Award Data

One key advantage of superconducting electron accelerators is their ability to operate at high duty cycle and therefore at very high average beam powers. In high-current operation, small transverse emittances are needed to keep the beam losses low, particularly the losses to cryogenically-cooled surfaces. To fulfill these requirements, a new electron source capable of extremely high current and br ...

A recent report of the 25-member Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) recommends funding cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments under all budget scenarios, specifically, the next-generation ground-based CMB experimental program whose aim is to provide definitive measurements of the early universe. For this program, large focal plane arrays with ~100,000 detectors and associate ...

Develop and demonstrate a Silicon/graphene composite anode material (XG SiG™) that delivers improved capacity retention during full Lithium-ion battery charge and discharge cycling. XG SiG™ delivers significantly increased capacity (up to 2000 mAh/g) compared with incumbent carbon anodes (approximately 370 mAh/g) enabling the high cell gravimetric and volumetric energy densities (> 300 Wh/kg a ...

Stratus and stratocumulus clouds with low drop concentration and large drop diameter are scientifically very important, because this is the regime in which drizzle drops are formed. The formation of drizzle can lead to a rapid modification of the cloud droplet size distribution, which in turn has a strong influence on the cloud's radiative properties. Because stratus and stratocumulus clouds cover ...

Economically viable and market-driven methods are needed for value-added and large-volume use of the CO2 content of coal combustion emissions in industrial processes. At the same time, there are growing concerns with the environmental and health impacts of billions of tons of the coal combustion ashes that have been impounded and landfilled in the vicinity of coal-burning power plants over the pas ...

Next generation advances in subsurface technologies will enable access to large amounts of clean, renewable geothermal energy, as well as safer development of domestic natural gas supplies. The subsurface also provides hundreds of years of safe storage capacity for carbon dioxide (CO2) and opportunities for environmentally responsible management and disposal of hazardous materials and other energy ...

Significant improvements in the technology to monitor greenhouse gases are required. In particular there is need to be able to simultaneously monitor both small (~m) and large area sites (~ 100km) and in rugged/inaccessible terrain. For example, sensitive, accurate, and real-time monitoring of hydrobiogeochemical processes are needed in subsurface environments, including soils, the rhizosphere, se ...

Biorefineries convert biomass into useful intermediates such as bioethanol for fuels, energy, and chemicals. For bioethanol to be used as fuel, it needs to be dehydrated. Pervaporation separation has combined advantages of reverse osmosis and membrane gas separation and can reduce energy use by 60-80% compared to conventional technologies. Nanoporous zeolite membranes have superior pervaporation p ...

Real-time, in-situ isotopic measurements of vadose-zone components are valuable within a multitude of disciplines to elucidate transport, phase transfer, and biogeochemical transformation processes in both natural and contaminated environments. Studies related to climate change, contaminant biodegradation and remediation, underground gas storage and disposal monitoring, and land management all ben ...

International demand for wood has grown steadily in the past few decades due to the growth in the world’s population and is expected to continue to grow rapidly as policies promoting greater use of renewable energy are adopted globally. Providing over 9% of the global primary energy supply, wood energy is as important as other renewable energy sources. Due to wood’s potential for large-scale c ...