the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase acidic N-terminal (PA N ) endonuclease, a critical component of influenza viral replication machinery. This study examines the structure of inhibitors of PAN that utilize a hydroxypyridinone-based metal-binding pharmacophore (MBP). Specifically, this report explores how the size of substituent groups impacts the binding conformation and affinity of a series of compounds against both wild-type (WT) and resistance mutant strains, I38T and E23K. Co-crystal structures revealed that the distance between compounds and enzyme residue 38 was conserved to maintain strong interactions, resulting in deviations from ideal coordination geometries at the active site metal centers. This suggests the interactions with residue 38 with each compound is important and can impact inhibitor potency as a consequence of distortions in the metal binding geometry of the compounds.

Endonuclease↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing the impacts of air-sealing on the sizing, operation, and economic feasibility of ground-source heat pumps for electrifying single-family houses in the US

According to recent studies and reports, in single-family houses (SFHs), air-sealing can significantly lower the thermal loads for space heating and cooling. Thus, air-sealing in SFHs could reduce the required size and cost of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems for electrifying SFHs. Here, this study investigated the costs and benefits of integrating air-sealing with GSHPs for retrofitting existing SFHs when compared with air-source heat pumps. A whole building energy simulation tool integrated with an advanced design tool for modeling ground heat exchangers was used to calculate changes in required GSHP capacity, total borehole length, and building energy consumption with and without air-sealing in SFHs in 16 US climatic regions. The results from this study showed that reducing outdoor air infiltration from 0.8 air changes per hour (ACH) to the minimum ventilation requirement (0.35 ACH) can significantly reduce borehole length (up to 55 %), GSHP capacity (up to 48 %), and total heating electricity reduction, especially in cold climates (up to 44 %). The results also showed that for airtight homes (0.03 ACH infiltration) with a direct outdoor air system, the minimum required borehole length, GSHP capacity, and total heating electricity consumption can be reduced up to 70 %, 68 %, and 67 %, respectively, when compared with SFHs with 0.8 ACH infiltration. Moreover, the life cycle cost analysis showed that air-sealing in conjunction with a GSHP is more profitable than replacing the existing system with an air-source heat pump, even without any incentives for most climatic regions in the US (except for some hot regions).

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effect of stoichiometry and hydration level on water domain size and transport in poly(aryl piperidinium) alkaline anion-exchange membranes

Alkaline water electrolysis holds promise in decarbonizing the global economy by enabling renewable hydrogen production with non-precious group metal catalysts. Anion exchange membranes are an important component of alkaline water electrolyzers and would ideally be durable while allowing for high hydroxide conductivity. The poly(aryl piperidinium) (PAP) class of polymers has attracted recent interest due to their good mechanical robustness and high ionic conductivity. Here, in this work, we perform atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of several PAP polymers at experimentally relevant hydration levels and polymer ion exchange capacities (IECs) to gain nanoscale insight into their properties and to help elucidate the trade-offs that result from tuning the IECs through the polymer stoichiometry. Our MD-predicted macroscopic polymer properties were found to be in good agreement with experimentally available polymer swelling ratios, water-occupied volumes, X-ray scattering, and ionic conductivities. The models show that for hydration levels greater than 8H 2 O per cation a single water cluster will form that percolates through the system. The growth in water cluster size results in large polymer swelling, the creation of larger channels with widths of 7 Å or larger, and nanophase separation between the hydrophilic domains and the polymer with characteristic length scales of approximately 20–30 Å. The experimentally observed lack of a strong X-ray scattering peak at low wavevectors can be explained by a cancellation between the polymer-polymer/water-water and polymer-water correlations and not a loss in nanophase separation. The overlap in coordination environments of the hydroxide oxygen and polymer nitrogen atoms implies that vehicular diffusion between cationic groups could play a role in hydroxide transport. The polymers' hydroxide and water diffusion constants increase by approximately an order of magnitude between hydration levels of 8 and 20H 2 O per cation. However, there are diminishing returns in hydroxide diffusion constant once the IEC exceeds 2.4 meq/g.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resin chemistry and particle size influence on stereolithography with silicon carbide

Stereolithography (SLA) is an established process able to produce high resolution polymer parts with complex geometries. Silicon carbide (SiC) has uses in a variety of applications, but traditionally was difficult to manufacture into complex geometries. There have been advances in producing SiC through SLA using a SiC-derived ceramic such as silicon oxycarbide (SiOC). In this study, a slurry using a commercially available resin as the base material with additional modifiers was investigated to create a SiC slurry ready for pressureless sintering. The effects of photoinitiator, dispersant and a bimodal distribution of SiC particle sizes was studied using a design of experiments (DOE). A slurry with a bimodal distribution of 70 % coarse and 30 % fine SiC powder at 40 % solids loading by volume was prepared and successfully printed. Rheology measurements show the slurry to have viscoelastic shear thinning behavior below the recommended 1000 Pas necessary for printing. Printing parameters for the new material on a commercially available SLA printer were studied parametrically. The laser marking speeds found to print the slurry was 260 mm/s and 130 mm/s. A slurry and printing parameters were determined to produce a green part with a proposed debinding cycle.

Herd, Tien [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Wetting mechanism and alteration of nano-sized shale pores: Insights from contrast variation small angle neutron scattering

Wettability of tight shale is crucial for fluid flow and mass transport process in energy geosciences. However, understanding the interfacial chemistry and wetting mechanisms at sub-nano-pore scales remains a formidable challenge. Here, in this study, the Contrast Variation technique of Small Angle Neutron Scattering (CV-SANS) is employed to investigate shale’s interfacial chemistry using reagents that possess a range of different polarities, including water, n-decane, toluene, and dimethyl methanamide. Through five different experimental strategies, we have demonstrated a successful modification of shale wettability, ranging from enhancement, weakening, to reversal. Delving into the mechanisms, we illustrated the crucial role of pre-existing liquid films in these changes, where the uniquely co-existing polar and non-polar functional groups in dimethyl methanamide acted as a conduit for interfacial chemistry adjustments. Furthermore, a solvent immersion led to matrix dilation as well as liberation of residual oil-occupied pores, resulting in altered pore size distributions, with hydrogen bonding playing a significant role in the polar groups. Interestingly, despite shale exhibiting a stronger affinity for oil over water, hydrophilic solvents induced more substantial dilation than lipophilic ones. Collectively, this work elucidates the dynamic change of interfacial chemistry via the configuration of polarity using chemical reagents, and the CV-SANS technique underscores its invaluable utilities in decoding the interfacial wettability traits in nanopore space of shale.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