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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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

A configurational study of helium clusters doped with He{sup ∗−} and He{sub 2}{sup ∗−}

Helium clusters doped with electronically excited atomic and molecular helium anions He{sup ∗−} and He{sub 2}{sup ∗−} at T = 0.4 K are studied by means of path integral Monte Carlo calculations. Geometry and energetics of the systems with up to 32 solvating He atoms are characterised. The interactions between the anions and the neutral He atoms have been described by fitting previously reported ab initio points to analytical expressions. The He{sub N}–He{sup ∗−} clusters with N > 6 display a structure defined by a bipyramid which completely solvates the atomic anion, whereas the rest of surrounding He atoms form a dimple around that initial cage. On the contrary, the structures observed for the He{sub N}–He{sub 2}{sup ∗−} clusters clearly show the dopant located outside the helium droplet, thereby confirming the heliophobic character of He{sub 2}{sup ∗−}.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2012

First-Principles Study of Electronic Structure and Hydrogen Adsorption of 3d Transition Metal Exposed Paddle Wheel Frameworks

Open-site paddle wheels, comprised of two transition metals bridged with four carboxylate ions, have been widely used for constructing metal-organic frameworks with large surface area and high binding energy sites. Using first-principles density functional theory calculations, we have investigated atomic and electronic structures of various 3d transition metal paddle wheels before and after metal exposure and their hydrogen adsorption properties at open metal sites. Notably, the hydrogen adsorption is impeded by covalent metal-metal bonds in early transition metal paddle wheels from Sc to Cr and by the strong ferromagnetic coupling of diatomic Mn and Fe in the paddle wheel configurations. A significantly enhanced H{sub 2} adsorption is predicted in the nonmagnetic Co{sub 2} and Zn{sub 2} paddle wheel with the binding energy of {approx}0.2 eV per H{sub 2}. We also propose the use of two-dimensional Co{sub 2} and Zn{sub 2} paddle wheel frameworks that could have strongly adsorbed dihydrogen up to 1.35 wt % for noncryogenic hydrogen storage applications.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computationally guided experimental validation of divacancy defect formation in 4H-SiC

Recent research into solid-state qubits for quantum information science has focused on optically addressable spin defects such as the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond and the neutrally charged divacancy (VV) in 4H-SiC as scalable quantum sensors and networking qubits. Within this context, direct investigations of the structural origin and defect formation dynamics of a sub-set of the VV center in 4H-SiC remain lacking. Here, we take a systematic experimental approach guided by predictions from first-principles simulations to gain a thorough mechanistic understanding of the VV defect formation and control in 4H-SiC. We study the effect of annealing time and temperature on VV formation in high-purity semi-insulating 4H-SiC samples following electron irradiation. Three different temperatures (1123, 1273, and 1473 K) and annealing duration (from 0.5 to 72 h) are chosen to explore VV formation in different regions. We find that samples annealed at 1273 K give the highest VV-related photoluminescence (PL) intensities, in agreement with the prediction from first-principles calculations. Furthermore, the logarithmic dependence of VV-related PL intensities on the annealing duration at 1273 K indicates that 1273 K provides sufficient thermal energy for silicon vacancy migration but not for VV migration. Together, these results suggest that efficient VV formation occurs above the V Si migration temperature and below the VV migration threshold.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Low-Temperature Single Carbon Nanotube Spectroscopy of sp 3 Quantum Defects

Aiming to unravel the relationship between chemical configuration and electronic structure of sp3 defects of aryl-functionalized (6,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), we perform low-temperature single nanotube photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy studies and correlate our observations with quantum chemistry simulations. Here, we observe sharp emission peaks from individual defect sites that are spread over an extremely broad, 1000-1350 nm, spectral range. Our simulations allow us to attribute this spectral diversity to the occurrence of six chemically and energetically distinct defect states resulting from topological variation in the chemical binding configuration of the monovalent aryl groups. Both PL emission efficiency and spectral line width of the defect states are strongly influenced by the local dielectric environment. Wrapping the SWCNT with a polyfluorene polymer provides the best isolation from the environment and yields the brightest emission with near-resolution limited spectral line width of 270 ueV, as well as spectrally resolved emission wings associated with localized acoustic phonons. Pump-dependent studies further revealed that the defect states are capable of emitting single, sharp, isolated PL peaks over 3 orders of magnitude increase in pump power, a key characteristic of two-level systems and an important prerequisite for single-photon emission with high purity. Our findings point to the tremendous potential of sp3 defects in development of room temperature quantum light sources capable of operating at telecommunication wavelengths as the emission of the defect states can readily be extended to this range via use of larger diameter SWCNTs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Evidence for Ga clusters in β-Ga 2 O 3 from Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory

Monoclinic gallium oxide (β-Ga 2 O 3 ) single crystals have a Raman mode at ∼250 cm −1 that is strongly correlated with free-electron density. Prior work attributed this peak to an electronic excitation of a shallow donor impurity band. However, heavily n-type thin films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition or molecular beam epitaxy do not have the peak. In the present work, an alternate model is proposed: the 250 cm −1 Raman peak arises from Ga clusters, defined as two or more Ga atoms that form Ga–Ga bonds. Raman mapping reveals variations in the frequency that are consistent with a distribution of cluster sizes. The intensity of the peak decreases as the temperature is raised, attributed to melting of the Ga clusters. First-principles calculations indicate that the 250 cm −1 mode is due to Ga–Ga bond-stretching vibrations. As the Fermi energy is raised, the formation of Ga–Ga dimers becomes energetically favorable, explaining the correlation between n-type conductivity and the appearance of the Raman peak.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Gapped Phase in Semimetallic T d -WTe 2 Induced by Lithium Intercalation

The Weyl semimetal WTe 2 has shown several correlated electronic behaviors, such as the quantum spin Hall effect, superconductivity, ferroelectricity, and a possible exciton insulator state, all of which can be tuned by various physical and chemical approaches. A new electronic phase in WTe 2 induced by lithium intercalation is discovered. The new phase exhibits an increasing resistivity with decreasing temperature and its carrier density is almost two orders of magnitude lower than the carrier density of the semimetallic T d phase, probed by in situ Hall measurements as a function of lithium intercalation. The theoretical calculations predict the new lithiated phase to be a potential charge density wave (CDW) phase with a bandgap of ≈0.14 eV, in good agreement with the in situ transport data. The new phase is structurally distinct from the initial T d phase, characterized by polarization-angle-dependent Raman spectroscopy, and large lattice distortions close to 6% are predicted in the new phase. This finding of a new gapped phase in a 2D semimetal demonstrates electrochemical intercalation as a powerful tuning knob for modulating electron density and phase stability in 2D materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Achieving a high open-circuit voltage in inverted wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells with a graded perovskite homojunction

Wide-bandgap (~1.7-1.8 eV) perovskite solar cells have attracted substantial research interest in recent years due to their great potential to fabricate efficient tandem solar cells via combining with a lower bandgap (1.1-1.3 eV) absorber (e.g., Si, copper indium gallium diselenide, or low-bandgap perovskite). However, wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells usually suffer from large open circuit voltage (V oc ) deficits caused by small grain sizes and photoinduced phase segregation. Here, we demonstrate that in addition to large grain sizes and passivated grain boundaries, controlling interface properties is critical for achieving high V oc 's in the inverted wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells. We adopt guanidinium bromide solution to tune the effective doping and electronic properties of the surface layer of perovskite thin films, leading to the formation of a graded perovskite homojunction. The enhanced electric field at the perovskite homojunction is revealed by Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements. This advance enables an increase in the V oc of the inverted perovskite solar cells from an initial 1.12 V to 1.24 V. With the optimization of the device fabrication process, the champion inverted wide-bandgap cell delivers a power conversion efficiency of 18.19% and sustains more than 72% of its initial efficiency after continuous illumination for 70 h without encapsulation. Additionally, a semitransparent device with an indium tin oxide back contact retains more than 88% of its initial efficiency after 100 h maximum power point tracking.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Semiconducting High-Entropy Chalcogenide Alloys with Ambi-ionic Entropy Stabilization and Ambipolar Doping

Entropy stabilization is a novel materials-design paradigm to realize new compounds with widely tunable properties. However, almost all entropy-stabilized materials so far are either conducting metals or insulating ceramics, with a clear dearth in the semiconducting regime. Here, a new class of the multi-cationic and -anionic entropy-stabilized chalcogenide alloys based on the (Ge,Sn,Pb)(S,Se,Te) formula are synthesized and characterized experimentally. The con-figurational entropy from the disorder of both the anion and the cation sublattices reaches a record value of ~2.2 R mol -1 for the equimolar composition and stabilizes the single-phase solid solution. Theoretical calculations and experiments both show that the synthesized alloys are thermodynamically stable at the growth temperature and kinetically metastable at room temperature, segregating by spinodal decomposition at moderate temperatures. In conclusion, doping and electronic transport measurements verify that the synthesized materials are ambipolarly dopable semiconductors, which paves the way for the wider adoption of entropy-stabilized chalcogenide alloys in functional applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Optical and Magneto-Optical Properties of Donor-Bound Excitons in Vacancy-Engineered Colloidal Nanocrystals

