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At least 595 records · Page 33

Photoluminescent and Thermoluminescent Studies of Dy{sup 3+} and Eu{sup 3+} Doped Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} Phosphors

Eu{sup 3+} doped and Dy{sup 3+} codoped yttrium oxide (Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}) phosphors have been prepared using solid-state reaction technique (SSR). The prepared phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. Photoluminescence (PL) and Thermoluminescence (TL) properties were studied in detail. PL emission spectra were recorded for prepared phosphors under excitation wavelength 254 nm, which show a high intense peak at 613 nm for Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+}, Eu{sup 3+} (1:1.5 mol %) phosphor. The correlated color temperature (CCT) and CIE analysis have been performed for the synthesized phosphors. TL glow curves were recorded for Eu{sup 3+}doped and Dy{sup 3+}codoped phosphors to study the heating rate effect and dose response. The kinetic parameters were calculated using peak shape method for UV and γ exposures through computerized glow curve deconvolution (CGCD) technique. The phosphors show second order kinetics and activation energies varying from 5.823 × 10{sup − 1} to 18.608 × 10{sup − 1} eV.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Image processing tools for petabyte-scale light sheet microscopy data

Light sheet microscopy is a powerful technique for high-speed three-dimensional imaging of subcellular dynamics and large biological specimens. However, it often generates datasets ranging from hundreds of gigabytes to petabytes in size for a single experiment. Conventional computational tools process such images far slower than the time to acquire them and often fail outright due to memory limitations. To address these challenges, we present PetaKit5D, a scalable software solution for efficient petabyte-scale light sheet image processing. This software incorporates a suite of commonly used processing tools that are optimized for memory and performance. Notable advancements include rapid image readers and writers, fast and memory-efficient geometric transformations, high-performance Richardson–Lucy deconvolution and scalable Zarr-based stitching. These features outperform state-of-the-art methods by over one order of magnitude, enabling the processing of petabyte-scale image data at the full teravoxel rates of modern imaging cameras. The software opens new avenues for biological discoveries through large-scale imaging experiments.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Experimental validation of wireless communication with chaos

The constraints of a wireless physical media, such as multi-path propagation and complex ambient noises, prevent information from being communicated at low bit error rate. Surprisingly, it has only recently been shown that, from a theoretical perspective, chaotic signals are optimal for communication. It maximises the receiver signal-to-noise performance, consequently minimizing the bit error rate. This work demonstrates numerically and experimentally that chaotic systems can in fact be used to create a reliable and efficient wireless communication system. Toward this goal, we propose an impulsive control method to generate chaotic wave signals that encode arbitrary binary information signals and an integration logic together with the match filter capable of decreasing the noise effect over a wireless channel. The experimental validation is conducted by inputting the signals generated by an electronic transmitting circuit to an electronic circuit that emulates a wireless channel, where the signals travel along three different paths. The output signal is decoded by an electronic receiver, after passing through a match filter.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High-performance strategies for the recent MRSF-TDDFT in GAMESS

Multiple ERI (Electron Repulsion Integral) tensor contractions (METC) with several matrices are ubiquitous in quantum chemistry. In response theories, the contraction operation, rather than ERI computations, can be the major bottleneck, as its computational demands are proportional to the multiplicatively combined contributions of the number of excited states and the kernel pre-factors. Here, this paper presents several high-performance strategies for METC. Optimal approaches involve either the data layout reformations of interim density and Fock matrices, the introduction of intermediate ERI quartet buffer, and loop-reordering optimization for a higher cache hit rate. The combined strategies remarkably improve the performance of the MRSF (mixed reference spin flip)-TDDFT (time-dependent density functional theory) by nearly 300%. The results of this study are not limited to the MRSF-TDDFT method and can be applied to other METC scenarios.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Worldwide Physics-Based Lifetime Prediction of c-Si Modules Due to Solder-Bond Failure

