Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “MOLECULAR FOUNDRY”

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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

All 23,000 Atoms Mapped in a Nanoparticle

Scientists at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry used one of the world’s most powerful electron microscopes to map the precise location and chemical type of 23,000 atoms in an extremely small particle made of iron and platinum. Insights gained from the particle’s structure could lead to new ways to improve its magnetic performance for use in high-density, next-generation hard drives. This video begins with an overview of the 3-D positions of individual atoms with iron atoms in red and platinum atoms in blue. It then splits apart into the large and small grains that compose the nanoparticle. (Credit: Colin Ophus and Florian Niekiel, Berkeley Lab) Microscopy data was obtained and analyzed by Berkeley Lab Molecular Foundry scientists in collaboration with Foundry users from UCLA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the United Kingdom’s University of Birmingham.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Author Correction: The role of manganese in CoMnO x catalysts for selective long-chain hydrocarbon production via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Correction to: Nature Communicationshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54578-3, published online 27 November 2024. The original version of this Article omitted a line in the Acknowledgements section: Work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. This has been now added into the last line of the acknowledgements section in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2017

3-D Magnetization Mapping Microscope (360 video)

Science in 360°: The incredibly complex device in this video is one of the few electron microscopes worldwide that can image magnetization in 3-D, which is key to improving materials for computer memory devices. Located at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, the microscope is called SPLEEM (Spin-Polarized Low Energy Electron Microscope), and it’s one of the many reasons that scientists from around the world come to the Foundry.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2019

A New Detector – the 4D Camera – Reaches a New Frontier in Speed

An electron microscope at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry has been upgraded with a superfast detector, the 4D Camera. The detector can capture more images at a faster rate, revealing atomic-scale details across much larger areas than was possible before.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Yi Liu answers questions about 15 years of research on covalent organic frameworks

The article is an interview with Dr. Yi Liu. Dr. Liu is the facility director at the Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Trained as a supramolecular chemist and after a postdoctoral stay and working on click chemistry in Sharpless’s group he started his independent research career working on organic electronics, porous materials, and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). His aim is to develop nanostructured electronic materials through the design, synthesis and manipulation of tailor-made molecular constituents. He answers questions about research on covalent organic frameworks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Efficient Cytosolic Delivery Using Crystalline Nanoflowers Assembled from Fluorinated Peptoids

The design and synthesis of biocompatible nanomaterials as cargoes for the intracellular delivery of therapeutic proteins or genes have attracted intense attention because of their promise for use in therapeutics. Despite the advances in this area, very few nanomaterials can be efficiently delivered to the cytosol. To address these challenges, we designed and synthesized crystalline nanoflower-like particles from fluorinated sequence-defined peptoids; the crystallinity and fluorination of these particles enabled highly efficient cytosolic delivery with minimal cytotoxicity. We delivered these particles, 80% appear to diffuse in the cytosol. Furthermore, these nanocrystals can carry mRNA for instance and effectively delivered into cytosol for gene transfection, demonstrating the generality of our nanocrystals. Our results indicate that self-assembly of crystalline nanomaterials from fluorinated peptoids paves a new way toward development of nanocargoes with efficient cytosol gene delivery. Y. Song and M. Wang contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by start-up funds from Washington State University. Peptoid synthesis work was supported by the Materials Synthesis and Simulation Across Scales (MS3) Initiative through the LDRD fund at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Assembly of peptoid particles and their structural characterizations were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Biomolecular Materials Program at PNNL. XRD work was conducted at the Advanced Light Source with support from the Molecular Foundry, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, both of which are supported by the Office of Science, under Contrast No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. PNNL is multi-program national laboratory operated for Department of Energy by Battelle under Contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830.

peptoids, nanocrystal, cytosol delivery, endosome ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Advanced techniques in automated high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy

Scanning transmission electron microscopy is a common tool used to study the atomic structure of materials. It is an inherently multimodal tool allowing for the simultaneous acquisition of multiple information channels. Despite its versatility, however, experimental workflows currently rely heavily on experienced human operators and can only acquire data from small regions of a sample at a time. Here, we demonstrate a flexible pipeline-based system for high-throughput acquisition of atomic-resolution structural data using an all-piezo sample stage applied to large-scale imaging of nanoparticles and multimodal data acquisition. As a result, the system is available as part of the user program of the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

