Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Yield”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,081 records · Page 60
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Enhanced hydrolysis and methane yield by applying microaeration pretreatment to the anaerobic co-digestion of brown water and food waste

Highlights: ► Microaeration pretreatment was effective for brown water and food waste mixture. ► The added oxygen was consumed fully by facultative microorganisms. ► Enhanced solubilization, acidification and breakdown of SCFAs to acetate. ► Microaeration pretreatment improved methane yield by 10–21%. ► Nature of inoculum influenced the effects of microaeration. - Abstract: Microaeration has been used conventionally for the desulphurization of biogas, and recently it was shown to be an alternative pretreatment to enhance hydrolysis of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Previous studies on microaeration pretreatment were limited to the study of substrates with complex organic matter, while little has been reported on its effect on substrates with higher biodegradability such as brown water and food waste. Due to the lack of consistent microaeration intensities, previous studies were not comparable and thus inconclusive in proving the effectiveness of microaeration to the overall AD process. In this study, the role of microaeration pretreatment in the anaerobic co-digestion of brown water and food waste was evaluated in batch-tests. After a 4-day pretreatment with 37.5 mL-O{sub 2}/L{sub R}-d added to the liquid phase of the reactor, the methane production of substrates were monitored in anaerobic conditions over the next 40 days. The added oxygen was consumed fully by facultative microorganisms and a reducing environment for organic matter degradation was maintained. Other than higher COD solubilization, microaeration pretreatment led to greater VFA accumulation and the conversion of other short chain fatty acids to acetate. This could be due to enhanced activities of hydrolytic and acidogenic bacteria and the degradation of slowly biodegradable compounds under microaerobic conditions. This study also found that the nature of inoculum influenced the effects of microaeration as a 21% and 10% increase in methane yield was observed when pretreatment was applied to inoculated substrates, and substrates without inoculum, respectively.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Increasing pyrolysis oil yields and decreasing energy consumption via thermal oxo-degradation of polyolefins

Commercialization of pyrolysis of plastics in an inert atmosphere is challenging due to large thermal requirements. This study employs thermal oxo-degradation and demonstrates how oxygen supplied at modest equivalence ratios can both accelerate depolymerization and provide the enthalpy for pyrolysis without dramatically impacting desired product yields. The enthalpies for pyrolysis of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) are measured to be 2,300 ± 90 J g – -1 and 2,800 ± 60 J g –1 , respectively. Using air as an oxygen source in a fluidized bed reactor, HDPE and PP are rapidly deconstructed while using up to 84% less energy through the energy released by partial oxidation. Characterization of the thermal oxo-degradation product oil shows comparable composition to conventional pyrolysis oil. Thermal oxo-degradation proves to be a promising technology for upcycling of plastics by improving thermal depolymerization of waste plastics and reducing energy requirements while maintaining desirable yields.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

K 2 CuX 3 (X = Cl, Br): All-Inorganic Lead-Free Blue Emitters with Near-Unity Photoluminescence Quantum Yield

Recently, copper(I) halides have been gaining increased attention as highly luminescent nontoxic alternatives to lead halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications. In this paper, we report preparation of blue emitting, lead free, all-inorganic halides K 2 CuX 3 (X = Cl, Br) through five synthetic methods including traditional solid-state and solution methods. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra of K 2 CuCl 3 and K 2 CuBr 3 exhibit narrow peaks centered at 392 and 388 nm with full widths at half-maximum (fwhm) values of ~54 nm. The visible bright blue emission is corroborated by the remarkably high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) values up to ~97%. Furthermore, radioluminescence measurements on K 2 CuCl 3 yield a bright peak at 404 nm under irradiation with X-rays at 200 kVp and 20 mA, which is optimal for use with PMTs and Si photomultipliers, suggesting a strong potential of this family for radiation detection applications. Based on our combined experimental and computational investigations, the origin of the efficient luminescence in K 2 CuX 3 is attributed to the high stability self-trapped excitons (STE) formed in the one-dimensional anionic ∞ 1 [CuX 3 ] 2– chains. Advantageously, K 2 CuX 3 demonstrate improved air- and photostability compared to the previously reported copper(I) halides. The discovery of highly efficient and high stability light emitters based on earth-abundant copper(I) halides paves the way for their potential practical applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

