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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 1,693 records · Page 94

Crystallinity, Surface Morphology, and Photoelectrochemical Effects in Conical InP and InN Nanowires Grown on Silicon

The growth conditions of two types of indium-based III–V nanowires, InP and InN, are tailored such that instead of yielding conventional wire-type morphologies, single-crystal conical structures are formed with an enlarged diameter either near the base or near the tip. By using indium droplets as a growth catalyst, combined with an excess indium supply during growth, “ice cream cone” type structures are formed with a nanowire “cone” and an indium-based “ice cream” droplet on top for both InP and InN. Surface polycrystallinity and annihilation of the catalyst tip of the conical InP nanowires are observed when the indium supply is turned off during the growth process. This growth design technique is extended to create single-crystal InN nanowires with the same morphology. Conical InN nanowires with an enlarged base are obtained through the use of an excess combined Au–In growth catalyst. Electrochemical studies of the InP nanowires on silicon demonstrate a reduction photocurrent as a proof of photovolatic behavior and offer insight as to how the observed surface polycrystallinity and the resulting interface affect these device-level properties. Furthermore, a photovoltage is induced in both types of conical InN nanowires on silicon, which is not replicated in epitaxial InN thin films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Effects of load, speed, and surface roughness on sliding EHD contact temperatures

An infrared technique has been used to determine the effects of load, speed and surface roughness on temperature in a sliding elastohydrodynamic (EHD) point contact. Ball surface temperatures are reported for sliding speeds of 0.35 to 5.08 m/s at 0.52 to 2.03 GN/per sq m maximum pressure with surface roughness in the range 0.01 to 0.38 micron c.l.a. The relationship between asperity interaction, as measured by relocation surface profilimetry and high frequency temperature measurements, and the ratio of film thickness to surface roughness has also been studied.

Nagaraj, H. S.↗

Increased importance of methane reduction for a 1.5 degree target

To understand the importance of methane on the levels of carbon emission reductions required to achieve temperature goals, a processed-based approach is necessary rather than reliance on the transient climate response to emissions. We show that plausible levels of methane (CH 4 ) mitigation can make a substantial difference to the feasibility of achieving the Paris climate targets through increasing the allowable carbon emissions. This benefit is enhanced by the indirect effects of CH 4 on ozone (O 3 ). Here the differing effects of CH 4 and CO 2 on land carbon storage, including the effects of surface O 3 , lead to an additional increase in the allowable carbon emissions with CH 4 mitigation. We find a simple robust relationship between the change in the 2100 CH 4 concentration and the extra allowable cumulative carbon emissions between now and 2100 (0.27 ± 0.05 GtC per ppb CH 4 ). This relationship is independent of modelled climate sensitivity and precise temperature target, although later mitigation of CH 4 reduces its value and thus methane reduction effectiveness. Up to 12% of this increase in allowable emissions is due to the effect of surface ozone. We conclude early mitigation of CH 4 emissions would significantly increase the feasibility of stabilising global warming below 1.5 °C, alongside having co-benefits for human and ecosystem health.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

The Effect of Diffusional Transport and Surface Catalysis on the Aerothermodynamic Heating for Martian Atmospheric Entry

For the reentry heating of 70-degree blunt sphere-cones entering Mars at velocities in excess of 6 km/sec, a study was performed to determine the magnitude of both convective and catalytic heating on the cone forebody. Case studies of the peak heating conditions for the current NASA Mars Pathfinder entry probe, as well as the peak heating conditions of the proposed NASA Mars 2001 aerobraking orbiter mission were performed. Since the actual behavior of the chemical recombination of Mars atmosphere hypersonic shock layer species on heat shield materials is not known, and no experimental studies of any consequence have been done to determine surface reaction rates for the CO2 system, a parametric analysis of various reaction schemes and surface catalytic mechanistic models was performed. In many cases the actual Mars entry probe will have a heat shield composed of an ablative material which can either partially or completely preclude the existence of catalytic surface recombination phenomena. The extent of this blockage effect has not been examined at this time and is not considered in this effort. Instead only non-ablative computations are performed to separately evaluate the full extent of the surface catalysis and related diffusional phenomena. Parametric studies include peak heating point comparisons of non-catalytic, partially catalytic and fully catalytic total surface heat transfer for three difference surface recombination catalytic mechanisms (with and without simultaneous CO + O and O + O recombination) as well as with different species diffusion models. Diffusion model studies include constant Schmidt number (equal diffusivities) and the bifurcation, approximate multi-component diffusion model. Since the gas phase reaction kinetics for the Mars CO2 based atmosphere have also not been validated, the effect of two different (fast and slow) sets of gas kinetics on heat transfer is presented.