Lifetime prediction of the fielded c-Si solar modules due to location-specific weather conditions has been an important topic of photovoltaic research and the economic viability of solar energy. Data analytic techniques such as the performance ratio method, Statistical clear sky model, and Suns-Vmp methods quantify the degradation from measured data of a solar farm, however, the nonlinear time-dependence and correlated degradations make it difficult to use the empirical degradation rates for ultimate lifetime projection. In this article, we propose a complementary physics-based model to predict the solder bond failure caused by mechanical stress associated with the variations of the temperature. Integrating the worldwide weather information from NASA/NSRDB databases, the model predicts the location-specific output-power degradation and the lifetime of a module due to solder bond failure. The model parameters are calibrated against qualification tests involving thermal cycling of specific batches of modules from a specific technology/manufacturer. The results may be summarized as: 1) Modules installed at higher latitudes show a longer lifetime due to reduced damage accumulation. 2) The reduction of temperature fluctuation close to large bodies of water, such as seashores, increases solder bond lifetime significantly. 3) Relatively speaking, modules installed close to the Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn (23.5 degrees North/South) suffer from a higher solder bond damage and have a shorter lifetime, suggesting a conservative design. This model should serve as a building block of a comprehensive reliability framework that can predict the lifetime of a module that experiences simultaneous and correlated degradation mechanisms involving yellowing, corrosion, and potential-induced degradation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Interaction of TiS 2 and Sulfur in Li-S Battery System

With the ability to adsorb polysulfide, electronically conductive and electrochemically active TiS 2 is an effective multifunctional cathode additive to improve Li-S battery cycling performance. Furthermore, by using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), direct evidence is obtained to demonstrate the strong interaction between Li-polysulfide and TiS 2 . The observation of Li signature on Li 2 S 8 treated TiS 2 proves that the TiS 2 possesses the ability to adsorb Li-polysulfides species on its surface. An electron density transfer from Ti to Li and S is identified based on the positions of the peaks in the XPS spectrum before and after the interaction, which is consistent with the theoretically predicted polysulfide-TiS 2 interaction models in the literature. TiS 2 sample with 2.5x higher BET surface area is obtained by milling the raw TiS 2 particles and used as cathode additive in the sulfur electrode. Furthermore, in the presence of TiS 2 additive, long cycle life and improved sulfur utilization of Li-S cells under high rate discharge are demonstrated. In addition, we find that a uniform TiS 2 distribution in the sulfur-TiS 2 hybrid electrode is vital in determining its effectiveness in enhancing the performance of sulfur electrodes. Thus, by processing method and condition should be very important considerations in future development of sulfur electrodes with TiS 2 additive.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Roll-to-Roll Advanced Materials Manufacturing DOE Laboratory Collaboration - FY2018 Final Report

High-value R2R processing is used to support a wide range of products in applications which span many industrial business sectors. The overall R2R process technology can be considered as “mature” as the process methodology and has been in use for decades. This continuous processing technique traditionally involves deposition of material(s) onto moving webs or carriers or other continuous R2R, belt-fed, or conveyor-based processes that enable successive steps to build a final version which serves to support the deposited materials. Current process technologies, which typify “roll to roll”, include tape casting, silk-screen printing, reel-to-reel vacuum deposition/coating and R2R lithography. Products supported by R2R manufacturing include micro-electronics, electro-chromic window films, PVs, fuel cells for energy conversion, battery electrodes for energy storage, and barrier materials. Due to innovation in materials and process equipment, high-quality yet very low-cost multi-layer technologies can be manufactured on a very cost-competitive basis. To move energy-related products from high-cost niche applications to the commercial sector, a means must be available to enable manufacture of these products in a cost-competitive manner that is affordable by the general consumer. Fortunately, products such as fuel cells, thin- and mid-film PVs, batteries, electrochromic and piezoelectric films, water separation membranes, and other energy saving technologies readily lend themselves to manufacture using R2R approaches.Within the DOE EERE AMO, it was recognized that establishment of a program supported at the DOE National Laboratories, along with their immense design of materials and equipment modelling capabilities enabled with use of high-performance computing, could take advantage of available R2R infrastructure to manufacture new technologies. In FY 2016, a R2R Consortium was established and provided with initial “seed” funding to take an approach that was envisioned to be supportable by advanced manufacturing R2R processes. This collaborative approach was designed to foster identification and development of materials and processes related to R2R for clean-energy product development. Using computational and experimental capabilities by acknowledged subject matter experts within the supported National Laboratory system, this collaborative project would leverage the capabilities and expertise at each of four laboratories to further the development of an enabling high-volume cost-competitive platform technology. The collaboration team that is comprised of ORNL, ANL, NREL and LBNL, coordinating with EPB and other selected industry partners, was formed in April 2016 to initially address enhancing battery electrode performance and R2R manufacturing challenges. The research efforts were to predict and measure changes and results in electrode morphology and performance based on process condition changes; to evaluate mixed, active, particle size deposition and drying for novel electrode materials; to model various process condition changes and the resulting morphology and electrode performance; and to develop and validate NDE techniques for in-line measurement of battery electrode material properties. These efforts carried through FY 2017 and completed at the end of FY 2018.The approach was to look at compositions of materials with different particle sizes to make electrode samples using a R2R manufacturing process. The shape, size, and morphology of the materials, the chemistry of the formulation, the nature of slurries, their coating rate, the rate of drying all play a role in determining the final coating architecture, quality, and performance. A commercial cathode material was selected to make a series of cathodes and anodes by single pass, dual pass and slot die methods. Analysis of all the compiled results for this battery electrode development were that the best performing cathodes included: dual-pass electrode with large particles near the foil, mixed small and large particles, and small particles only. Whereas, the best performing anodes were with a mix of small and large graphite particles. An additional core project was added in FY 2017 to conduct studies of fuel cell materials that can be produced using R2R processes. The goal of this project is to explore, understand and optimize material and process parameters to support increased throughput, increased quality, and reduced cost for high volume production of gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for PEMFCs. Project work in FY 2018 were to use a R2R process to fabricate electrodes without ionomer overlayer that can produce the equivalent mass activity as spray-coated electrodes with an ionomer overlayer. Oxygen-limiting current measurements were utilized to optimize oxygen mass transport. Alcohol-rich solvents were investigated, and results were that the alcohol and water ratio can be tuned to control ionomer distribution. Water-rich solvents produce a more dispersed ink which results in better high-current density performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Modeling Metallic Fuel using Peridynamics

