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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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Multi–Modular Design of Stable Pore–Space–Partitioned Metal–Organic Frameworks for Gas Separation Applications

Pore space partition (PSP) is an effective materials design method for developing high-performance small-pore materials for storage and separation of gas molecules. The continued success of PSP depends on broad availability and judicious choice of pore-partition ligands and better understanding of each structural module on stability and sorption properties. Here, by using substructural bioisosteric strategy (sub-BIS), a dramatic expansion of pore-partitioned materials is targeted by using ditopic dipyridyl ligands with non-aromatic cores or extenders, as well as by expanding heterometallic clusters to uncommon nickel–vanadium and nickel–indium clusters rarely known before in porous materials. The dual-module iterative refinement of pore-partition ligands and trimers leads to remarkable enhancement of chemical stability and porosity. Here a family of 23 pore-partitioned materials synthesized from five pore-partition ligands and seven types of trimeric clusters is reported. New materials with such compositionally and structurally diverse framework modules reveal key factors that dictate stability, porosity, and gas separation properties. Among these, materials based on heterometallic vanadium–nickel trimeric clusters give rise to the highest long-term hydrolytic stability and remarkable uptake capacity for CO 2 , C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 6 , and C 3 H 6 /C 3 H 8 hydrocarbon gases. Here, the breakthrough experiment shows the potential application of new materials for separating gas mixtures such as C 2 H 2 /CO 2 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental observation of hydrocarbon growth by resonance stabilized radical-radical chain reaction

Rapid molecular weight growth of hydrocarbons occurs in flames, in industrial synthesis, and potentially in cold astrochemical environments. A variety of high- and low-temperature chemical mechanisms have been proposed and confirmed, but more facile pathways may be needed to explain observations. Here, we provide laboratory confirmation in a controlled pyrolysis environment of a recently proposed mechanism, radical-radical chain reactions of resonance-stabilized species. The recombination reaction of phenyl (c-C 6 H 5 ) and benzyl (c-C 6 H 5 CH 2 ) radicals produces both diphenylmethane and diphenylmethyl radicals, the concentration of the latter increasing with rising temperature. A second phenyl addition to the product radical forms both triphenylmethane and triphenylmethyl radicals, confirming the propagation of radical-radical chain reactions under the experimental conditions of high temperature (1100-1600 K) and low pressure (~3 kPa). Similar chain reactions may contribute to particle growth in flames, the interstellar medium, and industrial reactors.

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

Spatiotemporal Studies of Soluble Inorganic Nanostructures with X‐rays and Neutrons

Abstract This Review addresses the use of X‐ray and neutron scattering as well as X‐ray absorption to describe how inorganic nanostructured materials assemble, evolve, and function in solution. We first provide an overview of techniques and instrumentation (both large user facilities and benchtop). We review recent studies of soluble inorganic nanostructure assembly, covering the disciplines of materials synthesis, processes in nature, nuclear materials, and the widely applicable fundamental processes of hydrophobic interactions and ion pairing. Reviewed studies cover size regimes and length scales ranging from sub‐Ångström (coordination chemistry and ion pairing) to several nanometers (molecular clusters, i.e. polyoxometalates, polyoxocations, and metal‐organic polyhedra), to the mesoscale (supramolecular assembly processes). Reviewed studies predominantly exploit 1) SAXS/WAXS/SANS (small‐ and wide‐angle X‐ray or neutron scattering), 2) PDF (pair‐distribution function analysis of X‐ray total scattering), and 3) XANES and EXAFS (X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure and extended X‐ray absorption fine structure, respectively). While the scattering techniques provide structural information, X‐ray absorption yields the oxidation state in addition to the local coordination. Our goal for this Review is to provide information and inspiration for the inorganic/materials science communities that may benefit from elucidating the role of solution speciation in natural and synthetic processes.

Yin, Jia‐Fu↗
DOE OSTI2020

Toward DMRG-tailored coupled cluster method in the 4c-relativistic domain

There are three essential problems in computational relativistic chemistry: Electrons moving at relativistic speeds, close lying states, and dynamical correlation. Currently available quantum-chemical methods are capable of solving systems with one or two of these issues. However, there is a significant class of molecules in which all the three effects are present. These are the heavier transition metal compounds, lanthanides, and actinides with open d or f shells. For such systems, sufficiently accurate numerical methods are not available, which hinders the application of theoretical chemistry in this field. In this paper, we combine two numerical methods in order to address this challenging class of molecules. These are the relativistic versions of coupled cluster methods and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first relativistic implementation of the coupled cluster method externally corrected by DMRG. The method brings a significant reduction of computational costs as we demonstrate on the system of TlH, AsH, and SbH.

