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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Refining Absorber Shroud Geometry to Maximize Power Output and Reduce Power Peaking in ATF Test Train

In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011, the accident tolerant fuels (ATF) program was initiated to enhance the safety of light-water reactor fuels, placing significant emphasis on cladding. A crucial step for the broad implementation of ATF in commercial reactors involves irradiation testing of the fuel designs. ATF-2D, the latest experiment in the ATF series, is slated to undergo irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). ATF-2D is a joint effort of the INL with industry partners General Electric Global Research; Framatome; General Atomics; the Japan Atomic Energy Agency; Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd; Global Nuclear Fuel-Japan Co., Ltd; Nippon Nuclear Fuel Development Co., Ltd; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The ATF-2D test train design consists of four tiers, each housing six rodlets. The device will be inserted in Loop 2A within the central flux trap of the ATR, and is anticipated to undergo irradiation throughout three 60-day cycles. Typical pressurized water reactor conditions will be emulated during the irradiation. The objective of the work presented here is to dimension neutron-absorbing hafnium (Hf) components surrounding the fuel rodlets, such that the axial power profile is flattened, while simultaneously ensuring that the total fission power output of the entire test train remains below 200 kW.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Refining Absorber Shroud Geometry to Maximize Power Output and Reduce Power Peaking in ATF Test Train

In the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011, the accident tolerant fuels (ATF) program was initiated to enhance the safety of light-water reactor fuels, placing significant emphasis on cladding. A crucial step for the broad implementation of ATF in commercial reactors involves irradiation testing of the fuel designs. ATF-2D, the latest experiment in the ATF series, is slated to undergo irradiation in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). ATF-2D is a joint effort of the INL with industry partners General Electric Global Research; Framatome; General Atomics; the Japan Atomic Energy Agency; Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd; Global Nuclear Fuel-Japan Co., Ltd; Nippon Nuclear Fuel Development Co., Ltd; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. The ATF-2D test train design consists of four tiers, each housing six rodlets. The device will be inserted in Loop 2A within the central flux trap of the ATR, and is anticipated to undergo irradiation throughout three 60-day cycles. Typical pressurized water reactor conditions will be emulated during the irradiation. The objective of the work presented here is to dimension neutron-absorbing hafnium (Hf) components surrounding the fuel rodlets, such that the axial power profile is flattened, while simultaneously ensuring that the total fission power output of the entire test train remains below 200 kW.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dissolution of a Can Carrier Pin in Concentrated Nitric Acid

H=Canyon will be dissolving Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) fuel from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The FCA fuel will be dissolved in the electrolytic dissolver in a solution that is a 50 wt.% nitric acid (HNO 3 ), 0.5 g/l gadolinium (Gd), and 0.05 M potassium fluoride (KF). The nitric acid concentration is expected to decrease during the batch process from 10.3 to 7 M. The temperature of the nitric acid solution may be as low as 15 °C. The fuel can will be placed in the dissolver basket insert utilizing a reusable charging device. The charging device is a coated stainless-steel rod with a clevis design. The charging device employs a linchpin to secure the FCA fuel can as it is being charged into the H-canyon dissolver. Prior to beginning the electrolytic dissolution process, the pin will be dissolved, the fuel can will remain in the dissolver basket insert and the charging device will be removed. Currently the time necessary for complete dissolution of the pin is unknown and thus the timing of the removal of the charging device cannot be planned. This process is to be performed remotely and therefore complete dissolution of the pin will not be able to be visually determined. The pin will be made of a material that dissolves in the concentrated nitric acid solution in the dissolver. The facility desired to know the time that the pin would be dissolved so that the charging device for the FCA can could be removed from the dissolver. In particular, the pin dissolution time as a function of the nitric acid concentration and the temperature was desired. The facility would like to ensure that the solution environment was such that the charging device could be removed within an operational shift (8-12 hours).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Alignment system and associated method

An alignment system includes an optical sensor device that may be inserted into a passage of a body that is located between a fuel injector and a combustion chamber of an engine cylinder. The body is shaped to transmit fuel ejected from a spray hole in a fuel injector into the combustion chamber of the engine cylinder. The system also includes a controller that may examine output of the optical sensor device and determine whether the passage of the body is aligned with the spray hole of the fuel injector based on the output from the optical sensor device. The controller may change a position of one or more of the body or the fuel injector responsive to determining that the passage of the body is not aligned with the spray hole of the fuel injector.