High-Yield Synthesis and Optical Properties of Carbon Nanotube Porins

Carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs) are a convenient membrane-based model system for studying nanofluidic transport that replicates a number of key structural features of biological membrane channels. We present a generalized approach for CNTP synthesis using sonochemistry-assisted segmenting of carbon nanotubes. Prolonged tip sonication in the presence of lipid molecules debundles and fragments long carbon nanotube aggregates into stable and water-soluble individual CNTPs with lengths in the range 5–20 nm. We discuss the main parameters that determine the efficiency and the yield of this process, describe the optimized conditions for high-yield CNTP synthesis, and demonstrate that this methodology can be adapted for synthesis of CNTPs of different diameters. We also present the optical properties of CNTPs and show that a combination of Raman and UV–vis–NIR spectroscopy can be used to monitor the quality of the CNTP synthesis. Altogether, CNTPs represent a versatile nanopore building block for creating higher-order functional biomimetic materials.

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

Towards Prediction of Non-Radiative Decay Pathways in Organic Compounds I: The Case of Naphthalene Quantum Yields

Many emerging technologies depend on human’s ability to control and manipulate the excited-state properties of molecular systems. These technologies include fluorescent labeling in biomedical imaging, light harvesting in photovoltaics, and electroluminescence in light-emitting devices. All of these systems suffer from non-radiative loss pathways that dissipate electronic energy as heat, which causes the overall system efficiency to be directly linked to quantum yield (Φ) of the molecular excited state. Unfortunately, Φ is very difficult to predict from first principles because the description of a slow non-radiative decay mechanism requires an accurate description of long-timescale excited-state quantum dynamics. In the present study, we introduce an efficient semi-empirical method of calculating the fluorescence quantum yield (Φ fl ) for molecular chromophores, which converts simple electronic energies computed using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) into an estimate of Φ fl . As with all machine learning strategies, the algorithm needs to be trained on fluorescent dyes for which Φ fl ’s are known, so as to provide a black-box method which can later predict Φfl’s for chemically similar chromophores that have not been studied experimentally. Here, as a first illustration of how our proposed algorithm can be trained, we examine a family of 25 naphthalene derivatives. The simplest application of the energy gap law is found to be inadequate to explain the rates of internal conversion (IC) or intersystem crossing (ISC) – the electronic properties of at least one higher-lying electronic state (S n or T n ) or one far-from-equilibrium geometry are typically needed to obtain accurate results. Indeed, the key descriptors turn out to be the transition state between the Franck–Condon minimum and a distorted local minimum near an S 0 /S 1 conical intersection (which governs IC) and the magnitude of the spin-orbit coupling (which governs ISC). The resulting Φ fl ’s are predicted with reasonable accuracy (~ 22%), making our approach a promising ingredient for high-throughput screening and rational design of the molecular excited states with desired Φ fl ’s. We thus conclude that our model, while semi-empirical in nature, does in fact extract sound physical insight into the challenge of describing non-radiative relaxations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Mechanistic Exploration of Dodecanethiol-Treated Colloidal CsPbBr 3 Nanocrystals with Photoluminescence Quantum Yields Reaching Near 100%

Metal halide perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) are attractive materials for optoelectronics. However, further improvements in stability, reproducibility, and photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ PL ) are essential for enabling future applications. Inadequate surface passivation is a major cause of instability, irreproducibility, and less than unity Φ PL . Herein, we probe the influence of multiple ligand binding groups on the colloidal stability and Φ PL of CsPbBr 3 nanocrystals (NCs). Here, we find that post-synthetic treatment with dodecanethiol reproducibly yields highly stable NCs with near-unity Φ PL for a range of synthetic conditions and initial Φ PL of the as-synthesized NCs. A mechanistic investigation shows that thiol addition leads to thioether formation via the thiol–ene reaction with octadecene, oleic acid, and oleylamine. Both thiolates and thioethers are suspected to bind to undercoordinated Pb atoms on the NC surfaces, and this surface binding can be rapidly accelerated through exposure to blue or UV light. Furthermore, we show that metallic Pb nanoparticles appear in many batches of synthesized CsPbBr 3 NCs and that dodecanethiol addition eliminates these metallic Pb particles.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Achieving High-Yield Conversion of Janus Transition Metal Dichalcogenides on Diverse Substrates

