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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Validation study of sodium pool fire modeling efforts in $\mathrm{MELCOR}$ and $\mathrm{SPHINCS}$ codes

Discharge of sodium coolant into containment from a sodium-cooled fast reactor vessel can occur in the event of a pipe leak or break. In this situation, some of the liquid sodium droplets discharged from the coolant system will react with oxygen in the air before reaching the containment. This phase of the event is normally termed the sodium spray fire phase. Unreacted sodium droplets pool on the containment floor where continued reaction with containment atmospheric oxygen occurs. This phase of the event is normally termed the sodium pool fire phase. Both phases of these sodium-oxygen reactions (or fires) are important to model because of the heat addition and aerosol generation that occur. Any fission products trapped in the sodium coolant may also be released during this progression of events, which if released from containment could pose a health risk to workers and the public. The paper describes progress of an international collaborative research in the area of the sodium fire modeling in the sodium-cooled fast reactors between the United States and Japan under the framework of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group. In this collaboration between Sandia National Laboratories and Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the validation basis for and modeling capabilities of sodium spray and pool fires in MELCOR of Sandia National Laboratories and SPHINCS of Japan Atomic Energy Agency are being enhanced. Here this study documents MELCOR and SPHINCS sodium pool fire model validation exercises against the JAEA’s sodium pool fire experiments, F7-1 and F7-2. The proposed enhancement of the sodium pool fire models in MELCOR through addition of thermal hydraulic and sodium spreading models that enable a better representation of experimental results is also described.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simulations With the Marine Biogeochemistry Library (MARBL)

Abstract The Marine Biogeochemistry Library (MARBL) is a prognostic ocean biogeochemistry model that simulates marine ecosystem dynamics and the coupled cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, silicon, and oxygen. MARBL is a component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM); it supports flexible ecosystem configuration of multiple phytoplankton and zooplankton functional types; it is also portable, designed to interface with multiple ocean circulation models. Here, we present scientific documentation of MARBL, describe its configuration in CESM2 experiments included in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project version 6 (CMIP6), and evaluate its performance against a number of observational data sets. The model simulates present‐day air‐sea CO 2 flux and many aspects of the carbon cycle in good agreement with observations. However, the simulated integrated uptake of anthropogenic CO 2 is weak, which we link to poor thermocline ventilation, a feature evident in simulated chlorofluorocarbon distributions. This also contributes to larger‐than‐observed oxygen minimum zones. Moreover, radiocarbon distributions show that the simulated circulation in the deep North Pacific is extremely sluggish, yielding extensive oxygen depletion and nutrient trapping at depth. Surface macronutrient biases are generally positive at low latitudes and negative at high latitudes. CESM2 simulates globally integrated net primary production (NPP) of 48 Pg C yr −1 and particulate export flux at 100 m of 7.1 Pg C yr −1 . The impacts of climate change include an increase in globally integrated NPP, but substantial declines in the North Atlantic. Particulate export is projected to decline globally, attributable to decreasing export efficiency associated with changes in phytoplankton community composition.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2026

Electric accumulation of millicharged particles

A terrestrial population of millicharged particles that interact significantly with normal matter can arise if they make up a dark matter subcomponent or if they are light enough to be produced in cosmic-ray air showers. Such particles thermalize to terrestrial temperatures through repeated scatters with normal matter in Earth’s environment. We show that a simple electrified shell (for example, a Van de Graaff generator) functions as an efficient accumulator of such room-temperature millicharged particles, parametrically enhancing their local density by as much as 12 orders of magnitude. This can be used to boost the sensitivity of any detector housed in the shell’s interior, such as ion traps and tests of Coulomb’s law. In a companion paper, we apply this specifically to Cavendish tests of Coulomb’s law, and we show that a well-established setup can probe a large region of unexplored parameter space, with sensitivity to the irreducible density of millicharged particles generated from cosmic rays that outperforms future accelerator searches for sub-GeV masses.

