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DOE SBIR/STTR 2017 Phase I Release 1
NOTE: The Solicitations and topics listed on this site are copies from the various SBIR agency solicitations and are not necessarily the latest and most up-to-date. For this reason, you should use the agency link listed below which will take you directly to the appropriate agency server where you can read the official version of this solicitation and download the appropriate forms and rules.
The official link for this solicitation is: http://science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities/
Release Date:
Open Date:
Application Due Date:
Close Date:
Available Funding Topics
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research
The primary mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy. A particular challenge of this program is fulfilling the science potential of emerging computing systems and other novel computing architectures, which will require numerous significant modifications to today's tools and techniques to deliver on the promise of exascale science. To accomplish this mission, ASCR funds research at public and private institutions and at DOE laboratories to foster and support fundamental research in applied mathematics, computer science, and high-performance networks. In addition, ASCR supports multidisciplinary science activities under a computational science partnership program involving technical programs within the Office of Science and throughout the Department of Energy.
ASCR also operates high-performance computing (HPC) centers and related facilities, and maintains a high-speed network infrastructure (ESnet) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to support computational science research activities. The HPC facilities include the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
ASCR supports research on applied computational sciences in the following areas:
- Applied and Computational Mathematics - to develop the mathematical algorithms, tools, and libraries to model complex physical and biological systems.
- High-performance Computing Science - to develop scalable systems software and programming models, and to enable computational scientists to effectively utilize petascale computers to advance science in areas important to the DOE mission.
- Distributed Network Environment - to develop integrated software tools and advanced network services to enable large-scale scientific collaboration and make effective use of distributed computing and science facilities in support of the DOE science mission.
- Applied Computational Sciences Partnership - to achieve breakthroughs in scientific advances via computer simulation technologies that are impossible without interdisciplinary effort.
For additional information regarding the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research priorities, click here.
1. ADVANCED DIGITAL NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES AND MIDDLEWARE SERVICES
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $225,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,500,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Advanced digital network technologies and middleware services play a significant role in the way DOE scientists communicate with peers and collect/process data. Optical networks operating at rates of more than 100 Gbps support the transfer of petabytes of data per day. These networks also peer with commercial networks allowing scientists remote access to instruments and facilities while also allowing citizens access to the data and knowledge that has been produced. Improvements in the tools and services used to manage and operate this infrastructure are needed to meet the needs of both network operators and users.
Scientific instruments and supercomputer facilities generate, consume, process, and store both raw and analyzed data enabling the discovery of new knowledge. Efforts are underway to scale these computers to support extreme-scale computationally intensive science applications and to deal with increasing volumes and velocities of experimental and observational data. This topic addresses the need for higher level middleware services and analysis tools that are needed to turn raw data into actionable knowledge
This topic solicits proposals that address issues related to developing tools and services that analyze network operations data in a manner suitable for network engineers or application users and the hardening of middleware tools and services that deal with Big Data.
a. Network Analysis Tools and Services
Network operations staff collect a wide variety of data from the network itself. This includes, but is not limited to, SNMP based network interface counter data, NetFlow/SFlow aggregate based flow data, perfSONAR based delay, loss, and throughput data, and packet trace data. Routers and switches may also export exception or error messages back to a log host to inform operations staffs of significant changes or faults. Finally, IDS systems and other security appliances also generate data that impacts the status and performance of the network. Making sense of all this data is a daunting challenge that requires advanced analysis tools and services.
Grant applications are sought to improve the usability and scalability of network analysis tools and services. Analysis tools may operate in real-time, accepting data from links operating at 100 Gbps or greater speeds or they may provide post-hoc analysis capabilities from stored data archives. Tools may correlate data from multiple input sources or they may deeply analyze a single input data stream. Tools should use widely available data formats and visualization systems to display results. Proposals to develop new data collections tools or complete Network Management Systems are out of scope for this topic.
Questions – contact Richard Carlson, richard.carlson@science.doe.gov
b. Big Data Technologies
This sub-topic focuses on complex data management technologies that go beyond traditional relational database management systems. The efficient and cost-effective technologies to collect, manage, and analyze distributed BigData is a challenge to many organizations including the scientific community. Database management technologies based traditional relational and hierarchical database systems are proving to be inadequate to deal with BigData complexities (volume, variety, veracity, and velocity), especially when applied to BigData systems in science and engineering. While the primary focus is on the development of tools and services to support complex scientific and engineering data, all sources of complex data are in-scope for this sub-topic. The focus of this sub-topic is on the development of cost-/time-effective commercial grade technologies in the following categories:
BigData management software-enabling technologies – this includes but are not limited to the development of software tools, algorithms, and turnkey solutions for complex data management such as NOSQL/graph databases to deal with unstructured data in new ways; visualization and data processing tools for unstructured multi-dimensional data, robust tools to test, validate, and remove defects in large unstructured data sets; tools to manage and analyze hybrid structured and unstructured data; BigData security and privacy solutions; BigData as a service systems; high-speed data hardware/software data encryption and reduction systems; and online management and analysis of streaming and text data from instruments or embedded systems
BigData Network-aware middleware technologies – This includes high-speed network and middleware technologies that enable the collection, archiving, and movement of massive amounts of data within datacenters, data cloud systems, and over Wide Area Networks (WANS). This may include but are not limited to hardware subsystems such high-performance data servers and data transfer nodes, high-speed storage area network (SAN) technologies; network-optimized data cloud services such as virtual storage technologies; and other distributed BigData solutions
Grant applications must ensure the following: a) that proposed work is based on concrete BigData owned by the company or readily accessible and b) that the proposed work goes beyond traditional data management system technologies.
Questions – contact Thomas Ndousse, thomas.ndousse-fetter@science.doe.gov
c. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Richard Carlson, richard.carlson@science.doe.gov
References: Subtopic a:
1. Kanuparthy, P., et al., 2013, Pythia: Detection, Localization, and Diagnosis of Performance Problems, Communications Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 51, Issue 11, p. 55-62.
(http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~dlee399/files/kanuparthy.pdf)
2. Calyam, P., Pu, J., Mandrawa, W., & Krishnamurthy, A., 2010, Ontimedetect: Dynamic Network Anomaly Notification in PerfSONAR Deployments, In Proceedings - 18th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems, MASCOTS 2010, IEEE, pp. 328-337.
3. Sampaio, L., Koga, I., Costa, R., et al., 2007, Implementing and Deploying Network Monitoring Service Oriented Architectures: Brazilian National Education and Research Network Measurement Experiments, Proceedings of the 5th Latin American Network Operations and Management Symposium (LANOMS 2007). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. September 10-12. p. 28-37.
References: Subtopic b:
1. Hey, T., Tansley, S., Tolle, K., 2009, The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery, Microsoft Research, Redmond, Washington, p. 284.
(https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Paradigm-Data-Intensive-Scientific-Discovery/dp/0982544200)
2. Ahrens, J., et al., 2011, Data-intensive Science in the U.S. DOE: Case Studies and Future Challenges, Computing Science and Engineering, Vol. 13, Issue 6, IEEE, p. 14-24.
3. Bryant, R.E., 2011, Data-intensive Scalable Computing for Scientific Applications, Computing Science and Engineering, Vol. 13, Issue 6, p. 25-33.
(http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/cs/2011/06/mcs2011060025-abs.html)
4. Szalay, A., 2011, Extreme Data-intensive Scientific Computing, Computing Science and Engineering, Vol. 13, Issue 6, p. 34-41.
(https://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/cs/2011/06/mcs2011060034-abs.html)
5. Manyika, J., Chui, M., Brown, B., et al., 2011, Big data: The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition, and Productivity, McKinsey Global Institutes, p. 156.
(http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/big_data_the_next_frontier_for_innovation)
6. Berkeley Lab, Scientific Data Management Research Group, 2016, FastBit: An Efficient Compressed Bitmap Index Technology.
(https://sdm.lbl.gov/fastbit/)
7. ESnet, Engineering Services, OSCARS: On-Demand Secure Circuits and Advance Reservation System.
(https://www.es.net/engineering-services/oscars/)
8. University of Chicago, Nimbus: An open source toolkit for Infrastructure-as-a-Service for clouds, Homepage.
(http://www.nimbusproject.org/)
9. Department of Energy, VACET, The Visualization and Analytics Center for Enabling Technologies (VACET), Homepage.
(http://www.vacet.org/about.html)
10. Department of Energy, SciDAC, 2007, Visualization & Data Management.
(http://www.scidac.gov/viz/viz.html)
11. Department of Energy, SciDAC, Monroe, D., From Data to Discovery, SciDAC Data Management Center.
(http://www.scidacreview.org/0602/html/data.html)
12. The Apache Software Foundation, 2016, Welcome to Apache Hadoop!, Homepage.
13. Google, E-Center: End-to-end enterprise network monitoring.
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research
The primary mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy. A particular challenge of this program is fulfilling the science potential of emerging computing systems and other novel computing architectures, which will require numerous significant modifications to today's tools and techniques to deliver on the promise of exascale science. To accomplish this mission, ASCR funds research at public and private institutions and at DOE laboratories to foster and support fundamental research in applied mathematics, computer science, and high-performance networks. In addition, ASCR supports multidisciplinary science activities under a computational science partnership program involving technical programs within the Office of Science and throughout the Department of Energy.
ASCR also operates high-performance computing (HPC) centers and related facilities, and maintains a high-speed network infrastructure (ESnet) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to support computational science research activities. The HPC facilities include the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
ASCR supports research on applied computational sciences in the following areas:
- Applied and Computational Mathematics - to develop the mathematical algorithms, tools, and libraries to model complex physical and biological systems.
- High-performance Computing Science - to develop scalable systems software and programming models, and to enable computational scientists to effectively utilize petascale computers to advance science in areas important to the DOE mission.
- Distributed Network Environment - to develop integrated software tools and advanced network services to enable large-scale scientific collaboration and make effective use of distributed computing and science facilities in support of the DOE science mission.
- Applied Computational Sciences Partnership - to achieve breakthroughs in scientific advances via computer simulation technologies that are impossible without interdisciplinary effort.
For additional information regarding the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research priorities, click here.
2. INCREASING ADOPTION OF HPC MODELING AND SIMULATION IN THE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING INDUSTRIES
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $225,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,500,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Over the past 30 years, The Department of Energy’s (DOE) supercomputing program has played an increasingly important role in the scientific discovery process by allowing scientists to create more accurate models of complex systems, simulate problems once thought to be impossible, and analyze the increasing amount of data generated by experiments. Computational Science has become the third pillar of science, along with theory and experimentation. Despite the great potential of modeling and simulation to increase understanding of a variety of important engineering and manufacturing challenges, High Performance Computing (HPC) has been underutilized.
