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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 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Binder-Coated Carbon Cloth Electrodes for All-Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are a promising solution for integrating intermittent renewable energy sources into the existing power grid. However, enhancing the electrochemical performance of VRFBs is critical for their widespread adoption in grid-scale energy storage. This study investigates the impact of adding a porous binder to a carbon-cloth electrode, with a focus on optimizing thermal activation conditions. The electrochemical performance of the binder-coated electrodes compared to uncoated electrodes is evaluated through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, polarization curve measurements, and charge-discharge cycling. The surface morphology and structural integrity of the binder-coated electrodes at each activation stage are examined using various material characterization techniques to assess the effects of thermal activation. The results are benchmarked against the experiments using non-coated electrodes to determine the performance improvements offered by the binder coating. Notably, the study reveals that binder-coated electrodes exhibit significantly lower resistance and improved efficiency compared to their uncoated counterparts, with optimal activation conditions enhancing performance metrics crucial for VRFB applications. These findings provide valuable insights for further optimizing electrode design and activation strategies, advancing the development of more efficient VRFB systems for large-scale energy storage.

Caiado, Ashley A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Micro-Tensile Properties of Irradiated AGR-2 TRISO Fuel Pyrolytic Carbon (PyC) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) Coatings

Tristructural isotropic (TRISO) coated nuclear fuel particles are emerging as a versatile option for new reactor designs, with the silicon carbide (SiC) layer crucial for retaining fission products. However, the mechanical properties of TRISO coating layers, particularly after irradiation, are not fully understood due to their small size and high radioactivity. Recent in situ micro-tensile testing of various TRISO layers aims to better understand the SiC layer's failure mechanisms, advancing TRISO fuel qualification. These micro-tensile results will be presented.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Transformational Challenge Reactor Safety Design and Radionuclide Retention Strategy

An integrated safety design and radionuclide (RN) retention strategy is developed to support the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR) demonstration. This demonstration aims to showcase viability for rapid deployment of a novel reactor by leveraging the advances in materials, manufacturing, and computational sciences through a highly integrated and agile design and development approach. This strategy provides a logical description and understanding of how RNs are contained within the facility. Rather than discussing fission product barriers individually between separate design and safety basis reports, this paper provides a consistent description and narrative to better facilitate regulatory interactions and focus safety design efforts. The principal barriers credited include the various coating layers in the tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel particle, the silicon carbide (SiC) matrix hosting the particles within the fuel element, the helium pressure boundary, and the confinement system. The choice and assumed performance of the credited barriers are highly conservative, which is a direct reflection of the low hazard that the TCR demonstration presents and the need to simplify and focus the safety review process accordingly. However, the strategy and the associated framework are generalized and may be adopted and tailored to support other advanced reactor demonstration efforts.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

High Flux Microchannel Receiver Development (Final Report)

The opportunity addressed in this project was using microscale heat exchanger technology for improving solar thermal central receiver efficiency. This will result in smaller, less expensive components and reduce the levelized cost of electricity from concentrated solar thermal power. This micro-pin solar receiver (MSR) directly heats high pressure (25 MPa) supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) from 550°C to 720°C with an incident flux of at least 120 W/cm 2 at a receiver efficiency of >90% (assuming availability of 95% absorptivity coating), and receiver cost target of less than $\$$150/kWt. Realization of the MSR required an understanding of thermal hydraulic performance of sCO 2 in micro-pin passages, mechanical behavior of high nickel alloys at high temperatures including joints, advanced fabrication methods of high nickel alloys (etching, machining, brazing, welding, diffusion bonding), and the cost implications of these when the concept is scaled to production volumes. The technology can be used with gases (sCO 2 , helium, etc.) or with liquids such as molten salt or liquid metal. Given the high pressure associated with sCO 2 , its use demonstrates a “worst case” scenario, and the successful development of the MSR for this application will result in the development of a technology also applicable to a range of other heat transfer fluids that will enable next generation CSP plants, including support of the Gen3CSP program.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development, Characterization, and Testing of Solid-State Electrolytes for Batteries

