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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 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Electrically-detected ESR in silicon nanostructures inserted in microcavities

We present the first findings of the new electrically-detected electron spin resonance technique (EDESR), which reveal the point defects in the ultra-narrow silicon quantum wells (Si-QW) confined by the superconductor δ- barriers. This technique allows the ESR identification without application of an external cavity, as well as a high frequency source and recorder, and with measuring the only response of the magnetoresistance, with internal GHz Josephson emission within frameworks of the normal-mode coupling (NMC) caused by the microcavities embedded in the Si-QW plane.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Al insertion and additive effects on the thermoelectric properties of yttrium boride

The aluminoboride Y{sub x}Al{sub y}B{sub 14} (x ∼ 0.57, 0.41 ≤ y ≤ 0.63) has been found to show striking p-n control of the thermoelectric properties through variations of the y occupancy of the Al site. The effect of Al was investigated in further extremes. Polycrystalline samples of Al-free Y{sub x}B{sub 14}(x ∼ 0.55; “YB{sub 25}”) were successfully synthesized in sufficient amounts for bulk spark plasma sintering (SPS) samples and their thermoelectric properties were investigated. Y{sub 0.56}Al{sub 0.57}B{sub 14} was also prepared in comparison, and further Al was added to the samples through SPS treatment. We observed that Y{sub 0.55}B{sub 14} exhibits large positive Seebeck coefficients, ∼1000 μV K{sup −1}, around room temperature and the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient largely decreases with increase of temperature while that of Y{sub 0.56}Al{sub 0.57}B{sub 14} is proportional to T{sup −1/2}, indicating a strong effect of Al on the electronic structure around the Fermi level. Y{sub 0.55}B{sub 14} was found to be strongly disordered with a relatively low thermal conductivity and short localization length of 0.65 Å which is close to that previously determined for the disordered and thermally glass-like compound YB{sub 66}. Occupancy of Al could not be increased further for the Al-rich sample, although Al was discovered to act as a sintering aid to enhance density and ZT could be significantly improved by 50%.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Investigation of charge compensation in indium-doped tin dioxide by hydrogen insertion via annealing under humid conditions

The behavior of hydrogen (H) as an impurity in indium (In)-doped tin dioxide (SnO{sub 2}) was investigated by mass spectrometry analyses, with the aim of understanding the charge compensation mechanism in SnO{sub 2}. The H-concentration of the In-doped SnO{sub 2} films increased to (1–2) × 10{sup 19} cm{sup −3} by annealing in a humid atmosphere (WET annealing). The electron concentration in the films also increased after WET annealing but was two orders of magnitude less than their H-concentrations. A self-compensation mechanism, based on the assumption that H sits at substitutional sites, is proposed to explain the mismatch between the electron- and H-concentrations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thermally stable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy features of Ta/TaO{sub x}/Ta/CoFeB/MgO/W stacks via TaO{sub x} underlayer insertion

We report that a TaO{sub x} underlayer enhances the stability of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in TaO{sub x}/Ta/CoFeB/MgO stacks during annealing; control of oxygen content in the TaO{sub x} layer is critical. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy observations revealed clear suppression of Ta atom diffusion towards the CoFeB/MgO interface or MgO regions. The TaO{sub x} underlayer possibly served as a diffusion sponge, permitting some thermally activated Ta atoms to impregnate the TaO{sub x} underlayer via a diffusion path, such as grain boundaries. We propose a possible mechanism for enhanced PMA stability based on diffusion of thermally activated Ta atoms.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electron tomography of (In,Ga)N insertions in GaN nanocolumns grown on semi-polar (112{sup -}2) GaN templates

We present results of scanning transmission electron tomography on GaN/(In,Ga)N/GaN nanocolumns (NCs) that grew uniformly inclined towards the patterned, semi-polar GaN(112{sup -}2) substrate surface by molecular beam epitaxy. For the practical realization of the tomographic experiment, the nanocolumn axis has been aligned parallel to the rotation axis of the electron microscope goniometer. The tomographic reconstruction allows for the determination of the three-dimensional indium distribution inside the nanocolumns. This distribution is strongly interrelated with the nanocolumn morphology and faceting. The (In,Ga)N layer thickness and the indium concentration differ between crystallographically equivalent and non-equivalent facets. The largest thickness and the highest indium concentration are found at the nanocolumn apex parallel to the basal planes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

The g-factor of quasi-two-dimensional electrons in InAs/InGaAs/InAlAs inserted-channels

We have measured the Landau-level spin-splitting of two-dimensional electrons in the composite InAs/InGaAs channels of two InAs/InGaAs/InAlAs heterostructures with different alloy compositions by magnetotransport and THz magneto-photoconductivity in magnetic fields up to 10 T. The structures differ importantly in the mobility of the channel, the electron density and the composition of the barriers. The magnitudes of the experimental g-factors for B along the quantization axis and their anisotropies are larger by at least a factor of 2 than the corresponding calculated single particle values. The angular dependence of many-body exchange contributions and the effects of broadening of Landau–level densities of states are necessary for understanding this behaviour. We find evidence for a marked decrease of the exchange contribution at low perpendicular magnetic fields in the higher mobility sample from coincidence measurements, but no indications of such behaviour in the lower mobility sample.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Water accessibility in a membrane-inserting peptide comparing Overhauser DNP and pulse EPR methods