Berlin, Asher [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000211561482)↗
DOE OSTI2021

SR19021 Tritium Aging of Regenerated LANA.75 (Final Project Report)

The Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE) has used the metal hydride LaNi 4.25 Al 0.75 (LANA.75) in the Tritium Facilities for over two decades. LANA.75 beds store significant quantities of tritium but have a limited service life due to the radiolytic decay of tritium to He-3 within the metal matrix. It has been shown that heating tritium-aged LANA.75 under vacuum can reverse tritium aging effects, eliminating the heel of trapped hydrogen, and restoring the reversible capacity. Additional investigation is needed to ensure there are no unexpected changes to the hydride before this restoration technique is employed in full scale beds in the Tritium Facilities. This project was to be comprised of three distinct scopes: obtain tritium aging data on the sample regenerated in 2018, regenerate a tritium-aged sample at 600 °C, and perform thermal stability testing on a non-tritiated sample. Isotherms were collected on the previously regenerated sample after approximately two years of tritium aging. Isotherms were collected at 80, 100, and 120 °C. As expected, there was a decrease in the plateau pressure, an increase in plateau slope, and a portion of the “heel” of tritium trapped in the metal had been reestablished. Unexpectedly, it appeared that the plateau had shortened at the higher tritium to metal ratios as well. This is typically seen in older samples. The second scope, to regenerate a second tritium-aged LANA.75 sample, was not completed. A Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan was written and approved, a high temperature test cell was fabricated, several pre-job briefs were held, and the hydride sample was passivated with air. Despite these successes, the hydride sample was not recovered from the legacy test cell. The third scope was to perform thermal stability testing on a “cold” LANA.75 sample. A non-tritiated sample of LANA.75 was held at 750 °C under vacuum for 200 hours to simulate exposure to multiple regeneration evolutions. Hydride isotherm performance, chemical composition, crystallinity, particle size, and morphology are compared between the pre- and post-regeneration samples. No significant changes were observed in composition, crystallinity, or particle size. Comparison of before and after isotherms showed that performance improved rather than deteriorated during the evolution. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis showed small growths on the particle surface after exposure to regeneration conditions. Additional testing will be required to determine the cause of these growths.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Effect of NO on DME-Methanol HCCI Experimental Observations

Methanol is an attractive fuel for the maritime sector due to its wide availability. Its direct use as a fuel, however, is accompanied by challenges such as high latent heat of vaporization and low cetane number. A potential solution to overcome the ignition properties of methanol could be through on-board generation of dimethyl ether (DME) via catalytic dehydration of methanol. The resulting mixture from dehydration can be mixed in with the intake air to generate a homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) preburn for subsequent direct injection (DI) and successful ignition methanol at diesel–like timescales. However, if the preburn species are treated separately from the complete methanol MCCI approach the preburn heat release rate (HRR) phasing and behavior do not replicate the preburn behavior of the complete approach. Thus, the presence of the main methanol mixing controlled compression ignition (MCCI) combustion event influences the DME/methanol preburn kinetics. Specifically, it was found that trapped residual temperature alone was insufficient alone to be responsible for the observed differences, and that trace species concentrations of NO in the trapped residual gas also influenced DME/methanol kinetics increasing low temperature heat release (LTHR) magnitude and advancing high temperature heat release (HTHR) phasing. NO is not present in HCCI combustion of neat DME or DME/methanol blends nor is elevated gas temperature in the trapped residuals; both of which result in failure to accurately predict the HCCI combustion of DME/methanol blends when coupled with subsequent DI methanol MCCI. This work experimentally explores the effect of trapped residual temperature and NO on DME and DME/methanol HCCI combustion.