Based on available modeling and simulation capabilities of peridynamics module in MOOSE framework for oxide fuel, the overall goal of this project is to further develop the peridynamics capabilities for modeling metallic fuel. It includes two major tasks: 1) develop validated scheme to handle the shape tensor singularity due to insufficient active neighbors of a material particle in the peridynamic correspondence model for fracture problems, and 2) develop failure modeling scheme including failure criterion for metallic fuels. Before the peridynamics can be applied to model metallic fuel, the formulation instability of the peridynamic correspondence model should be addressed. The PI first worked on developing new stabilization method to improve the performance of the peridynamic correspondence model and reduce the possibility of getting a singular shape tensor while applying the model for fracture problems. The new stabilization scheme uses bond-associated weight function rather than bond-associated horizon. Compared to bondassociated horizon stabilized method, this new stabilization scheme has better performance with improved prediction accuracy and reduced free surface effect. Using this newly developed stabilization, materials models from BISON can be directly used in peridynamics for metallic fuels, such as fission rate and burnup dependent creep and swell models. Publication of this work is under preparation.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Combustion of Butyl acetate as an alternative additive to petroleum fuels

Blending petroleum fuels with oxygenates is a common approach to stem the depletion of crude oil while also mitigating the impact of their combustion on the environment. It has recently been considered that butyl acetate (BA, C6H12O2 , boiling point of 399K) could be a viable oxygenate additive to diesel fuel. The platform used to study combustion of commercial and synthesized BA was an isolated droplet burning with spherical symmetry. The experiments were carried out in a drop tower to minimize buoyant convection. Restricting motion by supporting droplets on 14 micrometer fibers eliminated forced convection. Precise control of the initial diameter was achieved by first deploying large droplets and letting them evaporate to the size of interest, here being between 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm. The experimental results show that commercial and the newly synthesized BA burned almost identically for the evolution of droplet and flame diameters. Droplets burned slower as the initial diameter was increased and soot formation was noted for the larger sizes studied due to a residence size effect. Burning in a buoyant convective field showed higher burn rates due to the convective effect and that the asymmetric flames became nearly spherical as diameter decreased. The study illustrates the significant value that the microgravity environment brings to evaluating performance of oxygenated fuels synthesized by new production methods.