4D-STEM↗
DOE OSTI2019

Dynamic Analysis of Discoidal Nascent HDL Structure by IPET

Although circulating high density lipoproteins (HDL) are considered protective from cardiovascular disease, we have a remarkably limited understanding of their structure. In the recent decades, several models of HDL are built and debated each other, but the exact structure of HDL can't be confirmed even now. In our previous work, we used cross‐linking chemistry and mass spectrometry to generate detailed models of apoA‐I in reconstituted particles as well as “real” HDL from human plasma. Despite substantial differences in size and shape, these structures all shared the theme of an antiparallel belt‐like arrangement. Thus, direct visible observation of the conformation of discoidal HDL with the help of electron microscopy is a possible way to solve the debate. Here we report a study of structure of HDL by using negative‐staining electron microscopy and cryo‐electron microscopy as well as electron tomography. The 3D structures of dynamical individual HDL molecules are reconstructed by the individual‐particle electron tomography reconstruction (IPET). The reconstructed density maps at ~ 2 nm resolution display the size heterogeneity and conformation variety of HDL particles, and reveal a fusion/release mechanism of discoidal HDL in lipid transfer. These results revealed that apoA‐I makes highly specific contacts with itself to form a molecular scaffold that stabilizes HDL and facilitates, through specific protein: protein interactions, the association of HDL partner proteins to define particle function. The notion is crucial for us to further understand how the major HDL protein, apolipoprotein (apo)A‐I are involved in cholesterol transfer and lipid metabolism and cardiovascular disease. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (2R01 HL115153‐06, R01GM104427, and P01HL030086). Work conducted at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE‐AC02‐05CH11231 . This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .

Li, Jennifer Jinping↗
DOE OSTI2020

Reflectin: Protein Driver of Dynamically Tunable Biophotonics; New Paradigm for Tunably Reconfigurable Materials

We discovered that the reflectins, with architecture and sequences unlike those of any other proteins known, exhibit a novel interplay between signal-controlled nucleation and growth of dynamically arrested liquid-liquid phase-segregated assemblies that uniquely enables the continuous and precise fine-tuning of physical properties governing the color and brightness of light reflected from the membrane-enclosed nanostructures that contain them. Our research included high-resolution structural analyses conducted at the DOE-BES user facilities of the Stanford Synchrotron Light Source and LBL National Laboratory’s Molecular Foundry, leveraging their capabilities for time-resolved SAXS and cryo-TEM with our ongoing genetic engineering, biophysical and computational analyses to identify the structural determinants and mechanisms governing the dynamic behaviors of the reflectins. We augmented these methods with EPR analyses that revealed for the first time the existence of a specific pathway of reflectin assembly. Using dynamic light scattering and continuously monitored circular dichroism and Raman microscopy, we elucidated the progression of structural changes underlying the mechanisms of signal-induced condensation, folding, assembly, liquefaction, dynamic arrest, regulation and reversal.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Improved Performance of Cu(InGa)(SeS) 2 PV Modules Using the Reaction of Metal Precursors. Final Report

This project “Improved Performance of Cu(InGa)(SeS) 2 PV Modules using the Reaction of Metal Precursors” was a partnership led by the Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) at the University of Delaware with Columbia University and the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The aim was to develop pathways to improve Cu(InGa)(SeS) 2 (CIGSS) thin film photovoltaic modules using processes compatible with low manufacturing cost. The CIGSS approach investigated was a two-step process including deposition of metal precursor films following by reaction in hydride gases utilizing IEC’s novel reactor. The process was similar to that under commercial development by the project’s industry partner Stion. When Stion went out of business mid-project the focus changed to a rapid thermal process considered more commercially viable. Approaches to improve the performance of solar cells using the reacted films focused on two material innovations. First, the overall Ga content was increased to increase the operating voltage, which is desirable for scale-up to commercial modules. Second, the processing and performance advantages arising from Ag alloying were investigated. Advanced characterization guided process and material development including control of relative composition gradients. Research on the formation of Cu-Ga-In metal precursors utilized sputtering deposition which is normally used in commercial applications. The work resulted in processes for deposition of precursor stacks with increased relative Ga content and effects of deposition parameters on morphology and phase composition were established. It was shown that the metal precursor films have comparable phase composition and morphology so subsequent reaction follows from the same starting point. The addition of Ag to the metal precursors gave more uniform morphology and improved adhesion of reacted films which enable higher reaction temperature for faster processing. A novel outcome was the discovery of a previously undocumented material phase in sputter-deposited and evaporated Ag-Cu-In-Ga thin films. Hydride gas reaction processes including time-temperature-concentration profiles were developed for different precursor compositions. This enables control of composition profiles to engineer through-film gradients for solar cell optimization with characterization and simulations used to correlate measured film composition profiles to measurements of devices. In particular, the gradient of sulfur at the front of the CIGSS film was found to be critical. The simulations guided process development leading to improved reproducibility of devices improved performance with higher Ga content and higher voltage. With Ag-alloyed precursors, the reaction pathways leading were determined. A significant finding was that Ag-alloying increases the reaction rate to completely convert precursor films to the final chalcopyrite which could enable reduced reaction time to benefit manufacturability. To maintain potential commercial viability, the process under investigation was refocused to a rapid thermal process that could potentially be incorporated into an in-line process for manufacturing. Precursors with different composition were capped with an extra selenium layer and reacted in hydrogen sulfide 5-15 minutes, compared to typically 2 hours in the previous multi-step batch process. Critical RTP parameters were identified to control the reaction. Further optimization would be needed for high efficiency solar cells but pathways to high quality devices with further optimization and improved heating uniformity were developed. The project also developed new optoelectronic characterization approaches with a focus on development and application of spatial- and time-resolved photoluminescence and a custom mapping photoluminescence microscope built. It was shown how critical electronic transport properties strongly depend on the chemical composition of the material and that a wide range of samples show inhomogeneity on a length scale larger than the grains in the films. Additionally, two-photon excitation capability was developed to distinguish bulk vs surface losses. The project advances the state-of-the -art for precursor reaction processes in several ways that could impact manufacturing. This includes validation of approaches to increase voltage and establishment of model-guided control to form optimal composition profiles. The application of process control approaches with knowledge of phase formation and reaction pathways can be critically valuable in designing a large-scale process.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Lower Cost Renewable Nanoparticle Platform to Increases Production of Cathode Material (CRADA Final Report)