Jatana, Gurneesh [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000288903225)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Isolation of potential plant growth-promoting bacteria from nodules of legumes grown in arid Botswana soil

As the world population increases, improvements in crop growth and yield will be needed to meet rising food demands, especially in countries that have not developed agricultural practices optimized for their own soils and crops. In many African countries, farmers improve agricultural productivity by applying synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to crops, but their continued use over the years has had serious environmental consequences including air and water pollution as well as loss of soil fertility. To reduce the overuse of synthetic amendments, we are developing inocula for crops that are based on indigenous soil microbes, especially those that enhance plant growth and improve agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner. We first isolated environmental DNA from soil samples collected from an agricultural region to study the composition of the soil microbiomes and then used Vigna unguiculata (cowpea), an important legume crop in Botswana and other legumes as “trap” plants using the collected soil to induce nitrogen-fixing nodule formation. We have identified drought-tolerant bacteria from Botswana soils that stimulate plant growth; many are species of Bacillus and Paenibacillus . In contrast, the cowpea nodule microbiomes from plants grown in these soils house mainly rhizobia particularly Bradyrhizobium , but also Methylobacterium spp. Hence, the nodule microbiome is much more limited in non-rhizobial diversity compared to the soil microbiome, but also contains a number of potential pathogenic bacteria.

Kosty, Melissa↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ruddlesden–Popper Perovskites with Narrow Phase Distribution for Air-Stable Solar Cells

2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites have risen to prominence as stable and efficient photovoltaic materials because of their structural diversity, rich photophysics, and low moisture ingression. However, thin films processed from stoichiometric precursor solutions possess a broad phase distribution of different number of inorganic layers with random crystal orientation, crippling device performance. The effect of methylammonium chloride (MACI) and 3-amino4-phenolsulfonic acid (APSA) on the fabrication of perpendicularly oriented (PEA) 2 MA 4 Pb 5 I 16 films with narrow phase distribution using antisolvent and hot-casting processing techniques is investigated. MACI plays a critical role in suppressing parasitic n ≤ 2 and 3D-like phases. APSA performs the dual function of trap passivation and further narrowing phase polydispersity through strong coordination with Pb 2+ . Ex situ grazing-incident wide-angle X-Ray scattering (GIWAXS) and ultrafast spectroscopic characterization reveal uniformly mixed-phase distribution with disordered orientation in antisolvent treated films, while additive-assisted hot-casting treatment results in oriented, reverse-graded phase distribution, i.e., small-n on the film surface and large-n at the bottom. Arising thin films enable efficient p-i-n solar cells with an efficiency of 14.34%, and a V oc of 1.20 V, retaining 96% initial efficiency after 1440 h under ambient conditions (RH = 50-60%) without encapsulation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Synergy of Graphene Nanoribbons and Graphene Sheets for High-Rate Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

According to the increasing demands for shortening the battery charging time, high current rate (C-rate) performances become more significant in practical applications. With a higher theoretical capacity, lithium-sulfur batteries are treated as promising candidates for the next-generation batteries. In this work, the utilization of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) exhibits the benefits in conductivity and other electrochemical performances, especially for high-rate applications. With air-controlled electrospray as the method, carbon encapsulated sulfur particles, poly(acrylic acid), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets, and GNRs are mixed and directly deposited onto the carbon coated aluminum collector, to employ as the cathode. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging exhibits that the two-dimensional structure of GNRs helps construct inter-connected networks. This improved structure of cathode can increase the electroconductivity, confirmed by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and modify the porosity, indicated through pore size distribution profiles. In this way, the polysulfides can be more efficiently trapped and utilized, realizing the promising behavior with faster charge transfer. In terms of the cycling performance at 0.2 C, the batteries with GNRs can perform 18% higher in capacity than those without GNRs, without decreasing the charge retention. According to the rate-capability tests, systems with GNRs can achieve enhanced performance compared to batteries with precursor carbon nanotubes (CNTs), especially at high C-rates. At 2 C, with 80 wt % of graphene-based materials as GNRs, batteries can achieve an increase in capacity by 78% and 41% compared with systems without GNRs and those with CNTs, respectively. Accordingly, the results testify the synergy of GNRs and rGO sheets in Li-S batteries.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Investigating the hydrolysis of cryogenically layered molybdenum hexafluoride through a disordered hydrogen-bonded network