Wang, Yujie↗

Correcting Type Ia Supernova Distances for Selection Biases and Contamination in Photometrically Identified Samples

We present a new technique to create a bin-averaged Hubble diagram (HD) from photometrically identified SN Ia data. The resulting HD is corrected for selection biases and contamination from core-collapse (CC) SNe, and can be used to infer cosmological parameters. This method, called “BEAMS with Bias Corrections” (BBC), includes two fitting stages. The first BBC fitting stage uses a posterior distribution that includes multiple SN likelihoods, a Monte Carlo simulation to bias-correct the fitted SALT-II parameters, and CC probabilities determined from a machine-learning technique. The BBC fit determines (1) a bin-averaged HD (average distance versus redshift), and (2) the nuisance parameters α and β, which multiply the stretch and color (respectively) to standardize the SN brightness. In the second stage, the bin-averaged HD is fit to a cosmological model where priors can be imposed. We perform high-precision tests of the BBC method by simulating large (150,000 event) data samples corresponding to the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program. Our tests include three models of intrinsic scatter, each with two different CC rates. In the BBC fit, the SALT-II nuisance parameters α and β are recovered to within 1% of their true values. In the cosmology fit, we determine the dark energy equation of state parameter w using a fixed value of Ω{sub M} as a prior: averaging over all six tests based on 6 × 150,000 = 900,000 SNe, there is a small w-bias of 0.006±0.002. Finally, the BBC fitting code is publicly available in the SNANA package.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Machine Learning for Predicting Multipactor Susceptibility in Planar RF Structures

Multipactor discharge is a persistent challenge in high-power microwave (HPM) and accelerator systems, where secondary electron avalanches can cause heating, vacuum degradation, and failure. This work presents the first supervised machine learning (ML) framework for multipactor prediction, trained on high-fidelity 3D Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation data in planar geometries. The model maps operational, geometric, and material-dependent secondary electron yield (SEY) parameters to the time-averaged electron growth rate, enabling rapid reconstruction of susceptibility charts. Among the models evaluated, tree-based ensemble methods such as Random Forest and Extra Trees demonstrate superior generalization to unseen materials compared to neural networks such as multilayer perceptron (MLP). Performance metrics, including Intersection over Union (IoU), Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM), and Pearson correlation, show close agreement with simulation benchmarks. Principal Component Analysis attributes generalization limits to material feature-space disjointedness.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Beam-induced backgrounds measured in the ATLAS detector during local gas injection into the LHC beam vacuum

Inelastic beam-gas collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), within a few hundred metres of the ATLAS experiment, are known to give the dominant contribution to beam backgrounds. These are monitored by ATLAS with a dedicated Beam Conditions Monitor (BCM) and with the rate of fake jets in the calorimeters. These two methods are complementary since the BCM probes backgrounds just around the beam pipe while fake jets are observed at radii of up to several metres. In order to quantify the correlation between the residual gas density in the LHC beam vacuum and the experimental backgrounds recorded by ATLAS, several dedicated tests were performed during LHC Run 2. Local pressure bumps, with a gas density several orders of magnitude higher than during normal operation, were introduced at different locations. The changes of beam-related backgrounds, seen in ATLAS, are correlated with the local pressure variation. In addition the rates of beam-gas events are estimated from the pressure measurements and pressure bump profiles obtained from calculations. Using these rates, the efficiency of the ATLAS beam background monitors to detect beam-gas events is derived as a function of distance from the interaction point. These efficiencies and characteristic distributions of fake jets from the beam backgrounds are found to be in good agreement with results of beam-gas simulations performed with theFluka Monte Carlo programme.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Geometric Analysis Based Double Closed-loop Iterative Learning Control of Output PDF Shaping of Fiber Length Distribution in Refining Process

In order to improve the pulp quality and to reduce the energy consumption, the fiber length distribution (FLD) is generally employed as one of the important technological indexes in the refining process. Considering that the traditional mean and variance of fiber length are unable to adequately characterize the non-Gaussian distribution properties, this paper proposes a novel geometric analysis based double closed-loop iterative learning control (ILC) method for probability density function (PDF) shaping of output FLD in the refining process. Primarily, a RBF neural network (NN) with Gaussian-type is utilized to approximate the square root PDF in the inner loop, where the RBF basis function parameters (center and width) are tuned between any two adjacent batches by using an ILC law, and the subspace identification method can be applied to establish the state-space model of weight vector. Then, for the sake of accelerating the convergence rate of the closed-loop sysyem, a geometric analysis based ILC method is adopted in the outer loop. Lastly, both simulation and experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed approach.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Conformal construction of polyaniline shell on cobalt oxide nanoflake core for enhanced Li ion storage