Janus transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with intrinsic broken mirror symmetry and vertical dipole moment provide an additional degree of freedom to manipulate material symmetry down to atomic-layer thickness. However, despite advances in synthesis strategies, fundamental understanding of this atomic substitution process remains limited, which has impeded their implementation in advanced devices. Here, by using a room-temperature atomic-layer substitution (RT-ALS) strategy, we systematically investigate the critical factors facilitating the high-yield conversion of Janus TMDCs on diverse substrates. Combining Raman spectroscopy probes, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we demonstrate that substrates with enhanced electron doping or larger surface polarity substantially benefit the conversion of Janus TMDCs reaching a near-unity yield. Intriguingly, the strong affinity between Janus TMDCs and substrates (e.g., Au) brings about abnormal Raman spectroscopic phenomena. These findings highlight the significance of substrates in achieving the reliable synthesis of Janus two-dimensional materials with improved homogeneity on various substrates. In addition, this takes us one step closer to utilizing Janus TMDCs as a versatile platform in next-generation optoelectronic devices, sensors, and quantum technologies.

Doping↗
DOE OSTI2017

Violet-to-Blue Gain and Lasing from Colloidal CdS Nanoplatelets: Low-Threshold Stimulated Emission Despite Low Photoluminescence Quantum Yield

Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) and lasing from solution-processed materials are demonstrated in the challenging violet-to-blue (430–490 nm) spectral region for colloidal nanoplatelets of CdS and newly synthesized core/shell CdS/ZnS nanoplatelets. Despite modest band-edge photoluminescence quantum yields of 2% or less for single excitons, which we show results from hole trapping, the samples exhibit low ASE thresholds. Furthermore, four-monolayer CdS samples show ASE at shorter wavelengths than any reported film of colloidal quantum-confined material. This work underlines that low quantum yields for single excitons do not necessarily lead to a poor gain medium. The low ASE thresholds originate from negligible dispersion in thickness, large absorption cross sections of 2.8 × 10–14 cm–2, and rather slow (150 to 300 ps) biexciton recombination. We show that under higher-fluence excitation, ASE can kinetically outcompete hole trapping. Using nanoplatelets as the gain medium, lasing is observed in a linear optical cavity. This work confirms the fundamental advantages of colloidal quantum well structures as gain media, even in the absence of high photoluminescence efficiency.

amplified spontaneous emission↗
DOE OSTI2026

Membrane Composition Influences Expression Yield of Plant Cytochrome P450s in E. coli Lysate-Based Cell-Free Systems

Plant cytochrome P450 enzymes are central to natural product biosynthesis, but remain difficult to express in microbial hosts due to their transmembrane nature. Lysate-based, cell-free expression systems allow supplementation with artificial membranes to support the expression and translocation of transmembrane proteins. We developed a framework to systematically test liposomal membrane compositions to enhance the plant P450 expression yield. Adjustments to common phospholipid ratios or the addition of plant galactolipids had minimal impact on expression. In contrast, blended liposomes containing Egg PC, sterol-conjugated phospholipids, and PEGylated lipids produced concentration-dependent increases in expression. Expression of an Escherichia coli mechanosensitive channel and three plant P450s improved more than 2-fold, with some P450s showing up to 14-fold enhancement. Furthermore, these findings highlight membrane composition as a key determinant of the P450 expression yield in cell-free expression systems. While P450 activity was not measured, these findings provide a framework for future workflows toward achieving functional plant transmembrane enzymes for the bioproduction of natural products.

TXTL↗
DOE OSTI2016

Direct Observation of a Charge-Transfer State Preceding High-Yield Singlet Fission in Terrylenediimide Thin Films

Singlet exciton fission (SF) in organic chromophore assemblies results in the conversion of one singlet exciton (S 1 ) into two triplet excitons (T 1 ), provided that the overall process is exoergic, i.e., E (S 1 ) > 2 E (T 1 ). In this paper, we report on SF in thin polycrystalline films of two terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) (TDI) derivatives 1 and 2 , which crystallize into two distinct π-stacked structures. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fsTA) reveals a charge-transfer state preceding a 190% T 1 yield in films of 1 , where the π-stacked TDI molecules are rotated by 23° along an axis perpendicular to their π systems. In contrast, when the TDI molecules are slip-stacked along their N–N axes in films of 2 , fsTA shows excimer formation, followed by a 50% T 1 yield.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Biexciton Quantum Yield of Single Semiconductor Nanocrystals from Photon Statistics

