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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 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Effect of Monomer Structure on Crystallization and Glass Transition of Flexible Copolyesters

Amorphous flexible (co)polyesters with low glass transition temperature (T{sub g}) are very desirable in impact modification of biodegradable brittle polymers and synthesis of biodegradable elastomers. However, most flexible polyesters and binary copolyesters made from linear diacid(s) and diol(s) are crystalline polymers. In order to investigate the effect of monomer structure on the crystallization and T{sub g} of such copolyesters, novel ternary or multiple flexible copolyesters containing various structural units were designed and synthesized in this study, and characterized with {sup 1}HNMR, GPC, DSC, WAXD, TGA and tensile testing. Introducing aromatic diacid (especially asymmetric one) or short-chain branched diol is favorable to depress copolyester crystallization, and leads to higher T{sub g} at the same time. From easily crystallized to fully amorphous copolyesters with low T{sub g} were successfully synthesized by adopting different combination of structural units. In addition, the existence of aromatic structural unit in copolyesters is helpful to improve their tensile properties. Graphical Abstract: Flexible copolyesters containing various structural units were designed and synthesized. Introducing asymmetric, rigid aromatic or short-chain branched unit is favorable to depress copolyester crystallization, and leads to higher T{sub g} at the same time. Crystalline to fully amorphous copolyesters with low enough T{sub g} have been successfully synthesized by adjusting the structural units. .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Study of the niobium oxide structure and microscopic effect of plasma processing on the Nb surface

A study of the niobium oxide structure is presented here, focusing on the niobium suboxides. Multiple steps of argon sputtering and XPS measurements were carried out until the metal surface was exposed. Subsequently, the sample was exposed to air for different time intervals and the oxide regrowth was studied. In addition, three Nb samples prepared with different surface treatments were studied before and after being subjected to plasma processing. The scope is investigating the microscopic effect that the reactive oxygen contained in the glow discharge may have on the niobium surface. This study suggests that the Nb 2 O 5 thickness may increase. Nevertheless, since the Nb 2 O 5 is dielectric, its thickening would not negatively affect the cavity performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Study of the Niobium Oxide Structure and Microscopic Effect of Plasma Processing on the Nb Surface

A study of the niobium oxide structure is presented here, focusing on the niobium suboxides. Multiple steps of argon sputtering and XPS measurements were carried out until the metal surface was exposed. Subsequently, the sample was exposed to air for different time intervals and the oxide regrowth was studied. In addition, three Nb samples prepared with different surface treatments were studied before and after being subjected to plasma processing. The scope is investigating the microscopic effect that the reactive oxygen contained in the glow discharge may have on the niobium surface. This study suggests that the Nb 2 O 5 thickness may increase. Nevertheless, since the Nb 2 O 5 is dielectric, its thickening would not negatively affect the cavity performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Synthesis of substituted disulfonyl-containing polycyclic azines with the bridgehead nitrogen atom. Effects of the structure of 3-substituted pyridinium ylides on the regioselectivity of their reactions with E-1,2-di(alkylsulfonyl)-1,2-dichloroethenes

Heating the substituted pyridinium and isoquinolinium salts with E-1,2-di(alkylsulfonyl)-1,2-dichloroethenes in either chloroform or acetone in the presence of three-fold excess of Et{sub 3}N gave high yields of substituted 1,2-di(alkylsulfonyl)indolizines and 1,2-di(alkylsulfonyl) pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolines, respectively. Effects of the structure of 3-substituted pyridinium ylides on the regioselectivity of their reaction with E-1,2-di(alkylsulfonyl)-1,2-dichloroethenes were revealed. It was shown that the presence of electron-releasing and electron-withdrawing substituents in the pyridinium ylide favors the formation of 8-substituted and 6-substituted 1,2-(dialkylsulfonyl)indolizines, respectively.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Comparison of the Structural and Dynamic Effects of 5-Methylcytosine and 5-Chlorocytosine in a CpG Dinucleotide Sequence