Traditional liquid electrolytes used in lithium (Li) metal batteries (LMBs) have severe safety issues, poor power density, as well as thermal and electrochemical instability that prevents their scaling to newer applications, such as electric vehicles. Using sulfide-based solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) is a viable method to address many of the issues that plague LMBs. However, the key issue preventing the expansion of sulfide-based SSEs is an interplay between poor interfacial stability with the electrodes and massive external stack pressure required to maintain electrode-electrolyte contact. The need for extensive pressure requires large system-level (i.e., battery pack used in an electric vehicle) housing that causes a disconnect between performance at a smaller scale and actual application. Secondary prevention to sulfide-based SSE adoption are difficulties in manufacturing, as toxic deterioration occurs when these materials are exposed to humidity, as well as drastic reduction in SSE performance at low temperature. This work hypothesizes that unique interfacial designs of electrodes and the modification of the sulfide-based SSE will enable reduction of necessary external cell pressure, and therefore support the design of practical LMBs. This will be done through collaboration within Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where manufacturing practices will be parameterized to produce low defect, low porosity SSEs with slight modifications. Next, artificial interfaces will be produced on electrodes to observe the conformality and mass transport properties between the modified SSE and pre-treated anode. External pressure on Li-metal cells will also be parameterized to reduce interfacial impedance while a reduction in the pressure will allot reasonable housing design for larger scale applications. Focus on novelty in this work occurs by modifications to the solid-solid interfaces between electrolyte and electrode, done through doping of the electrolyte and production of artificial interfaces on the Li-metal anode. The modifications at these interfaces, in addition to modified external pressure could identify and address the poor interfacial impedance that hinders high performance SSEs. Fundamental understanding on how to reduce the key hindrances of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) will support the advancement for larger scale production and performance, of which will be held in perspective for future works. Beyond battery development, the knowledge gained from process control and defect analysis is applicable to other ceramic systems, such as nuclear fuel coatings and high temperature electrolyzers.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development, Characterization, and Testing of Solid-State Electrolytes for Batteries

Traditional liquid electrolytes used in lithium (Li) metal batteries (LMBs) have severe safety issues, poor power density, as well as thermal and electrochemical instability that prevents their scaling to newer applications, such as electric vehicles. Using sulfide-based solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) is a viable method to address many of the issues that plague LMBs. However, the key issue preventing the expansion of sulfide-based SSEs is an interplay between poor interfacial stability with the electrodes and massive external stack pressure required to maintain electrode-electrolyte contact. The need for extensive pressure requires large system-level (i.e., battery pack used in an electric vehicle) housing that causes a disconnect between performance at a smaller scale and actual application. Secondary prevention to sulfide-based SSE adoption are difficulties in manufacturing, as toxic deterioration occurs when these materials are exposed to humidity, as well as drastic reduction in SSE performance at low temperature. This work hypothesizes that unique interfacial designs of electrodes and the modification of the sulfide-based SSE will enable reduction of necessary external cell pressure, and therefore support the design of practical LMBs. This will be done through collaboration within Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where manufacturing practices will be parameterized to produce low defect, low porosity SSEs with slight modifications. Next, artificial interfaces will be produced on electrodes to observe the conformality and mass transport properties between the modified SSE and pre-treated anode. External pressure on Li-metal cells will also be parameterized to reduce interfacial impedance while a reduction in the pressure will allot reasonable housing design for larger scale applications. Focus on novelty in this work occurs by modifications to the solid-solid interfaces between electrolyte and electrode, done through doping of the electrolyte and production of artificial interfaces on the Li-metal anode. The modifications at these interfaces, in addition to modified external pressure could identify and address the poor interfacial impedance that hinders high performance SSEs. Fundamental understanding on how to reduce the key hindrances of all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) will support the advancement for larger scale production and performance, of which will be held in perspective for future works. Beyond battery development, the knowledge gained from process control and defect analysis is applicable to other ceramic systems, such as nuclear fuel coatings and high temperature electrolyzers.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Controlled Assembly of Upconverting Nanoparticles for Low-Threshold Microlasers and Their Imaging in Scattering Media