Application complexity, in both the development and execution phase requires a substantial in-house expertise to fully realize the benefits of the software tool or service. High capital equipment and labor costs can severely limit a company’s ability to incorporate HPC into their development process. It should also be recognized that changes in HPC hardware including many-core, multi-core processors, GPU based accerators, and multi-level memory subsystems have made a significant impact on the HPC systems performance and usability. Programming tools and services are required that can hide this hardware complexity without impacting performance.
This topic is specifically focused on bringing HPC solutions and capabilities to the advanced manufacturing and engineering market sectors.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Turnkey HPC Solutions for Manufacturing and Engineering
HPC modeling and simulation applications are utilized by many industries in their product development cycle, but hurdles remain for wider adoption especially for small and medium sized manufacturing and engineering firms. Some of the hurdles are: overly complex applications, lack of hardware resources, inability to run proof of concept simulations on desktop workstations, solutions that have well developed user interfaces, but are difficult to scale to higher end systems, solutions that are scalable but have poorly developed user interfaces, etc. While many advances have been made in making HPC applications easier to use they are still mostly written with an expert level user in mind.
Grant applications that focus on HPC applications that could be utilized in the advanced manufacturing supply chain, additive manufacturing (3D Printing) processes and Smart Manufacturing are strongly encouraged as well as applications that address the need to have solutions that are easier to learn, test and integrate into the product development cycle by a more general user (one with computational experience, but not necessarily an expert). Issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to: Developing turn-key HPC application solutions, porting HPC software to platforms that have a more reasonable cost vs. current high end systems (this could also include porting to high performance workstations (CPU/GPU) which would provide justification for the procurement of HPC assets or small scale clusters, or to a “cloud” type environment or service), HPC software or hardware as a service (hosted locally or in the “cloud”), near real time modeling and simulation tools, etc.
Questions – contact: Ceren Susut, Ceren.Susut-Bennett@science.doe.gov
b. Hardening of R&D Code or Software Tools for Industry Use
The Office of Science (SC) Office of Advanced Scientific Computing (ASCR) has invested millions of dollars in the development of HPC software in the areas of modeling and simulation, solvers, and tools. Many of these tools are open source, but are complex “expert” level tools. The expertise required to install, utilize and run these assets poses a significant barrier to many organizations due to the levels of complexity built into them to facilitate scientific discovery and research, but such complexity may not necessarily be required for industrial applications. Grant applications are specifically sought that will take a component or components of codes developed via the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, or other ASCR programs, and “shrink wrap” them into tools that require a lower level of expertise to utilize. This may include Graphical User Interface Designs (GUIs), simplification of user input, decreasing complexity of a code by stripping out components, user support tools/services, or other ways that make the code more widely useable. Applicants may also choose to harden the codes developed by other projects provided that the potential industrial uses support the DOE mission. In addition applicants may choose to strip out code components, harden them and join them with already mature code tools and/or suites of tools to increase the overall toolset and scalability of commercial software.
Questions – contact: Randall Laviolette, Randall.Laviolette@science.doe.gov
c. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Ceren Susut, Ceren.Susut-Bennett@science.doe.gov
Note: In addition to local, cluster, or cloud computing resources, applicants may consider using DOE’s Open Science (DOE-SC) Computing facilities, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), or the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF). Applicants wishing to run at the NERSC (http://www.nersc.gov) facility should send email to “consult@nersc.gov” and inquire about the Education/Startup allocation program. Descriptions of the allocation programs available at the ALCF can be found at http://www.alcf.anl.gov/user-guides/how-get-allocation . Questions concerning allocations on the ALCF can be sent to David Martin“dem@alcf.anl.gov”. Descriptions of the allocation programs available at the OLCF are available at http://www.olcf.ornl.gov/support/getting-started/. Questions concerning allocations on the OLCF can be sent to Jack Wells “wellsjc@ornl.gov”. Proprietary work may be done at the ALCF and OLCF facilities using a cost recovery model.
References Subtopic a:
- Michael, F., 2011, Minding the Missing Middle, HPCC Conference Summary, Newport, RI., HPCWire.(http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-03-31/minding_the_missing_middle.html)
- Kirkley, J., 2011, Making Digital Manufacturing Affordable: A Vendor Perspective, EnterpriseTech. (http://www.digitalmanufacturingreport.com/dmr/2011-06-14/making_digital_manufacturing_affordable:_a_vendor_perspective.html)
- Trader, T., 2011, Digital Manufacturing, Why There’s Never Been a Better Time, EnterpriseTech. (http://www.enterprisetech.com/2011/06/20/digital_manufacturing_why_theres_never_been_a_better_time/)
- Executive Office of the President National Science and Technology Council, 2012, A National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing, p.51. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/iam_advancedmanufacturing_strategicplan_2012.pdf)
- 2012, Solid Print – Making Things with a 3D Printer Changes the Rules of Manufacturing, The Economist, Manufacturing and Innovation: A Third Industrial Revolution. (http://www.economist.com/node/21552892)
- 2012, Special Report: What is SMART Manufacturing, Time Magazine, p.6. (https://www.rockwellautomation.com/resources/downloads/rockwellautomation/pdf/about-us/company-overview/TIMEMagazineSPMcoverstory.pdf)
- “Journal Report: Unleashing Innovation – Manufacturing”, Wall Street Journal, June 11 2013. (http://www.reskem.com/unleashing-innovation-manufacturing-wall-street-journal-special-report/)
References Subtopic b:
- “Workshop for Independent Software Developers and Industry Partners” Workshop Summary, Chicago IL, March 31, 2011. (http://outreach.scidac.gov/scidac-overview/)
- McIntyre, C., 2009, US Manufacturing-Global Leadership Through Modeling and Simulation, High Performance Computing Initiative, Compete. Council on Competitiveness, p. 4. (http://www.compete.org/storage/images/uploads/File/PDF%20Files/HPC%20Global%20Leadership%20030509.pdf)
- DOE Software Developed or Extended under the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program. (http://outreach.scidac.gov/scidac-overview/init/default/scidac_current?mode=all)
- DOE Office of Science, Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC), Project Website. (http://www.scidac.gov)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research
The primary mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy. A particular challenge of this program is fulfilling the science potential of emerging computing systems and other novel computing architectures, which will require numerous significant modifications to today's tools and techniques to deliver on the promise of exascale science. To accomplish this mission, ASCR funds research at public and private institutions and at DOE laboratories to foster and support fundamental research in applied mathematics, computer science, and high-performance networks. In addition, ASCR supports multidisciplinary science activities under a computational science partnership program involving technical programs within the Office of Science and throughout the Department of Energy.
ASCR also operates high-performance computing (HPC) centers and related facilities, and maintains a high-speed network infrastructure (ESnet) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to support computational science research activities. The HPC facilities include the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
ASCR supports research on applied computational sciences in the following areas:
- Applied and Computational Mathematics - to develop the mathematical algorithms, tools, and libraries to model complex physical and biological systems.
- High-performance Computing Science - to develop scalable systems software and programming models, and to enable computational scientists to effectively utilize petascale computers to advance science in areas important to the DOE mission.
- Distributed Network Environment - to develop integrated software tools and advanced network services to enable large-scale scientific collaboration and make effective use of distributed computing and science facilities in support of the DOE science mission.
- Applied Computational Sciences Partnership - to achieve breakthroughs in scientific advances via computer simulation technologies that are impossible without interdisciplinary effort.
For additional information regarding the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research priorities, click here.
3. HPC CYBERSECURITY
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $225,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,500,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Large scale distributed and computationally intensive platforms, systems, centers, infrastructure, facilities or applications rely on High Performance Computing (HPC) systems to enable large scale information processing for a multitude of areas such as business, utility, financial, education, scientific, and critical national infrastructure systems that form the backbone of our nation’s economy, security, and health. HPC facilities, centers, infrastructure, or resources are designed to be easily accessible by users over the worldwide network, and ensuring effective cybersecurity monitoring, situational awareness, logging, reporting, preventions, remediation, etc, is an increasingly important task.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Cybersecurity Technologies
This topic solicits unclassified proposals that will deliver and market commercial products ensuring effective and practical cybersecurity for HPC systems, centers, large scale distributed applications, critical infrastructure, or user facilities. These tools will have the capability to detect, prevent, or analyze attempts to compromise or degrade systems or applications consequently increasing their cybersecurity. Any submitted proposal must be unclassified.
Relevant evaluation metrics may include delivery of potential solutions involving minimizing the overall security overhead required to deal with data parallelism, concurrency, storage and retrieval, hardware heterogeneity, and how to monitor, visualize, categorize, or report cybersecurity challenges effectively. Currently, there exist cybersecurity tools and products that provide security to networks, databases, hosts, clouds, or mobile devices; and some of these existing tools and products could potentially be enhanced or transitioned to help secure HPC, facilities, infrastructure, or large scale distributed systems.
Out of scope proposals for this topic include proposals that do not address the range of desired products mentioned in this specific topic or are primarily focused on: Single node/host-, handheld-, and wireless-based solutions; internet; internet-of-things; basic research; natural language processing; social networks; or encryption.
Questions – Contact Robinson Pino, robinson.pino@science.doe.gov
b. Other
In addition to the specific subtopic listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact Robinson Pino, robinson.pino@science.doe.gov
References:
1. Department of Energy, 2015, The 2015 Cybersecurity for Scientific Computing Integrity Workshop, DOE Workshop Report. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/ASCR_Cybersecurity_For_Scientific_Computing_Integrity_Report_2015.pdf)
2. Campbell, S., Mellander, J., 2015, Experiences with Intrusion Detection in High Performance Computing, p. 9. (https://cug.org/5-publications/proceedings_attendee_lists/CUG11CD/pages/1-program/final_program/Monday/03B-Mellander-Paper.pdf)
3. Malin, A.B., Van Heule, G.K, 2013, Continuous Monitoring and Cyber Security for High Performance Computing, Report LA-UR-13-21921. (http://permalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?what=info:lanl-repo/lareport/LA-UR-13-21921)
4. Catlett, C., 2008, A Scientific Research and Development Approach To Cyber Security, Final Report Submitted to the Department of Energy, p. 36. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/ascr/pdf/program-documents/docs/Cyber_security_science_dec_2008.pdf)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research
The primary mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy. A particular challenge of this program is fulfilling the science potential of emerging computing systems and other novel computing architectures, which will require numerous significant modifications to today's tools and techniques to deliver on the promise of exascale science. To accomplish this mission, ASCR funds research at public and private institutions and at DOE laboratories to foster and support fundamental research in applied mathematics, computer science, and high-performance networks. In addition, ASCR supports multidisciplinary science activities under a computational science partnership program involving technical programs within the Office of Science and throughout the Department of Energy.
