Award Data

Economically viable photovoltaic (PV) technology would allow the US to replace some fraction of its current, CO2-producing electrical generating capacity with emissions-free solar electricity. In particular, bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ OPV) have the potential to be far less expensive that current inorganic devices, because they can be mass-produced by inexpensive printing and r ...

Ultracapacitors have the potential to be high-power energy sources for electric and hybrid vehicles. However, current ultracapacitors based on porous carbon electrodes are too expensive for vehicle application, mainly due to the cost of the carbon. What is needed is an inexpensive porous carbon that performs as well as the expensive carbons currently being used. In this project, porous carbons ...

Sulfuric acid, which is used primarly in the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers, is produced in greater volume than any other industrial chemical. Sulfuric acid is made by first burning sulfur to produce SO2, reacting the SO2 over a catalyst to produce SO3, and then absorbing the SO3 into water to produce the acid. Conversion in the catalytic process is limited by equilibrium ¿ if the proce ...

Liquefied methane is a promising alternative to JP-7 and hydrogen as a fuel for hypersonic vehicles because it is easier to handle than hydrogen and also has a higher specific impulse and is more resistant to coke than JP-7. Unfortunately, methane is difficult to burn in a scramjet and needs to deliver more heat sink capacity to be useful. However, reforming some of the fuel with water improves ...

This project will develop and evaluate a new process for converting glycerol (the by-product of biodiesel production) into a higher value product, polyglycerols. Polyglycerols are non-toxic and can be used as environmentally friendly plasticizers in biodegradable plastics, and also in lubricants or as additives in food and cosmetics. Biodiesel production processes generate about 9% glycerol by vol ...

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells require a relatively pure, concentrated hydrogen stream, with very low levels of sulfur and carbon monoxide (CO) in order to prevent poisoning of the fuel cell anode catalyst. In addition, removing inerts and impurities (such as CO2) from the hydrogen feed to the fuel cell increases a fuel cell's electrical conversion efficiency. TDA Research, Inc. ...

Improved hydrogen separation membranes are needed for next generation power systems. Recent advances in metal membrane technology have identified a Pd alloy composite membrane that is not susceptible to embrittlement and poisoning problems, which have prevented widespread industrial use of Pd for high-temperature H2 separation. However, there is still a need to prepare thin membranes on porous ...

Currently, there is a strong need to develop new air breathing propulsion systems to launch vehicles into space, and Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion systems likely will be used for this purpose. In the scramjet portion of the cycle, it is difficult to maintain stable combustion, and the overall heat load in a scramjet engine exceeds the cooling capacity that can be provided from the ...

Surfaces of military vehicles and equipment that are contaminated with biological warfare (BW) or chemical warfare (CW) agents must be rapidly decontaminated to maintain operational tempo. Previous work has shown that an electro¬chemically generated liquid decon solution is effective against the classical CW agents. The focus of this project is to establish the efficacy of the decon solution aga ...

The U.S. Department of Defense needs a new generation of photovolotaic (PV) arrays that are economic to make, flexible, rugged, and can be supported on a variety of substrates, including thin plastic sheets and fabrics. Transparent, highly conducting materials are needed to replace the brittle and expensive tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) used as the transparent electrode in most current PV cells an ...