Award Data

Solar and wind energy are the most likely candidates to meet our future energy needs based on the available capacity. The problem is that these renewable sources are not consistently accessible, and thus storage must be an integral part of the energy solution. Hydrogen generation via proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis is one attractive solution, but the life cycle cost of the elec ...

In a two-beam accelerator, a high-current drive beam imparts energy to a low current test beam by generating microwave power that flows from one beam to the other. The largest project of this sort is CLIC, located at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, that is being designed for operation at an electron-positron center-ofmass energy as high as 3 TeV. Technical complexity and low efficiency characterize t ...

Thermionic cathodes are in use in an overwhelming majority of vacuum electronics devices, including high-power RF sources used to drive particle accelerators. These cathodes do not operate reliably or have long lifetime if their current density exceeds 5-10 Amperes/cm2. Artificial diamond and related materials, produced by chemical vapor deposition, appear to be an attractive alternative, which co ...

Research on advanced materials is hampered by difficulty in accessing short-lived metastable states that play a crucial role in determining the material & apos;s ultimate structure, properties and performance. In combination with advanced sample environments, DOEs high flux neutron sources such as SNS provide an opportunity to revolutionize advanced materials research by helping to understand how ...

With the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, hydrogen-based energy is becoming increasingly significant. Production, purification and compression of hydrogen represent key technical challenges. Hydrogen is most commonly produced from steam methane reformers, by gasification or as a refining or chemical system off-gas. All of these production systems require purification and compression steps and ...

The object of the proposed work is to develop better processes for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 into a high value chemical in a growing market. CO2 is one of the key causes of global warming. If we can recycle CO2 back into useful products, than the costs of meeting the Nations global warming goals will be substantially reduced. Presently, the use of CO2 feedstocks is limited by the avai ...

Muon beam ionization cooling is a key element in the design of next-generation low-emittance and high-luminosity muon colliders. New approaches in that cooling could greatly improve the performance and capabilities of these colliders. To obtain low-emittance muon beams, a new concept is being developed that combines ionization cooling in a Helical Cooling Channel (HCC) with parametric resonances. ...

High resolution X-ray microscopy using synchrotron radiation is a key scientific technique in materials research that has provided insight into the atomic structure of bulk materials, surfaces, interfaces, nanoparticles, nanostructures, and nanodomains. Such detailed understanding into the characterization and behavior of matter allows scientists and engineers to design materials with longer fatig ...

Establishing a secure domestic supply of clean energy has emerged as an existential challenge facing the US, given geopolitical threats to global energy supplies and serious risks arising from climate change. Utility-scale wind turbine technology has grown rapidly to supply 2% of US electricity needs, but many regions are not suitable for large wind turbines. Distributed generation of wind energy ...

Increasing the steam temperature of supercritical boilers from 1,000F to 1,400F can raise the operating efficiency of next-generation AUSC coal-fired power plants from about 32% to about 42% and address compelling environmental issues, while also enhancing national security, domestic employment, economic stability, balance of trade and U.S. GDP through increased use of domestic coal. Low Cr conten ...