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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 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Effect of mobile ions on the electric field needed to orient charged diblock copolymer thin films

We examine the behavior of lamellar phases of charged/neutral diblock copolymer thin films containing mobile ions in the presence of an external electric field. We employ self-consistent field theory and focus on the aligning effect of the electric field on the lamellae. Of particular interest are the effects of the mobile ions on the critical field, the value required to reorient the lamellae from the parallel configuration favored by the surface interaction to the perpendicular orientation favored by the field. We find that the critical field depends strongly on whether the neutral or charged species is favored by the substrates. In the case in which the neutral species is favored, the addition of charges decreases the critical electric field significantly. The effect is greater when the mobile ions are confined to the charged lamellae. In contrast, when the charged species is favored by the substrate, the addition of mobile ions stabilizes the parallel configuration and thus results in an increase in the critical electric field. The presence of ions in the system introduces a new mixed phase in addition to those reported previously.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Entropy and Enthalpy Mediated Segregation of Bottlebrush Copolymers to Interfaces

The composition of polymer blends near interfaces can differ from the average blend composition because the attraction of each polymer toward surfaces is controlled by its chemistry, size, and architecture. In this work, we studied thin film blends of bottlebrush copolymers and linear homopolymers to understand the enthalpic and entropic effects that drive preferential segregation of one constituent to film interfaces. Bottlebrush copolymers containing polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) side chains were blended with either linear PS or linear PMMA, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy was used to quantify the distribution of bottlebrushes through the film thickness as a function of homopolymer type, homopolymer molecular weight, and processing conditions. We found that the bottlebrush copolymers segregated to air and substrate interfaces above a critical molecular weight of the linear homopolymer, consistent with an entropic preference for chain ends and shorter chains toward the interfaces. This segregation was used to tailor the surface wettability of blend films using bottlebrush additives as a minority component. Modeling using self-consistent field theory highlighted effects of conformational entropy and enthalpic interactions in driving almost complete segregation from the interior of the films toward interfaces. Furthermore, enthalpic interactions were predicted to cause lateral phase segregation in cases where the homopolymer is preferred over the bottlebrush copolymer at the substrate, an effect that was also observed in experiments. Finally, this study demonstrates that bottlebrush copolymer additives can be designed to spontaneously segregate to surfaces in thermal blends, providing a possible route to decouple surface properties from bulk properties.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Protein engineering of a ubiquitin-variant inhibitor of APC/C identifies a cryptic K48 ubiquitin chain binding site

Ubiquitin (Ub)-mediated proteolysis is a fundamental mechanism used by eukaryotic cells to maintain homeostasis and protein quality, and to control timing in biological processes. Two essential aspects of Ub regulation are conjugation through E1-E2-E3 enzymatic cascades and recognition by Ub-binding domains. An emerging theme in the Ub field is that these 2 properties are often amalgamated in conjugation enzymes. In addition to covalent thioester linkage to Ub’s C terminus for Ub transfer reactions, conjugation enzymes often bind noncovalently and weakly to Ub at “exosites.” However, identification of such sites is typically empirical and particularly challenging in large molecular machines. In this work, studying the 1.2-MDa E3 ligase anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), which controls cell division and many aspects of neurobiology, we discover a method for identifying unexpected Ub-binding sites. Using a panel of Ub variants (UbVs), we identify a protein-based inhibitor that blocks Ub ligation to APC/C substrates in vitro and ex vivo. Biochemistry, NMR, and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structurally define the UbV interaction, explain its inhibitory activity through binding the surface on the APC2 subunit that recruits the E2 enzyme UBE2C, and ultimately reveal that this APC2 surface is also a Ub-binding exosite with preference for K48-linked chains. The results provide a tool for probing APC/C activity, have implications for the coordination of K48-linked Ub chain binding by APC/C with the multistep process of substrate polyubiquitylation, and demonstrate the power of UbV technology for identifying cryptic Ub-binding sites within large multiprotein complexes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effect of the stresses caused by substrate on the electrical conductivity of ferromagnetic manganite lanthanum–barium films

This is a complex study of the electrophysical and magnetic characteristics of epitaxial manganite La{sub 0.7}Ba{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3} (LBMO) films under conditions of crystal structure stresses caused by misfit in the lattice parameters of the LBMO crystal and a substrate. The substrate used had the lattice parameter smaller than that in the LBMO crystal. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the electrical resistance of the films at low temperatures is not dependent on the existence of stresses in the film and agrees well with the calculation with allowance made for the interaction of carriers with magnetic excitations in the presence of strongly correlated electronic states. The study of the ferromagnetic resonance line indicates an inhomogeneity of the ferromagnetic phase in the LBMO films and the increase in the ferromagnetic resonance line width with decreasing temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