Water accessibility is a key parameter for the understanding of the structure of biomolecules, especially membrane proteins. Several experimental techniques based on the combination of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy with site-directed spin labeling are currently available. Among those, we compare relaxation time measurements and electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) experiments using pulse EPR with Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) at X-band frequency and a magnetic field of 0.33 T. Overhauser DNP transfers the electron spin polarization to nuclear spins via cross-relaxation. The change in the intensity of the {sup 1}H NMR spectrum of H{sub 2}O at a Larmor frequency of 14 MHz under a continuous-wave microwave irradiation of the nitroxide spin label contains information on the water accessibility of the labeled site. As a model system for a membrane protein, we use the hydrophobic α-helical peptide WALP23 in unilamellar liposomes of DOPC. Water accessibility measurements with all techniques are conducted for eight peptides with different spin label positions and low radical concentrations (10–20 μM). Consistently in all experiments, the water accessibility appears to be very low, even for labels positioned near the end of the helix. The best profile is obtained by Overhauser DNP, which is the only technique that succeeds in discriminating neighboring positions in WALP23. Since the concentration of the spin-labeled peptides varied, we normalized the DNP parameter ϵ, being the relative change of the NMR intensity, by the electron spin concentration, which was determined from a continuous-wave EPR spectrum.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Electrically tunable superconducting terahertz metamaterial with low insertion loss and high switchable ratios

With the emergence and development of artificially structured electromagnetic materials, active terahertz (THz) metamaterial devices have attracted significant attention in recent years. Tunability of transmission is desirable for many applications. For example, short-range wireless THz communications and ultrafast THz interconnects require switches and modulators. However, the tunable range of transmission amplitude of existing THz metamaterial devices is not satisfactory. In this article, we experimentally demonstrate an electrically tunable superconducting niobium nitride metamaterial device and employ a hybrid coupling model to analyze its optical transmission characteristics. The maximum transmission coefficient at 0.507 THz is 0.98 and decreases to 0.19 when the applied voltage increases to 0.9 V. A relative transmittance change of 80.6% is observed, making this device an efficient narrowband THz switch. Additionally, the frequency of the peak is red shifted from 0.507 to 0.425 THz, which means that the device can be used to select the frequency. This study offers an alternative tuning method to existing optical, thermal, magnetic-field, and electric-field tuning, delivering a promising approach for designing active and miniaturized THz devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Reduction of thermal conductivity in MnSi{sub 1.7} multi-layered thin films with artificially inserted Si interfaces

We report a lowered lattice thermal conductivity in nm-scale MnSi{sub 1.7}/Si multilayers which were fabricated by controlling thermal diffusions of Mn and Si atoms. The thickness of the constituent layers is 1.5–5.0 nm, which is comparable to the phonon mean free path of both MnSi{sub 1.7} and Si. By applying the above nanostructures, we reduced the lattice thermal conductivity down to half that of bulk MnSi{sub 1.7}/Si composite materials. The obtained value of 1.0 W/K m is the experimentally observed minimum in MnSi{sub 1.7}-based materials without any heavy element doping and close to the minimum thermal conductivity. We attribute the reduced lattice thermal conductivity to phonon scattering at the MnSi{sub 1.7}/Si interfaces in the multilayers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Structure and lithium insertion in oxides of molybdenum

Oxides of molybdenum, MoO x , have a rich structural chemistry arising from the accommodation of oxygen deficiency as MoO 3 is reduced and varied redox behavior arising from the ability of Mo to take on several different oxidation states. We review MoO 3 , MoO 2 , and all the reduced Mo oxides with intermediate compositions for their performance as Li-ion battery electrode materials. These reduced oxides are perhaps the most structurally diverse in the field of energy storage materials, taking on structures ranging from ones with crystallographic shear to bronze-like structures and distorted rutile. The crystal structure can have a significant impact on the performance of battery materials, which makes the reduced Mo oxides a promising domain of study. Electrochemical studies of these oxides from as early as 1971 to as recently as 2022 are compiled, and characteristics of capacity, capacity retention, and rate performance are compared. We find that certain oxides indeed display promising and highly reversible capacities for Li + storage. Typical redox voltages for Mo oxides lie in a regime that hinders maximizing energy density when they are paired with higher-voltage cathodes or lower-voltage anodes. The possibility of decreasing the redox voltage in the future will expand the promise of these materials while offering an alternative to more critical elements such as Nb.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

CRAGE-mediated insertion of fluorescent chromosomal markers for accurate and scalable measurement of co-culture dynamics in Escherichia coli

Monitoring population dynamics in co-culture is necessary in engineering microbial consortia involved in distributed metabolic processes or biosensing applications. However, it remains difficult to measure strain-specific growth dynamics in high-throughput formats. This is especially vexing in plate-based functional screens leveraging whole-cell biosensors to detect specific metabolic signals. Here, we develop an experimental high-throughput co-culture system to measure and model the relationship between fluorescence and cell abundance, combining chassis-independent recombinase-assisted genome engineering (CRAGE) and whole-cell biosensing with a PemrR-green fluorescent protein (GFP) monoaromatic reporter used in plate-based functional screening. CRAGE was used to construct Escherichia coli EPI300 strains constitutively expressing red fluorescent protein (RFP) and the relationship between RFP expression and optical density (OD600) was determined throughout the EPI300 growth cycle. A linear equation describing the increase of normalized RFP fluorescence during deceleration phase was derived and used to predict biosensor strain dynamics in co-culture. Measured and predicted values were compared using flow cytometric detection methods. Induction of the biosensor lead to increased GFP fluorescence normalized to biosensor cell abundance, as expected, but a significant decrease in relative abundance of the biosensor strain in co-culture and a decrease in bulk GFP fluorescence. Taken together, these results highlight sensitivity of population dynamics to variations in metabolic activity in co-culture and the potential effect of these dynamics on the performance of functional screens in plate-based formats. The engineered strains and model used to evaluate these dynamics provide a framework for optimizing growth of synthetic co-cultures used in screening, testing and pathway engineering applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