Micron-sized lasers fabricated from upconverting nanoparticles (UCNP) coupled to whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonators can exhibit continuous-wave anti-Stokes lasing useful for tracking cells, environmental sensing, and coherent stimulation of biological activity. The integration of these microlasers into organisms and microelectronics requires even smaller diameters, however, which raises threshold pump powers beyond practical limits for biological applications. To meet the need for low lasing thresholds and high fidelity fabrication methods, we use correlative optical and electron microscopy to uncover the nanoparticle assembly process and structural factors that determine efficient upconverted lasing. We show that 5 μm microspheres with controlled submonolayer UCNP coatings exhibit, on average, 25-fold lower laser thresholds (1.7 ± 0.7 kW/cm 2 ) compared to the mean values of the lowest threshold UCNP lasers, and variability is reduced 30-fold. WGMs are observed in the upconversion spectra for TiO 2 -coated microspheres as small as 3 μm, a size at which optical losses had previously prevented such observations. Finally, we demonstrate that the WGM signatures of these upconverting microlasers can be imaged and distinguished through tissue-mimicking phantoms. These advances will enable the fabrication of more efficient upconverting lasers for imaging, sensing, and actuation in optically complex environments.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-Performance Low-Cobalt Cathode Materials for Li-ion Batteries

The layer-structured Li[Ni x Co y Mn 1-x-y ]O 2 (NCM) cathode materials have been the best choice for increasing electric vehicle driving distance per charge. The high Ni layered oxide represents successfully commercialized NCM cathodes (such as NCM622 and NCA) in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for EV applications due to their high energy density and acceptable cycling stability. However, the price of cobalt, the key element within LIBs for stability, has nearly tripled over the past few years due to increased demand from the cell phone industry. As mentioned in the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, the current materials shortage will also cause speculation for a future global shortage. Therefore, to meet the requirement and sustainability of the next-generation long-range and low-cost EVs, developing cathode materials with low-Co content to achieve higher energy density and lower cost is both essential and urgent. The overarching objective of this work is to develop stabilized NCM cathode materials with low Co content (namely LiNi x Co y Mn 1-x-y O 2 , y ≤ 0.04) to meet DOE’s goal of reducing Co loading below 50 mg Wh -1 while maintaining energy density greater than 600 Wh kg -1 based on cathode material. Via various dopings and coatings scalable methods, we explored and enhanced the cycling performance of low-cobalt cathodes. The final obtained NCM cathodes paired with graphite anode aim to deliver batteries with a high initial specific energy density of over 240 Wh kg -1 and a low capacity fading rate of less than 20% in 1000 cycles under a C/3 discharge rate. To accomplish this goal, a multidisciplinary team with several co-investigators has been formed from three organizations: The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The PI and co-investigators are Dr. Donghai Wang (PI) from PSU with expertise in the synthesis of nanostructured materials and manipulation of interfacial properties of electrochemically active materials, Dr. Jagjit Nanda, with substantial knowledge of and expertise in state-of-the-art cathodes from ORNL, Dr. Chao-Yang Wang with significant experience in advanced cell design and fabrication and cell diagnostics from PSU, and Dr. Chongmin Wang with world-wide known expertise of advance atomic scale characterization of electrode materials from PNNL. Furthermore, this project will leverage and synergistically work with the current DOE-funded programs on battery materials at PSU and ORNL and electrode materials characterization at PNNL. During this funded period, we have accomplished milestones stated as follows: • Scale up production of LiFePO 4 (LFP) coated NCM811 with a production of 300g/batch. Fifteen (≥2 Ah) pouch cells with LFP-coated NCM811 cathode are delivered. Self-evaluated pouch cells in PSU show superior over 80% capacity retention performance even after 1500 cycles at C/3 rate. • Various cations (Al, Ti, Zr, and Mo) substitute cobalt in low-cobalt partially and Co-free cathodes. Their effects on crystal structure and electrochemical behavior are explored. • Phosphate compounds as coating materials represent promising surface protection precursors for low-cobalt cathode materials. Therefore, several metal phosphates were selected for improving the NMC cycling performance and are regarded as effective approaches for a scalable and practical surface protection method. • Production of NCM92, where Nickel content is 92% among transition metals, is scaled up from synthesis to coating and heat treatment procedures. Fifteen 2.7Ah pouch cells with Ti-doped NCM92 cathodes and industrial graphite anode are delivered to Idaho National Lab for testing.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fabrication and characterization of a full-size ultra-precise lamellar grating for the Cosmic beamline at ALS-U