ASCR also operates high-performance computing (HPC) centers and related facilities, and maintains a high-speed network infrastructure (ESnet) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to support computational science research activities. The HPC facilities include the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
ASCR supports research on applied computational sciences in the following areas:
- Applied and Computational Mathematics - to develop the mathematical algorithms, tools, and libraries to model complex physical and biological systems.
- High-performance Computing Science - to develop scalable systems software and programming models, and to enable computational scientists to effectively utilize petascale computers to advance science in areas important to the DOE mission.
- Distributed Network Environment - to develop integrated software tools and advanced network services to enable large-scale scientific collaboration and make effective use of distributed computing and science facilities in support of the DOE science mission.
- Applied Computational Sciences Partnership - to achieve breakthroughs in scientific advances via computer simulation technologies that are impossible without interdisciplinary effort.
For additional information regarding the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research priorities, click here.
4. COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $225,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,500,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The ASCR program office is actively engaged in the development of next generation leadership class supercomputers. This topic solicits proposals that require a collaborative team of small businesses combining there different expertise’s to develop more complex and operational subsystems or software modules for these emerging supercomputers. A collaborative team approach, with up to 5 small businesses forming this team, will receive funding under this topic.
a. Photonic Memory Controller Module (P-MCM)
Over the past decade, numerous studies have shown that to be affordable, future supercomputers will have electric power limit of approximately 20 MW. This limitation will place a significant constraint on the I/O and memory subsystems due to the high cost of moving bits between system ICs (CPU, Memory, Bus controller, etc). Replacing the electrical components (copper traces, connectors, switches, etc) with photonic based components would greatly increase the I/O and memory bandwidth capacity of the supercomputer without exceeding the expected power budget. This topic seeks a collaborative team of small businesses to design, fabricate, build, and test a photonic Memory Controller Module that meets the following specifications.
- Server class multiprocessor chip
- High Density stacked Memory Modules: 10 stacked memory modules at 0.5 TB/s I/O rate each
- Simultaneous access from Multi-core processor chip to 10 memory modules (5 TB/s aggregate I/O rate)
- WDM optical transceivers matched to the I/O memory rates
- Reconfigurable optical interconnect fabric
- Low loss Optical connectors and/or integrated Micro Optical Bench assemblies
The photonic components of the P-MCM must be capable of operating on 0.5 pJ/b of power (not counting the CPU or memory module electrical power) while allowing any CPU core to access data from any memory module. Memory modules may be located up to 1 meter distant from the CPU core.
It is expected that a collaborative team of businesses will work together to design and build this P-MCM device. Each business may include one or more academic or lab partners as subcontractors. Each business must submit a proposal that contains an identical narrative section and should clearly delineate the roles of each small business team member and what portion of the effort each will perform. Each proposal must have business specific budget & budget justification forms, biographical data for the PI and senior personnel involved in the project, and commercialization plan. The maximum Phase I and Phase II award amount is for each small business of the collaborative team. The cover sheet for each submission must clearly show all businesses involved in the collaboration.
If a grant is awarded, each member of the collaborative team must submit an Intellectual Property Management Plan at the time of award. Details of the requirements of the Intellectual Property Management Plan and a model are available at http://science.energy.gov/sbir/applicant-and-awardee-resources/.
The Intellectual Property Management Plan should be negotiated and established between the team members and provide for the management and disposition of Intellectual Property arising from the project in accordance with the terms of the Award under which Intellectual Property was developed, for example the treatment of confidential information, background intellectual property, inventions and data produced under the project, any necessary licensing, or the handling of any disputes between the members.
Questions – contact Richard Carlson, richard.carlson@science.doe.gov
References:
1. Bahadori, M., Rumley, S., Nikolova, D., Bergman, K., 2016, Comprehensive Design Space Exploration of Silicon Photonic Interconnects, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 34, Issue 12, p. 2975-2987. (http://lightwave.ee.columbia.edu/files/Bahadori2015b.pdf)
2. Rumley, S., Nikolova, D., Hendry, et al., 2015, Silicon Photonics for Exascale Systems [Invited Tutorial], Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 33, Issue 3, p. 547-562. (http://lightwave.ee.columbia.edu/files/Rumley2015.pdf)
3. Biberman, A., Bergman, K., 2012, Optical interconnection networks for high-performance computing systems[invited], Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 75, p.15. (http://lightwave.ee.columbia.edu/files/Biberman2012.pdf)
4. Brunina, D., Liu, D., Bergman, K., 2013, An Energy-Efficient Optically Connected Memory Module for Hybrid Packet- and Circuit-Switched Optical Networks, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Vol. 19, Issue 2, p. 7. (http://lightwave.ee.columbia.edu/files/Brunina2012e.pdf)
5. Pepeljugoski, P., Kash, J., Doany, F., et al., 2010, Low Power and High Density Optical Interconnects for Future Supercomputers, Optical Fiber Communication (OFC), collocated National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference, 2010 Conference on (OFC/NFOEC), IEEE, p.1-3. (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5465516&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5465516)
6. The Optical Society (OSA), 2016, OSA Industry Development Associates
(http://www.osa.org/en-us/corporate_gateway/)
7. The American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics), Home
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
5. ANCILLARY TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT BES USER FACILITIES
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), within the DOE’s Office of Science, is responsible for current and future user facilities including synchrotron radiation, free electron lasers, and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). This topic is specifically focused on the development of superconducting helical undulators with superimposed focusing gradient for high-efficiency tapered x-ray free electron lasers (FELs); undulator tapering techniques for high-efficiency FELs, and non-invasive x-ray flux monitoring on light source optical elements. Grant applications that are not beyond the state-of-the-art nor do not fall within the topic will not be considered.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Superconducting Helical Undulator with Superimposed Focusing Gradient for High Efficiency Tapered X-Ray FELs
Undulator tapering can significantly improve the x-ray FEL efficiency of energy transfer from electrons to X-ray photons [1]. Recent studies [2], at photon energies around 8 keV, indicate that although a tapered superconducting planar undulator, with focusing quadrupoles in between the undulator sections is feasible [3], a superior performance, achieving multi-TW peak power, is obtained using superconducting helical undulators with transverse focusing gradient superimposed on the main undulator field, short magnet sections and short breaks between sections.
Grant applications are sought for the development of a prototype helical NbTi superconducting undulator with superimposed transverse focusing gradient technology with emphasis on performance, tunability, focusing properties, and practical viability for x-ray FELs applications. The required prototype characteristics are: undulator period 1.8-2 cm, undulator parameter 3, quadrupole focusing average beta function 4-6 m, undulator section length 1 m, undulator break length 15 cm. Matching phase shifters and beam position monitors must be included in the breaks. A systematic design study needs to be carried out, including iterative optimization of undulator features and geometry, based on engineering feedback, FEL performance optimization, and experimental development effort focused on building and testing a prototype magnet scalable to the full cell design.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
b. Undulator Tapering Techniques for High-Efficiency Free Electron Laser Sources
The x-ray FEL efficiency, measured as a fraction of the electron beam power converted into light, is typically below 0.1% for most of the x-FEL facilities presently in operation. Undulator tapering techniques can be used to improve the conversion efficiency by 1-2 orders of magnitude. Grant applications are sought for the development and scaled demonstration of a robust tapered x-FEL schemes, with the conversion efficiency above 10%. Such high efficiency x-FEL schemes can result in a significant increase in peak and average power available to the users, but need to be tested at laboratory scale.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
c. Development of Superconducting Undulators for Future Light Sources
One of the most critical components of existing and future synchrotron radiation and FEL sources is an undulator. Currently permanent magnet undulator technology dominates the field, but it came to its limits with the use of in-vacuum cryogenic permanent magnet undulator technology. New technology that outperforms best existing undulator technologies utilizes superconductors to build undulator magnets [1]. Superconducting undulators (SCU) deliver noticeably higher magnetic field for the same undulator period and magnetic gap compare with the most advanced permanent magnet undulators. SCUs could be built in both, planar and helical geometry. In both cases they outperform permanent magnet devices and represent obvious next step in undulator technology of future light sources.
Two SCUs are currently in operation at the Advanced Photon Source. But other BES light source facilities and LCLS [2] will greatly benefit from the use of SCUs. Success in advancements and upgrades of these facilities by utilizing SCUs will strongly depend on the ability of the superconductor-oriented industry to adopt such a technology and become a reputable vendor of SCUs. Grants are sought to identify and perform the necessary development to commercialize existing light source SCU technology into products that are readily available for the light source facilities.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
d. Non-Invasive X-Ray Flux Monitoring on Optical Elements
Most scientific instruments at synchrotron and free-electron laser facilities are complicated arrangements of individual optical components. These instruments often require a substantial fraction of the operational time to be allocated for optical alignment and troubleshooting. Non-invasive x-ray flux monitoring directly on the optical elements is expected to facilitate the alignment and troubleshooting as well as to provide real-time diagnostics of the optics performance. While in the soft x-ray regime (photon energies < 3 keV) monitoring x-ray-induced photocurrent on x-ray optics in vacuum may provide reliable measure of the incident and/or absorbed flux, in the regime of hard x-rays (photon energies > 3 keV) non-invasive (i.e., without the use of stand-alone x-ray detectors) characterization of the flux incident, transmitted or reflected from individual optical components remains limited.
Solutions including integration of hard x-ray flux monitoring capabilities to frequently used types of non-trivial optical elements (i.e., elements which operation is based on the effects of x-ray refraction, reflection or diffraction, such as x-ray mirrors, capillaries, refractive lenses, Fresnel zone plates, multilayers and diffracting crystals) are sought. The proposed solutions must provide quantitative measurement of the x-ray flux incident or reflected from or transmitted through the optical element with signal-to-noise ratio of better than 1x103 at an incident x-ray flux as small as 1x109 photons/second and greater in a non-invasive manner, i.e., avoiding additional attenuation of x-rays or any distortion of the radiation wavefront other than those resulting from the primary function of the optical element. The solutions may include x-ray optical elements with integrated flux monitoring capability or enclosures for existing optical components with an arrangement, which enables detection of the x-ray flux without deterioration of the performance of the optical components installed and operated in these enclosures.
The principle of non-invasive detection/monitoring of the incident/reflected/transmitted flux can be based on measurements of x-ray-induced photoemission, fluorescence, scattered radiation or other effects resulting from the interaction of x-rays with the material of the optical element [1-3].