Controlled insertion of electronic states within the band gap of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) is a powerful tool for tuning their physical properties. One compelling example is II–VI NCs incorporating heterovalent coinage metals in which hole capture produces acceptor-bound excitons. To date, the opposite donor-bound exciton scheme has not been realized because of the unavailability of suitable donor dopants. Here, we produce a model system for donor-bound excitons in CdSeS NCs engineered with sulfur vacancies (V S ) that introduce a donor state below the conduction band (CB), resulting in long-lived intragap luminescence. V S -localized electrons are almost unaffected by trapping, and suppression of thermal quenching boosts the emission efficiency to 85%. Magneto-optical measurements indicate that the V S are not magnetically coupled to the NC bands and that the polarization properties are determined by the spin of the valence-band photohole, whose spin flip is massively slowed down due to suppressed exchange interaction with the donor-localized electron.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Accumulation-Type Ohmic van der Waals Contacts to Nearly Intrinsic WSe 2 Nanosheet-Based Channels: Implications for Field-Effect Transistors

We report the fabrication of ohmic van der Waals (vdW) contacts to nearly intrinsic WSe 2 nanosheet-based channels in field-effect transistors (FETs) using degenerately p-doped MoS2 (p + -MoS2) as a contact metal. We demonstrate that accumulation-type ohmic contacts and the high device performance are achievable without electrostatically gating the drain/source contact regions despite the nearly intrinsic nature of WSe 2 . Back-gated WSe 2 FETs with p + -MoS 2 bottom contacts (which screen the back-gate electric field in the drain/source regions) exhibit linear output characteristics, a high on/off ratio of 10 8 , and a high two-terminal field-effect mobility up to ~200 cm2 V –1 s –1 at room temperature. Our theoretical modeling reveals that the p + -MoS 2 /WSe 2 vdW junction behaves like a metal/semiconductor ohmic contact signified by a vanishingly thin space-charge region of ~1 nm on the p + -MoS 2 side and a substantial accumulation layer of free holes on the WSe 2 side, which is further verified by additional temperature-dependent and dual-gated measurements of WSe 2 FETs. We attribute the formation of accumulation-type ohmic contacts free of a Schottky barrier to the near absence of Fermi-level pinning at the vdW interface and the work function of p + -MoS 2 being larger than the ionization energy of WSe 2 . This study represents an important step toward achieving low-resistance ohmic contacts to two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors by eliminating the Fermi-level pinning effects, which is expected to have significant implications for next-generation 2D semiconductor-based nanoelectronics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Lithiation Induced Phases in 1T'-MoTe 2 Nanoflakes

Multiple polytypes of MoTe 2 with distinct structures and intriguing electronic properties can be accessed by various physical and chemical approaches. Here, in this study, we report electrochemical lithium (Li) intercalation into 1T'-MoTe 2 nanoflakes, leading to the discovery of two previously unreported lithiated phases. Distinguished by their structural differences from the pristine 1T' phase, these distinct phases were characterized using in situ polarization Raman spectroscopy and in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The lithiated phases exhibit increasing resistivity with decreasing temperature, and their carrier densities are two to 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the metallic 1T' phase, as probed through in situ Hall measurements. The discovery of these gapped phases in initially metallic 1T'-MoTe 2 underscores electrochemical intercalation as a potent tool for tuning the phase stability and electron density in two-dimensional (2D) materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetic-field-induced Wigner crystallization of charged interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterostructures

Abstract Ever since its inception, coherent excited states of semiconductors have been the focus of semiconductor materials research to evolve into a vibrant field of low-dimensional solid-state physics. The field is gaining new momentum these days due to emerging transdimensional semiconductors such as van der Waals bound layers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) of controlled thickness. Here, we develop the theory of magnetic-field-induced Wigner crystallization for charged interlayer excitons (CIE) discovered recently in TMD heterobilayers. We derive the ratio of the potential interaction energy to the kinetic energy for the many-particle CIE system in the perpendicular magnetostatic field of an arbitrary strength and predict the crystallization effect in the strong field regime. We show that magnetic-field-induced Wigner crystallization and melting of CIEs can be observed in magneto-photoluminescence experiments with TMD bilayers of systematically varied electron-hole doping concentrations. Our results advance the capabilities of this new generation of transdimensional quantum materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Anti-site defect-induced disorder in compensated topological magnet MnBi2-xSbxTe4

Abstract The gapped Dirac-like surface states of compensated magnetic topological insulator MnBi 2-x Sb x Te 4 (MBST) are a promising host for exotic quantum phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect and axion insulating state. However, it has become clear that atomic defects undermine the stabilization of such quantum phases as they lead to spatial variations in the surface state gap and doping levels. The large number of possible defect configurations in MBST make studying the influence of individual defects virtually impossible. Here, we present a statistical analysis of the nanoscale effect of defects in MBST with x =0.64, by scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy. We identify (Bi,Sb) Mn anti-site defects to be the main source of the observed doping fluctuations, leading towards the formation of nanoscale charge puddles and effectively closing the transport gap. Our findings will guide further optimization of this material system via defect engineering, to enable exploitation of its promising properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ab initio study of nitrogen-multisubstituted neutral and positively charged C{sub 20} fullerene

Ab initio investigation of structural and electronic properties of Nitrogen doped fullerenes, obtained from C{sub 20} by replacing up to 10 C atoms with N atoms, are studied by means of first principals density functional theory calculations using numerical orbitals as basis sets. We have obtained the ground state structures for C{sub 20−n}N{sub n} for n=1-10. While substituting nitrogen atoms, we cannot substitute more than 9 nitrogen atoms. Nitrogen doping in C20 shows a significant change in density of states. For a better comparison with experimental measurements, we have also considered some positively charged ions and report the differences between properties of these ions and the corresponding neutral molecules.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Computational investigation of the phase stability and the electronic properties for Gd-doped HfO{sub 2}

Rare earth doping is an important approach to improve the desired properties of high-k gate dielectric oxides. We have carried out a comprehensive theoretical investigation on the phase stability, band gap, formation of oxygen vacancies, and dielectric properties for the Gd-doped HfO{sub 2}. Our calculated results indicate that the tetragonal phase is more stable than the monoclinic phase when the Gd doping concentration is greater than 15.5%, which is in a good agreement with the experimental observations. The dopant's geometric effect is mainly responsible for the phase stability. The Gd doping enlarges the band gap of the material. The dielectric constant for the Gd-doped HfO{sub 2} is in the range of 20–30 that is suitable for high-k dielectric applications. The neutral oxygen vacancy formation energy is 3.2 eV lower in the doped material than in pure HfO{sub 2}. We explain the experimental observation on the decrease of photoluminescence intensities in the Gd-doped HfO{sub 2} according to forming the dopant-oxygen vacancy complexes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Analytical model of electron transport in polycrystalline, degenerately doped ZnO films

An analytical description of the charge carrier transport, valid for non-degenerated and degenerated semiconductors, was developed, critically reviewed, and fitted to the temperature-dependent Hall mobility data of magnetron sputtered, degenerately doped ZnO:Al films. Our extended model for grain boundary scattering in semiconductors of arbitrary degeneracy is based on previous models from literature and suitable to describe the Hall mobility of the carriers as a function of the free carrier concentration and the temperature at the same time. It is mathematically simple enough for a fast fit procedure, which is not possible with most of the previous models. Applying a combined transport model consisting of ionized impurity scattering, phonon scattering, and grain boundary scattering in degenerate semiconductors, we were able to determine the trap density at the grain boundaries Nₜ ≈ 3×10¹³ to 5×10¹³cm⁻² and the deformation potential E{sub ac} in the range of 5 eV to 9 eV depending on the details of the transport model.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

The impact of Cu on recombination in high voltage CdTe solar cells

Using photoluminescence spectroscopy, we construct a recombination model for state-of-the-art CdTe solar cells doped with Cu. Here, we observe that Cu on Cd sites form a dominant acceptor state about 150 meV from the valence band. Although it is intuitive that this state can increase hole density, we also find that this relatively shallow dopant can also limit lifetime. Consequently, CdTe solar cells doped with Cu could have a lifetime limitation inversely proportional to the hole concentration.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