Employees of Sylvatex synthesized candidate cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in PI’s labs and at the Molecular Foundry using sustainable methods. They then benchmarked the synthesized materials against available commercial cathode materials in lithium half-cells (coin cell configurations) to compare performance and ensure that their materials met or exceeded metrics of the commercial materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Moving Toward More Efficient Wastewater Recycling

Berkeley Lab researcher Emily Tow talks about her project to treat municipal wastewater in an energy efficient way and bring it up to drinking water standard. Using the Molecular Foundry, she is looking at biofouling of membranes used to treat wastewater.

LBNL, Berkeley Lab↗
DOE OSTI2019

Nancy Nano (book series)

The work is a book series developed to explain nanoparticle concepts to children and the general public. The series describes science advances that have been successful as a result of work completed at the Molecular Foundry.

Mattox, Tracy↗
DOE OSTI2017

HERMAN, the Nanoparticle Robot (360 video)

Science in 360°: Say hello to HERMAN, a robot that accelerates the synthesis of nanoparticles for a wide range of cool applications such as biosensors, smart window coatings, and display technologies. HERMAN (aka High-throughput Experimentation Robot for the Multiplexed Automation of Nanochemistry) is a one-of-a-kind robot at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry that brings parallel processing and an extreme level of precision to the materials discovery process.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

Moving Toward More Efficient Wastewater Recycling

Berkeley Lab researcher Emily Tow talks about her project to treat municipal wastewater in an energy efficient way and bring it up to drinking water standard. Using the Molecular Foundry, she is looking at biofouling of membranes used to treat wastewater.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-fidelity topochemical polymerization in single crystals, polycrystals, and solution aggregates

Topochemical polymerization (TCP) emerges as a leading approach for synthesizing single crystalline polymers, but is traditionally restricted to transformations in solid-medium. The complexity in achieving single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) transformations due to lattice disparities and the untapped potential of performing TCP in a liquid medium with solid-state structural fidelity present unsolved challenges. Herein, by using X-rays as the primary means to overcome crystal disintegration, we reveal the details of SCSC transformation during the TCP of chiral azaquinodimethane (AQM) monomers through in situ crystallographic analysis while spotlighting a rare metastable crystalline phase. Complementary in situ investigations of powders and thin films provide critical insights into the side-chain dependent polymerization kinetics of solid-state reactions. Furthermore, we enable TCP of AQM monomers in a liquid medium via an antisolvent-reinforced aggregated state, yielding polymer nanofibers with high crystallinity akin to that of solid-state. This study testifies high structural precision of TCP performed in different states and media, offering critical insights into the synthesis of processable nanostructured polymers with desired structural integrity.

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

AI‐Driven Robot Enables Synthesis‐Property Relation Prediction for Metal Halide Perovskites in Humid Atmosphere

Materials Acceleration Platforms (MAPs) – also known as self-driving laboratories– present a new paradigm for materials science and promise an order of magnitude accelerated materials discovery compared to the traditional trial-and-error approach. Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) are an emerging class of materials for optoelectronic applications but are plagued by irreproducible optoelectronic quality, particularly for films fabricated in a humid atmosphere. Here, in this work, a machine learning (ML)-guided closed-loop platform is developed with a multimodal data fusion approach to predict synthesis–property relations for the optical quality of MHP thin films in relative humidities (RHs) ranging from 5–55%. The efficiency of this approach is confirmed by the fast-dropping learning rate to 2% after experimentally sampling less than 1% of the possible 5,000+ combinations. The prediction of synthesis–property relations is done by optical and imaging characterizations. In situ photoluminescence characterization revealed the origin of thin film quality variation at different RH. These insights provide an avenue for controlling the MHP crystallization by fine-tuning the synthesis parameters and RH for a given chemistry, thus lifting the need for stringent atmosphere control. The MAP enables an accelerated screening and understanding of the synthesis design space, facilitating rational synthesis recipe choice for a wide range of materials.

AI-driven robot↗