Henline, William D.↗

Polarization sensitivity of light diffraction for periodic array of anisotropic gold nanoparticles

This article aims to analyze the first order diffraction intensity of the incident polarized light which is diffracted by the gold nanoparticles array in terms of the surface plasmon effect. The inspected gold nanoparticles array films are built in grating pattern with stripe thickness of 4 μm and diameters of gold nanoparticles ca. 10–56 nm, which are formed by annealing at temperatures of 400, 450, 500, and 550 °C, respectively. The probing light is linearly polarized with wavelengths of 450–800 nm and counterclockwise turns its polarization direction from 0° to 90° during measurements. The results show that the diffraction intensity depends on the anisotropic configuration samples which gold nanoparticles are orientated by analyzing the scanning electron microscope images. It results that the localized surface plasmon effect induced by incident field depends on orientation and causes the sample polarization-sensitive.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Adjacency effects on imaging by surface reflection and atmospheric scattering - Cross radiance to zenith

The paper discusses an analytical solution for the nadir radiance as measured from a satellite, based on a simplified single-scattering approximation in which the scattered radiation is not subject to extinction. In the solution, terms can be identified as due to a reflection from the vicinity of the object pixel, and respectively, (1) upward scattering to zenith above the object pixel (cross radiance), and (2) downward scattering from the entire atmosphere to the object pixel (cross irradiance). It is shown that the cross radiance is proportional to the forward scattering optical thickness, as defined, and the cross irradiance to the backscattering optical thickness. In addition, explicit expressions and computer solutions for the cross radiance from annular or from rectangular reflecting areas are presented. It is concluded that the effect depends on the height distribution and on the sharpness of the forward peak of the scattering particles.

Otterman, J.↗

Effect of non-equilibrium flow chemistry and surface catalysis on surface heating to AFE

The effect of nonequilibrium flow chemistry on the surface temperature distribution over the forebody heat shield on the Aeroassisted Flight Experiment (AFE) vehicle was investigated using a reacting boundary-layer code. Computations were performed by using boundary-layer-edge properties determined from global iterations between the boundary-layer code and flow field solutions from a viscous shock layer (VSL) and a full Navier-Stokes solution. Surface temperature distribution over the AFE heat shield was calculated for two flight conditions during a nominal AFE trajectory. This study indicates that the surface temperature distribution is sensitive to the nonequilibrium chemistry in the shock layer. Heating distributions over the AFE forebody calculated using nonequilibrium edge properties were similar to values calculated using the VSL program.

Stewart, David A.↗

A time variable model of Earth's albedo

A time variable model of Earth's albedo was prepared for use in climate studies and as an aid to the interpretation of satellite Earth radiation budget data. The features of the model include: a 10 deg latitude 10 deg longitude grid for numerical integration, surface albedo specified at 1 month intervals, calculation of zenith angle effect for surface albedo and of the additional effect of the atmosphere on the albedo. Percent cloud cover is specified for 29 different climatological cloud type regions at 8 times of the day for 12 months of the year. Cloud albedos were specified for each of the cloud climatological types. Diurnal and monthly variations of this model are described and results are compared with a model which is based on satellite measurements. A computer program was also written for use in studying the sampling effects in satellite radiation budget measurements. An example of the results of calculations with this program are compared with a previous study of the sampling effects. This program for satellite orbit characteristics is to be combined with the time-variable albedo model for further study of the sampling problem.