Molybdenum hexafluoride (MoF6) is used as a non-radioactive substitute for uranium to study the hydrolysis of metal hexafluorides. Molybdenum hexafluoride gas and water vapor, from the air, were sequentially layered onto a diamond substrate kept at liquid nitrogen temperature using a custom designed cryogenic cell with a copper cold finger. Reaction progress was monitored by transmission Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) through the layers and diamond substrate over several hours while allowing the substrate to warm. Changes in the modes in the 500–1000 cm -1 region are tracked as the reaction progresses in order to identify intermediate species. Strong absorption features are also observed in the 1000–3000 cm -1 range, suggesting the presence of ionic dissociation intermediates trapped in a disordered H-bonded network of cryogenic hydrofluoric acid. Here, a possible reaction pathway is proposed and the final hydrolysis product is characterized by FTIR, UV-vis, and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Technology Enablers for Advanced Gasoline Compression Ignition Engines

To meet current emission regulations and increasingly demanding global fleet CO2 standards on fuel economy and future trends towards life cycle GHG emissions, advanced combustion engines remain significant in the passenger vehicle sector to achieve high efficiency and low emissions over the full operating range. Lean burn gasoline compression ignition (GCI) technology has shown to have the most potential in reaching these goals, although it faces challenges in the operating range. In this study, an advanced GCI engine is considered with the capability to operate under two combustion modes, namely low temperature combustion (LTC) and GCI. They are enabled with the use of two Hyundai in-house developed technologies; an advanced valve control mechanism known as continuously variable valve duration (CVVD) and a high-pressure gasoline injection system. At low load, the engine utilizes dual CVVD and dual CVVT (continuously variable valve timing) mechanisms for both intake and exhaust valvetrains to enable NVO (negative valve overlap) to trap hot residuals. The hot residuals enable low load auto-ignition, and the phasing control of that auto-ignition is achieved by varying the degrees of NVO, and in turn, the amount of hot residuals. This is done in real time with respect to the changes in engine loads or operating conditions, significantly improving cylinder-phasing control in LTC mode, and subsequently is able to realize a fuel economy gain and reduced emission benefits. Early direct injection during NVO or intake stroke is used to form homogenous or quasi-homogenous air-fuel mixture for LTC. At mid to high loads, late direct injection of gasoline or GCI mode is employed to take advantage of the high volatility and high resistance to auto-ignition of gasoline fuel, so that diesel-engine like high combustion efficiency can be achieved with lower soot emissions for the same NOx level as diesel combustion. In this paper, the key control and fueling technologies that enable this multiple mode combustion are introduced, and the resultant analysis on engine test and CFD simulation at LTC and GCI operating conditions are presented in detail.

Gasoline compression ignition, low temperature com↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thermomechanical Stress and Creep-Fatigue Analysis of a High-Temperature Prototype Receiver for Heating Particles

