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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Cost Competitive Process of Battery Grade Oxides Preparation from Aged LIBs

The increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is driving development of advanced recycling and refining methods. In this project, new cathode active materials are prepared from recycled lithium battery materials and subsequently electrochemically evaluated in coin cells. In detail, scrap LIBs were mechanically processed into a metal rich black mass, then reductive acid leached into an aqueous metal solution, and finally high-purity metal hydroxide precursor materials were prepared by selective electrochemical flow precipitation. Closed-loop LIB recycling into active electrode materials will enable US manufacturers to break their reliance on foreign sources of critical materials. For example, electroextraction process used here has potential to significantly reduce chemical & water use as well as waste production as compared to traditional metallurgic techniques. To this end, electroextracted materials refined from used batteries were collected and processed to be tested as precursor cathode active material (pCAM). For this project, two samples of high purity recycled NMC hydroxide (~1 kg each) were received from N th Cycle’s Ohio demonstration facility. The NMC compositions of the two materials are similar, and the levels of impurities have been confirmed. Indeed, impurities like copper, boron and sodium are present in quantities that could negatively impact battery performance. However, some studies have demonstrated that the control of the quantity of elements like copper or boron may improve the electrochemistry properties of Lithium-NMC batteries. The principal objective is to determine the electrochemical performance of these 2 NMC hydroxide batches and clearly determine the effect of the impurities on the performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS2018

Determination of Trace Silicone Contamination on Composites by Quantitative XPS and LIBS

Surface treatment and surface characterization techniques are critical to ensure that adherends are chemically activated and free of contaminants prior to adhesive bonding. Silicone contamination from mold-release agents and other sources can interfere with interfacial bonding, decreasing the durability and performance of bonded composite structures. Tools and methods are needed that can be used in a production environment to reliably detect low levels of contaminants in a rapid, simple, and cost-effective manner to improve bond reliability. In this work, surface characterization of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites was performed using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and the results were compared with those obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The objective was to investigate the ability to quantify the surface species measured by LIBS since it offers many advantages over XPS in terms of ease of use, sample preparation, and real-time results. The as-processed CFRP panels had trace surface silicone contamination from the fabrication process, the source of which was not investigated. The composites were laser treated at select average laser power levels, resulting in varying levels of contamination reduction. The Si atomic percentage measurements using XPS were conducted both before and after laser ablation. The XPS results were compared with those obtained from LIBS to assess the reliability of each technique for surface contaminant characterization. The results showed an excellent correlation in Si atomic concentration between the two techniques.

Ledesma, Rodolfo↗
NASA NTRS2020

A Review of LIBS for Real-Time Detection of Trace Silicone Contaminants on CFRP Surfaces

Laser ablation is the removal of material by laser pulses through photochemical, photothermal, or photophysical mechanisms, which is useful to prepare an adherend surface for adhesive bonding. Laser surface treatment is a method that has been under research for the past decade at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to prepare surfaces for adhesive joining of aerospace composite materials and metallic alloys. Laser ablation of composite materials increases surface area and removes the surface contaminants introduced during material handling and fabrication processes. By adjustment of laser parameters, it is possible to obtain repeatable surface conditions, and superficial contaminants can be selectively and efficiently removed without damaging the underlying carbon fibers or the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) substrate. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a surface characterization and inspection technique that can be seamlessly integrated into the laser surface treatment process. At NASA LaRC, a single laser system has been used for both laser surface treatment and LIBS, which enables in-situ monitoring of surface contaminants. This work focuses on the advancements at LaRC using LIBS to detect surface silicone contaminants on aerospace CFRP materials and to provide surface quality control in adhesive bonding.

Rodolfo I Ledesma↗
NASA NTRS2020

A Review of LIBS for Real-Time Detection of Trace Silicone Contaminants on CFRP Surfaces

Laser ablation is the removal of material by laser pulses through photochemical, photothermal, or photophysical mechanisms, which is useful to prepare an adherend surface for adhesive bonding. Laser surface treatment is a method that has been under research for the past decade at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to prepare surfaces for adhesive joining of aerospace composite materials and metallic alloys. Laser ablation of composite materials increases surface area and removes the surface contaminants introduced during material handling and fabrication processes. By adjustment of laser parameters, it is possible to obtain repeatable surface conditions, and superficial contaminants can be selectively and efficiently removed without damaging the underlying carbon fibers or the carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) substrate. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a surface characterization and inspection technique that can be seamlessly integrated into the laser surface treatment process. At NASA LaRC, a single laser system has been used for both laser surface treatment and LIBS, which enables in-situ monitoring of surface contaminants. This work focuses on the advancements at LaRC using LIBS to detect surface silicone contaminants on aerospace CFRP materials and to provide surface quality control in adhesive bonding.