Bartman, F. L.↗

Engineered Surfaces for Mitigation of Insect Residue Adhesion

Maintenance of laminar flow under operational flight conditions is being investigated under NASA s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Program. Among the challenges with natural laminar flow is the accretion of residues from insect impacts incurred during takeoff or landing. Depending on air speed, temperature, and wing structure, the critical residue height for laminar flow disruption can be as low as 4 microns near the leading edge. In this study, engineered surfaces designed to minimize insect residue adhesion were examined. The coatings studied included chemical compositions containing functional groups typically associated with abhesive (non-stick) surfaces. To reduce surface contact by liquids and enhance abhesion, the engineered surfaces consisted of these coatings doped with particulate additives to generate random surface topography, as well as coatings applied to laser ablated surfaces having precision patterned topographies. Performance evaluation of these surfaces included contact angle goniometry of pristine coatings and profilometry of surfaces after insect impacts were incurred in laboratory scale tests, wind tunnel tests and flight tests. The results illustrate the complexity of designing antifouling surfaces for effective insect contamination mitigation under dynamic conditions and suggest that superhydrophobic surfaces may not be the most effective solution for preventing insect contamination on aircraft wing leading edges.

Siochi, Emilie J.↗

Gas sorption and non-Darcy flow in shale reservoirs

Gas sorption and non-Darcy flow are two important issues for shale gas reservoirs. The sorption consists of dissolution and adsorption. Dissolved gas and adsorbed gas are different. The former is dissolved in the shale matrix, while the latter is concentrated near the solid walls of pores. In this paper, the Langmuir equation is used to describe adsorption and Henry’s law is used to describe dissolution. The K coefficient in Henry’s law of 0.052 mmol/(MPa g TOC) is obtained by matching experimental data. The amount of dissolved gas increases linearly when pressure increases. Using only the Langmuir equation without considering dissolution can lead to a significant underestimation of the amount of sorbed gas in shales. For non-Darcy gas flow, the apparent permeability model for free gas is established by combining slip flow and Knudsen flow. For adsorbed gas, the surface diffusion effect is also considered in this model. Here, the surface diffusion coefficient is suggested to be of the same scale as the gas self-diffusion coefficient, and the corresponding effective permeability is derived. When

02 PETROLEUM↗

Radiative forcing perturbation due to observed increases in tropospheric ozone at Hohenpeissenberg

The effect on surface temperature due to changes in atmospheric O3 depends highly on the latitude where the change occurs. Previous sensitivity calculations indicate that ozone changes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere are more effective in causing surface temperature change (Wang et al., 1980). Long term ground-based observations show that tropospheric ozone, especially at the tropopause region, has been increasing at middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere (NATO, 1988; Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, 1992). These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect and increase the radiative forcing to the troposphere-surface system, which is opposite to the negative radiative forcing calculated from the observed stratospheric ozone depletion recently reported in WMO (1992). We used more than two thousands regularly measured ozonesondes providing reliable vertical O3 distribution at Hohenpeissenberg (47N; 11E) for the 1967-1990 to study the instantaneous solar and longwave radiative forcing the two decades 1971-1990 and compare the forcing with those caused by increasing CO2, CH4, N2O, and CFCs. Calculations are also made to compare the O3 radiative forcing between stratospheric depletion and tropospheric increase. Results indicate that the O3 changes will induce a positive radiative forcing dominated by tropospheric O3 increase and the magnitude of the forcing is comparable to that due to CO2 increases during the two decades. The significant implications of the tropospheric O3 increase to the global climate are discussed.

Wang, Wei-Chyung↗

Measurement of surface recombination velocity for silicon solar cells using a scanning electron microscope with pulsed beam

The role of surface recombination velocity in the design and fabrication of silicon solar cells is discussed. A scanning electron microscope with pulsed electron beam was used to measure this parameter of silicon surfaces. It is shown that the surface recombination velocity, s, increases by an order of magnitude when an etched surface degrades, probably as a result of environmental reaction. A textured front-surface-field cell with a high-low junction near the surface shows the effect of minority carrier reflection and an apparent reduction of s, whereas a tandem-junction cell shows an increasing s value. Electric fields at junction interfaces in front-surface-field and tandem-junction cells acting as minority carrier reflectors or sinks tend to alter the value of effective surface recombination velocity for different beam penetration depths. A range of values of s was calculated for different surfaces.

Daud, T.↗