Brandejs, Jan (ORCID:0000000221073095)↗
DOE OSTI2024

How Well Can Quantum Embedding Method Predict the Reaction Profiles for Hydrogenation of Small Li Clusters?

Quantum computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics in novel ways to tackle complex chemistry problems that cannot be accurately addressed using traditional quantum chemistry methods. However, the high computational cost and available number of physical qubits with high fidelity limit its application to small chemical systems. This work employed a quantum-classical framework which features a quantum active space-embedding approach to perform simulations of chemical reactions that require up to 14 qubits. This framework was applied to prototypical example metal hydrogenation reactions: the coupling between hydrogen and Li 2 , Li 3 , and Li 4 clusters. Particular attention was paid to the computation of barriers and reaction energies. The predicted reaction profiles compare well with advanced classical quantum chemistry methods, demonstrating the potential of the quantum embedding algorithm to map out reaction profiles of realistic gas-phase chemical reactions to ascertain qualitative energetic trends. Additionally, the predicted potential energy curves provide a benchmark to compare against both current and future quantum embedding approaches.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Entropically engineered formation of fivefold and icosahedral twinned clusters of colloidal shapes

Fivefold and icosahedral symmetries induced by multiply twinned crystal structures have been studied extensively for their role in influencing the shape of synthetic nanoparticles, and solution chemistry or geometric confinement are widely considered to be essential. Here we report the purely entropy-driven formation of fivefold and icosahedral twinned clusters of particles in molecular simulation without geometric confinement or chemistry. Hard truncated tetrahedra self-assemble into cubic or hexagonal diamond colloidal crystals depending on the amount of edge and vertex truncation. By engineering particle shape to achieve a negligible entropy difference between the two diamond phases, we show that the formation of the multiply twinned clusters is easily induced. The twinned clusters are entropically stabilized within a dense fluid by a strong fluid-crystal interfacial tension arising from strong entropic bonding. Our findings provide a strategy for engineering twinning behavior in colloidal systems with and without explicit bonding elements between particles.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Connected three-body terms in single-reference unitary many-body theories: Iterative and perturbative approximations

This work introduces various approaches to include connected three-body terms in unitary many-body theories, focusing on the driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG). Starting from the least approximate method—the linearized DSRG truncated to one-, two-, and three-body operators [LDSRG(3)]—we develop several approximate LDSRG(3) models with reduced computational cost. Through a perturbative analysis, we motivate a family of iterative LDSRG(3)-n and -n' (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) methods that contain a subset of the LDSRG(3) diagrams. Among these variants, the LDSRG(3)-2 scheme has the same computational complexity of coupled cluster theory with singles, doubles, and triples (CCSDT), but it outperforms CCSDT in the accuracy of the predicted correlation energies. We also propose and implement two perturbative triples corrections based on the linearized DSRG truncated to one- and two-body operators augmented with recursive semi-quadratic commutators [qDSRG(2)]. Overall, the resulting qDSRG(2)+(T) approach matches the accuracy of the “gold-standard” coupled cluster theory with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples model on the energetics of twenty-eight closed-shell atoms and small molecules.

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

Surpassing the stiffness-extensibility trade-off of elastomers via mastering the hydrogen-bonding clusters

The current paradigm of elastomer design typically falls into the trade-off between stiffness and extensibility. With a few reports on circumventing this trade-off behavior, e.g., increasing Young's modulus without sacrificing extensibility, the design principles to achieve improvements in both stiffness and extensibility have rarely been demonstrated. Herein, with a model system, i.e., cross-linked polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) network, we demonstrate two approaches that can surpass the stiffness-extensibility trade-off and provide significant improvement in both parameters. Such an achievement is realized by introducing rationally arranged hydrogen-bonding units, i.e., ureidopyrimidone (UPy), leading to simultaneously improved Young's modulus and extensibility up to 158 and 3 times, respectively. Based on the experimental results, we also propose a microscopic picture of network rearrangement during the stretching process. Moreover, using this picture, we further improved Young's modulus of the elastic network without affecting its extensibility through mastering the distribution/topology of UPy clusters.