Rodolfo I Ledesma↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rapid characterization of MSW and RDF feedstocks for waste-to-energy process using LIBS and ML techniques

The heterogeneity in the composition of municipal solid wastes (MSW) poses significant challenges in the production of biofuel and bioproducts. This research aims to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of waste analysis and characterization by introducing a fast characterization approach for MSW-derived refuse-derived fuels (RDF) by combining Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) with advanced machine learning (ML) techniques. The approach combines data pre-processing of LIBS spectra of RDF, and the development of ML models trained on domain and theory-based spectral features for predicting process parameters. These models are adept at predicting key process parameters like High Heating Value (HHV), carbon content, and volatile matter. This approach can achieve an average RRMSE of 2.13% and R 2 of 0.98 or higher for all considered parameters on testing data. This work demonstrates significant potential for improving waste sorting, processing efficiency, and environmental compliance over traditional labor- and time-intensive laboratory waste analysis and characterization.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS2016

Calibration of the Fluorine, Chlorine and Hydrogen Content of Apatites With the ChemCam LIBS Instrument

Determining the composition of apatites is important to understand the behavior of volatiles during planetary differentiation. Apatite is an ubiquitous magmatic mineral in the SNC meteorites. It is a significant reservoir of halogens in these meteorites and has been used to estimate the halogen budget of Mars. Apatites have been identified in sandstones and pebbles at Gale crater by ChemCam, a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscometer (LIBS) instrument onboard the Curiosity rover. Their presence was inferred from correlations between calcium, fluorine (using the CaF molecular band centered near 603 nm, whose detection limit is much lower that atomic or ionic lines and, in some cases, phosphorus (whose detection limit is much larger). An initial quantification of fluorine, based on fluorite (CaF2)/basalt mixtures and obtained at the LANL laboratory, indicated that the excess of F/Ca (compared to the stoichiometry of pure fluorapatites) found on Mars in some cases could be explained by the presence of fluorite. Chlorine was not detected in these targets, at least above a detection limit of 0.6 wt% estimated from. Fluorapatite was later also detected by X-ray diffraction (with CheMin) at a level of approx.1wt% in the Windjana drill sample (Kimberley area), and several points analyzed by ChemCam in this area also revealed a correlation between Ca and F. The in situ detection of F-rich, Cl-poor apatites contrasts with the Cl-rich, F-poor compositions of apatites found in basaltic shergottites and in gabbroic clasts from the martian meteorite NWA 7034, which were also found to be more Cl-rich than apatites from basalts on Earth, the Moon, or Vesta. The in situ observations could call into question one of the few possible explanations brought forward to explain the SNC results, namely that Mars may be highly depleted in fluorine. The purpose of the present study is to refine the calibration of the F, Cl, OH and P signals measured by the ChemCam LIBS instrument, initiated for F, for Cl in soils, for P, and estimate their limit of detection. For this purpose, different types of apatites and mixtures of basalt powder and apatites were analyzed using ChemCam Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) at IRAP, Toulouse. The present abstract presents the initial results from the laboratory analyses. Differences between the response function of the EQM and the Flight Model of ChemCam are still to be refined to apply these new results to the Martian dataset.

Meslin, P.-Y.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Photon counting with intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) – II. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) spectral measurement

This study explores the application of photon counting (PC) to enhance the resolution of spectra acquired by an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) detector, with a focus on analytical atomic emission spectrometry using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as a use-case example. It demonstrates that, for spectra obtained with the same spectrometer–ICCD system, PC provides higher spectral resolution compared to conventional analog detector readout. This enhancement is particularly evident in the line wings of spectral peaks, facilitating better discrimination of isotopic peaks in the measured spectra. Although PC does not improve the resolution of an optical spectrometer directly, it rectifies the resolution lost caused by signal spreading in conventional ICCD analog measurement. However, similar to other counting techniques, excessive photons compromise detector linearity due to signal pileup. A correction model is proposed to mitigate the pileup effect, resulting in improved linearity and dynamic range in PC measurements. Additionally, the study reveals unexpected periodic structures in the flatfield image of the ICCD, which cause non-uniform detector gain in conventional analog as well as PC measurement modes and must be addressed for high-precision measurements.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Implementation of stacked ensemble machine learning for the detection of surrogate plutonium contamination in soil via LIBS

Supervised machine learning methods have demonstrated increased utility for the quantification of lanthanide and actinide elements in atomic spectroscopy applications. This study implements laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for the identification of plutonium surrogate material (CeO 2 ) in soil matrices by training supervised machine learning methods on the recorded spectral data. A bagged ensemble using Random Forest yields the highest sensitivity predictions with a detection limit of 0.015 wt.% CeO 2 . However, high precision in Ce content prediction required the use of a stacked ensemble regression, which provided the superlative Ce quantification model with an error of 0.107% and a detection limit of 0.022 wt.%. Furthermore, the high performance of the stacked ensemble demonstrates its potential to enhance the accuracy and sensitivity of nuclear contaminant detection using field-deployable spectroscopic analyzers in real-world scenarios.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS1995