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
e. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
References: Subtopic a:
1. Kroll, N., Morton, P., & Rosenbluth, M., 1981, Free-electron Lasers with Variable Parameter Wigglers, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electron, Vol. 17, p. 1436–1468. (http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/26/7/002/meta)
2. Emma, C., Fang, K., Wu, J., & Pellegrini, C., 2016, High Efficiency, Multiterawatt X-ray Free Electron Lasers, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 19, 020705. (https://journals.aps.org/prab/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.19.020705)
3. Emma, P., et al., 2014, A Plan for the Development of Superconducting Undulator Prototypes for LCLS-II and Future FELs, in FEL 2014 Conference proceedings, Basel, Switzerland, THA03. (https://portal.slac.stanford.edu/sites/ad_public/FEL_RandD/scu_rd/shared_docs/General%20Presentations/FEL14-SCU-Paper-THA03.PDF)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
6. ELECTRON OPTICS FOR ULTRAFAST ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (UEM) TO SUPPORT BES USER FACILITIES
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), within the DOE’s Office of Science, is responsible for current and future user facilities including synchrotron radiation, free electron lasers, electron microscopes, and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). This topic seeks exclusively the development of electron optics capabilities beyond the present state-of-the-art in electron microscopy to support these user facilities. Grant applications that do not fall within the topic will not be considered.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopic:
a. Electron Optics for MeV Ultrafast Electron Microscope (UEM)
Electron microscopy and nano-characterization capabilities are important in materials sciences and are used in numerous research projects funded by the Department. The 2014 Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on electron scattering and diffraction [1] recommended the development of an Ultrafast Electron Diffraction and Microscopy Instrument to enable revolutionary advances in the study of electron interaction with matter. Such a capability would be complementary to x-ray free electron lasers due to the difference in the nature of electron and x-ray scattering, enabling space-time mapping of lattice vibrations and energy transport, facilitating the understanding of molecular dynamics of chemical reactions, the photonic control of emergence in quantum materials, and the dynamics of mesoscopic materials.
To capture irreversible processes in materials science and biology, such as direct imaging of biologically important conformational transitions of macromolecules and glass phase transitions in real time, a single-shot ultrafast electron microscope (UEM) with atomic spatial resolution and sub-nanosecond temporal resolution is required. The number of electrons needed for such single-shot MeV UEM should 10 millions or more. What is needed is the development of electron-optical components and accessories for such single-shot MeV UEM. Novel electron optics, including electron lenses, correction elements and magnets for single-shot MeV UEM, need to be designed and simulated with state-of-the-art software to achieve the desired set of column specifications (magnification, high spatial and temporal resolution, beam current, correction/deflection elements etc.). In particular, this includes the design of the 4 MeV objective lens and computation of its 3rd order optical properties using high-accuracy field solvers such as the second-order finite element method (SOFEM). Simulations need to include the computation of the magnetic flux distribution in the magnetic circuit and coil windings, taking into account relativistic effects and magnetic saturation in state-of-the-art magnetic materials. The simulations should yield a design suitable for a prototype UEM that targets performance with sub-ns temporal resolution and atomic (0.3 nm) spatial resolution for a 4 MeV electron beam with a relative energy spread of 10-5.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
b. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Eliane Lessner, eliane.lessner@science.doe.gov
References: Subtopic a:
U.S Department of Energy, 2014, Future of Electron Scattering and Diffraction, Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on electron scattering and diffraction. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/pdf/reports/files/Future_of_Electron_Scattering.pdf)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
7. INSTRUMENTATION FOR ADVANCED NANOMETER SCALE OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The Department of Energy seeks to advance optical nanoprobe technologies that facilitate fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels. The Department is particularly interested in forefront advances in imaging and analysis techniques that combine nanometer-scale through micron-scale spatial resolution, optical excitation and spectroscopic detection over a large wavelength range. Time-dependent phenomena at nanoscale dimensions are important and tools are needed to explore energy flow, exciton dynamics and charge transport in nanoscale materials, nanostructures and assemblies of nanostructures for use in present and future energy applications. Grant applications that do not fall within the topic will not be considered.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. High Spatial Resolution Nanometer Scale Optical Spectroscopy
Information on carrier transport and dynamics phenomena associated with materials and nanostructures is often available from optical spectroscopies involving interactions with electromagnetic radiation ranging from the infrared spectrum to ultraviolet. Fast laser technologies can provide temporally resolved chemical information via optical spectroscopy or laser-assisted mass sampling techniques. These approaches provide time resolution ranging from the breakage or formation of chemical bonds to conformational changes in nanoscale systems but generally lack the simultaneous spatial resolution required to analyze individual molecules or nanostructures.
Grant applications are sought that make significant advancements in spatial resolution towards the single-nanometer for spectroscopic imaging instrumentation available to the research scientist. The nature of the advancement may span a range of approaches including sub-diffraction limit illumination or detection, selective sampling, and coherent or holographic signal analysis. Conventional Nearfield Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) probes and techniques do not have sufficient spatial resolution, spectral range and optical coupling efficiency. An optical tip technology is needed that is potentially scalable to manufacturing, and will yield low-cost, high performance, robust instruments that are affordable by the larger scientific community. 27
Questions – Contact: George Maracas, george.maracas@science.doe.gov
b. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact: George Maracas, george.maracas@science.doe.gov
References:
1. BESAC Subcommittee, 2015, Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science, A Report from the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. (http://science.energy.gov/bes/community-resources/reports/).
2. BESAC Subcommittee, 2012, From Quanta to the Continuum: Opportunities for Mesoscale Science, A Report for the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee Masoscale Science Subcommittee. (http://science.energy.gov/bes/community-resources/reports/)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
8. INSTRUMENTATION AND TOOLS FOR MATERIALS RESEARCH USING NEUTRON SCATTERING
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
As a unique and increasingly utilized research tool, neutron scattering makes invaluable contributions to the physical, chemical, and nanostructured materials sciences. The Department of Energy supports neutron scattering and spectroscopy facilities at neutron sources where users conduct state-of-the-art materials research. Their experiments are enabled by the convergence of a range of instrumentation technologies. The Department of Energy is committed to enhancing the operation and instrumentation of its present and future neutron scattering facilities [1,2] so that their full potential is realized.
This topic seeks to develop advanced instrumentation that will enhance materials research employing neutron scattering. Grant applications should define the instrumentation need and outline the research that will enable innovation beyond the current state-of-the-art. Applicants are strongly encouraged to demonstrate applicability and proper context through collaboration with a successful user of neutron sources. To this end, the STTR program would be an appropriate vehicle for proposal submission. Alternatively, applicants are encouraged to demonstrate applicability by providing a letter of support from a successful user. Priority will be given to those grant applications that include such collaborations or letters of support.
A successful user is defined as someone at a research institution who has recently performed neutron scattering experiments and published results in peer reviewed archival journals. Such researchers are the early adopters of new instrumentation and are often involved in conceptualizing, fabricating, and testing new devices. A starting point for developing collaborations would be to examine the strategic plans and annual activity reports from neutron scattering facilities at: http://neutrons.ornl.gov/sites/default/files/NScD-Strategic-Plan-2014.pdf and http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Advanced Optical Components
Develop novel or improved optical components for use in neutron scattering instruments [2-5]. Such components include, neutron focusing optics, neutron guides, neutron lenses, neutron polarization devices including 3He polarizing filters, and neutron spin flippers for the current and future neutron scattering facilities using time-of-flight techniques.
Questions – contact James Rhyne james.rhyne@science.doe.gov or Thiyaga Thiyagarajan, P.Thiyagarajan@science.doe.gov
b. Advanced Sample Environment
Develop instrumentation and techniques for advanced sample environment [6,7] for neutron scattering studies. These in-situ environments should simulate conditions relevant to energy-related materials and should provide a novel means of achieving controlled chemical and gaseous environment and extreme sample conditions of temperature, pressure, electric and magnetic fields or combinations thereof.
Questions – contact James Rhyne james.rhyne@science.doe.gov or Thiyaga Thiyagarajan, P.Thiyagarajan@science.doe.gov
c. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above. Proposals focused on detectors will not be a priority area for FY 2017.
Questions – contact James Rhyne james.rhyne@science.doe.gov or Thiyaga Thiyagarajan, P.Thiyagarajan@science.doe.gov
References:
1. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, 2015, User Facilities, Neutron Scattering Facilities. http://science.energy.gov/bes/suf/user-facilities/neutron-scattering-facilities/
2. United States National Nanotechnology Initiative, 2005, X-rays and Neutrons: Essential Tools for Nanoscience Research Workshop Report, Report of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Workshop. (http://www.nano.gov/node/68).
3. International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA), 2012, Proceedings of the Twentieth International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources (ICANS-XX) (http://www.icansxx.com.ar/proceedings.php)
4. Anderson, I.S, McGreevy, R.L., Bilheux, H.Z., 2009, Neutron Imaging and Applications: A Reference for the Imaging Community, Springer. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-0-387-78692-6)
5. Majkrzak, C., & Wood, J.L., 1992, Neutron Optical Devices and Applications, Proceedings of the SPIE- the International Society for Optical Engineering Proceedings of SPIE Series, Vol. 1738, p.492. ISBN: 0819409111. (http://books.google.com/books/about/Neutron_optical_devices_and_applications.html?id=XdhRAAAAMAAJ)
6. Klose, et al., 2004, Physica B: Condensed Matter, Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Polarized Neutrons in Condensed Matter Investigations, Vol. 356, Issue 1-4, p. 280. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09214526/356/1-4)
7. Crow, J., et al, 2003, Workshop Report, SENSE: Sample Environments for Neutron Scattering Experiments Workshop, Tallahassee, FL, September 24-26, p.35. ( http://neutrons-old.ornl.gov/workshops/tallahassee_workshops_2003/SENSE_report_1-14-04.pdf)
8. Rix, J.E., et al., 2007, Automated Sample Exchange and Tracking System for Neutron Research at Cryogenic Temperatures, The Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 78, Issue 1, (http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/rsi/78/1/10.1063/1.2426878)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
9. DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT SOURCE X-RAY DETECTOR AND SPECTROMETER SYSTEMS FOR ADVANCED MATERIALS RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $225,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $5,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Materials researchers using synchrotron and x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) light sources at National Laboratories have a need for advanced spectrometers and detectors for x-ray scattering experiments. The light source staff and user community engage in detector research to push the state of the art of x-ray scattering and imaging techniques. They often advance a detector technology to a level approaching a prototype stage and use it for a particular experiment. They have thus created some type of working detector or detector components. However, they are not equipped to fully develop the detector as a product or transfer their technology readily into a stand-alone system for use by other researchers at another beam line or facility.
