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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 109 records · Page 6

Semiconductor Quantum Dots Are Efficient and Recyclable Photocatalysts for Aqueous PET-RAFT Polymerization

This Letter describes the use of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) as photocatalysts for photoinduced electron transfer reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization of a series of aqueous acrylamides and acrylates. In this work, the high colloidal solubility and photostability of these QDs allowed polymerization to occur with high efficiency (>90% conversion in 2.5 h), low dispersity (PDI < 1.1), and ultralow catalyst loading (<0.5 ppm). The use of protein concentrators enabled the removal of the photocatalyst from the polymer and monomer with tolerable metal contamination (8.41 ug/g). These isolated QDs could be recycled for four separate polymerizations without a significant decrease in efficiency. By changing the pore size of the protein concentrators, the QDs and polymer could be separated from the remaining monomer, allowing for the synthesis of block copolymers using a single batch of QDs with minimal purification steps and demonstrating the fidelity of chain ends.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-harmonic generation from an atomically thin semiconductor [Observation of high harmonics from an atomically thin semiconductor]

High-harmonic generation (HHG) in bulk solids permits the exploration of materials in a new regime of strong fields and attosecond timescales. The generation process has been discussed in the context of strongly driven electron dynamics in single-particle bands. Two-dimensional materials exhibit distinctive electronic properties compared to the bulk that could significantly modify the HHG process, including different symmetries, access to individual valleys and enhanced many-body interactions. Here we demonstrate non-perturbative HHG from a monolayer MoS 2 crystal, with even and odd harmonics extending to the 13th order. The even orders are predominantly polarized perpendicular to the pump and are compatible with the anomalous transverse intraband current arising from the material’s Berry curvature, while the weak parallel component suggests the importance of interband transitions. The odd harmonics exhibit a significant enhancement in efficiency per layer compared to the bulk, which is attributed to correlation effects. In conclusion, the combination of strong many-body Coulomb interactions and widely tunable electronic properties in two-dimensional materials offers a new platform for attosecond physics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Sub-diffractional waveguiding by mid-infrared plasmonic resonators in semiconductor nanowires

Chains of nanoscale plasmonic resonators are capable of sub-diffractional waveguiding and have applications in nanophotonics and thermal radiation transport. Practical uses have largely been limited, however, due to high optical losses or low group velocities. In this work, we predict the waveguide performance of a material structure capable of overcoming these limitations: plasmonic resonators embedded in highdielectric nanowires. Due to the enhanced near-field coupling between resonators, we find that the group velocities and propagation lengths for doped Si plasmonic resonators in intrinsic Si nanowires can be increased by up to an order of magnitude compared to the case of isotropic vacuum surroundings. We investigate the impact of resonator aspect ratio, doping, and spacing on waveguide performance, and we find that propagation lengths are maximized for large aspect ratios and high dopant concentrations at small spacings. To study these complex anisotropic systems, we develop a new analytical “absorption spectra” method to extract waveguide information from simple far-field absorption experiments (or simulations) of only two coupled resonators.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Antidoping in Insulators and Semiconductors Having Intermediate Bands with Trapped Carriers

Ordinary doping by electrons (holes) generally means that the Fermi level shifts towards the conduction band (valence band) and that the conductivity of free carriers increases. Recently, however, some peculiar doping characteristics were sporadically recorded in different materials without noting the mechanism: electron doping was observed to cause a portion of the lowest unoccupied band to merge into the valance band, leading to a decrease in conductivity. This behavior, that we dub as “antidoping,” was seen in rare-earth nickel oxides SmNiO 3 , cobalt oxides SrCoO 2.5 , Li-ion battery materials, and even MgO with metal vacancies. We describe the physical origin of antidoping as well as its inverse problem—the “design principles” that would enable an intelligent search of materials. We find that electron antidoping is expected in materials having preexisting trapped holes and is caused by the annihilation of such “hole polarons” via electron doping. Finally, this may offer an unconventional way of controlling conductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