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

Triple Excitations in Green’s Function Coupled Cluster Solver for Studies of Strongly Correlated Systems in the Framework of Self-Energy Embedding Theory

Embedding theories became important approaches used for accurate calculations of both molecules and solids. In these theories, a small chosen subset of orbitals is treated with an accurate method, called an impurity solver, capable of describing higher correlation effects. Ideally, such a chosen fragment should contain multiple orbitals responsible for the chemical and physical behavior of the compound. Handling a large number of chosen orbitals presents a very significant challenge for the current generation of solvers used in the physics and chemistry community. Here, we develop a Green’s function coupled cluster singles doubles and triples (GFCCSDT) solver that can be used for a quantitative description in both molecules and solids. This solver allows us to treat orbital spaces that are inaccessible to other accurate solvers. At the same time, GFCCSDT maintains high accuracy of the resulting self-energy. Moreover, in conjunction with the GFCCSD solver, it allows us to test the systematic convergence of computational studies. Developing the CC family of solvers paves the road to fully systematic Green’s function embedding calculations in solids. In this paper, we focus on the investigation of GFCCSDT self-energies for a strongly correlated problem of SrMnO 3 solid. Subsequently, we apply this solver to solid MnO showing that an approximate variant of GFCCSDT is capable of yielding a high accuracy orbital resolved spectral function.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Metal–Organic-Framework-Supported and -Isolated Ceria Clusters with Mixed Oxidation States

The formation of oxygen vacancies via reversible transitions between Ce(IV) and Ce(III) plays a crucial role in the propensity of cerium oxide to act as a supporting promoter in oxidative heterogeneous catalysis. An open challenge is, however, preparation of high-porosity, supported arrays of isolated ceria(IV, III) clusters with high porosity. In this article, we report two examples of oxy-Ce(IV, III) clusters supported and spatially isolated on an oxy-zirconium MOF, NU-1000. The clusters are introduced using either of two Ce complexes (precursors): Ce IV (tmhd) 4 (tmhd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate) or Ce III (iPrCp) 3 (iPrCp = tris(isopropyl-cyclopenta-dienyl), via SIM (solvothermal installation in MOFs). The prepared materials are named Ce-l-SIM-NU-1000 and Ce-n-SIM-NU-1000, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization shows that the ratio of Ce(III) to Ce(IV) oxidation states can be modulated. Difference envelope density analyses of X-ray scattering show that Ce x O y H z clusters in Ce-n-SIM-NU-1000 are located between pairs of Zr6 nodes, whereas in Ce-l-SIM-NU-1000, they are sited on MOF linkers throughout the micropores of NU-1000. Cluster size differences were further evaluated by pair function distribution (PDF) analyses of total X-ray scattering reveal that the node sited clusters contain of only a few cerium ions, whereas the linker-sited clusters each contain ~90 cerium ions. The observed size appears to be defined by the size of NU-1000s triangular pores, that is, cluster formation appears to be pore templated. The Ce-SIM functionalized materials are catalytically active for hydrolysis of DMNP (dimethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphate), a nerve-agent simulant. Conversion of a small fraction of the Ce(IV) ions in which the presence of small fractions of the cerium(IV) ions in Ce-l-SIM-NU-1000 to cerium(III) significantly enhances catalytic activity-perhaps by labilizing aqua ligands and facilitating simulant binding to the clusters Lewis-basic metal ions. While not explored here, the larger clusters, when partially reduced, are, we believe, candidate catalysts for O 2 activation and subsequent selective oxidation of organic substrates.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

