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At least 685 records · Page 38

Calculating Theromodynamic And Transport Properties Of Fluids

Computer program incorporates van der Waals equation and correction tables. FLUID program developed to calculate thermodynamic and transport properties of pure fluids in both liquid and gas phases. Properties calculated by use of simple gas model, empirical corrections, and efficient numerical interpolation scheme. Produces results that agree very well with measured values. Much faster than older, more complex programs developed for same purpose.

Proctor, Margaret P.↗

Properties of the ISM - Gas in the halo

The properties of interstellar gas in the galactic halo are reviewed. Halo gas is found to have a wide range of physical conditions with temperatures ranging from less than 170 K to more than 200,000 K. The gas extending away from the plane of the Milky Way has density scale heights ranging from less than 300 pc for certain species in the neutral medium to approximately 3000 pc for the most highly ionized gas. The complex kinematical characteristics of the gas provides important clues about its origin. The gas phase elemental abundances in the neutral halo gas are closer to solar than is found for the highly depleted gas of the Milky Way disk. The possible origin of gas at large distances away from the galactic plane is discussed.

Savage, Blair D.↗

Feasibility study of a low-energy gamma ray system for measuring quantity and flow rate of slush hydrogen

As part of a study to demonstrate the suitability of an X-ray or gamma ray probe for monitoring the quality and flow rate of slush hydrogen, mass attenuation coefficients for Cd-109 X- and gamma radiation in five chemical compounds were measured. The Ag-109 K rays were used for water and acetic acid, whereas E3 transition from the first excited state at 87.7 keV in Ag-109 provided the probe radiation for bromobenzene, alpha (exp 2) chloroisodurene, and cetyl bromide. Measurements were made for a single phase (gas, liquid, solid) as well as mixed phases (liquid plus solid) in all cases. It was shown that the mass attenuation coefficient for the selected radiations is independent of the phase of the test fluids or phase ratios in the case of mixed phase fluids. Described here are the procedure and the results for the five fluid systems investigated.

Singh, Jag J.↗

Multiplex coherent raman spectroscopy detector and method

A multiplex coherent Raman spectrometer (10) and spectroscopy method rapidly detects and identifies individual components of a chemical mixture separated by a separation technique, such as gas chromatography. The spectrometer (10) and method accurately identify a variety of compounds because they produce the entire gas phase vibrational Raman spectrum of the unknown gas. This is accomplished by tilting a Raman cell (20) to produce a high-intensity, backward-stimulated, coherent Raman beam of 683 nm, which drives a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (28) to produce a broadband beam of 1100-1700 nm covering a range of more than 3000 wavenumber. This broadband beam is combined with a narrowband beam of 532 nm having a bandwidth of 0.003 wavenumbers and focused into a heated windowless cell (38) that receives gases separated by a gas chromatograph (40). The Raman radiation scattered from these gases is filtered and sent to a monochromator (50) with multichannel detection.

Chen, Peter↗

Analysis of Flame Deflector Spray Nozzles in Rocket Engine Test Stands

The development of a unified tightly coupled multi-phase computational framework is described for the analysis and design of cooling spray nozzle configurations on the flame deflector in rocket engine test stands. An Eulerian formulation is used to model the disperse phase and is coupled to the gas-phase equations through momentum and heat transfer as well as phase change. The phase change formulation is modeled according to a modified form of the Hertz-Knudsen equation. Various simple test cases are presented to verify the validity of the numerical framework. The ability of the methodology to accurately predict the temperature load on the flame deflector is demonstrated though application to an actual sub-scale test facility. The CFD simulation was able to reproduce the result of the test-firing, showing that the spray nozzle configuration provided insufficient amount of cooling.