Inflammation-mediated reactive molecules can result in an array of oxidized and halogenated DNA-damage products, including 5-chlorocytosine ( Cl C). Previous studies have shown that Cl C can mimic 5-methylcytosine ( m C) and act as a fraudulent epigenetic signal, promoting the methylation of previously unmethylated DNA sequences. Although the 5-halouracils are good substrates for base-excision repair, no repair activity has yet been identified for Cl C. Because of the apparent biochemical similarities of m C and Cl C, we have investigated the effects of m C and Cl C substitution on oligonucleotide structure and dynamics. Here, we have constructed oligonucleotide duplexes containing C, Cl C, and m C within a CpG dinucleotide. The thermal and thermodynamic stability of these duplexes were found to be experimentally indistinguishable. Crystallographic structures of duplex oligonucleotides containing m C or Cl C were determined to 1.2 and 1.9 Å resolution, respectively. Both duplexes are B-form and are superimposable on a previously determined structure of a cytosine-containing duplex with a rmsd of approximately 0.25 Å. NMR solution studies indicate that all duplexes containing cytosine or the cytosine analogues are normal B-form and that no structural perturbations are observed surrounding the site of each substitution. The magnitude of the base-stacking-induced upfield shifts for nonexchangeable base proton resonances are similar for each of the duplexes examined, indicating that neither m C nor Cl C significantly alter base-stacking interactions. The Cl C analogue is paired with G in an apparently normal geometry; however, the G-imino proton of the Cl C–G base pair resonates to higher field relative to m C–G or C–G, indicating a weaker imino hydrogen bond. Using selective 15 N-enrichment and isotope-edited NMR, we observe that the amino group of Cl C rotates at roughly half of the rate of the corresponding amino groups of the C–G and m C–G base pairs. The altered chemical shifts of hydrogen-bonding proton resonances for the Cl C–G base pair as well as the slower rotation of the Cl C amino group can be attributed to the electron-withdrawing inductive property of the 5-chloro substituent. The apparent similarity of duplexes containing m C and Cl C demonstrated here is in accord with results of previous biochemical studies and further suggests that Cl C is likely to be an unusually persistent form of DNA damage.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Temperature effects on prevalent structures of hydrated Fe{sup +} complexes: Infrared spectroscopy and DFT calculations of Fe{sup +}(H{sub 2}O){sub n} (n = 3–8)

Hydrated Fe{sup +} ions are produced in a laser-vaporization cluster source of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The Fe{sup +}(H{sub 2}O){sub n} (n = 3–8) complexes are mass-selected and probed with infrared (IR) photodissociation spectroscopy in the OH-stretch region. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are also carried out for analyzing the experimental IR spectra and for evaluating thermodynamic quantities of low-lying isomers. Solvation through H-bonding instead of direct coordination to Fe{sup +} is observed already at n = 3, indicating the completion of the first hydration shell with two H{sub 2}O molecules. Size dependent variations in the spectra for n = 5–7 provide evidence for the second-shell completion at n = 6, where a linearly coordinated Fe{sup +}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2} subunit is solvated with four H{sub 2}O molecules. Overall spectral features for n = 3–8 agree well with those predicted for 2-coordinated structures. DFT calculations predict that such 2-coordinated structures are lowest in energy for smaller n. However, 4-coordinated isomers are predicted to be more stable for n = 7 and 8; the energy ordering is in conflict with the IR spectroscopic observation. Examination of free energy as a function of temperature suggests that the ordering of the isomers at warmer temperatures can be different from the ordering near 0 K. For n = 7 and 8, the 4-coordinated isomers should be observed at low temperatures because they are lowest in enthalpy. Meanwhile, outer-shell waters in the 2-coordinated structures are bound less rigidly; their contribution to entropy is rather large. The 2-coordinated structures become abundant at warmer temperatures, owing to the entropy effect.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effects of citrate on hexavalent chromium reduction by structural Fe(II) in nontronite