Biexciton properties strongly affect the usability of a light emitter in quantum photon sources and lasers but are difficult to measure for single fluorophores at room temperature due to luminescence intermittency and bleaching at the high excitation fluences usually required. Here, we observe the biexciton (BX) to exciton (X) to ground photoluminescence cascade of single colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) under weak excitation in a g(2) photon correlation measurement and show that the normalized amplitude of the cascade feature is equal to the ratio of the BX to X fluorescence quantum yields. This imposes a limit on the attainable depth of photon antibunching and provides a robust means to study single emitter biexciton physics. In NC samples, we show that the BX quantum yield is considerably inhomogeneous, consistent with the defect sensitivity expected of the Auger nonradiative recombination mechanism. The method can be extended to study X,BX spectral and polarization correlations.

solar (photovoltaic), solid state lighting, photos↗
DOE OSTI2012

Comparison of Carrier Multiplication Yields in PbS and PbSe Nanocrystals: The Role of Competing Energy-Loss Processes

Infrared band gap semiconductor nanocrystals are promising materials for exploring generation III photovoltaic concepts that rely on carrier multiplication or multiple exciton generation, the process in which a single high-energy photon generates more than one electron-hole pair. In this work, we present measurements of carrier multiplication yields and biexciton lifetimes for a large selection of PbS nanocrystals and compare these results to the well-studied PbSe nanocrystals. The similar bulk properties of PbS and PbSe make this an important comparison for discerning the pertinent properties that determine efficient carrier multiplication. We observe that PbS and PbSe have very similar biexciton lifetimes as a function of confinement energy. Together with the similar bulk properties, this suggests that the rates of multiexciton generation, which is the inverse of Auger recombination, are also similar. The carrier multiplication yields in PbS nanocrystals, however, are strikingly lower than those observed for PbSe nanocrystals. We suggest that this implies the rate of competing processes, such as phonon emission, is higher in PbS nanocrystals than in PbSe nanocrystals. Indeed, our estimations for phonon emission mediated by the polar Froehlich-type interaction indicate that the corresponding energy-loss rate is approximately twice as large in PbS than in PbSe.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Long-Term Changes in Concentration and Yield of Riverine Dissolved Silicon From the Poles to the Tropics

Riverine exports of silicon (Si) influence global carbon cycling through the growth of marine diatoms, which account for ~25% of global primary production. Climate change will likely alter river Si exports in biome-specific ways due to interacting shifts in chemical weathering rates, hydrologic connectivity, and metabolic processes in aquatic and terrestrial systems. Nonetheless, factors driving long-term changes in Si exports remain unexplored at local, regional, and global scales. We evaluated how concentrations and yields of dissolved Si (DSi) changed over the last several decades of rapid climate warming using long-term data sets from 60 rivers and streams spanning the globe (e.g., Antarctic, tropical, temperate, boreal, alpine, Arctic systems). We show that widespread changes in river DSi concentration and yield have occurred, with the most substantial shifts occurring in alpine and polar regions. The magnitude and direction of trends varied within and among biomes, were most strongly associated with differences in land cover, and were often independent of changes in river discharge. These findings indicate that there are likely diverse mechanisms driving change in river Si biogeochemistry that span the land-water interface, which may include glacial melt, changes in terrestrial vegetation, and river productivity. Finally, trends were often stronger in months outside of the growing season, particularly in temperate and boreal systems, demonstrating a potentially important role of shifting seasonality for the flux of Si from rivers. Our results have implications for the timing and magnitude of silica processing in rivers and its delivery to global oceans.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Yield Estimation of the August 2020 Beirut Explosion by Using Physics‐Based Propagation Simulations of Regional Infrasound

Abstract The August 2020 Beirut explosion is the largest single‐fired ammonium nitrate explosion documented in history. The massive explosion excited loud infrasound in the atmosphere, and clear waveforms were recorded by a regional infrasound array at an epicentral distance of 100 km, allowing for accurate measurements of explosion energy. We estimate the explosion size based on the infrasound waveform inversion. Unlike conventional inversions using empirical models, we perform full 3‐D finite‐difference simulations to obtain a physics‐based propagation model for the inversion. Accurate numerical modeling of infrasound is challenging as the propagation is substantially affected by the turbulent atmosphere. Instead of a single deterministic prediction, we provide a range of waveform predictions by running multiple simulations with stochastic weather forecast models, which allows for comprehensive uncertainty analysis of numerical modeling and estimated yields. Finally, we expand the yield estimation technique for seismoacoustic analysis and demonstrate the substantial advantage of the joint approach.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Uncertainty in Simulating Wheat Yields Under Climate Change

