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Ceramic matrix SiC-SiC composites are currently the leading candidate for Generation IV nuclear reactor fuel cladding and other structural components, due to their excellent thermal and chemical stability under extreme conditions. However, robustly joining SiC structures when exposed to such harsh operating conditions still presents a major roadblock. A novel bonding joint compound leveraging grap ...

Cherenkov radiation, caused by fast charged particles in a transparent medium, is widely used for charged particle identification. To date, gaseous, liquid, and solid radiators have been used as sources of Cherenkov radiation. Aerogels with low refractive index and high light transmittance, are highly desirable for Cherenkov detectors. Development and testing of aerogels with a refractive index as ...

The Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences has identified a need for new proton conducting membranes for solar fuel generator applications. Specifically, development of block copolymers with good proton conductivity at ambient temperatures and low gas diffusion and ionic transports are needed. There are currently no commercially available proton conducting membranes which possess ...

Novel discoveries are going to prove essential for attaining a significant percentage of oil output rather than solely depending on existing fields to keep up with the energy demanding of the United States. As one of the critical sectors of Exploration and Production, seismic surveys are used to produce detailed images of local geology to determine the location and size of possible oil and gas res ...

Commercial-scale geothermal reservoirs are thousands of feet below the Earth’s surface, so scientists rely on indirect measurements to reconstruct 3D subsurface reservoir maps from seismic vibrations, electromagnetic waves, or gravity measurements. Geothermal operators typically use electromagnetic or gravity surveys, but seismic surveys are preferable because they enable higher-resolution 3D su ...

Cost-effective and power-efficient radiation tolerant semiconductors are needed in various harsh environments, such as particle detectors, communication satellites, high-altitude avionics and medical imagining equipment. These include amplifiers, voltage regulators, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital logic circuitry. However, radiation-tolerant high-speed ADCs currently cost more than ...

There are an estimated 1.7 million oil and gas wells in the United States, 771,000 of these are considered marginal producers. Combined they make up 11.3% of the US oil production and 8.3% of the US gas production. In that last 10 years, over 131,000 of these oil wells and 48,000 gas wells have been plugged and abandoned. Most of these wells suffer from paraffin plugging problems. The only way to ...

In 2011, the US Department of Energy (DOE) launched the SunShot Initiative with the goal of making solar electricity cost-competitive with conventional power generation by 2020. Since 2011, research funded by the DOE has resulted in substantial progress toward meeting the aggressive SunShot performance and cost targets, but significant technical hurdles remain. In particular, the Gen3 CSP Roadmap ...

Geothermal brines used in power generation can be a potential source of critical elements, such as lithium. However, current technological approaches cannot achieve high selectivity of target elements available in trace concentrations from a complex geothermal brine matrix with high concentration of non-desirable mineral content. StratoFire and Southern Research propose to develop and optimize an ...

The DOE has identified a need for thin and durable proton conducting membranes that offer enhanced energy efficiency to power zero emission vehicles. Specifically, a cost effective hydrocarbon-based alternative to expensive commercial perfluorosulfonic acid ionomers are sought. Current hydrocarbon membranes do not meet the performance or durability needed in the conditions for transportation fuel ...