We have developed a new process for the production of ultra-precise variable line spacing (VLS) lamellar diffraction gratings through nanofabrication. The process enables the fabrication of full-size X-ray gratings with sub-nanometre accuracy in groove depth, an optimal land-to-groove ratio, and uniform groove depth across the entire grating area. We also established a method for evaluating VLS groove density variation using stitched Fizeau interferometry. The measurements confirmed the exceptionally high accuracy of the VLS groove density in the fabricated gratings, which is well within the specification tolerances while the residual groove density errors are vanishingly small. The gold-coated grating demonstrated near-theoretical diffraction efficiency across the energy range of 100–1200 eV.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ceramography and Thermal Modelling of Irradiated TRISO Particles using BISON

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of irradiated TRISO fuel particles from the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program conducted at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) as part of my internship. Failure Analysis using high-resolution microscopy was performed to characterize mechanisms in TRISO particle layers, including the kernel, buffer, inner pyrolytic carbon (IPyC), silicon carbide (SiC), and outer pyrolytic carbon (OPyC) coatings. Failure modes were systematically classified. Thermal conductivity properties of each TRISO layer were evaluated through experimental measurements and computational models for use in BISON finite element code. Experimental thermal conductivity values ranged from 0.5 W/m·K for the buffer layer to 168 W/m·K for SiC, while BISON simulations provided averaged values of 0.57 W/m·K (buffer), 4.0 W/m·K (PyC layers), and 15.95 W/m·K (SiC). Temperature-dependent correlations from PARFUME were implemented for kernel thermal properties.

BISON↗
DOE OSTI2025

REFRACTORY COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGERS WITH EMBEDDED SENSORS ENABLED BY HYBRID ADVANCED SINTERING AND ADDITIVE APPROACH

Structural health monitoring (SHM) of compact heat exchangers (CHXs) operating in extreme environments is essential for ensuring system reliability, safety, and longevity. This study presents the development of high-temperature sensors fabricated via aerosol jet printing (AJP) using platinum ink, selected for its exceptional thermal stability, oxidation resistance, and electrical conductivity. AJP enables precise deposition of fine-feature sensor patterns onto complex geometries, making it well-suited for integration within CHX architectures. To enhance sensor durability, an alumina-based ceramic protective layer was printed over the platinum sensing elements. The sensors demonstrated stable, repeatable performance up to 900?°C during extended thermal cycling. A custom test setup was developed to evaluate sensor accuracy and robustness under steady-state and transient conditions. Substrate screening identified HG-1 ceramic-coated stainless steel as the most effective platform, offering strong adhesion and low resistance. Furthermore, electric field-assisted sintering (EFAS) was employed to embed the sensors into stainless steel 316L matrices without degrading their functionality. Post-embedding electrical tests confirmed sensor integrity, and initial characterization suggests strong potential for in-situ monitoring. This work provides a scalable strategy for integrating high-performance temperature sensors directly into refractory components, advancing embedded SHM technologies for harsh operating environments.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

DOE Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program Overview

Slides discussing the DOE Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program Overview to include focus on LEU UCO TRISO fuel in cylindrical compacts, with data for fuel qualification in support of reactor licensing and a path to establish a domestic commercial TRISO fuel fabrication capability. Timelines from 2004 through 2029. Major program highlights include: Developed fuel performance models based on past observed behavior, Study to understand differences between US and German (“good”) fuel, Developed and improved fuel fabrication and characterization methods, Fabricated lab-scale fuel (AGR-1) with very high quality; excellent in-pile and post-irradiation high-temperature fuel performance, Scale-up coating fabrication (AGR-2) with excellent in-pile performance, AGR-3/4 fuel fabrication and irradiation experiment to assess FP transport behavior, Scale-up matrix fabrication (AGR-5/6/7); & fuel performance evaluation in progress.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accelerated thermal property mapping of TRISO advanced nuclear fuel

TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel is a leading-edge nuclear fuel form representing a departure from the more traditional nuclear fuel forms utilized in the reactor fleet of today. Rather than a monolithic fuel pellet of uranium dioxide, integral fuel forms containing TRISO fuel are composed of thousands of microencapsulated uranium-bearing fuel kernels and individually coated with multiple layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide. These multilayered ceramic coatings serve as an environmental barrier to ensure radioactive and chemically reactive fission products are contained within the reactor fuel elements, but also participate in the transfer of heat generated in the nuclear fuel to the coolant – the primary purpose of a nuclear reactor. Since traditional thermal property measurement techniques, such as laser flash analysis, would be unable to resolve the thermal properties of the individual TRISO coating layers, a simplified frequency-domain thermoreflectance technique has been developed to rapidly map the thermal properties of TRISO particles. Using this technique, the thermal properties of TRISO particles have been mapped from room temperature up to 1000 °C to examine the spatial variation and temperature-dependency of the thermal properties within each layer. Additionally, spatial-domain thermoreflectance was used to examine the anisotropy of the thermal properties for each layer at different locations within a single TRISO particle, and across multiple TRISO particles to assess the intra- and inter-particle uniformity of thermal properties, respectively. To elucidate the underlying causes for the measured variations in thermal properties, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used to examine variations in microstructure and chemical bonding within the different coating layers. Results from this work are then compared with previous examinations of TRISO fuel particles and microstructurally driven mechanisms for the variations in the measured thermal properties of the different carbonaceous layers are discussed.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Unveiling the critical role of interfacial ionic conductivity in all-solid-state lithium batteries

Advancement of all-solid-state lithium-ion (Li + ) batteries (ASSLIBs) has been hindered by the large interfacial resistance mainly originating from interfacial reactions between oxide cathodes and solid-state sulfide electrolytes (SEs). To suppress the interfacial reactions, an interfacial coating layer between cathodes and SEs is indispensable. However, the kinetics of interfacial Li + transport across the coating layer has not been well understood yet. Herein, we tune the interfacial ionic conductivity of the coating layer LiNb 0.5 Ta 0.5 O 3 (LNTO) by manipulating post-annealing temperature. It is found that the interfacial ionic conductivity determines interfacial Li + transport kinetics and enhancing the interfacial ionic conductivity can significantly boost the electrochemical performance of SE-based ASSLIBs. A representative cathode LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 coated by LNTO with the highest interfacial ionic conductivity exhibits a high initial capacity of 152 mAh.g -1 at 0.1 C and 107.5 mAh.g -1 at 1C. This work highlights the importance of increasing interfacial ionic conductivity for high-performance SE-based ASSLIBs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Protein-activated atomic layer deposition for robust crude-oil-repellent hierarchical nano-armored membranes

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) offers unique capabilities to fabricate atomically engineered porous materials with precise pore tuning and multi-functionalization for diverse applications like advanced membrane separations towards sustainable energy-water systems. However, current ALD technique is inhibited on most non-polar polymeric membranes due to lack of accessible nucleation sites. Here, in this study, we report a facile method to efficiently promote ALD coating on hydrophobic surface of polymeric membranes via novel protein activation/sensitization. As a proof of concept, TiO 2 ALD-coated membranes activated by bovine serum albumin exhibit remarkable superhydrophilicity, ultralow underwater crude oil adhesion, and robust tolerance to rigorous environments including acid, alkali, saline, and ethanol. Most importantly, excellent cyclable crude oil-in-water emulsion separation performance can be achieved. The mechanism for activation/sensitization is rooted in reactivity for a particular set of amino acids. Furthermore, the universality of protein-sensitized ALD is demonstrated using common egg white, promising numerous potential usages in biomedical engineering, environmental remediation, lowcarbon manufacturing, catalysis, and beyond.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Probing Plasmonic Near-Fields in Oxide-Modified Aluminum Nanocubes Using Photon-Induced Near-Field Electron Microscopy