Highlights: • Construct non-axial polyaniline shell on Co{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoflake core. • Non-axial core/shell arrays show enhanced Li storage properties. • Ultrathin PANI shell is favorable for fast ion and electron transfer. - Abstract: It is of great importance to controllably synthesize non-axial metal oxide/conducting polymers arrays for construction of high-performance electrochemical devices. In this work, we develop a facile electro-polymerization method to conformally coat interwoven polyaniline (PANI) shell on the preformed porous Co{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoflakes forming non-axial Co{sub 3}O{sub 4}/PANI core/shell arrays. Uniform conductive PANI network and high porosity are realized in the non-axial core/shell arrays. As active materials for Li ion storage, the Co{sub 3}O{sub 4}/PANI core/shell arrays show superior high-rate performance including lower polarization, higher reactivity and better cycling life, as compared to the unmodified Co{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoflake arrays. The capacity deterioration of the Co{sub 3}O{sub 4}/PANI arrays is restricted to a very lower level with a capacity of 871 mAh g{sup −1} at 0.25 A g{sup −1} after 100 cycles, better than the Co{sub 3}O{sub 4} counterpart (669 mAh g{sup −1} at 0.25 A g{sup −1}). This non-axial combination opens up a new door for developing advanced composite arrays for energy storage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A conservative, interface-resolved, compressible framework for the modeling and simulation of liquid/gas phase change

This paper presents a method for simulating evaporation in a compressible, interface-resolved framework appropriate for modeling problems of engineering interest. In order to achieve robustness and broad applicability, the method has been designed to discretely enforce consistent mass and thermal energy transport at the phase interface, to globally conserve mass, momentum, and energy, and to be capable of modeling compressible and incompressible systems. Verification is performed via the Sod-shock test, one-dimensional heat conduction, evaporation from a planar interface, and evaporation of three-dimensional droplets. Convergence with increasing mesh resolution is demonstrated in all tested configurations, and conservation is maintained near machine precision for a translating droplet. Conservation and accurate phase change rates are preserved at the low numerical resolutions commonly encountered in engineering calculations. Following verification, the method is validated by comparison to an empirical correlation for evaporating droplets in high temperature crossflow, and the presentation concludes with the simulation of an iso-octane spray at conditions representative of gasoline direct injection. In conclusion, successful verification, validation, and demonstrated practical utility suggest the method to be an accurate, efficient, and robust approach for the study of phase change in engineering systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Efficient method for the measurement of lifetime optical damage performance of thin film coatings from laser damage size analysis

Here, a laser damage test method based on damage size analysis (DSA) is described that simplifies the derivation of the lifetime optical damage threshold of film materials critical in the design of devices used in high-repetition-rate, high-power laser systems. The DSA method presented here is solely based on imaging to measure the damage site size produced from exposure to a known Gaussian-shaped beam with a fixed, systematically selected fluence well above the ablation threshold. The method locates the damage boundary produced from repeated exposures, using images with a high contrast, and maps it to the beam profile to extract a lifetime laser damage fluence threshold value. We validate the DSA approach using a few relevant transparent film material systems and by comparing it to the standard S /1 laser damage test method. The DSA method can be more efficient and accelerate materials development and validation necessary to support the design of high-power repetition-rated lasers and optoelectronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Working fluid selection for organic Rankine cycle power generation using hot produced supercritical CO 2 from a geothermal reservoir

Geothermal heat mining simulations using supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) were performed in this research. Working fluid selection criteria for power generation using sCO 2 from a geothermal reservoir are then presented for subcritical, superheated and supercritical organic Rankine cycles (ORCs). Meanwhile, method of working fluid classification for ORC is proposed. To get the most feasible ORC design, this study introduces the concept of “turning point” for isentropic and dry working fluids, as well as minimum turbine inlet temperature for wet working fluids. A thermodynamic model was developed with capabilities to obtain the optimal working fluid mass flow rate, evaporation temperature, superheated temperature, and supercritical pressure, to evaluate the thermal performance of the three ORC approaches using hot produced sCO 2 . With this model, thirty potential working fluids with critical temperatures in the range from 50 to 225 °C were screened for utilizing hot produced sCO 2 considering physical properties, environmental and safety impacts, and thermodynamic performances. Finally, the thermodynamic results were compared for all possible working fluids.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