Sachdev, Jai S.↗

Phase-Modulation Gas-Correlation Spectroscopy

Electro-optic phase-modulation gas-correlation spectroscopy demonstrated in laboratory tests promising candidate technique for remote sensing of gases, temperatures, and wind velocities in atmosphere. In technique radiation emitted by sample atmosphere passed through electro-optic phase modulator, and modulated and unmodulated versions of spectrum alternately passed through reference absorption cell containing gas to be detected. Radiation emerging from reference cell band-pass filtered and detected. Correlation signal is difference in intensity between phase-modulated and unmodulated detected signals.

Rider, David M.↗

First-principles thermodynamic assessment of Sr-containing secondary phase formation in strontium-substituted lanthanum manganites for solid oxide cell applications

Sr-secondary phase formation is a potentially significant degradation mode with direct impact upon solid-oxide cell (SOC) commercial viability. A first-principles based thermodynamic study was performed for La 1−x Sr x MnO 3±δ (LSM) perovskites to assess their stability against formation of different Sr-secondary phases, including SrO, SrCrO 4 , SrSO 4 , SrCO 3 , and Sr(OH) 2 , for SOC applications. The Sr-secondary phase formation reaction free energies were determined via a thermodynamic model by combining ab initio lattice dynamics calculations for the solid phases and ab initio thermodynamic data for the gas phases. The current approach expands the previously reported thermodynamic modeling studies by integrating first-principles based point defect equilibria into the thermodynamic analysis. The modeling results obtained using this new approach indicate an increased tendency to form the SrO oxide upon decreasing the oxygen partial pressure. Additionally, the enhancing factors to form the Sr-related secondary phase from the associated SrO activity in LSM are further quantified by considering the equilibrium of SrO reacting with the contaminant gas species as a function of temperature and pressure.

defect thermodynamics modeling↗

Influence of Inorganic Carbon Sources on Low-pH Succinic Acid Production by Issatchenkia orientalis : Process Insights and Kinetic Analysis

Bio-based succinic acid (SA) production has attracted significant interest; however, the relationship between fermentation conditions and SA biosynthesis remains insufficiently understood, particularly under low-pH operation. In this study, an engineered, acid-tolerant, nonmodel yeast, Issatchenkia orientalis , was employed to investigate the role of inorganic carbon supplementation in SA production from glucose. Because regulation of gas-phase CO 2 during fermentation is challenging due to low solubility and off-gas losses, liquid-phase inorganic carbon sources, carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3 ) and sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ), were evaluated as indirect CO 2 donors. Fermentations were conducted in a corn steep liquor-based medium under acidic conditions. Shake-flask experiments demonstrated that H 2 CO 3 supplementation increased SA production, achieving a maximum titer of 8.9 g/L and a yield of 0.46 g/g glucose. Kinetic analysis of bench-scale fermentations showed that the SA formation was well described by the Luedeking–Piret model, indicating mixed growth-associated product formation with a substantial nongrowth-associated contribution under carbonic acid supplementation. Guided by these kinetic insights, a two-stage fed-batch fermentation strategy was implemented, resulting in an SA titer of 30 g/L and a yield of 0.57 g/g glucose within 115 h. Overall, this work provides process-relevant insights into integrating inorganic carbon utilization with low-pH fermentation to inform more sustainable SA biomanufacturing.

fed-batch fermentation↗

Influence of counterion substitution on the properties of imidazolium-based ionic liquid clusters