Plasmonic nanoparticles generate strong electric fields near their surface upon photoexcitation, enabling applications in sensing, spectroscopy, and photocatalysis. Electron microscopy techniques – such as cathodoluminescence and electron energy loss spectroscopy – have been leveraged to produce nanoscale maps of localized surface plasmon (LSP) modes. More recently, photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM) has emerged as a powerful technique for imaging evanescent near-fields generated by ultrafast laser excitation. In this work, we employ PINEM within an ultrafast electron microscope, complemented by numerical calculations to investigate how optical polarization, surface modification, and light intensity affect the evanescent fields associated with LSPs on oxide-modified aluminum nanocubes. Polarization control of the incident light field enables spatial mapping of the nanocube’s LSPs at the single particle level. Systematic variation of the oxide layer thickness reveals that increased coating thickness correlates with a stronger PINEM signal and a greater energy gain of probing electrons. Additionally, higher light intensities at fixed polarization and oxide coating further amplify the PINEM signal. These findings demonstrate the utility of PINEM as a high-resolution technique for optical near-field imaging and spectroscopy of single plasmonic nanoparticles. The ability to probe single particle behavior offers new opportunities for advancing the design and characterization of nanophotonic and plasmonic materials.

PINEM↗
DOE OSTI2021

Tungsten–carbon surface evolution and erosion modeling for a small angle slot divertor in DIII-D

Abstract We modeled tungsten–carbon mixed surface evolution, sputtering erosion, and transport for the tungsten coated region of a small angle slot (SAS) divertor design for the DIII-D tokamak. This divertor concept aims to achieve a closed slot dissipative plasma to minimize heat load and surface erosion, and to study high- Z material performance. Our advanced simulations use coupled ITMC-DYN material mixing/response and 3D full kinetic REDEP/WBC erosion/redeposition code packages, with divertor plasma solution from the SOLPS-ITER package with 4 MW power input. The SAS design geometry and resulting in-slot plasma parameters cause significant differences in predicted sputter/transport from a conventional divertor. For 2% C/D incident plasma ratio, an equilibrium mixed C/W surface is attained at ∼30 s of discharge, from wall sputtered carbon transported to the 10 cm long tungsten divertor region. Tungsten remains exposed to the plasma, but the evolved surface composition varies with different C/D ratios. Tungsten is primarily sputtered from the mixed surface by impinging carbon ions in the +1 to +4 charge states, with some self-sputtering. Redeposition of sputtered tungsten to the divertor is significant, ∼80% along the higher plasma temperature attached plasma SAS entrance region, but this is less than the typically near-unity values for a conventional divertor. Plasma-incident carbon is highly backscattered (∼50%) from the mixed surface, with little redeposition (<10%); this helps maintain tungsten in the surface sputter zone. Carbon is mainly sputtered from the mixed surface by D + ions, also with low redeposition (∼10%–30%). Finally, the modeling shows non-zero but low sputtered tungsten current from the divertor to the core plasma direction. These results appear favorable for effective testing of a tungsten-containing SAS divertor in DIII-D, and extrapolation of mixed-material evolution/response findings to the analogous low- Z /high- Z , Be/W, ITER plasma facing system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced nanoscale characterization of aluminum nanoparticles with modified surface morphology via atmospheric helium and carbon monoxide plasmas

Aluminum nanoparticles (nAl) have the potential as energetic additives in explosive/propellant formulations. Scalable methodologies must be pursued to mitigate the inactive amorphous alumina shell surrounding the active aluminum (Al) core with modified surface morphology and chemistry for increased combustion effects. This work explores the feasibility of making reactive core/shell nAl with thinned oxide shells and modified surface coatings via a two-step atmospheric plasma surface treatment process in a custom dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor. The commercial nAl of nominal average size similar to 40-60nm was first treated with helium (He) followed by He/carbon monoxide (CO) plasmas for different durations. The resultant samples were characterized via high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectra. HRTEM images revealed sporadic patchy gamma -alumina deposits on particle surfaces and in gaps among particles for all samples, suggesting the non-uniform plasma effects of the He/CO glow. Nanoscale chemical analyses via scanning transmission electron microscopy elemental mapping and x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy were further performed. Although no carbon-associated structure appeared in electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) spectra, the presence of carbonaceous materials was confirmed as a thin dispersive layer evenly distributed on the nAl surface suggesting either its amorphous nature or is present at a level insufficient to generate satisfactory EELS spectra. The trend of intensity profiles for key elements acquired by drawing lines across a single particle on the elemental maps confirmed that carbonaceous materials only existed on the surface and they were most likely carboxylates that increased with increased He/CO treatment duration, as evident by FTIR results. Finally, this work demonstrated the success of atmospheric plasma-treated reactive nAl with comprehensively characterized surface features via advanced microscopy and spectroscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