This topic seeks to identify and perform the necessary research and development to commercialize promising light source spectrometer and detector technology into products that are readily available throughout the light source community. The proposed technology must already be near the prototype level and the proposal should focus on the development of the technology into a user friendly and fully implemented product that can be purchased by researchers and light source facilities.
A successful Phase I proposal and project will identify a research group at a National Laboratory or university that has invented and used a new detector or spectrometer capability. The technology must be near the prototype stage as demonstrated by successful data acquisition in a materials research experiment at a synchrotron or XFEL beam line. (This topic is not for new x-ray sensor research.) The SBIR/STTR development project will involve a collaboration with an experienced materials science light source user capable of utilizing the detector capability in new x-ray techniques applied to materials research experiments. The experiments must be capable of obtaining competitive beam time at a light source user facility.
A feasibility study of the technology and the necessary development path should be part of the Phase I project. The study should determine the range of x-ray light source experiments that will be enabled or improved by the new spectrometer or detector system and quantify the number of users and experiments that will benefit from the improved system.
As part of the development strategy, the Phase I work should determine and quantify the level of effort involved in critical development tasks which must be made in order to make the detector commercially viable. (An outline of anticipated tasks should be part of the Phase I proposal and firmly established by the Phase I project.)
The Phase I project should perform systems research that will effectively determine and plan a path forward to completion of a user friendly, fully functional new spectrometer or detector system. The project should identify the development bottlenecks and describe separate development sub-projects, with delineated tasks, to resolve each commercialization barrier. The project should perform a risk analysis and market assessment that will enable funding agencies and investors to have confidence in the R&D path that will lead to a successful detector product.
Phase II will involve continued systems and sub-systems development to bring a spectrometer and detector system to a completed demonstration stage ready for investment in the manufacturing process. Production research will be completed in Phase II that resolves manufacturing feasibility issues and provides the necessary software control and systems integration.
Development aspects that do not involve proprietary information from Phase I may be openly competed in subsequent Phase I/II subset projects to be folded into successful prime Phase II projects. Possible Phase III funding would provide for actual working systems delivered to research groups who would be early adopters of the new technology and demonstrate the new capabilities in scientific research projects at x-ray light source facilities.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Detector and spectrometer systems for x-ray scattering
Systems which enable or improve, (especially in their time resolved versions) the following state of the art materials research x-ray scattering techniques: coherent x-ray diffraction imaging, x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, resonant x-ray scattering (with chemical, orbital or magnetic sensitivity), resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, pair distribution function analysis, surface truncation rod analysis and coherent grazing incidence or standing wave surface scattering.
Questions – Contact: Lane Wilson, Lane.Wilson@science.doe.gov
b. Other
Detector and spectrometer systems consistent with the topic description and which enable Synchrotron and XFEL materials research experiments not included in sub-topic (a).
Questions – Contact: Lane Wilson, Lane.Wilson@science.doe.gov
References:
1. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, 2012, Neutron and X-ray Detectors, Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Neutron and X-ray Detectors, p. 92. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/pdf/reports/files/NXD_rpt_print.pdf)
2. Denes, P., and Schmitt, B., 2014, Pixel Detectors for Diffraction-limited Storage Rings, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Vol. 21, p. 1006–1010. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4181641/)
3. Blaj, G., et. al., 2015, X-ray Detectors at the Linac Coherent Light Source, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Vol. 22, p. 577-583. (http://journals.iucr.org/s/issues/2015/03/00/yi5006/yi5006.pdf)
4. Giewekemeyer, K., et. al., 2014, High Dynamic Range Coherent Diffractive Imaging: Ptychography Using the Mixed-Mode Pixel Array Detector, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation, Vol. 21, p. 1167-1174. (http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?mo5086)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
10. HIGH PERFORMANCE MATERIALS FOR NUCLEAR APPLICATION
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
To achieve energy security and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction objectives, the United States must develop and deploy clean, affordable, domestic energy sources as quickly as possible. Nuclear power will continue to be a key component of a portfolio of technologies that meets our energy goals. Nuclear Energy R&D activities are organized along four main R&D objectives that address challenges to expanding the use of nuclear power: (1) develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of current reactors; (2) develop improvements in the affordability of new reactors to enable nuclear energy to help meet the Administration's energy security and climate change goals; (3) develop sustainable nuclear fuel cycles; and (4) understanding and minimization of risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism.
To support these objectives, the Department of Energy is seeking to advance engineering materials for service in nuclear reactors.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Specialty Steels and Alloys
Grant applications are sought to develop improvements in radiation-resistant, high-temperature steels and alloys with practical applications for Generation IV reactor systems, such as high-temperature gas- or liquid-cooled systems at 400-850°C. In general, this will be interpreted to mean that those materials which have improved creep strength can be formed and joined, are compatible with one or more high-temperature reactor coolants, and could reasonably be expected to eventually receive ASME Section III qualification for use in nuclear construction.
Questions – Contact: William Corwin, william.corwin@nuclear.energy.gov
b. Ceramic Composites
Grant applications are sought to develop improved design and fabrication methods targeted at reducing cost and/or allowing joining of nuclear-grade SiC-SiC composites that can be used in the Generation IV gas-cooled and liquid fluoride salt-cooled reactors at temperatures up to 850°C. Additional consideration will be given to proposals for SiC-SiC materials and forms that are also compatible for use as fuel cladding. 32
Questions – Contact: William Corwin, william.corwin@nuclear.energy.gov
c. In Situ Mitigation and Repair of Materials Degradation
Grant applications are sought to develop technologies for the in situ mitigation and repair of materials degradation in Light Water Reactor systems and components, in order to extend the service life of current light water reactors. Approaches of interest include new techniques for the repair of materials degradation in metals, concrete, and cables; and methods that can mitigate irradiation and aging effects in existing reactors and components.
Questions – Contact: Sue Lesica, sue.lesica@nuclear.energy.gov
d. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact: Sue Lesica, sue.lesica@nuclear.energy.gov
References:
1. U.S. Department of Energy, 2010, Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap, Report to Congress. (http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/NuclearEnergy_Roadmap_Final.pdf).
2. U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, Fuel Cycle Research and Development Program. (http://www.energy.gov/ne/nuclear-reactor-technologies/fuel-cycle-technologies).
3. U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Nuclear Reactor Technologies. (http://www.energy.gov/ne/nuclear-reactor-technologies)
4. Greene, S.R., et al., 2010, Pre-Conceptual Design of a Fluoride-Salt-Cooled Small Modular Advanced High Temperature Reactor (SmAHTR), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. ORNL/TM-2010/199 (http://info.ornl.gov/sites/publications/files/Pub26178.pdf).
5. U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. (http://www.energy.gov/ne/nuclear-reactor-technologies/light-water-reactor-sustainability-lwrs-program)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
11. ADVANCED MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS FOR SOLID-STATE LIGHTING
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Many significant materials innovations and advancements have been realized since the introduction of solid-state lighting products for general illumination applications nearly a decade ago. During this period, the worldwide lighting industry has begun an unprecedented transformation away from legacy lighting products using electric lamp technologies developed a century ago and with efficacies barely over a few lumens per watt and lasting only a few hundred hours. Today’s solid-state lighting (SSL) devices routinely exceed 100 lumens per watt for 50,000 hours but are thought to be capable of doubling these values with the advent of new advanced materials and components. This extraordinary transformation has been made possible by significant materials advancements and new components used to manufacture Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). Many scientific and engineering disciplines have contributed to this successful lighting transformation and significant energy conservation opportunity ranging from basic physics, chemistry and mathematics to applied engineering disciplines, materials science and even biology.
While these technological advancements have unquestionably helped to make the solid-state transformation in general illumination a reality, development of advanced new materials are required to harvest the full economic and performance potential of these transformative SSL technologies. Even though the rapid evolution of SSL price and performance targets has been remarkable over the past decade, the industry and DOE believe that there are still many notable opportunities for even more significant cost reductions and product performance improvements. It is expected that these improvements will be made possible with the advent of new advanced materials across the wide spectrum of SSL products and components.
The special scientific challenges associated with making these predicted advancements possible in any of the numerous materials systems that make energy efficient and cost competitive SSL products possible are of interest under this topic. The following subtask descriptions highlight a few opportunities that are of special interest to the DOE and are included in the Department’s Solid-State Lighting (SSL) program that is explained more fully on the program’s comprehensive website: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/. Many technical reports, roundtable summaries, program roadmaps and summaries of current and past SSL projects may be downloaded at this website. Through this SBIR-STTR opportunity, grant applications are sought that address these advanced materials and components challenges that will build upon sound basic scientific knowledge leading to commercially successful intellectual property or intermediate components used specifically in the evolution of energy efficient, high color quality and cost effective SSL sources. General descriptions of areas for advancement are included in the following subtopics and proposals submitted for consideration should address the subtopic that best describes the end product’s application space.
The intent of this broad topic is to encourage innovative material science development or composite solutions that will enable SSL products to perform closer to their theoretically predicted maxima in the long run and meet or exceed the aggressive device performance goals established by the DOE in the SSL R&D Plan available for download at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/. Responsive proposals must succinctly address and reference one or more of the key R&D challenges described fully in the DOE’s SSL R&D Plan. Innovations that address manufacturing technology and cost of SSL Products while simultaneously addressing the fundamental materials challenges such as those described here as they pertain to general illumination applications are welcome. Applications that primarily address other related photonic materials or devices not directly relating to general illumination in buildings such as automotive lighting, projection or displays will not be accepted. The key metric for judging responsiveness of all proposals will be the commercialization potential identified in the applications, quantitative comparison to existing materials or components used in SSL and the prospect of making a substantive, long term and positive impact on the rapidly evolving SSL industry resulting in the production of higher quality SSL products at affordable life cycle cost. Proposals that include substantial technical risk are encouraged provided that they articulate a viable plan to retire such risk during the Phase I period of performance with appropriate proof of principle demonstration. Projects that result in important intellectual property are especially valuable as they may provide future revenue in the form of royalties or cross-licenses to benefit the small business or participating technology transfer office.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Efficiency and Performance Advancements of Down Converting Materials Systems
Many constituent materials are used today in the manufacture of phosphor-converted LEDs (pcLEDs) and phosphorescent OLEDs. While these components perform very well, there are important opportunities for device performance improvement and manufacturing cost reductions. Materials systems with good thermal stability and high quantum yield are used today in commercial pcLEDs and in future products that may use quantum dots or nanocrystals instead of conventional phosphors. The SSL industry has worked with DOE to identify a number of high priority, materials oriented research and development opportunities that are summarized in the references. For example, certain fundamental photonic processes such as non-radiative loss mechanisms in nanocrystals or QDs remain incompletely understood particularly at the high temperatures and power densities of interest to SSL. Color control, lifetime and spectrum of rare earth containing phosphors used for pcLEDs remains a challenge and despite their achievement of very high quantum yields, these materials typically fail at the temperatures and power levels thought to be targets for future SSL products. Also, there are important gaps in existing down-conversion spectrum in both color and efficiency especially at certain pump wavelengths. Consequently, some pcLEDs are less comparable to more familiar legacy lighting products whose emission spectrum is more continuous. For OLEDs, certain limitations in phosphorescent emitter efficiency remain and limit power densities, color, spectrum and service lifetime. Encapsulation materials and techniques that offer a balanced relationship between optical performance, stability, shelf life and exposure to environmental conditions associated with modern building illumination requirements, continues to discourage widespread use of OLEDs. While constituent materials used in either system are relatively low, manufacturing costs are high due to the special techniques, tools and manpower requirements of each. Thus, targeted materials system improvements or new constituent component technology or intermediate products are sought that will overcome these and other down converting approaches whose price and performance targets are more fully described in the DOE SSL Program R&D Plan.
