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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 91 records · Page 5

The possible role of solid surface area in condensation reactions during chemical evolution - Reevaluation

Using surface concentration and reaction rate as the main criteria for the feasibility of condensation reactions, four types of prebiotic environments were analyzed: (1) an ocean-sediment system, (2) a dehydrated lagoon bed produced by evaporation, (3) the surface of a frozen sediment, and (4) a fluctuating system where hydration (rainstorms, tidal variations, flooding) and dehydration (evaporation) take place in a cyclic manner. With the possible exception of nucleotides, low adsorption of organomonomers on sediment surfaces of a prebiotic ocean (pH 8) is expected, and significant condensation is considered unlikely. In dehydrated and frozen systems, high surface concentrations are probable and condensation is more likely. In fluctuating environments, condensation rates will be enhanced and the size distribution of the oligomers formed during dehydration may be influenced by a 'redistribution mechanism' in which adsorbed oligomers and monomers are desorbed and redistributed on the solid surface during the next hydration-dehydration cycle.

Lahav, N.↗

Synthesis of high-surface area tungstated zirconia by atomic layer deposition on mesoporous silica

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used to prepare ZrO 2 films on the surface of the mesoporous silica, SBA-15, and to modify the surface of these films with WO 3 in order to form tungstated zirconia. Adsorption-desorption isotherms, pore size distributions, and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the ALD synthesis produced zirconia films that were conformal to the SBA-15 pores. DRIFT spectroscopy of pyridine adsorbed on the tungstated-zirconia SBA-15 samples showed adsorbed pyridinium ions, confirming the presence of Brønsted-acid sites on this material, consistent with what has been reported for bulk tungstated zirconia. Here, the ALD-synthesized, tungstated-zirconia SBA-15 was also shown to be active in the acid-catalyzed H-D exchange between toluene and D 2 O.

Brønsted acid site↗

Optimization and Multimachine Learning Algorithms to Predict Nanometal Surface Area Transfer Parameters for Gold and Silver Nanoparticles

Interactions between gold metallic nanoparticles and molecular dyes have been well described by the nanometal surface energy transfer (NSET) mechanism. However, the expansion and testing of this model for nanoparticles of different metal composition is needed to develop a greater variety of nanosensors for medical and commercial applications. In this study, the NSET formula was slightly modified in the size-dependent dampening constant and skin depth terms to allow for modeling of different metals as well as testing the quenching effects created by variously sized gold, silver, copper, and platinum nanoparticles. Overall, the metal nanoparticles followed more closely the NSET prediction than for Förster resonance energy transfer, though scattering effects began to occur at 20 nm in the nanoparticle diameter. To further improve the NSET theoretical equation, an attempt was made to set a best-fit line of the NSET theoretical equation curve onto the Au and Ag data points. An exhaustive grid search optimizer was applied in the ranges for two variables, 0.1≤C≤2.0 and 0≤α≤4, representing the metal dampening constant and the orientation of donor to the metal surface, respectively. Three different grid searches, starting from coarse (entire range) to finer (narrower range), resulted in more than one million total calculations with values C=2.0 and α=0.0736. The results improved the calculation, but further analysis needed to be conducted in order to find any additional missing physics. With that motivation, two artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms, multilayer perception and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, gave a correlation coefficient, R2, greater than 0.97, indicating that the small dataset was not overfitting and was method-independent. This analysis indicates that an investigation is warranted to focus on deeper physics informed machine learning for the NSET equations.

Demers, Steven M. E. (ORCID:0000000192213246)↗

Morphology and Surface Areas of Thin Ice Films

Thin ice films formed by deposition from the vapor phase in a fast flow-tube reactor have been used to simulate polar stratospheric cloud surfaces in order to obtain laboratory data on uptake and heterogeneous reaction rates.

ice ozone depletion ice films polar stratopsheric ↗

Novel alkali intercalated and acid-exfoliated biochars with enhanced surface areas for contaminant adsorption applications

Cost-effective and eco-friendly adsorbents are essential in environmental engineering and biochar is a promising material from the perspective. A novel and efficient surface modification approach involving alkali intercalation and acid exfoliation was designed in this study to enhance the physicochemical properties of biochar. Here, the alkali intercalation process utilizes potassium hydroxide (KOH), while acid exfoliation involves varying HNO 3 , H 2 SO 4 , and H 3 PO 4 concentrations. A simple two-stage pyrolysis process was employed to facilitate the intercalation-exfoliation modification. The modified biochars were characterized using BET, SEM, XRD, etc., to understand physicochemical properties. To quantify the effectiveness of the modifications, adsorption of malachite green dye as a model moiety was investigated. Dye removal sorption rates exceeding 99 % were recorded in the case of the biochars modified through a two-step process using KOH and 0.1MH 3 PO 4 . Specifically, the highest contaminant removal of 99.9 % was recorded when 60 mg of the KOH-0.1MH 3 PO 4 biochar was employed, which is significantly higher than unmodified biochar’s 45.41 % removal at a higher dosage of 100 mg. Moreover, the adsorption kinetics revealed that all the modified biochars attained the maximum removal concentrations (~99 % removal) in a mere 300 min, indicating a tenfold improvement in adsorption rate from unmodified biochar's requirement of over 5000 min. The results achieved through this study provide a cost-effective, fast, and environment-friendly technology for enhancing the adsorption characteristics and performance of biochars toward contaminant removal.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