130 research outputs found

    Impact of Anharmonicity on the Vibrational Entropy and Specific Heat of UO₂

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    The impact of anharmonicity on the vibrational entropy and heat capacity of UO2 has been investigated from 10 to 1200 K using inelastic neutron-scattering measurements of the phonon density of states (PDOS). Small changes in the PDOS are observed from 10 to 295 K, with more noticeable changes appearing in the 750- and 1200-K data. The specific heat determined from the PDOS measurements is in agreement with macroscopic specific heat measurements, and the overall impact of nondilation anharmonicity on the specific heat has been shown to be less than 2%. An analysis of the phonon measurements shows that the softening of acoustic phonons with temperature is consistent with the quasiharmonic approximation. The optical phonons deviate from the quasiharmonic prediction, with the low-energy optical phonons between approximately 20 and 50 meV softening more than expected, while the higher-energy optical phonons between approximately 50 and 80 meV have no appreciable softening over the temperature range measured. The observation of a small anharmonic specific heat contribution has been shown to be the result of relatively large energy-dependent anharmonic effects which have opposite sign, leading to a total contribution near zero

    The Importance of Getting Names Right: The Myth of Markets for Water

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    Roadmap on energy harvesting materials

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    Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g. combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and radiofrequency wireless power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyses the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere
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