Due to their unique physiochemical properties that may be tailored for specific purposes, ionic liquids (ILs) have been investigated for various applications, including chemical separations, catalysis, energy storage, and space propulsion. The different cations and anions comprising ILs may be selected to optimize a range of desired properties, such as thermal stability, ionic conductivity, and volatility, leading to the designation of certain ILs as designer “green” solvents. The effect of counterions on the properties of ILs is of both fundamental scientific interest and technological importance. Herein, we report a systematic experimental and theoretical investigation of the size, charge, stability toward dissociation, and geometric/electronic structure of 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium (EMIM)-based IL clusters containing two different atomic counterions (i.e., bromide [Br − ] and iodide [I − ]). This work extends our studies of EMIM + cations with atomic chloride (Cl − ) and molecular tetrafluoroborate (BF 4 − ) anions reported previously by Baxter et al. [Chem. Mater. 34, 2612 (2022)] and Zhang et al . [J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 11, 6844 (2020)], respectively. Distributions of anionic IL clusters were generated in the gas phase using electrospray ionization and characterized by high mass resolution mass spectrometry, energy-resolved collision-induced dissociation, and negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. The experimental results reveal anion-dependent trends in the size distribution, relative abundance, ionic charge state, stability toward dissociation, and electron binding energies of the IL clusters. Complementary global optimization theory provides molecular-level insights into the bonding and electronic structure of a selected subset of clusters, including their low energy structures and electrostatic potential maps, and how these fundamental characteristics are influenced by anion substitution. Collectively, our findings demonstrate how the fundamental properties of ILs, which determine their suitability for many applications, may be tuned by substituting counterions. These observations are critical in the sub-nanometer cluster size regime where phenomena do not scale predictably to the bulk phase, and each atom counts toward determining behavior.

cluster↗

Enhancing the accuracy of XPS calculations: Exploring hybrid basis set schemes for CVS-EOMIP-CCSD calculations

Reliable computational methodologies and basis sets for modeling x-ray spectra are essential for extracting and interpreting electronic and structural information from experimental x-ray spectra. In particular, the trade-off between numerical accuracy and computational cost due to the size of the basis set is a major challenge, since molecular orbitals undergo extreme relaxation in the core-hole state. To gain clarity on the changes in electronic structure induced by the formation of a core-hole, the use of sufficiently flexible basis for expanding the orbitals, particularly for the core region, has been shown to be essential. This work focuses on the refinement of core-hole ionized state calculations using the equation-of-motion coupled cluster family of methods through an extensive analysis on the effectiveness of “hybrid” and mixed basis sets. In this investigation, we utilize the CVS-EOMIP-CCSD method in combination and construct hybrid basis sets piecewise from readily available Dunning’s correlation consistent basis sets in order to calculate x-ray ionization energies (IEs) for a set of small gas phase molecules. Our results provide insights into the impact of basis sets on the CVS-EOMIP-CCSD calculations of K-edge IEs of first-row p-block elements. Furthermore, these insights enable us to understand more about the basis set dependence of the core IEs computed and allow us to establish a protocol for deriving reliable and cost-effective theoretical estimates for computing IEs of small molecules containing such elements.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A comprehensive study on three typical photoacid generators using photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

Conducting a comprehensive molecular-level evaluation of a photoacid generator (PAG) and its subsequent impact on lithography performance can facilitate the rational design of a promising 193 nm photoresist tailored to specific requirements. In this study, we integrated spectroscopy and computational techniques to meticulously investigate the pivotal factors of three prototypical PAG anions, p-toluenesulfonate (pTS - ), 2-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1-sulfonate (TFMBS - ), and triflate (TF - ), in the lithography process. Our findings reveal a significant redshift in the absorption spectra caused by specific PAG anions, attributed to their involvement in electronic transition processes, thereby enhancing the transparency of the standard PAG cation, triphenylsulfonium (TPS + ), particularly at ~193 nm. Furthermore, the electronic stability of PAG anions can be enhanced by solvent effects with varying degrees of strength. Here we observed the lowest vertical detachment energy of 6.6 eV of pTS - in PGMEA solution based on the polarizable continuum model, which prevents anion loss at 193 nm lithography. In addition, our findings indicate gas-phase proton affinity values of 316.4 kcal/mol for pTS - , 308.1 kcal/mol for TFMBS - , and 303.2 kcal/mol for TF - , which suggest the increasing acidity strength, yet even the weakest acid pTS - is still stronger than strong acid HBr. The photolysis of TPS + -based PAG, TPS + ·pTS - , generated an excited state leading to homolysis bond cleavage with the lowest reaction energy of 83 kcal/mol. Overall, the PAG anion pTS - displayed moderate acidity, possessed the lowest photolysis reaction energy, and demonstrated an appropriate redshift. These properties collectively render it a promising candidate for an effective acid producer.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