EBSD of Rough Native CuInGaSe2 Thin-Films

The polycrystalline Cu (In, Ga) Se2, or CIGS, based thin-film materials system has long been studied for use in photovoltaic technologies, where its bandgap tunability, mechanical flexibility, and relatively low production costs are all appealing. Nonetheless, significant defect populations, which serve to reduce efficiency, create performance instabilities, and increase concerns about long-term reliability, have hindered wide-scale adoption. Prior work, including application of a scanning probe based deep level trap spectroscopy (SP-DLTS) defect mapping technique and scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) based electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), has shown that the most detrimental defects, with energy level near mid-gap (thus serving as a carrier recombination center), are most likely caused by CuIn/Ga antisites and tend to cluster at or around certain grain boundaries [1,2]. However, the exact nature of these particular boundaries — their structures, chemistries, or even the relative misorientation of their associated grains — and their relation to this defect clustering and/or its formation is yet unknown. As such, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) orientation mapping, directly correlated with defect-sensitive techniques like SP-DLTS and/or STEM-EELS, could prove critical for providing the final missing links toward understanding the mechanisms behind these defects. Indeed, recent studies using correlative electron beam induced current (EBIC) with EBSD have been able to identify boundaries, and their relative misorientations, that possess detrimental electronic properties [3]. However, because EBIC is unable to resolve the defect energy levels, many questions are left unanswered. Furthermore, this study, and others like it, employed focused ion beam (FIB) milling to flatten the natively-rough CIGS [3-5], which may run the risk of changing the nature of any near-surface defect structures.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Deprotonated sulfamic acid and its homodimers: Does sulfamic acid adopt zwitterion during cluster growth?

Here we present a joint experimental and computational study on the geometric and electronic structures of deprotonated sulfamic acid (SA) clusters [(SA) n –H] – (n = 1, 2) employing negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy and high-level ab initio calculations. The photoelectron spectra provide the vertical/adiabatic detachment energy (VDE/ADE) of the sulfamate anion (SM – ) H 2 N•SO 3 – at 4.85 ± 0.05 and 4.58 ± 0.08 eV, respectively, and the VDE and ADE of the SM – •SA dimer at 6.41 ± 0.05 and 5.87 ± 0.08 eV, respectively. The significantly increased electron binding energies of the dimer confirm the enhanced electronic stability upon the addition of one SA molecule. The CCSD(T)-predicted VDEs/ADEs agree excellently with the experimental data, confirming the identified structures as the most stable ones. Two types of dimer isomers possessing different hydrogen bonding (HB) motifs are identified, corresponding to SM – binding to a zwitterionic SA (SM – •SA z ) and a canonical SA (SM – •SA c ), respectively. Two N–H$\cdots$O HBs and one superior O–H$\cdots$O HB are formed in the lowest-lying SM – •SA c , while SM – •SA z has three moderate N–H$\cdots$O HBs, with the former being 4.71 kcal/mol more stable. Further theoretical analyses reveal that the binding strength advantage of SM – •SA c over SM – •SA z arises from its significant contributions of orbital interactions between fragments, illustrating that sulfamate strongly interacts with its parent SA acid and preferably chooses the canonical SA in the subsequent cluster formations. Given the prominent presence of SA, this study provides the first evidence that the canonical dimer model of sulfamic acid should exist as a superior configuration during cluster growth.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Data Science Techniques, Assumptions, and Challenges in Alloy Clustering and Property Prediction

Data analytics methods have been increasingly applied to understanding materials chemistry, processing due to the manufacturing approach, and uni-axial and cyclic property relationships in the highly complex space of alloy design. There are several benefits to applying data analytics to this space, including the ability to manage non-linearities in the responses of the alloy attributes and the resulting mechanical properties. However, key difficulties in applying and understanding the results of data analytics include the often lack of reported assumptions and data processing steps necessary to improve interpretation and reproducibility in derived results. In this work, the methods used to generate clustering and correlation analyses for experimental 9% Cr ferritic-martensitic steel data were investigated and the resulting implications for mechanical property predictions were assessed. This work uses principal component analysis, partitioning around medoids, t-SNE, and k-means clustering to investigate trends in composition, processing and microstructure information with creep and tensile properties, building on work done previously using a smaller version of the same dataset. The initial assumptions, preprocessing steps and methods are investigated and outlined in order to depict the fine level of detail required to convey the steps taken to process data and produce analytical results. Here, the variations in the resulting analyses are explored due to the influence of new and more varied data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

A comparative study between real-world and laboratory accelerated aging of Cu/SSZ-13 SCR catalysts

Elucidating aging mechanisms in real-world applications is a critical component for developing and maintaining Cu/SSZ-13 SCR catalysts. To reveal gaps between laboratory accelerated aging and real-world aging, herein we report thorough comparative studies between 6 representative catalysts. Here, we apply a wide range of catalyst characterization methods, including surface area/porosity analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), H 2 -temperature programmed reduction, NH3-temperaure programmed desorption, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), in situ X-ray photoelectron (XPS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies, to gain atomic-level knowledge on Cu transformation under different aging protocols. We then correlate such knowledge to SCR, NH 3 /NO oxidation kinetic behavior of the catalysts. We found that sulfur aging plays the most important role in interpreting catalyst degradation during real-world application, including direct sulfur poisoning of isolated Cu II SCR active species to CuSO 4 -like species, the agglomeration of such species to multinuclear CuSO 4 clusters, and eventually, CuO formation during desulfation treatments. Such chemistries convert SCR active Cu to SCR inert Cu moieties without severely deteriorating catalyst support integrity. These characteristics are partially replicated by hydrothermal aging in the presence of SOx but are poorly mimicked by hydrothermal aging alone.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Coupled Cluster Downfolding Methods: the effect of double commutator terms on the accuracy of ground-state energies

Downfolding coupled cluster (CC) techniques have recently been introduced into quantum chemistry as a tool for the dimensionality reduction of the many-body quantum problem. As opposed to earlier formulations in physics and chemistry based on the concept of effective Hamiltonians, the appearance of the downfolded Hamiltonians is a natural consequence of the single-reference exponential parametrization of the wave function. In this paper, we discuss the impact of higher-order terms originating in double commutators. In analogy to previous studies, we consider the case when only one- and two-body interactions are included in the downfolded Hamiltonians. We demonstrate the efficiency of the many-body expansions involving single and double commutators for the unitary extension of the downfolded Hamiltonians on the example of the beryllium atom, and bond-breaking processes in the Li2 and H2O molecules. For the H2O system, we also analyze energies obtained with downfolding procedures as functions of the active space size.

quantum computing, quantum algorithms, electronic ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multiferroic ground states in free standing perovskite-based nanodots: a density functional theory study

In this work, we use density functional theory to investigate the possibility of polar and multiferroic states in free-standing, perovskite-based nanodots at the atomic limit of miniaturization: single unit cells with terminations which allow centro-symmetry. We consider both A-O and B-O 2 terminations for three families of nanodots: (i) A = Ba with B = Ti, Zr, and Hf; (ii) A = Ca and Sr with B = Ti; and (iii) A = Na and K with B = Nb. We find all A–O terminated dots to be non-polar and to exhibit cubic symmetry (except for K 8 NbO 6 ), regardless of the presence of ferroelectricity in the bulk. In contrast, all the B–O 2 terminated nanodots considered relax to a non-cubic ground state. Rather surprisingly, all of these structures exhibit polar ground states (except NaNb 8 O 12 ). We propose a new structural parameter, the cluster tolerance factor (CTF), to determine whether a particular chemistry will result in a polar ground state nanodot, analogous to the Goldschmidt factor for bulk ferroelectrics. In addition, we find that all A–O terminated (except Ca 8 TiO 6 ) and all polar B–O 2 terminated nanodots are magnetic, where none show magnetism in the bulk. As with bulk systems, multiferroicity in the B–O 2 terminated dots originates from separation between spin density in peripheral B atoms and polarity primarily caused by the off-center central A atom. Our findings stress that surface termination plays a crucial role in determining whether ferroelectricity is completely suppressed in perovskite-based materials at their limit of miniaturization.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ultrafast infrared transient absorption spectroscopy of gas-phase Ni(CO) 4 photodissociation at 261 nm

Here, we employ ultrafast mid-infrared transient absorption spectroscopy to probe the rapid loss of carbonyl ligands from gas-phase nickel tetracarbonyl following ultraviolet photoexcitation at 261 nm. Here, nickel tetracarbonyl undergoes prompt dissociation to produce nickel tricarbonyl in a singlet excited state; this electronically excited tricarbonyl loses another CO group over tens of picoseconds. Our results also suggest the presence of a parallel, concerted dissociation mechanism to produce nickel dicarbonyl in a triplet excited state, which likely dissociates to nickel monocarbonyl. Mechanisms for the formation of these photoproducts in multiple electronic excited states are theoretically predicted with one-dimensional cuts through the potential energy surfaces and computation of spin–orbit coupling constants using equation of motion coupled cluster methods (EOM-CC) and coupled cluster theory with single and double excitations (CCSD). Bond dissociation energies are calculated with CCSD, and anharmonic frequencies of ground and excited state species are computed using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