Questions – contact: James R. Brodrick, james.brodrick@hq.doe.gov
b. Optical Performance of Photonic Materials
All SSL sources have special optical performance requirements that often conflict with other requirements. Many current SSL products use carefully engineered optical solutions that produce a viable balance between high performance demands and low manufacturing cost. In many cases however, new solutions are believed to enable even better optical performance, especially for beam management at little or no additional cost. Examples include optical out coupling enhancements for both LEDs and OLEDs that are derived from imaginative or novel geometrical optical designs such as graded index matching or better index of refraction matching for polymeric encapsulating materials like silicon. Out coupling efficiency and beam management can also be effected by using novel materials or structures such as diffractive optical elements or sophisticated computer generated diffusers to improve optical performance of devices. Combining recently developed physics-based mathematical modeling with advanced computational power may also be used to develop new products or tools that allow more of the generated light from the SSL source to reach the desired illuminated surface. Specific materials development or intermediate products or components that achieve notable optical performance improvement that is both easy and inexpensive to manufacture yet whose performance can be quantitatively predicted are sought under this subtopic.
Questions – contact: James R. Brodrick, james.brodrick@hq.doe.gov
c. Emitter and Substrate Materials
The state-of-the-art emitter materials systems for both LEDs and OLEDs have become somewhat standardized especially in the extensively researched and mass-produced III-Nitride alloy system used widely today as the workhorse for SSL. Despite their good efficiency, there remains ample room for fundamental materials improvement in both technologies. In LED systems for example, a number of technical challenges such as droop and materials defects arise as a consequence of the lattice constant mismatch between the emitter film and the deposition substrate. These conspire to limit device efficiency, lifetime and yield. It is possible that alternative alloys or structures could reduce the deleterious effects at both molecular levels as well as in the resulting crystalline structures. Alternative lower cost substrate materials or structures that produce more ideal growth conditions and reduction in cost by improving reproducibility, color and yield are also possible. In OLED systems, stable, long-life blue emitters, effects of compositional impurities, environmental contamination, current introduction and electrode transparency still remain among the more fundamental materials challenges that limit achievement of maximum efficacy, extraordinary lifetime and low cost of manufacture. For OLED substrates, current distribution, electron or hole injection, and optical properties may provide opportunities to improve OLED performance in flexible designs that are more easily and cost effectively manufactured using less complex tools and for a wider variety of applications in general illumination. It is expected that by increasing our scientific knowledge and understanding of these and similar fundamental materials effects in SSL, development of new and advanced materials, components or IP that would further improve and advance market penetration of any SSL technology beyond today’s levels can be achieved and is well matched to the SBIR-STTR program.
Questions – contact: James R. Brodrick, james.brodrick@hq.doe.gov
d. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact: James R. Brodrick, james.brodrick@hq.doe.gov
References:
1. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2016, Solid-State Lighting 2016 Research & Development Plan, Prepared for Lighting Research and Development Building Technologies Program at the Department of Energy. (http://energy.gov/eere/ssl/downloads/solid-state-lighting-2016-rd-plan)
2. U.S. Department of Energy Solid-State Lighting Program, 2015, DOE Solid-State Lighting Program Overview Brochure, Modest Investments, Extraordinary Impacts. (http://energy.gov/eere/ssl/downloads/solid-state-lighting-program-overview-brochure)
3. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 2014, DOE Joint Solid-State Lighting Roundtables on Science Challenges, p.20. (http://energy.gov/eere/ssl/downloads/doe-joint-solid-state-lighting-roundtables-science-challenges)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
12. INSTRUMENTATION FOR ADVANCED CHEMICAL IMAGING
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The Department of Energy seeks to advance chemical imaging technologies that facilitate fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels. The Department is particularly interested in forefront advances in imaging techniques that combine molecular-scale spatial resolution and ultrafast temporal resolution to explore energy flow, molecular dynamics, breakage, or formation of chemical bonds, or conformational changes in nanoscale systems.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. High Spatial Resolution Ultrafast Spectroscopy
Chemical information associated with molecular-scale processes is often available from optical spectroscopies involving interactions with electromagnetic radiation ranging from the infrared spectrum to x-rays. Ultrafast laser technologies can provide temporally resolved chemical information via optical spectroscopy or laser-assisted mass sampling techniques. These approaches provide time resolution ranging from the breakage or formation of chemical bonds to conformational changes in nanoscale systems but generally lack the simultaneous spatial resolution required to analyze individual molecules. Grant applications are sought that make significant advancements in spatial resolution towards the molecular scale for ultrafast spectroscopic imaging instrumentation available to the research scientist. The nature of the advancement may span a range of approaches including sub-diffraction limit illumination or detection, selective sampling, and coherent or holographic signal analysis.
Questions – Contact: James Rustad, James.Rustad@Science.doe.gov
b. Time-Resolved Chemical Information from Hybrid Probe Microscopies
Probe microscopy instruments (including AFM and STM) have been developed that offer spatial resolution of molecules and even chemical bonds. While probe-based measurements alone do not typically offer the desired chemical information on molecular timescales, methods that take advantage of electromagnetic interactions or sampling with probe tips have been demonstrated. Grant applications are sought that would make available to scientists new hybrid probe instrumentation with significant advancements in chemical and temporal resolution towards that required for molecular scale chemical interactions. The nature of the advancement may span a range of approaches and probe techniques, from tip-enhanced or plasmonic enhancement of electromagnetic spectroscopies to probe-induced sample interactions that localize spectroscopic methods to the molecular scale.
Questions – Contact: James Rustad, James.Rustad@Science.doe.gov
c. Other
In addition to the specific subtopics listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact: James Rustad, James.Rustad@Science.doe.gov
References:
1. U.S. Department of Energy, 2006, Office of Science Notice DE-FG01-05ER05-30, Basic Research for Chemical Imaging, BES Chemical Imaging Research Solicitation. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/grants/pdf/foas/2005/DE-FG01-05ER05-30.pdf).
2. National Research Council, 2006, Visualizing Chemistry, The Progress and Promise of Advanced Chemical Imaging, National Academies Press. (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11663).
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
13. SOFTWARE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR WEB-ENABLED CHEMICAL-PHYSICS SIMULATIONS
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), within the DOE’s Office of Science, seeks to advance the standards for predictive computational modeling in chemical physics, which is a key for research conducted by researchers in universities, laboratories and industry.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Webware and Depot for Chemical-Physics Simulations and Data
The Department of Energy seeks to speed delivery of new molecular and material systems for clean energy by enabling prediction of functionalities and processes of such systems prior to synthesis. Such computational predictive capabilities are also of importance to atomic and molecular physics, chemistry and chemical biology, coherent control of chemical reactions, materials sciences, magnetic- and electric-field phenomena, optics, and laser engineering. Recent advances in theory, algorithms, and hardware in materials and chemical sciences are yet to be widely available to the majority of scientifically and technically capable communities in the United States, especially those in the commercial sector. This topic seeks to reverse this situation and contribute to one goal of the Materials Genome Initiative which includes enhancing the rate of breakthroughs in complex materials chemistry and materials design. Creation of national web-enabled infrastructure for predictive theory and modeling is needed to facilitate the coordination and sharing of information and data, scalable codes, and for their implementation on or transfer to new architectures. In addition, a web-based infrastructure is needed to impose universal standards for data inputs and outputs in the multitude of codes and methodologies or to capitalize upon semantic strategies for bypassing the need for universal standards altogether. Industrial needs that are dependent on rapid insertion of capabilities developed by basic energy scientists include:
- Commercially viable transitioning and/or sustainably availing of validated computational approaches that span vast differences in time and length scales.
- Commercially viable transitioning and/or sustainably availing of robust and sustainable computational infrastructure, including software and applications for chemical modeling and simulation.
Resulting infrastructure should provide economically feasible means that allow networks consisting of specialized simulation groups to be linked with researchers in academia, industry, and government.
Grant applications are sought to develop and improve web-based tools for access to predictive theory and modeling.