In situ electron microscopy: atomic-scale dynamics of metal oxidation and corrosion

Corrosion degrades metals through complex microscopic processes that traditional methods often fail to capture. In-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) bridges this gap by providing real-time atomic-scale imaging of oxidation and corrosion dynamics. Gas-phase TEM uncovers critical oxidation mechanisms like oxide nucleation and alloying effects, while liquid-phase TEM tracks corrosion initiation. Coupled with emerging techniques like ultrafast direct electron detection cameras, these advancements promise unprecedented resolution in understanding material degradation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Comment on "Observation of Large and All-Season Ozone Losses Over the Tropics" [AIP Advances 12, 075066 (2022)]

As discussed above, and supported by extensive literature, there is no robust, credible observational evidence for substantial ozone depletion (i.e., an “ozone hole”) in the tropics. It is well known that climatological total ozone in the tropics is much lower than that in the mid-latitudes (e.g., Sahai et al., 2000; Weber et al., 2022). Satellite and ozonesonde measurements indicate a 3%–5% per decade decline of tropical lower stratosphere ozone prior to 2000, far smaller than that reported by L2022. The stronger decline reported by L2022 is caused by inappropriate use of the gap-filled version of the TOST ozone dataset, which is based on sparse tropical ozone sondes before the 1990s. This misuse of data (TOST and total column ozone) shows the importance of collaboratively engaging with groups who obtain the measurements and create climatological datasets before performing such analyses. Furthermore, the study by L2022 has multiple flaws in its discussion of atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, particularly in the proposed, and previously refuted (see Sec. III A), cosmicray- driven electron induced (CRE) mechanism. Evidence for the occurrence of tropical stratospheric clouds, as needed for the tropical CRE mechanism, is lacking, nor do CFC-12 observations show signatures of depletion in the tropical lower stratosphere, which could be associated with dissociative electron attachment-induced loss of CFC-12 on particulate matter (i.e., the CRE mechanism). Finally, it is worth reiterating that the CRE mechanism is also not responsible for polar LS ozone depletion. Polar ozone loss can be well explained by the gas phase and heterogeneous chemistry, based on extensive observations and modeling studies documented in many thousands of scientific papers on the topic [e.g., see WMO (2018) and references therein], which is not acknowledged by L2022. L2022’s research paper is a severely flawed one. There is no tropical ozone hole, and the CRE mechanism does not explain observed changes in stratospheric ozone either in the polar regions or in the tropics.

Quality assurance↗

Electron Impact Excitation of C60 Adducts: Flourescence From C60OH and C60H Species

An investigation concerning possible visible and UV photon emissions by gas phase C(sub 60) ( and C(sub 70)) samples under electron impact excitation was caried out in the 180-750 nm spectral region. Radiation resembling OH (A (sup 2)pi {leads to}X (sup 2){summation}) emission bands and H Balmer series was observed. Based on our investigations, it is concluded that none of the observed emission was associated with the fullerene molecule itself but with the C(sub 60)OH and C(sub 60)H adducts (which are present in the fullerene samples). We also conclude that in these adducts, simultaneous ionization and excitation take place under electron impact and the excited ionic species (C(sub 60)+OH* and C(sub 60)+H*) decay by radiation which was observed in our experiments. These surprising results reveal an interesting new character of buckyball adducts.

gas phase emissions buckyball buckyball adducts fu↗

Twins in rotational spectroscopy: Does a rotational spectrum uniquely identify a molecule?