Iron-bearing clay minerals and organic matter are two important components in natural environments that influence hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) reduction. Previous studies have shown that organic ligands could influence Cr(VI) reduction by aqueous Fe2+ and pyrite. However, the effects of organic ligands on Cr(VI) reduction by structural Fe(II) in clays are not well understood. In this study, the effects of citrate on Cr(VI) reduction by nontronite (NAu-2) were investigated under near neutral pH condition (pH=6). Our results showed that the presence of citrate decreased the rate but increased the amount of Cr(VI) reduction by structural Fe(II) in NAu-2. The decreased reaction rate was likely due to competitive sorption of citrate and polyanionic dichromate (Cr2O7- ), because sorption of dichromate appeared to be the first step for subsequent Cr(VI) reduction. The increased amount of Cr(VI) reduction in the presence of citrate was likely because citrate provided additional reducing power through ligand-metal electron transfer in the presence of soluble Fe 3+ derived from dissolution of reduced NAu-2. Soluble Cr(III)-citrate complex was the possible form of reduced chromium when citrate was present. In contrast, nanometer-sized Cr2O3 particles were the product of Cr(VI) reduction by reduced NAu-2 without citrate. Our study highlights the importance of organic ligands on Cr(VI) reduction and immobilization when iron-bearing clay minerals are applied to treat Cr(VI) contaminant in organic matter rich environments.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2014

Composition and grain size effects on the structural and mechanical properties of CuZr nanoglasses

Nanoglasses (NGs), metallic glasses (MGs) with a nanoscale grain structure, have the potential to considerably increase the ductility of traditional MGs while retaining their outstanding mechanical properties. We investigated the effects of composition on the structural and mechanical properties of CuZr NG films with grain sizes between 3 to 15 nm using molecular dynamics simulations. Results indicate a transition from localized shear banding to homogeneous superplastic flow with decreasing grain size, although the critical average grain size depends on composition: 5 nm for Cu{sub 36}Zr{sub 64} and 3 nm for Cu{sub 64}Zr{sub 36}. The flow stress of the superplastic NG at different compositions follows the trend of the yield stress of the parent MG, i.e., Cu{sub 36}Zr{sub 64} yield/flow stress: 2.54 GPa/1.29 GPa and Cu{sub 64}Zr{sub 36} yield/flow stress: 3.57 GPa /1.58 GPa. Structural analysis indicates that the differences in mechanical behavior as a function of composition are rooted at the distinct statistics of prominent atomic Voronoi polyhedra. The mechanical behavior of NGs is also affected by the grain boundary thickness and the fraction of atoms at interfaces for a given average grain size. The results suggest that the composition dependence of the mechanical behavior of NGs follows that of their parent MGs, e.g., a stronger MG will generate a stronger NG, while the intrinsic tendency for homogeneous deformation occurring at small grain size is not affected by composition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of nitrogen upon structural and magnetic properties of FePt in FePt/AlN multilayer structures

This paper investigates the effect of the addition of nitrogen in FePt layers for ultrathin FePt/AlN multilayer structures. X-ray diffraction results reveal that a compressive stress relaxation occurs after annealing owing to the release of interstitial nitrogen atoms in the FePt layers. The introduction of nitrogen also induces a large in-plane compressive strain during grain growth not seen in FePt deposited without nitrogen. This strain is considered to decrease the driving force for (111) grain growth and FePt ordering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accurate prediction of short-range order and its effect on thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties of disordered alloys: exemplified in archetypical Cu 3 Au

Electronic-structure methods based on density-functional theory (DFT) were used to quantify the effect of chemical short-range order (SRO) on thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties of archetypal face-centered-cubic (fcc) Cu3Au alloy. We showed that SRO can be tuned to alter bonding and lattice dynamics (i.e., phonons) and detail how these properties are changed with SRO. Thermodynamically favorable SRO significantly improved the phase stability of fcc Cu3Au from -0.0343 eV-atom -1 to –0.0682 eV-atom -1 . We used our DFT-based linear-response theory to predict SRO and its electronic origin, and accurately estimate the observed transition temperature, ordering instability (L1 2 ), and Warren-Cowley SRO parameters, in agreement with experiments. The accurate prediction of real-space SRO gives an edge over computationally and resource intensive approaches such as monte-carlo methods or experiments, which will enable large scale molecular dynamic simulations by providing supercells with optimized SRO. Here we also analyzed phonon dispersion and estimated the vibrational entropy change (from 9kB at 300 K to 6kB at 100 K) in fcc Cu3Au. We established from SRO analysis that exclusion of chemical interactions may lead to a skewed view of true properties in chemically complex alloys. The first-principles methods described in this work are generally applicable to any arbitrary solid-solution alloys, including multi-principal-element alloys, therefore, holds promise for designing technologically useful materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Introduction to Superconducting RF Structures and the Effect of High Pressure Rinsing