Anticipating the impacts of climate change on crop yields is critical for assessing future food security. Process-based crop simulation models are the most commonly used tools in such assessments1,2. Analysis of uncertainties in future greenhouse gas emissions and their impacts on future climate change has been increasingly described in the literature3,4 while assessments of the uncertainty in crop responses to climate change are very rare. Systematic and objective comparisons across impact studies is difficult, and thus has not been fully realized5. Here we present the largest coordinated and standardized crop model intercomparison for climate change impacts on wheat production to date. We found that several individual crop models are able to reproduce measured grain yields under current diverse environments, particularly if sufficient details are provided to execute them. However, simulated climate change impacts can vary across models due to differences in model structures and algorithms. The crop-model component of uncertainty in climate change impact assessments was considerably larger than the climate-model component from Global Climate Models (GCMs). Model responses to high temperatures and temperature-by-CO2 interactions are identified as major sources of simulated impact uncertainties. Significant reductions in impact uncertainties through model improvements in these areas and improved quantification of uncertainty through multi-model ensembles are urgently needed for a more reliable translation of climate change scenarios into agricultural impacts in order to develop adaptation strategies and aid policymaking.

Asseng, S.↗
DOE OSTI2017

A high quantum yield molecule-protein complex fluorophore for near-infrared II imaging

Fluorescence imaging in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) allows visualization of deep anatomical features with an unprecedented degree of clarity. NIR-II fluorophores draw from a broad spectrum of materials spanning semiconducting nanomaterials to organic molecular dyes, yet unfortunately all water-soluble organic molecules with 41,000 nm emission suffer from low quantum yields that have limited temporal resolution and penetration depth. We report tailoring the supramolecular assemblies of protein complexes with a sulfonated NIR-II organic dye (CH-4T) to produce a brilliant 110-fold increase in fluorescence, resulting in the highest quantum yield molecular fluorophore thus far. The bright molecular complex allowed for the fastest video-rate imaging in the second NIR window with B50-fold reduced exposure times at a fast 50 frames-per-second (FPS) capable of resolving mouse cardiac cycles. Additionally, we demonstrate that the NIR-II molecular complexes are superior to clinically approved ICG for lymph node imaging deep within the mouse body.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Differences in S/G ratio in natural poplar variants do not predict catalytic depolymerization monomer yields

The ratio of syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) units in lignin has been noticed as a major factor in determining the maximum monomer yield from lignin depolymerization. This limit arises from the notion that G units are prone to C-C bond formation during lignin biosynthesis, resulting in less ether linkages that generate monomers. This study uses reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) in flow-through reactors as an analytical tool to depolymerize lignin in poplar with naturally varying S/G ratios, and directly challenges the common conception that the S/G ratio predicts monomer yields. Rather, this work suggests that the plant controls C-O and C-C bond content by regulating monomer transport during lignin biosynthesis. In general, our results indicate that additional factors beyond the monomeric composition of native lignin are important in developing a fundamental understanding of lignin biosynthesis.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Tailoring poplar lignin without yield penalty by combining a null and haploinsufficient CINNAMOYL-CoA REDUCTASE2 allele

Lignin causes lignocellulosic biomass recalcitrance to enzymatic hydrolysis. Engineered low-lignin plants have reduced recalcitrance but often exhibit yield penalties, offsetting their gains in fermentable sugar yield. Here, CRISPR/Cas9-generated CCR2(–/*) line 12 poplars have one knockout CCR2 allele while the other contains a 3-bp deletion, resulting in a 114I115A-to-114T conversion in the corresponding protein. Despite having 10% less lignin, CCR2(–/*) line 12 grows normally. On a plant basis, the saccharification efficiency of CCR2(–/*) line 12 is increased by 25–41%, depending on the pretreatment. Analysis of monoallelic CCR2 knockout lines shows that the reduced lignin amount in CCR2(–/*) line 12 is due to the combination of a null and the specific haploinsufficient CCR2 allele. Analysis of another CCR2(–/*) line shows that depending on the specific CCR2 amino-acid change, lignin amount and growth can be affected to different extents. Furthermore, our findings open up new possibilities for stably fine-tuning residual gene function in planta.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