Rotational spectroscopy is the most accurate method for determining structures of molecules in the gas phase. It is often assumed that a rotational spectrum is a unique “fingerprint” of a molecule. The availability of large molecular databases and the development of artificial intelligence methods for spectroscopy make the testing of this assumption timely. In this paper, we pose the determination of molecular structures from rotational spectra as an inverse problem. Within this framework, we adopt a funnel-based approach to search for molecular twins, which are two or more molecules, which have similar rotational spectra but distinctly different molecular structures. Here we demonstrate that there are twins within standard levels of computational accuracy by generating rotational constants for many molecules from several large molecular databases, indicating that the inverse problem is ill-posed. However, some twins can be distinguished by increasing the accuracy of the theoretical methods or by performing additional experiments.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Quantitative x-ray scattering of free molecules

Advances in x-ray free electron lasers have made ultrafast scattering a powerful method for investigating molecular reaction kinetics and dynamics. Accurate measurement of the ground-state, static scattering signals of the reacting molecules is pivotal for these pump-probe x-ray scattering experiments as they are the cornerstone for interpreting the observed structural dynamics. Here, this article presents a data calibration procedure, designed for gas-phase x-ray scattering experiments conducted at the Linac Coherent Light Source x-ray Free-Electron Laser at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, that makes it possible to derive a quantitative dependence of the scattering signal on the scattering vector. A self-calibration algorithm that optimizes the detector position without reference to a computed pattern is introduced. Angle-of-scattering corrections that account for several small experimental non-idealities are reported. Their implementation leads to near quantitative agreement with theoretical scattering patterns calculated with ab-initio methods as illustrated for two x-ray photon energies and several molecular test systems.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

The Turning Point of the Aerosol Era

Over the CMIP6 historical period (1850–2014), aerosols provided the largest negative forcing compared to all other climate forcings via their ability to absorb or scatter solar radiation and alter clouds. Aerosols played an important role in counterbalancing warming by greenhouse gases (GHGs). Here we study aerosol forcing trends in the CMIP6 simulations of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ocean-atmosphere ModelE version 2.1 (GISS-E2.1-G) using a fully coupled atmospheric composition configuration, including interactive gas-phase chemistry, and either an aerosol microphysical (MATRIX) or a mass-based aerosol (OMA) module. Simulations of the CMIP6 historical period are analyzed as well as four Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) future scenarios for 2015–2100: SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5. The main conclusion of this study is that aerosol forcing in the GISS model has reached its turning point, switching from globally increasing to a decreasing trend in the first decade of the 21st century. This result is robust, independent of which aerosol module or SSP scenario is used. Non-linear aerosol-cloud interactions dominate as a forcing agent over aerosol-radiation interactions. Aerosols' ability to counterbalance GHG forcing on the global scale is today at a level comparable to that at the beginning of the last century. In the 1980s, the decade of largest global aerosol loads, aerosols balanced up to 80% of GHG forcing. As a consequence, global warming of the last decades, which is primarily driven by greenhouse gases, has been augmented by the effect of decreasing aerosol cooling in our model. By the end of this century, following the SSP scenarios, aerosols will only counterbalance 0%–20% of GHG forcing, depending on model and on scenario.

Aerosol forcing↗

Molecular axis distribution moments in ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy: A path toward ultrafast quantum state tomography

In ultrafast time-resolved experiments with gas phase molecules, the alignment of the molecular axis relative to the polarization of the interacting laser pulses plays a crucial role in determining the dynamics following this light–matter interaction. The molecular axis distribution is influenced by the interacting pulses and is intrinsically linked to the electronic coherences of the excited molecules. However, in typical theoretical calculations of such interactions, the signal is either calculated for a single molecule in the molecular frame or averaged over all possible molecular orientations to compare with the experiment. Such averaging removes information about anisotropy in the molecular-axis distribution, even though anisotropic contributions can play a significant role in the measured experimental signal. Here, we calculate the laboratory frame transient electronic first-order polarization [P (1) ] spectra in terms of separated molecular frame and laboratory frame quantities. The laboratory frame polarizations are compared with orientation-averaged quantum master equation calculations, demonstrating that orientation-averaging captures only the isotropic contributions. We show that our formalism also allows us to evaluate the anisotropic contributions to the spectrum. Lastly, we discuss the application of this approach to achieve ultrafast quantum state tomography using transient absorption spectroscopy and field observables in nonlinear spectroscopy.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