This work presents a three-dimensional (3D) thermomechanical model of a prototype-scale enclosed light trapping solar receiver for heating particles. Results of the thermoelastic model are used to estimate receiver lifetime under maximum flux conditions. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is first developed to predict the temperature fields in a multi-panel assembly under steady operating conditions. Solar flux distributions on the receiver are obtained from the software package SolTrace and applied to the 3D thermal model. The subsequent particle heating is captured through a simplified 1D energy balance. Panel reradiation is considered through a surface-to-surface radiation model and natural convection loss to the surrounding air is captured in a representative fluid domain surrounding the receiver. The resulting temperature fields from the CFD analysis are used as inputs for a thermoelastic mechanical model with representative boundary conditions. With the resultant temperature and stress fields, a creep-fatigue damage and lifetime analysis is performed using the linear damage accumulation (LDA) theory. The Manson-Coffin formula and Larson Miller correlation are used to calculate the fatigue and creep, respectively. A maximum damage (corresponding to a 30-year service life) is defined for design assessment. The model was first developed and verified in detail by comparing with published results in the literature (temperature and stress profiles and distributions, and creep/fatigue damage fractions) for tubular solar receivers with supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. It was then implemented to model a planar-cavity receiver with various design parameters. Specifically, three different design geometries are considered, and the results show that a maximum temperature of approximately 1200 K could be reached for each design with the given incident solar flux, with the main difference being the distribution of these temperatures. Preliminary resulting stresses for the small-scale prototype without design optimization vary from 20 MPa to 250 MPa for each design, with the maximum stresses occurring on the front face and concave geometry on the side of the panel. In future work, the developed methodology shown here will be applied to analyze a full-scale (50-150 MWth) receiver.

concentrated solar power↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reconciliation of asynchronous satellite-based $\mathrm{NO_2}$ and $\mathrm{XCO_2}$ enhancements with mesoscale modeling over two urban landscapes

Fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO 2ff ), the main driver of global warming and climate change, is often co-emitted with nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and precursors to ground-level ozone from anthropogenic sources like power plants or vehicles. In urban and suburban areas, satellite-based NO 2 can be used as a proxy to track the emissions of CO 2ff . Because of NO 2 ’s shorter lifetime, urban NO 2 plumes are more distinguishable from backgrounds and more sensitive to variations in emissions. However, the combination of these two gases is limited by the asynchrony among NO 2 and CO 2 monitoring satellites. We used CO 2ff simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model to reconcile the tropospheric NO 2 vertical column density (VCD) from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of carbon dioxide enhancements (ΔXCO 2 ) from Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) Snapshot Area Maps (SAMs) over a multicity area, Washington D.C.-Baltimore (DC-Balt), and a basin city, Mexico City. NO 2 /CO 2ff ratios over DC-Balt are smaller than Mexico City, indicative of stricter emission restrictions, a more combustion-efficient vehicle fleet, and higher combustion efficiency due to lower altitude in DC-Balt. For single-track cases, the spatial correlations between NO 2 and ΔXCO 2 over Mexico City are stronger than DC-Balt because the NO 2 and CO 2 are mostly trapped in the valley of Mexico City, while DC-Balt is severely affected by distant sources (i.e., US East Coast cities). Using multi-track averaging, spatial correlation coefficients increase with the number of days used for averaging. The correlations reached a maximum when averaging >12 continuous images for DC-Balt and > 10 continuous images for Mexico City. This finding indicates that multi-track averaging using modeled CO 2ff as a proxy is helpful to filter the noise in single-track images, to cancel the interference from distant sources, and to magnify correlations between NO 2 and CO 2ff . Mexico City showed stronger spatial correlations but weaker temporal correlations than DC-Balt due to biomass burning hot spots and large transport errors caused by the trapping effects of the surrounding mountains. Tracking the 20-day moving average of CO 2ff emissions using TROPOMI NO 2 seems technically feasible, considering the relationship between correlation coefficients and the number of available satellite images.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quasi‐2D Perovskite Crystalline Layers for Printable Direct Conversion X‐Ray Imaging

Abstract Polycrystalline perovskite film‐based X‐ray detector is an appealing technology for assembling large scale imager by printing methods. However, thick crystalline layer without trap and solvent residual is challenging to fabricate. Here, the authors report a solution method to produce high quality quasi‐2D perovskite crystalline layers and detectors that are suitable for X‐ray imaging. By introducing n ‐butylamine iodide into methylammonium lead iodide precursor and coating at elevated temperatures, compact and crystalline layers with exceptional uniformity are obtained on both rigid and flexible substrates. Photodiodes built with the quasi‐2D layers exhibit a low dark current and stable operation under constant electrical field over 96 h in dark, and over 15 h under X‐ray irradiation. The detector responds sensitively under X‐ray, delivering a high sensitivity of 1214 µC Gy air −1 cm −2 and a sensitivity gain is observed when operated under higher fields. Finally, high resolution images are demonstrated using a single pixel device that can resolve 80–200 µm features. This work paves the path for printable direct conversion X‐ray imager development.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effect of oxide layer growth conditions on radiation detection performance of Ni/SiO 2 /epi-4H-SiC MOS capacitors

We report high resolution radiation detection has been demonstrated using Ni/SiO2/n-4H-SiC metal-oxidesemiconductor vertical capacitors fabricated using highly crystalline 4H-SiC epilayers. The oxide layers have been grown thermally using two different approaches: i) in-air, and ii) oxygen-ambience oxidation. The devices fabricated using the former method exhibited dark currents one order of magnitude higher than that in the latter. The observed difference has been attributed to the back-contact series resistance and capacitance. Regardless of the difference in the device parameters, detectors prepared using both of the methods exhibited very high energy resolutions of ≤ 0.5% for 5486 keV alpha particles emitted by an 241Am radioisotope. Capacitance mode deep level transient spectroscopic (DLTS) studies revealed similar type of electrically active defects along with Z1/2 and EH5 deep level defects in both the types of devices. The DLTS scans also revealed positive polarity peaks in these devices which indicate emission from minority carrier trap centers. The activation energy corresponding to the peak was found to be ~1.2 eV which has been assigned to HK3 defects responsible for hole trapping in 4H-SiC. The possibility of appearance of the positive peak due to non-negligible impedance of the back-contact has been ruled out based on the observation that the centroid of the observed peak did not change with detectors having different device parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

GEMINI Case Study

Sandia's GEMINI-Scout Mine Rescue Robot is an unmanned ground vehicle designed to enter potentially hazardous environments to explore, assess, and evaluate dangerous situations first responders may face when conducting a rescue mission. GEMINI is approximately four feet long and two feet tall, which enables the robot to maneuver through small locations on rough terrains caused by earthquakes, fires, or radiological incidents. GEMINI uses track propulsion to climb stairs, travel through gravel and sand pits, pivot in place, and traverse 45-degree climbs with few problems. Furthermore, the vehicle's dual tracked-chassis design allows it to operate in hostile, dark, muddy, high-temperature, and explosive debris-strewn environments, while maintaining efficient ground mobility. The mobility and modularity of the vehicle allow for easy integration of sensors to conduct gas and temperature sensing and offers pan/tilt, zoom color, and thermal camera video streaming capabilities. The vehicle is also able to carry a payload of about 50 pounds of batteries and can handle an additional 200 pounds of payload, whether for additional diagnostics, supplies, or clothing for those trapped in an effected area. GEMINI is remotely operated through a wireless connection and an onboard computer running a customized embedded control application, which directly communicates to all onboard components except for the audio and video systems. When line of sight is not possible, operators use a shockresistant fiber optic cable to ensure continuous functionality of the vehicle. This allows for direct local control of the vehicle, which streams collected data back to the operator for enhanced situational awareness. In addition, the vehicle incorporates safety features such as explosion proof housing to ensure safe electronic operations in hazardous gas or flooded environments; a four-channel video link and two-way audio to ensure located survivors can communicate with operators; and an MSHA-approved multi-gas sensor to monitor air quality.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Behavioral patterns of bats at a wind turbine confirm seasonality of fatality risk

Abstract Bat fatalities at wind energy facilities in North America are predominantly comprised of migratory, tree‐dependent species, but it is unclear why these bats are at higher risk. Factors influencing bat susceptibility to wind turbines might be revealed by temporal patterns in their behaviors around these dynamic landscape structures. In northern temperate zones, fatalities occur mostly from July through October, but whether this reflects seasonally variable behaviors, passage of migrants, or some combination of factors remains unknown. In this study, we examined video imagery spanning one year in the state of Colorado in the United States, to characterize patterns of seasonal and nightly variability in bat behavior at a wind turbine. We detected bats on 177 of 306 nights representing approximately 3,800 hr of video and > 2,000 discrete bat events. We observed bats approaching the turbine throughout the night across all months during which bats were observed. Two distinct seasonal peaks of bat activity occurred in July and September, representing 30% and 42% increases in discrete bat events from the preceding months June and August, respectively. Bats exhibited behaviors around the turbine that increased in both diversity and duration in July and September. The peaks in bat events were reflected in chasing and turbine approach behaviors. Many of the bat events involved multiple approaches to the turbine, including when bats were displaced through the air by moving blades. The seasonal and nightly patterns we observed were consistent with the possibility that wind turbines invoke investigative behaviors in bats in late summer and autumn coincident with migration and that bats may return and fly close to wind turbines even after experiencing potentially disruptive stimuli like moving blades. Our results point to the need for a deeper understanding of the seasonality, drivers, and characteristics of bat movement across spatial scales.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

High-resolution radiation detection using Ni/SiO 2 /n-4H-SiC vertical metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor

In this article, we demonstrate the radiation detection performance of vertical metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors fabricated on 20 μm thick n-4H-SiC epitaxial layers with the highest energy resolution ever reported. The 100 nm SiO2 layer was achieved on the Si face of n-4H-SiC epilayers using dry oxidation in air. The Ni/SiO2/n-4H-SiC MOS detectors not only demonstrated an excellent energy resolution of 0.42% (ΔE/E 100) for 5.48 MeV alpha particles but also caused a lower enhancement in the electronic noise components of the spectrometer compared with that observed for the best high-resolution Schottky barrier detectors. The MOS detectors also exhibited a high charge collection efficiency (CCE) of 96% at the optimized operating bias despite the presence of the oxide layer. A drift-diffusion model applied to the CCE vs gate bias voltage data revealed a minority (hole) carrier diffusion length of 24 μm. Capacitance mode deep level transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS) scans in the temperature range 84–800 K were carried out to identify the resolution limiting electrically active defects. Interestingly, the C-DLTS spectra revealed both positive and negative peaks, indicating the simultaneous presence of electron (majority) and hole (minority) trap centers. It has been inferred that at the steady-state bias for the C-DLTS measurement, the MOS detector operates in the inversion mode at certain device temperatures, causing holes to populate the minority trap centers and, hence, manifests minority carrier peaks as well.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Characterization of Spurious Charge in SENSEI Skipper-CCDs

Skipper Charge-Coupled Devices (Skipper-CCDs) are a leading technology in the search for sub-GeV dark matter and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. A key background for rare-event searches with these detectors arises from "spurious charge" -- single-electron events generated when charges are transferred through the active region to the serial register, and across the serial register to the readout stage. We present a characterization of spurious charge in both the active region and the serial register of SENSEI Skipper-CCDs, and show that, in a well-shielded low-background environment, the dominant contribution originates in the serial register during Skipper readout, when horizontal clocks are held at constant voltage between pixel transfers. Motivated by this finding, we develop a "tri-level" clocking scheme in which the held-low phase is raised to an intermediate voltage during readout to suppress trap-mediated charge generation. Using the SENSEI detector near the MINOS cavern, we measure a serial-register single-electron density of $(2.9 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-5}$ electrons/pixel/image under standard SENSEI readout conditions, reduced to $(4.0 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{-6}$ electrons/pixel/image with tri-level clocking -- a factor of $\sim$7 improvement. This technique offers a promising path to lower backgrounds in current and future Skipper-CCD experiments.

Wu, Yikai [YITP, Stony Brook; SUNY, Stony Brook]↗