Questions – Contact: Mark Pederson, mark.pederson@science.doe.gov
b. Other
In addition to the specific subtopic listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – Contact: Mark Pederson, mark.pederson@science.doe.gov
References:
1. Executive Office of The President National Science and Technology Council, 2011, Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness, p. 18. (www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/materials_genome_initiative-final.pdf)
2. Galli, G., and Dunning, T., U.S. Department of Energy, 2009, Discovery in Basic Energy Sciences: The Role of Computing at the Extreme Scale, Scientific Grand Challenges, p. 117. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/ascr/pdf/program-documents/docs/BES_exascale_report.pdf)
3. Crabtree, G., Glotzer, S., McCurdy, B., U.S. Department of Energy, 2010, Computational Materials Sciences and Chemistry: Accelerating Discovery and Innovation through Simulation-Based Engineering and Science, Report of the Department of Energy Workshop, p. 32. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/pdf/reports/files/Computational_Materials_Science_and_Chemistry_rpt.pdf)
4. U.S. Department of Energy, 2011, A Workshop to Identify Research Needs and Impacts in Predictive Simulation of Internal Combustion Engines (PreSICE), Sponsored by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science and the Vehicle Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, p. 54. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/pdf/reports/files/PreSICE_rpt.pdf)
5. U.S Department of Energy, 2010, Basic Research Needs for Carbon Capture: Beyond 2020, Report based on SC/FE Workshop, p. 196. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/pdf/reports/files/Basic_Research_Needs_for_Carbon_Capture_rpt.pdf)
Subcommittee on Theory and Computation of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of Energy, 2005, Opportunities for Discovery: Theory and Computation in Basic Energy Sciences, Report based on BESAC Deliberations. (http://science.energy.gov/~/media/bes/besac/pdf/Theory-and-Computation_rpt.pdf
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
14. BIOFUELS AND BIOPRODUCT PRECURSORS FROM WET ORGANIC WASTE STREAMS
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Organic waste streams contain substantial amounts of chemical energy. Resource streams including food and beverage wastewaters, municipal wastewater, livestock manure slurries, the non-recyclable fraction of municipal solid waste, and other industrial food wastes are biogenic in origin. Thus, energy produced from them can be considered renewable, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has done in granting eligibility to fuels produced from these sources for cellulosic Renewable Identification Numbers [1]. While some of the available energy is currently being captured, a significant amount remains untapped [2-4]. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in processes to produce biofuels and bioproduct precursors from these wet organic feedstocks. One particular focus is to extend the idea of Integrated Biorefineries (IBRs) to wet organic waste streams [5], in support of burgeoning industry interest in “energy-positive water resource recovery” facilities, which produce clean water, energy, and nutrients from municipal wastewaters [6,7]. A 2015 DOE workshop also elicited input on the potential of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) and microbial electrochemical cells (MxCs) to contribute to this aim, particularly at the distributed scales at which these feedstocks occur [8]. Finally, a 2014 DOE waste-to-energy workshop yielded participant recommendations to target both alternative anaerobic digestion reactor designs, and options to bypass biogas production in converting wet organic feedstocks to biofuels and bioproducts [9]. This topic is in direct response to those and other stakeholder inputs. While some specifics vary by subtopic, the following criteria will apply to all applications:
- Proposed systems must utilize wet organic waste streams as the primary feedstock to produce fuels. Wet waste streams are defined in the Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Year Program Plan [10]. For purposes of this Small Business Innovation Research topic, biogas is specifically excluded as a feedstock. - By Phase II, and preferably within Phase I, proposed projects should employ actual (rather than model or synthetic) waste streams as feedstocks.
- Successful applications will propose to develop and run pilot systems by the end of Phase II, at a relevant scale (e.g., 100–1,000 L reactor volume).
- Applications must address the energy efficiency of the system. Successful applications will minimize the ratio of required energy inputs to the energy potential of proposed outputs.
- Carbon efficiency is another important metric. Applications will be evaluated on their probability of maximizing utilization of the biogenic carbon available in relevant resource streams.
- Projects that contribute to and/or leverage the development of fundamental scientific knowledge in areas, including, but not limited to, interspecies electron transfer, improved understanding of heterogeneous microbial and archeal communities, and advances in toolkit development in terms of proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and other related areas are of particular interest.
- End products should include at least either three carbon molecules, or at least two carbon molecules with one or more double bonds. Acetylene is specifically excluded.
- Proposals that utilize algae, even if grown on wastewater, and dry waste streams, such as corn stover, or the herbaceous and woody fractions of municipal solid waste, will be considered non-responsive. - Feedstocks that could be processed to inputs for human or animal food or feed products, including waste glycerol from biodiesel processes, are specifically excluded.
- Transesterification of yellow grease to produce biodiesel is also specifically excluded. Brown grease, however, is an acceptable feedstock.
- In all cases, DOE is interested in projects that present the possibility of producing commercially relevant and economically competitive higher hydrocarbons from biogenic sources to displace petroleum. Examples include, but are by no means limited to, butanol, 1, 4-butanediol, and mediumchain fatty acids, such as succinic, muconic, and lactic acids. Proposals that strive to complete the 40 conversion of relevant feedstocks to jet or diesel fuels by the end of phase II are particularly encouraged.
- Hydrogen, ethanol, and methanol are not allowed as products, but are acceptable as intermediates, if the proposal is clear how the intermediates will be incorporated into processes to produce biofuels or bioproduct precursors by the completion of Phase II.
- Applications that propose to solely produce biopower will be considered non-responsive.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) and Microbial Electrochemical Cells (MxCs) as Enablers for Wastewater Integrated Biorefineries (IBRs)
AnMBRs have the potential to extend the economic viability of anaerobic digestion to smaller scales, which would enable expanded deployment of distributed energy recovery from relevant waste streams [11-13]. MxCs hold forth the possibility of producing biofuels and bioproduct precursors from waste feedstocks [8, 14, 15]. Combinations of the two could simultaneously produce petroleum replacements, clean water, and valuable nutrients, a meaningful extension of the notion of IBRs that fits well with larger visions of future Bioeconomies This subtopic seeks applications that produce biofuels and bioproducts from wet organic feedstocks using combinations of MxCs and AnMBRs [13, 16, 17]. Proposals that effectively address the challenge of energyefficient fouling reduction in AnMBRs are especially welcomed, as are applications that set forth a credible path for scaling of MxCs to industrial relevance. Proposals may utilize either MxCs or AnMBRs alone, but all applications must demonstrate positive energy balances, as detailed above. Applications that include the production of clean water as a valuable byproduct will also be viewed favorably.
Questions – contact: Dan Fishman, daniel.fishman@ee.doe.gov
b. Production of Biofuels and Bioproduct Precursors via Arrested Methanogenesis
One of the clearest participant messages from the 2014 Waste-to-Energy workshop was that anaerobic digestion that produces biogas might not be the most cost-effective pathway to liquid fuels [9]. In response to this input, the DOE seeks alternatives to the methanogenesis stage of anaerobic digestion. Production of biofuels and bioproduct precursors from volatile fatty acids is one promising option, and other possibilities will be entertained [18]. Applications should address specific mechanisms to inhibit methanogenesis, measures to minimize inhibition of valuable product production, and strategies to convert the products of the earlier stages of anaerobic digestion into biofuels and bioproduct precursors [19-22]. Again, applications that propose to complete conversion of relevant feedstocks to jet or diesel fuels by the end of phase II are particularly encouraged.
Questions – contact: Dan Fishman, daniel.fishman@ee.doe.gov
c. Other
In addition to the specific subtopic listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Tina Kaarsberg, Tina.Kaarsberg@ee.doe.gov
References: Subtopic a:
1. Alibardi, L., Cossu, R., Saleem, M., and Spagni, A., 2014, Development and Permeability of a Dynamic Membrane for Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment, Bioresource Technology, Vol. 161, p. 236-244. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24709537)
2. Andalib, M., Elbeshbishy, E., Mustafa, N., Hafez, H., et al., 2014, Performance of an Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Bioreactor (AnFBR) for Digestion of Primary Municipal Wastewater Treatment Biosolids and Bioethanol Thin Stillage, Renewable Energy, Vol. 71, p. 276-285. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263050002_Performance_of_an_anaerobic_fluidized_bed_bioreactor_AnFBR_for_digestion_of_primary_municipal_wastewater_treatment_biosolids_and_bioet hanol_thin_stillage)
3. Li, J., Ge, Z., and He, Z., 2014, A Fluidized Bed Membrane Bioelectrochemical Reactor for Energyefficient Wastewater Treatment, Bioresource Technology, Vol. 167, p. 310-315. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24997373)
4. Logan, B.E., and Rabaey, K., 2012, Conversion of Wastes into Bioelectricity and Chemicals by Using Microbial Electrochemical Technologies, Science, Vol. 337, Issue 6095, p. 686-690. (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/337/6095/686)
5. Mohan, S.V., Velvizhi, G., Modestra, J.A., and Srikanth, S., 2014, Microbial Fuel Cell: Critical Factors Regulating Bio-catalyzed Electrochemical Process and Recent Advancements, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 40, p.779-797. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264977622_Microbial_fuel_cell_Critical_factors_regulatin g_bio-catalyzed_electrochemical_process_and_recent_advancements)
6. Ren, L., Ahn, Y., and Logan, B.E., 2014, A Two-Stage Microbial Fuel Cell and Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Membrane Bioreactor (MFC-AFMBR) System for Effective Domestic Wastewater Treatment, Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 48, Issue 7, p. 4199-4206. (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es500737m?src=recsys&)
7. Tian, Y, Ji, C, Wang, K and Le-Clech, P., 2014, Assessment of an Anaerobic Membrane Bioelectrochemical Reactor (AnMBER) for Wastewater Treatment and Energy Recovery, Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 450, p242-248. (http://www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/publications/2014- Katuri-etal-ES&T.pdf)
References: Subtopic b:
1. Lee, W.S., Chua, A.S.M., Yeoh, H.K., and Ngoh, G.C., 2014, A Review of the Production and Applications of Waste-derived Volatile Fatty Acids, Chemical Engineering Journal, Vol. 235, p. 83-99. (http://repository.um.edu.my/32642/1/2014_Lee_VFA_production_and_application_review.pdf)
2. Vajpeyi, S and Chandran, K., 2015, Microbial Conversion of Synthetic and Food Waste-derived Volatile Fatty Acids to Lipids, Bioresource Technology, Vol. 188, p. 49-55. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25697838)
3. Yun, J.H., Sawant, S.S., and Kim, B.S., Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Ralstonia Eutropha from Volatile Fatty Acids, Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 30, Issue 12, p. 2223-2227. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11814-013-0190-9)
4. Gaeta-Bernardi, A and Parente, V., 2016, Organic Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as Feedstock for Biodiesel Production: A Financial Feasibility Analysis, Renewable Energy, Vol. 86, p. 1422-1432. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148115302251)
5. Tice, R.C., and Kim, Y., 2014, Methanogenesis Control by Electrolytic Oxygen Production in Microbial Electrolysis Cells, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 39, Issue 7, p. 3079-3086. (http://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/civil/facultypages/Tice-Kim-2014-IJHE.pdf)
References: All Subtopics:
1. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014, EPA. Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: RFS Pathways II, and Technical Amendments to the RFS Standards and E15 Misfueling Mitigation Requirements Federal Register, 2014; Vol. 79, Issue 138, p. 42128-42167. (https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015- 08/documents/2014-16413.pdf)
2. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures. (http://www.epa.gov/waste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/2012_msw_fs.pdf)
3. Shen, Y., Linville, J.L., Urgun-Demirtas, M., et al., 2015, An Overview of Biogas Production and Utilization at Full-scale Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) in the United States: Challenges and opportunities towards energy-neutral WWTPs, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 50, p. 346-362. (https://epic.uchicago.edu/research/publications/overview-biogas-production-andutilization-full-scale-wastewater-treatment)
4. WERF, 2014, Utilities of the Future Energy Findings, Final Report, Water Environment Research Federation, Alexandria, VA, p. 86. (https://www.americanbiogascouncil.org/pdf/waterUtilitiesOfTheFuture.pdf)
5. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2015, Integrated Biorefineries. (http://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/integrated-biorefineries)
6. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2015, Energy Positive Water Resource Recovery Workshop Report, April 28-29, p.58. (http://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/energy-positive-water-resource-recovery-workshop-report)
7. Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WERF), 2011, Energy Production and Efficiency Research - The Roadmap to Net-Zero Energy, WER Foundation, Alexandria, p. 8. (https://www.werf.org/CMDownload.aspx?ContentKey=cf3ed15a-e53b-44a3)
8. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2015, Hydrogen, Hydrocarbons, and Bioproduct Precursors from Wastewaters Workshop. (http://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-hydrocarbons-and-bioproduct-precursors-wastewatersworkshop)
9. Energetics Incorporated, 2015, Waste-to-Energy Workshop Summary, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, p. 53. (http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/08/f25/beto_wte_workshop_report.pdf)
10. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2015, Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Year Program Plan: March 2015 Update, p. 244. (http://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/downloads/bioenergy-technologies-office-multi-yearprogram-plan-march-2015-update)
Please Note that a Letter of Intent is due Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Program Area Overview
OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) supports fundamental research to understand, predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The results of BES-supported research are routinely published in the open literature.