The Low-Lying Electronic States of LiB

The spectroscopic constants for the triplet and singlet states of LiB below about 30 000/ cm are determined using an internally contracted multireference configuration interaction approach in conjunction with [6s 5p 3d 2f] atomic natural orbital basis sets. The ground state is (sup 3)Pi as found in previous work. No excited triplet states are found to be ideal for characterizing the ground state; the (1)(sup 3)Sigma(sup -) state has a transition energy that is too small for many experimental approaches and the (2)(sup 3)Pi and (3)(sup 3)Pi states have bond lengths that are significantly longer than the ground state, resulting in transition intensities that are spread out over many vibrational levels of the ground state.

Ricca, Alessandra↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Combined Remote LIBS and Raman Spectroscopic Study of Minerals

In this paper, we explore the use of remote LIBS combined with pulsed-laser Raman spectroscopy for mineral analysis at a distance of 10 meters. Samples analyzed include: carbonates (both biogenic and abiogenic), silicates, and sulfates. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Hubble, H. W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Analyses of IR-Stealthy and Coated Surface Materials: A Comparison of LIBS and Reflectance Spectra and Their Application to Mars Surface Exploration

Identification of non-silicate samples on Mars, such as carbonates, sulfates, nitrates, or evaporites in general, is important because of their association with aqueous processes and their potential as exobiology sites. Infrared (IR) and thermal emission (TE) spectroscopy have been considered the primary tools for remote identification of these minerals. This includes current and future orbital assets such as TES on MGS, THEMIS on Mars Odyssey, OMEGA on Mars Express, CRISM on MRO, and now the Mini-TES on the MER rovers. While reflectance and emission spectroscopy have clearly been the method of choice for these missions, the technique is not always successful in mineral identifications due to dust, surface weathering chemistry, coatings, or surface texture. Here we describe and show IR spectra of several such samples, and then report on the relative success of LIBS analyses in determining the rock type.

Wiens, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Relationship Between LIBS Ablation and Pit Volume for Geologic Samples: Applications for the In Situ Absolute Geochronology

These first results demonstrate that LIBS spectra can be an interesting tool to estimate the ablated volume. When the ablated volume is bigger than 9.10(exp 6) cubic micrometers, this method has less than 10% of uncertainties. Far enough to be directly implemented in the KArLE experiment protocol. Nevertheless, depending on the samples and their mean grain size, the difficulty to have homogeneous spectra will increase with the ablated volume. Several K-Ar dating studies based on this approach will be implemented. After that, the results will be shown and discussed.

Devismes, Damien↗
NASA NTRS2016

Exploration of Mars with the ChemCam LIBS Instrument and the Curiosity Rover

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August 2012, and has been exploring the planet ever since. Dr. Horton E. Newsom will discuss the MSL's design and main goal, which is to characterize past environments that may have been conducive to the evolution and sustainability of life. He will also discuss Curiosity's science payload, and remote sensing, analytical capabilities, and direct discoveries of the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which is the first Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) to operate on another planetary surface and determine the chemistry of the rocks and soils.

Newsom, Horton E.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spectral Data Fusion From Handheld Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzers for Improved Detection of Cerium in a Simulated Dispersal Accident

Here, this work implements a mid-level data fusion methodology on spectral data from handheld X-ray fluorescence and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analyzers to quantify plutonium surrogate (CeO 2 ) contamination in soil samples for the first time. Spectral data from each analyzer were used independently to train supervised machine learning regressions to predict Ce concentration. Fused features from both data sets were then used to train the same models, comparing prediction performance by evaluating model precision and sensitivity. Fusing principal component scores from the two sensors yielded an order of magnitude improvement in precision and sensitivity of predictions made with an artificial neural network, compared to predictions made by models trained on independent sensor data. As a result, a boosted ensemble trained on the fused spectral features yielded an ideal predictor with root-mean-squared error on the order of 10 –6 and calculated limit of detection order 10 –5 wt %.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

LIB Design Module for Grid Energy System Application

We will employ a machine learning approach with intelligent data mining and database construction to analyze enormous data repositories for identifying and extracting geographic-dependent cell design specifications from publicly accessible grid-scale energy storage usage databases in an automated way at scale.

Liu, Dianying [Pacific Northwest National Laborato↗
DOE OSTI2026

covariance libs

This dataset contains covariance libraries created for SCALE. These will be distributed by providing documentation and metadata in GitLab repos hosted by ORNL (code.ornl.gov/scale/data/cov-libs), and the main datasets are hosted in S3-based ORNL servers. The data are also contained in Constellation. More documentation can be found in PUB ID 263037.

Brown, Jesse [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000207694100)↗