Richerson, Jay↗
DOE OSTI2025

Integrated phononic waveguide on thin-film lithium niobate on diamond

Here, we demonstrate wavelength-scale phononic waveguides formed by transfer-printed thin-film lithium niobate (LN) on bulk diamond, a material stack that combines the strong piezoelectricity of LN with the high acoustic velocity and color-center compatibility of diamond. We characterize a delay line based on a 100 μm long phononic waveguide at room and cryogenic temperatures. The total insertion loss through the device at 4 K is −5.8 dB, corresponding to a $>$ 50 % transducer efficiency, at a frequency of 2.8 GHz. Our work represents a step toward phonon-mediated hybrid quantum systems consisting of strain-sensitive color centers in diamond.

Malik, Sultan [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)]↗
DOE OSTI2022

Rigid stiffener-reinforced flexible neural probes, and methods of fabrication using wicking channel-distributed adhesives and tissue insertion and extraction

A stiffener-reinforced microelectrode array probe and fabrication method using wicking channel-distributed adhesives which temporarily adheres a flexible device onto a rigid stiffener for insertion and extraction. Assembly is by dispensing a liquid adhesive into a narrow open groove wicking channel formed on the stiffener so that the adhesive is wicked along and fills the channel by capillary action, and adhering the adhesive-filled bonding side of the elongated section of the rigid substrate to a flexible device.

Shah, Kedar G.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion beam etching dependence of spin-orbit torque memory devices with switching current densities reduced by Hf interlayers

We report on the fabrication of nanoscale, three-terminal in-plane spin–orbit torque switching devices with low switching current densities. Critical parameters in the fabrication process, including the ion beam etching angle and time, were optimized to avoid fabrication defects and improve device yield. Measurements of the magnetic field and current-induced switching behavior of the tunnel junctions demonstrate a sensitivity to the nanopillar aspect ratio, which dictates the nanopillars’ anisotropy and thermal stability. Additionally, we show that the current density required for switching can be reduced and the device thermal stability increased by inserting Hf interlayers into the heterostructure. Micromagnetic simulations are generally consistent with the experimentally observed switching behavior, suggesting an increase in the interfacial perpendicular anisotropy at the CoFeB/MgO interface and the reduction in the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the W/CoFeB interface by the Hf interlayers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Arbitrary Low-Dimensional Film Transfer Enabled by GeO 2 Release Layer

Low-dimensional materials show great promise for enhanced computing and sensing performance in mission-relevant environments. However, integrating low-dimensional materials into conventional electronics remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a novel transfer method by which low-dimensional materials and their heterostructures can be transferred onto any arbitrary substrate. Our method relies on a water soluble GeO 2 substrate from which lowdimensional materials are transferred without significant perturbation. We apply the method to transfer a working electronic device based on a low-dimensional material. Process developments are achieved to enable the fabrication and transfer of a working electronic device, including the growth of high-k dielectric on GeO 2 by atomic layer deposition and inserting an indium diffusion barrier into the device gate stack. This work supports Sandia’s heterogeneous integration strategy to broaden the implementation of low-dimensional films and their devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electrostatic gating of ion transport in carbon nanotube porins: A modeling study

Carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs) are biomimetic membrane channels that demonstrate excellent biocompatibility and unique water and ion transport properties. Gating transport in CNTPs with external voltage could increase control over ion flow and selectivity. Herein, we used continuum modeling to probe the parameters that enable and further affect CNTP gating efficiency, including the size and composition of the supporting lipid membrane, slip flow in the carbon nanotube, and the intrinsic electronic properties of the nanotube. Our results show that the optimal gated CNTP device consists of a semiconducting CNTP inserted into a small membrane patch containing an internally conductive layer. Moreover, we demonstrate that the ionic transport modulated by gate voltages is controlled by the charge distribution along the CNTP under the external gate electric potential. The theoretical understanding developed in this study offers valuable guidance for the design of gated CNTP devices for nanofluidic studies, novel biomimetic membranes, and cellular interfaces in the future.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy with a femtotesla diamond magnetometer

Radio frequency (RF) magnetometers based on nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond are predicted to offer femtotesla sensitivity, but previous experiments were limited to the picotesla level. We demonstrate a femtotesla RF magnetometer using a diamond membrane inserted between ferrite flux concentrators. The device provides ~300-fold amplitude enhancement for RF magnetic fields from 70 kHz to 3.6 MHz, and the sensitivity reaches ~70 fT√s at 0.35 MHz. The sensor detected the 3.6-MHz nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) of room-temperature sodium nitrite powder. The sensor’s recovery time after an RF pulse is ~35 μs, limited by the excitation coil’s ring-down time. The sodium-nitrite NQR frequency shifts with temperature as -1.00±0.02 kHz/K, the magnetization dephasing time is T 2 *=887±51 μs, and multipulse sequences extend the signal lifetime to 332±23 ms, all consistent with coil-based studies. Our results expand the sensitivity frontier of diamond magnetometers to the femtotesla range, with potential applications in security, medical imaging, and materials science.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Feasibility of crystal-assisted collimation in the CERN accelerator complex