This presentation begins by describing RF superconductivity and SRF accelerating structures. Then the use of superconducting RF structures in a number of accelerators around the world is reviewed; for example, the International Linear Collider (ILC) will use ~16,000 SRF cavities with ~2,000 cryomodules to get 500 GeV e⁺/e⁻ colliding energy. Field emission control was (and still is) a very important practical issue for SRF cavity development. It has been found that high-pressure ultrapure water rinsing as a final cleaning step after chemical surface treatment resulted in consistent performance of single- and multicell superconducting cavities.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Annealing effect on the structural and magnetic properties of the CuAl{sub 0.6}Cr{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 1.2}O{sub 4} nano-ferrites

Graphical abstract: Mössbauer spectra of the as-prepared (AP) and annealed CuAl{sub 0.6}Cr{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 1.2}O{sub 4} samples. - Highlights: • As-prepared Cu–Al–Cr nano-ferrite samples were annealed at different temperatures T{sub A}. • Sample structure was transformed from cubic to tetragonal by JTE at 1000 °C. • Spontaneous and saturation magnetizations showed similar behavior against T{sub A}. • The deduced parameters showed dependence on T{sub A} and proved their affect by JTE. • Spontaneous magnetization proved dependence on crystallite size. - Abstract: Amounts of the as-synthesized CuAl{sub 0.6}Cr{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 1.2}O{sub 4} nanoparticles by the chemical co-precipitation method were annealed for 4 h at one of the temperatures T{sub A} = 300, 500, 600, 800 and 1000 °C for each. The techniques used for characterizing the samples were X-ray diffractions, infrared (IR) and Mössbauer spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. This study proved single-phase cubic structure of the samples annealed at T{sub A} ≤ 800 °C and tetragonal structure of the sample annealed at 1000 °C. The cubic-to-tetragonal structure transformation was attributed to the tetragonal distortion by Jahn–Teller effect (JTE) of Cu{sup 2+} ions. This study revealed that all deduced parameters were affected by JTE, whereas the crystallite size, lattice parameters, strain, threshold frequency, force constants, Debye temperature and stiffness constant were dependent on T{sub A}. IR absorption band positions and intensities were dependent on T{sub A} and proved the existence of Fe{sup 2+}, Fe{sup 4+} and Cr{sup 4+} ions in the crystal sublattices. The spontaneous and saturation magnetization and hyperfine magnetic field of the tetrahedral and octahedral sites were deduced and discussed as functions of T{sub A}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Alcohol Structure on the Kinetics of Etherification and Dehydration over Tungstated Zirconia

We report that linear and branched ether molecules have attracted recent interest as diesel additives and lubricants that can be produced from biomass-derived alcohols. In this study, tungstated zirconia was identified as a selective and green solid acid catalyst for the direct etherification of primary alcohols in the liquid phase, achieving ether selectivities of >94 % for C 6 –C 12 linear alcohol coupling at 393 K. The length of linear primary alcohols (C 6 –C 12 ) was shown to have a negligible effect on apparent activation energies for etherification and dehydration, demonstrating the possibility to produce both symmetrical and asymmetrical linear ethers. Reactions over a series of C 6 alcohols with varying methyl branch positions indicated that substituted alcohols (2°, 3°) and alcohols with branches on the β-carbon readily undergo dehydration, but alcohols with branches at least three carbons away from the -OH group are highly selective to ether. A novel model compound, 4-hexyl-1dodecanol, was synthesized and tested to further demonstrate this structure–activity relationship. Lastly, trends in the effects of alcohol structure on selectivity were consistent with previously proposed mechanisms for etherification and dehydration, and help to define possible pathways to selectively form ethers from biomass-derived alcohols.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Probing Nitrogen-Doping Effects in the Core-Shell Structured Catalysts for Bifunctional Electrocatalysis.