A key function of the program is to plan, construct, and operate premier scientific user facilities for the development of novel nanomaterials and for materials and chemical characterization through x-ray and neutron scattering; the former is accomplished through five Nanoscale Science Research Centers and the latter is accomplished through the world's largest suite of light source and neutron scattering facilities. These national resources are available free of charge to all researchers based on the quality and importance of proposed nonproprietary experiments.
A major objective of the BES program is to promote the transfer of the results of our basic research to advance and create technologies important to Department of Energy (DOE) missions in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, the mitigation of the adverse impacts of energy production and use, and future nuclear energy sources. The following set of technical topics represents one important mechanism by which the BES program augments its system of university and laboratory research programs and integrates basic science, applied research, and development activities within the DOE.
For additional information regarding the Office of Basic Energy Sciences priorities, click here.
15. MEMBRANES AND MATERIALS FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Maximum Phase I Award Amount: $150,000 | Maximum Phase II Award Amount: $1,000,000 |
Accepting SBIR Applications: YES | Accepting STTR Applications: YES |
Separation technologies recover, isolate, and purify products in virtually every industrial process. Using membranes rather than conventional energy intensive technologies for separations could dramatically reduce energy use and costs in key industrial processes [1]. Separation processes represent 40 to 70 percent of both capital and operating costs in industry. They also account for 45 percent of all the process energy used by the chemical and petroleum refining industries every year. In response, the Department of Energy supports the development of high-risk, innovative membrane separation technologies and related materials. Many barriers must be overcome before membrane technology becomes widely adopted. Technical barriers include fouling, instability, low flux, low separation factors, and poor durability. Advancements are needed that will lead to new generations of organic, inorganic, and ceramic membranes. These membranes require greater thermal and chemical stability, greater reliability, improved fouling and corrosion resistance, and higher selectivity leading to better performance in existing industrial applications, as well as opportunities for new applications. Materials for energy efficiency include both organic and inorganic types. Their applications can be for supporting structures, such as durable sealing materials to increase reliability of hydrogen storage or for electronics substrates. They also include materials that are key to highly pure hydrogen.
Grant applications are sought in the following subtopics:
a. Atomically Precise Membranes
This subtopic is focused on the advancement of manufacturing processes that are able to produce atomically precise membranes with exceptional selectivity for separations. Atomically precise is defined as: materials, structures, devices, and finished goods produced in a manner such that every atom is at its specified location relative to the other atoms, and in which there are no defects, missing atoms, extra atoms, or incorrect (impurity) atoms. Spiroligomers and engineered proteins are examples of atomically precise structures. Polymers are not; although the individual molecules in a conventional polymer are atomically precise, their relative positions are not atomically precise; therefore, conventional polymers are not considered to be atomically precise. We seek to promote the development of a new class of strong, thin, and atomically precise membrane materials for separations that provide a 10X permeance improvement over state-of-the-art polymer membranes. They would have thicknesses generally below 10 nm for high permeance, incorporate atomically precise molecular pores for 100% selectivity, be atomically flat to prevent fouling, and heavily cross-linked for environmental stability. These membranes offer the potential to provide game-changing process energy advances. From a strategic perspective, the development of gram-scale and kilogram-scale atomically precise manufacturing processes would bring a new capability to produce materials near their theoretical strength limits—more than an order of magnitude beyond that of current state of the art material production methods.
The application space of special interest includes, but is not restricted to, chemical separations, desalination, and gas separations. Atomically precise membranes that have channels for purposes other than molecular, atomic, or ion transport will also be considered. In desalination, a rate increase of 2-3 orders of magnitude over reverse osmosis is projected for a system with not only controlled pore size but also engineered pore edge composition [1]. In principle, a series of membranes of sufficient selectivity could separate air into its raw components of N2, O2, Ar, CO2, Ne, He, etc. for significant energy savings in a wide range of cryogenic, chemical, and combustion processes [2, 3] and for greenhouse gas reduction.
We seek grant applications to advance scalable technologies that provide order-of-magnitude increments over the performance of current industrial membrane applications. The focus of the proposal must be on methods to produce atomically precise membranes for near 100% selectivity; or in the case of transport that is non-molecular in nature, 2X improvement or better in transport property metric over the comparative state-of-the-art. Consideration must be given to addressing the issues of fouling, stability, scalability, and cost. The choice of membrane material should be appropriate to the target separation or transport in a commercial setting. Target separations with high energy impact are preferred, that result in a minimum of 50% energy savings over competitive state of the art materials. Paper or computation-only studies do not qualify for this subtopic. We require the synthesis and testing of candidate materials. This can include the demonstration of overcoming a key technical barrier to synthesis or scale up. The proposal should include a plan for experimental measurements and supporting calculations to show that costcompetitive energy savings can be achieved with practical economies of scale. The proposal should provide a path to scale up in potential Phase II follow on work.
Questions – contact: David Forrest, david.forrest@hq.doe.gov
b. Wide Bandgap Semiconductors
Gallium Nitride (GaN) wafers of 30-60 micrometers thickness and of various dopant compositions are used in a wide variety of applications, such as the amplifier in power electronics and as the light amplifier in “white” light LEDs and UV lasers (eliminating the need for sum-frequency conversion). The GaN wafers are difficult to prepare, however, as it is difficult to prepare bulk GaN crystals and obtain wafers, and it is difficult to grow GaN wafers directly. A near commercial process developed in China applies a chemical vapor deposited layer of GaN to a sapphire or gallium arsenide substrate and physically removes the GaN wafer from the substrate. The process is difficult and time consuming, and the resulting GaN wafers require chemical and mechanical polishing for epitaxially-ready GaN wafers. This subtopic solicits new methods of GaN wafer production that will translate to a high production commercial wafer process. The innovation in production process is expected to produce GaN wafers that require minimal chemical and mechanical polishing for epitaxially-ready GaN wafers for incorporation in a device. Small businesses are encouraged to collaborate with industry, including manufacturers, suppliers, and end users, to commercialize successful new technology.
Questions – contact: Brian Valentine, Brian.Valentine@ee.doe.gov
c. Innovative Approaches Toward Discovery and Development of Novel, Durable Supports for LowPlatinum Group Metal (PGM) Catalysts for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells
Catalyst support composition and structure changes are known to affect electrode performance and durability. This subtopic seeks approaches that address support performance and chemical and structural stability by development of novel carbon-based or non-carbon support compositions and/or structures. The focus of this subtopic is novel catalyst support research with the potential to improve catalyst performance and durability, especially under transient operating conditions, while decreasing cost. DOE is specifically seeking research and development (R&D) on novel supports for low-PGM catalysts.
Concepts should possess appropriate properties such as high surface area, high protonic/electronic conductivities, and facile reactant/product transport. Catalyst deposition and stable anchoring of the catalyst on the support should be discussed. Possible effects of the support on the catalytic activity through modified dispersion or through catalyst-support interactions should be described. Applicants should clearly state the status of their current catalyst support technology as it relates to the state-of-theart and provide sufficient justification that the approach has the potential to meet or exceed relevant DOE targets, including performance at high power density in air, durability, and cost [1].
The work plan should include a discussion of the catalytic activity testing required to show viability, including rotating disk electrode (RDE) and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) testing, and should demonstrate a pathway toward scientific advancement, which may include development of a better understanding of the catalyst-support interaction, and structural degradation, leading to novel strategies to extend electrode durability.
Questions – contact: Bahman Habibzadeh, bahman.habibzadeh@ee.doe.gov, or Donna Ho, donna.ho@ee.doe.gov
d. Metal Hydride Materials for Compression
Reversible metal hydride materials have great potential to improve the reliability of compressors at hydrogen refueling stations at reasonable cost, but are challenged by efficiency. To achieve the pressures of interest at refueling stations (875 bar), metal hydrides typically require heating well above 100°C as well as substantial cooling to temperatures ranging from 20 to -10°C. Few materials are capable of such pressures, and many are significantly impacted by hysteresis effects that diminish their performance over time. Even at pressures below 200 bar, the efficiency of metal hydride compression is significantly lower than that of mechanical compression.
Research is needed in the discovery of new metal hydride materials for high-pressure compression. Combinatorial approaches to materials discovery have been extremely productive in the study of metal hydrides for hydrogen storage applications. Such approaches have included molecular modeling with new force fields, high throughput synthesis apparatuses, and novel high throughput screening techniques with conventional tools. Phase I proposals are sought to develop a technique that will enable high throughput discovery of metal hydrides for high-pressure hydrogen compression. This includes both high throughput combinatorial synthesis and high throughput characterization. High throughput characterization techniques designed in Phase I should be capable of predicting or evaluating materials’ pressurecomposition-temperature (PCT) curves, and support the development of predictive models. Combinatorial synthesis techniques should target a material class with previously demonstrated potential. Follow on Phase II funding would involve the use of the Phase I tool to screen and down select materials of interest, along with the synthesis and experimental characterization of down-selected materials. Materials of 46 interest are those capable of 875 bar discharge, scale-up to at least 10 kg-H2/day, and cycle lives of at least 100,000 cycles. The suction pressure can be defined by the applicant based on the integration of the metal hydride with the station. If the metal hydride is the sole compressor, it should be capable of receiving a suction pressure of 100 bar. If the metal hydride is a follow-on stage to a mechanical stage of compression, the applicant should describe the inlet temperature and pressure for which the hydride material is being designed.
Questions – contact: Neha Rustagi, neha.rustagi@ee.doe.gov
e. Other
In addition to the specific subtopic listed above, the Department invites grant applications in other areas that fall within the scope of the topic description above.
Questions – contact: Tina Kaarsberg, Tina.Kaarsberg@ee.doe.gov
References: Subtopic a: