Award Data

There is significant opportunity for energy efficiency improvements in the industrial and manufacturing sectors in the U.S., both from the production and consumption perspective. Higher energy density battery materials will play a role in both, through improved storage of electricity from renewable sources, the enabling of electric vehicles, and through the development of longer lasting, higher po ...

Eighty-five percent of America

Producing renewable fuels from algae does not use agricultural lands and could make the US energy-independent while drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, biomass processing steps are currently too energy-intensive and cost-prohibitive.We are exploring new chemistry to obtain an energy- and cost-efficient way to dry algae biomass and extract energetic substrates for conversion int ...

For applications in DoD satellite systems, devices based on novel nanomaterials offer significant advantages over traditional technologies in terms of light-weight and efficiency. Examples of such novel devices include quantum dot (QD) based solar cells, photodetectors, radars and sensors. However, the response of these devices to radiation effects is not well understood, and radiation effects mod ...

Future high-performance integrated circuits in DoD satellite systems will require non-planar nano-technology devices, such as MultiGate Field Effect Transistors (MuGFET) or FinFET, which can decrease pattern area of logic circuits below 50% of the conventional planar technologies. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors predicts that such devices will be the cornerstone of sub-32nm ...

The use of WMDs and IEDs by covert insurgents and terrorists poses a significant risk to U.S. military forces and civilians. The capability to execute rapid forensic DNA analysis to identify individuals who manufactured and transported these threatening devices is of paramount importance to military mission, homeland security and civilian safety. Current DNA forensic analyses are time-consuming, b ...

Sample preparation has been recognized as the single most important challenge to be faced in the development of detect-to-warn (DTW) systems. Available commercial sample preparation technologies are expensive, slow, and require trained laboratory technicians and sophisticated laboratory equipment for operation. Addressing this need, we propose to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a general purpos ...

This Phase I SBIR project will develop Quantum Mechanics (QM)-based reactive interatomic potentials for computer-aided development of novel materials for advanced fossil energy systems such as slagging gasifier and ultrasupercritical steam plant. Currently, the development of novel materials remains slow because it is driven by trial-and-error experimental approach. Atomistic Molecular Dynamic ( ...

The United States

The U.S. Department of Energy is developing technologies to expand and improve the U.S.