The design of core-shell structured catalysts has attracted wide interests due to their remarkable catalytic performances in many fields. Although the nitrogen doping is often integrated in such kind of catalysts, the main contribution is exclusively attributed to the metal sites or the core-shell configuration. The role of nitrogen doping is often believed to be less important, which remains largely unexplored. Here, in an effort to probe the catalytic role of heterogeneous doping in such core-shell structure, the effect of nitrogen doping on the activation of cobalt and iron carbide-based materials for the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen and the hydrogen evolution reaction is originally revealed. The nitrogen doping in the core-shell structured biphasic interfaces is found to be of critical importance for triggering the electrocatalytic activity and selectivity. Therefore, this study shows the neglected but critical role of nitrogen doping and biphasic interactions in a core-shell configuration, paving a new pathway towards the performance enhancement.

biphasic interfaces↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-pressure behavior of cuprospinel CuFe 2 O 4 : Influence of the Jahn-Teller effect on the spinel structure

The Jahn-Teller-effect at Cu 2+ in cuprospinel CuFe 2 O 4 was investigated using high-pressure, single crystal synchrotron x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques at beamline BL10A at the Photon Factory, KEK, Japan. Six data sets were collected in the pressure range from ambient to 5.9 GPa at room temperature. Structural refinements based on the data were performed at 0.0, 1.8, 2.7, and 4.6 GPa. The unit cell volume of cuprospinel decreases continuously from 590.8 (6) Å 3 to 579.5 (8) Å 3 up to 3.8 GPa. Leastsquares fitting to a third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state yields zero-pressure volume V 0 = 590.7 (1) Å 3 and bulk modulus K 0 = 188.1 (4.4) GPa with K’ fixed at 4.0. The crystal chemical composition determined by electron-probe analysis and x-ray site-occupancy refinement is represented as [Cu 0.526 Fe 0.474 ] [6] [Cu 0.074 Fe 1.926 ]O 4 . Most of the Cu 2+ are preferentially distributed onto the tetrahedral (T) site of the spinel structure. At 4.6 GPa, a cubic-tetragonal phase transition is indicated by a splitting of the a axis of the cubic structure into a smaller a axis and a longer c axis, with unit cell parameters a = 5.882 (1) Å and c = 8.337 (1) Å. The tetragonal crystal structure with space group I4 1 /amd was refined to R1 = 0.0182 and wR2 = 0.0134 using observed 35 x-ray reflections. At the T site, the tetrahedral O-T-O bond angles along the c-axis direction of the unit cell decreases slightly from 109.47 ° to 108.7 (4) °, which generates a stretched tetrahedral geometry along the c-axis. The cubic-totetragonal transition induced by the Jahn-Teller effect at Cu 2+ is attributable to the angular distortion at the tetrahedral site. At the octahedral (M) site, on the other hand, the two M-O bonds parallel to the caxis are shortened with respect to the four M-O bonds parallel to the ab-plane, which are lengthened as a result of the phase transition, leading to a compressed octahedral geometry along the c-axis. With the competing distortions between the stretched tetrahedron and the compressed octahedron along the c-axis, the a unit cell parameter is shortened with respect to the c unit cell parameter, giving a c/a ratio slightly greater than unity as referred to cubic lattice (c/a = 1.002). The c/a value increases to 1.007 with pressure, suggesting a further evolution of the stretched tetrahedron and the compressed octahedron. The variation of c/a ratio of the cuprospinel is similar to that observed in the tetragonally distorted cuprospinel with Cu 2+ fully occupying the octahedral site of the structure.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