CO oxidation on gold-supported iron oxides: New insights into strong oxide–metal interactions

Very active FeO x –Au catalysts for CO oxidation are obtained after depositing nanoparticles of FeO, Fe 3 O 4 , and Fe 2 O 3 on a Au(111) substrate. Neither FeO nor Fe 2 O 3 is stable under the reaction conditions. Under an environment of CO/O 2 , they undergo oxidation (FeO) or reduction (Fe 2 O 3 ) to yield nanoparticles of Fe 3 O 4 that are not formed in a bulk phase. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we show a strong oxide–metal interaction (SOMI) between Fe 3 O 4 nanostructures and Au(111), which gives the oxide special properties, allows the formation of an active phase, and provides a unique interface to facilitate a catalytic reaction. This work highlights the important role that the SOMI can play in enhancing the catalytic performance of the oxide component in metal–oxide catalysts.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Strongly Interacting, Two-Dimensional, Dipolar Spin Ensembles in (111)-Oriented Diamond

Systems of spins with strong dipolar interactions and controlled dimensionality enable new explorations in quantum sensing and simulation. In this work, we investigate the creation of strong dipolar interactions in a two-dimensional ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers generated via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition on (111)-oriented diamond substrates. We find that diamond growth on the (111) plane yields high incorporation of spins, both nitrogen and NV centers, where the density of the latter is tunable via the miscut of the diamond substrate. Our process allows us to form dense, preferentially aligned, 2D NV ensembles with volume-normalized ac sensitivity down to η ac = 810 pT μ m 3 / 2 Hz − 1 / 2 . Furthermore, we show that (111) affords maximally positive dipolar interactions among a 2D NV ensemble, which is crucial for leveraging dipolar-driven entanglement schemes and exploring new interacting spin physics. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Hughes, Lillian B. (ORCID:0000000210201661)↗
DOE OSTI2018

Tight-Binding Theoretical Study of the Tunneling Conductance in Ferromagnetically Ordered Graphene-on-Substrate

We report here a tight-binding theoretical study of the tunneling conductance and temperature dependent specific heat of graphene-on-substrate. The Hamiltonian consists of the electron hoppings up to third nearest neighbors in the presence of doping and on-site Coulomb interactions at two sub-lattices of honey-comb lattice. The total Hamiltonian is solved by Zubarev Green’s functions technique. Then, the sub-lattice magnetizations, tunneling conductance, and specific heat are calculated from the Green’s functions and are computed numerically. The effect of impurity, substrate induced gap, and repulsive Coulomb potential on tunneling conductance is discussed. The anomaly in specific heat at low temperatures is described.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Observation of two distinct negative trions in tungsten disulfide monolayers

We report on the observation of two distinct photogenerated negative trion states T A and T B in two-dimensional tungsten disulfide (2D-WS 2 ) monolayers. These trions are postulated to emerge from their parent excitons X A and X B , which originate from spin-orbit-split (SOS) levels in the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB). Time-resolved spectroscopy measurements suggests that Pauli blocking controls a competition process between T A and T B photoformation, following dissociation of X A and X B through hole trapping at internal or substrate defect sites. While T A arises directly from its parent X A , T B emerges through a different transition accessible only after X B dissociates through a hole trapping channel. This discovery of additional optically-active band-edge transitions in atomically-thin metal dichalcogenides may revolutionize optoelectronic applications and fundamental research opportunities for many-body interaction physics. Ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy of two-dimensional tungsten disulfide monolayers (2D-WS 2 ) grown on sapphire substrates revealed two transient absorption spectral peaks that are attributed to distinct negative trions at ~2.02 eV (T 1 ) and ~1.98 eV (T 2 ). The dynamics measurements indicate that trion formation by the probe is enabled by photodoped electrons that remain after trapping of holes from excitons or free electron-hole pairs at defect sites in the crystal or on the substrate. Dynamics of the excitons X A and X B ’s characteristic absorption bands, at ~2.03 and ~2.40 eV, respectively, were separately monitored and compared with the photoinduced absorption features. Selective excitation of the lowest exciton level X A using λ pump < 2.4 eV forms only trion T 1 , which implies that the electron that remains from the dissociation of exciton X A is involved in the creation of this trion with a binding energy ~ 10 meV with respect to X A . The absorption peak that corresponds to trion T 2 appears when λ pump > 2.4 eV, which is just sufficient to excite exciton X B . The dynamics of trion T 2 formation are found to correlate with the disappearance of the bleach of X B exciton, which indicates the involvement of holes participating in the bleach dynamics of exciton X B . Static electrical-doping photoabsorption measurements confirm the presence of an induced absorption peak similar to that of T 2 . Since the proposed trion formation process here involves exciton dissociation through hole-trapping by defects in the 2D crystal or substrate, this discovery highlights the strong role that defects have in defining the optical and electrical properties of 2D metal chalcogenides, which is relevant to a broad spectrum of basic science and technology applications.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Structural basis of divergent substrate recognition and inhibition of human neurolysin

A zinc metallopeptidase neurolysin (Nln) processes diverse bioactive peptides to regulate signaling in the mammalian nervous system. To understand how Nln interacts with various peptides with dissimilar sequences, we determined crystal structures of Nln in complex with diverse peptides including dynorphins, angiotensin, neurotensin, and bradykinin. The structures show that Nln binds these peptides in a large dumbbell-shaped interior cavity constricted at the active site, making minimal structural changes to accommodate different peptide sequences. The structures also show that Nln readily binds similar peptides with distinct registers, which can determine whether the peptide serves as a substrate or a competitive inhibitor. We analyzed the activities and binding of Nln toward various forms of dynorphin A peptides, which highlights the promiscuous nature of peptide binding and shows how dynorphin A (1–13) potently inhibits the Nln activity while dynorphin A (1–8) is efficiently cleaved. Our work provides insights into the broad substrate specificity of Nln and may aid in the future design of small molecule modulators for Nln.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Heterologous expression of family 10 xylanases from Acidothermus cellulolyticus enhances the exoproteome of Caldicellulosiruptor bescii and growth on xylan substrates

The ability to deconstruct plant biomass without conventional pretreatment has made members of the genus Caldicellulosiruptor the target of investigation for the consolidated processing of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels and bioproducts. These Gram-positive bacteria are hyperthermophilic anaerobes and the most thermophilic cellulolytic organisms so far described. They use both C5 and C6 sugars simultaneously and have the ability to grow well on xylan, a major component of plant cell walls. This is an important advantage for their use to efficiently convert biomass at yields sufficient for an industrial process. For commodity chemicals, yield from substrate is perhaps the most important economic factor. In an attempt to improve even further the ability of C. bescii to use xylan, we introduced two xylanases from Acidothermus cellulolyticus. Acel_0180 includes tandem carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM2 and CBM3) located at the C-terminus, one of which, CBM2, is not present in C. bescii. Also, the sequences of Xyn10A and Acel_0180 have very little homology with the GH10 domains present in C. bescii . For these reasons, we selected these xylanases as potential candidates for synergistic interaction with those in the C. bescii exoproteome. As a result, heterologous expression of two xylanases from Acidothermus cellulolyticus in Caldicellulosiruptor bescii resulted in a modest, but significant increase in the activity of the exoproteome of C. bescii on xylan substrates. Even though the increase in extracellular activity was modest, the ability of C. bescii to grow on these substrates was dramatically improved suggesting that the xylan substrate/microbe interaction substantially increased deconstruction over the secreted free enzymes alone. In conclusion, we anticipate that the ability to efficiently use xylan, a major component of plant cell walls for conversion of plant biomass to products of interest, will allow the conversion of renewable, sustainable, and inexpensive plant feedstocks to products at high yields.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Design and testing of a unique randomized gravity, continuous flow bioreactor

A rotating, null gravity simulator, or Couette bioreactor was successfully used for the culture of mammalian cells in a simulated microgravity environment. Two limited studies using Lipomyces starkeyi and Streptomyces clavuligerus were also conducted under conditions of simulated weightlessness. Although these studies with microorganisms showed promising preliminary results, oxygen limitations presented significant limitations in studying the biochemical and cultural characteristics of these cell types. Microbial cell systems such as bacteria and yeast promise significant potential as investigative models to study the effects of microgravity on membrane transport, as well as substrate induction of inactive enzyme systems. Additionally, the smaller size of the microorganisms should further reduce the gravity induced oscillatory particle motion and thereby improve the microgravity simulation on earth. Focus is on the unique conceptual design, and subsequent development of a rotating bioreactor that is compatible with the culture and investigation of microgravity effects on microbial systems. The new reactor design will allow testing of highly aerobic cell types under simulated microgravity conditions. The described reactor affords a mechanism for investigating the long term effects of reduced gravity on cellular respiration, membrane transfer, ion exchange, and substrate conversions. It offers the capability of dynamically altering nutrients, oxygenation, pH, carbon dioxide, and substrate concentration without disturbing the microgravity simulation, or Couette flow, of the reactor. All progeny of the original cell inoculum may be acclimated to the simulated microgravity in the absence of a substrate or nutrient. The reactor has the promise of allowing scientists to probe the long term effects of weightlessness on cell interactions in plants, bacteria, yeast, and fungi. The reactor is designed to have a flow field growth chamber with uniform shear stress, yet transfer high concentrations of oxygen into the culture medium. The system described allows for continuous, on line sampling for production of product without disturbing fluid and particle dynamics in the reaction chamber. It provides for the introduction of substrate, or control substances after cell adaptation to simulated microgravity has been accomplished. The reactor system provides for the nondisruptive, continuous flow replacement of nutrient and removal of product. On line monitoring and control of growth conditions such as pH and nutrient status are provided. A rotating distribution valve allows cessation of growth chamber rotation, thereby preserving the simulated microgravity conditions over longer periods of time.

Lassiter, Carroll B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chiral assemblies of pinwheel superlattices on substrates

The unique topology and physics of chiral superlattices make their self-assembly from nanoparticles highly sought after yet challenging in regard to (meta)materials. In this report we show that tetrahedral gold nanoparticles can transform from a perovskite-like, low-density phase with corner-to-corner connections into pinwheel assemblies with corner-to-edge connections and denser packing. Whereas corner-sharing assemblies are achiral, pinwheel superlattices become strongly mirror asymmetric on solid substrates as demonstrated by chirality measures. Liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy and computational models show that van der Waals and electrostatic interactions between nanoparticles control thermodynamic equilibrium. Variable corner-to-edge connections among tetrahedra enable fine-tuning of chirality. The domains of the bilayer superlattices show strong chiroptical activity as identified by photon-induced near-field electron microscopy and finite-difference time-domain simulations. The simplicity and versatility of substrate-supported chiral superlattices facilitate the manufacture of metastructured coatings with unusual optical, mechanical and electronic characteristics.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Decoupling antennas in printed technology using elliptical metasurface cloaks

In this paper, we extend the idea of reducing the electromagnetic interactions between transmitting radiators to the case of widely used planar antennas in printed technology based on the concept of mantle cloaking. Here, we show that how lightweight elliptical metasurface cloaks can be engineered to restore the intrinsic properties of printed antennas with strip inclusions. In order to present the novel approach, we consider two microstrip-fed monopole antennas resonating at slightly different frequencies cloaked by confocal elliptical metasurfaces formed by arrays of sub-wavelength periodic elements, partially embedded in the substrate. The presence of the metasurfaces leads to the drastic suppression of mutual near-field and far-field couplings between the antennas, and thus, their radiation patterns are restored as if they were isolated. Moreover, it is worth noting that this approach is not limited to printed radiators and can be applied to other planar structures as well.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

A polypeptide model for toxic aberrant proteins induced by aminoglycoside antibiotics

Aminoglycoside antibiotics interfere with the selection of cognate tRNAs during translation, resulting in the synthesis of aberrant proteins that are the ultimate cause of cell death. However, the toxic potential of aberrant proteins and how they avoid degradation by the cell’s protein quality control (QC) machinery are not understood. Here we report that levels of the heat shock (HS) transcription factor σ32 increased sharply following exposure of Escherichia coli to the aminoglycoside kanamycin (Kan), suggesting that at least some of the aberrant proteins synthesized in these cells were recognized as substrates by DnaK, a molecular chaperone that regulates the HS response, the major protein QC pathway in bacteria. To further investigate aberrant protein toxic potential and interaction with cell QC factors, we studied an acutely toxic 48-residue polypeptide (ARF48) that is encoded by an alternate reading frame in a plant cDNA. As occurred in cells exposed to Kan, σ32 levels were strongly elevated following ARF48 expression, suggesting that ARF48 was recognized as a substrate by DnaK. Paradoxically, an internal 10-residue region that was tightly bound by DnaK in vitro also was required for the ARF48 toxic effect. Despite the increased levels of σ32, levels of several HS proteins were unchanged following ARF48 expression, suggesting that the HS response had been aborted. Nucleoids were condensed and cell permeability increased rapidly following ARF48 expression, together suggesting that ARF48 disrupts DNA-membrane interactions that could be required for efficient gene expression. Our results are consistent with earlier studies showing that aberrant proteins induced by aminoglycoside antibiotics disrupt cell membrane integrity. Insights into the mechanism for this effect could be gained by further study of the ARF48 model system.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Protein kinase A in the neutron beam: Insights for catalysis from directly observing protons

Protein kinases transmit chemical signals by phosphorylating substrate proteins, thus regulating a multitude of cellular processes. cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), a prototypical enzyme for the whole kinase family, has been the focus of research for several decades, however, the details of the chemical mechanism of phosphoryl group transfer have remained unknown. We used neutron crystallography to map key proton sites and hydrogen bonding interactions in the PKA catalytic subunit (PKAc) in a product complex containing adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and the phosphorylated high affinity protein kinase substrate (pPKS) peptide. To improve neutron diffraction, we deuterated PKAc allowing us to use very small crystals. In the product complex, the phosphoryl group of pPKS is protonated whereas the catalytic Asp166 is not. H/D exchange analysis of the main-chain amides and comparison with the NMR analysis of PKAc with inhibitor peptide complex revealed exchangeable amides that may distinguish the catalytic and inhibited states.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Structural characterization of the novel aminoglycoside phosphotransferase AphVIII from Streptomyces rimosus with enzymatic activity modulated by phosphorylation

Aminoglycoside phosphotransferases represent a broad class of enzymes that promote bacterial resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics via the phosphorylation of hydroxyl groups in the latter. Here we report the spatial structure of the 3′-aminoglycoside phosphotransferase of novel VIII class (AphVIII) solved by X-ray diffraction method with a resolution of 2.15 Å. Deep analysis of APHVIII structure and its comparison with known structures of aminoglycoside phosphotransferases of various types reveals that AphVIII has a typical two-domain fold and, however, possesses some unique characteristics that distinguish the enzyme from its known homologues. The most important difference is the presence of the activation loop with unique Ser146 residue. We demonstrate that in the apo-state of the enzyme the activation loop does not interact with other parts of the enzyme and seems to adopt catalytically competent state only after substrate binding. - Highlights: • 3D structure of the novel aminoglycoside phosphotransferase AphVIII was obtained. • AphVIII activation loop is clearly identified in the electron density. • AphVIII has some unique structural features in its substrate C-ring binding pocket.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Synthesis of magnesiowüstite nanocrystallites embedded in an amorphous silicate matrix via low energy multiple ion implantations

The synthesis process is presented for experimentally simulating modifications in cosmic dust grains using sequential ion implantations or irradiations followed by thermal annealing. Cosmic silicate dust analogues were prepared via implantation of 20–80 keV Fe - , Mg - , and O - ions into commercially available p-type silicon (100)wafers. The as-implanted analogues are amorphous with a Mg/(Fe+Mg) ratio of 0.5 tailored to match theoretical abundances in circumstellar dusts. Before the ion implantations were performed, Monte-Carlo-based ion-solid interaction codes were used to model the dynamic redistribution of the implanted atoms in the silicon substrate. 600 keV helium ion irradiation was performed on one of the samples before thermal annealing. Two samples were thermally annealed at a temperature appropriate for an M-class stellar wind, 1000 K, for 8.3 h in a vacuum chamber with a pressure of 1 x 10 -7 torr. The elemental depth profiles were extracted utilizing Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) in the samples before and after thermal annealing. X-ray diffraction (XRD)analysis was employed for the identification of various phases in crystalline minerals in the annealed analogues. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis was utilized to identify specific crystal structures. RBS analysis shows redistribution of the implanted Fe, Mg, and O after thermal annealing due to incorporation into the crystal structures for each sample type. XRD patterns along with TEM analysis showed nanocrystalline Mg and Fe oxides with possible incorporation of additional silicate minerals.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Absorption of relativistic multi-picosecond laser pulses in wire arrays

We study the interaction of intense multi-picosecond laser pulses with arrays of carbon wires attached to solid substrates. Here, we find that laser absorption in wire arrays resembles that in flat targets with very large uniform plasma density gradients. Performing two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we optimize target parameters like wire thickness and -distance for energy absorption of a 2picosecond laser pulse with a large focal spot; this has implications for x-ray- and charged particle source development.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