Bent silicon crystals mounted on high-accuracy angular actuators were installed in the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and extensively tested to assess the feasibility of crystal-assisted collimation in circular hadron colliders. The adopted layout was exploited and regularly upgraded for about a decade by the UA9 Collaboration. The investigations provided the compelling evidence of a strong reduction of beam losses induced by nuclear inelastic interactions in the aligned crystals in comparison with amorphous orientation. A conceptually similar device, installed in the betatron cleaning insertion of CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), was operated through the complete acceleration and storage cycle and demonstrated a large reduction of the background leaking from the collimation region and radiated into the cold sections of the accelerator and the experimental detectors. The implemented layout and the relevant results of the beam tests performed in the SPS and in the LHC with stored proton and ion beams are extensively discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electrochemical Random-Access Memory: Progress, Perspectives, and Opportunities

Non-von Neumann computing using neuromorphic systems based on analogue synaptic and neuronal elements has emerged as a potential solution to tackle the growing need for more efficient data processing, but progress toward practical systems has been stymied due to a lack of materials and devices with the appropriate attributes. Recently, solid state electrochemical ion-insertion, also known as electrochemical random access memory (ECRAM) has emerged as a promising approach to realize the needed device characteristics. ECRAM is a three terminal device that operates by tuning electronic conductance in functional materials through solid-state electrochemical redox reactions. This mechanism can be considered as a gate-controlled bulk modulation of dopants and/or phases in the channel. Early work demonstrating that ECRAM can achieve nearly ideal analogue synaptic characteristics has sparked tremendous interest in this approach. More recently, the realization that electrochemical ion insertion can be used to tune the electronic properties of many types of materials including transition metal oxides, layered two-dimensional materials, organic and coordination polymers, and that the changes in conductance can span orders of magnitude has further attracted interest in ECRAM as the basis for analogue synaptic elements for inference accelerators as well as for dynamical devices that can emulate a wide range of neuronal characteristics for implementation in analogue spiking neural networks. At its core, ECRAM shares many fundamental aspects with rechargeable batteries, where ion insertion materials are used extensively for their ability to reversibly store charge and energy. Computing applications, however, present drastically different requirements: systems will require many millions of devices, scaled down to tens of nanometers, all while achieving reliable electronic-state tuning at scaled-up rates and endurances, and with minimal energy dissipation and noise. Further, in this review, we discuss the history, basic concepts, recent progress, as well as the challenges and opportunities for different types of ECRAM, broadly grouped by their primary mobile ionic charge carrier, including Li, protons, and oxygen vacancies.

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

Tuning the critical Li intercalation concentrations for MoX 2 (X = S, Se, or Te) bilayer phase transitions

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as MoS 2 , are known to undergo a structural phase transformation as well as a change in the electronic conductivity upon Li intercalation. These properties make them candidates for charge-tunable ion-insertion materials that could be used in electro-chemical devices. In this work we study the phase stability and electronic structure of H and T’ Li-intercalated MoX 2 bilayers with X=S, Se, or Te. Here, using first-principles calculations in combination with classical and machine learning modeling approaches, we find that the H phase is more stable at low Li concentration for all X, and the critical Li concentration at which the T’→H transition occurs decreases with increasing mass of X. Furthermore the relative free energy of the two phases becomes less sensitive to Li insertion with increasing atomic mass of the chalcogen atom X. While the electronic conductivity increases with increasing ion concentration at low concentrations, we do not observe a (positive) conductivity jump at the phase transition from H to T’.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Femtosecond laser fabrication of nanograting-based distributed fiber sensors for extreme environmental applications

Abstract The femtosecond laser has emerged as a powerful tool for micro- and nanoscale device fabrication. Through nonlinear ionization processes, nanometer-sized material modifications can be inscribed in transparent materials for device fabrication. This paper describes femtosecond precision inscription of nanograting in silica fiber cores to form both distributed and point fiber sensors for sensing applications in extreme environmental conditions. Through the use of scanning electron microscope imaging and laser processing optimization, high-temperature stable, Type II femtosecond laser modifications were continuously inscribed, point by point, with only an insertion loss at 1 dB m −1 or 0.001 dB per point sensor device. High-temperature performance of fiber sensors was tested at 1000 °C, which showed a temperature fluctuation of ±5.5 °C over 5 days. The low laser-induced insertion loss in optical fibers enabled the fabrication of a 1.4 m, radiation-resilient distributed fiber sensor. The in-pile testing of the distributed fiber sensor further showed that fiber sensors can execute stable and distributed temperature measurements in extreme radiation environments. Overall, this paper demonstrates that femtosecond-laser-fabricated fiber sensors are suitable measurement devices for applications in extreme environments.

Wang, Mohan (ORCID:0000000166784993)↗