Award Data

Metal photoinjector cathode development has shown recent promise with nano-patterning technology. However, in order to be competitive with semi-conductor cathodes, a further enhancement in efficiency is needed. TECHNICAL APPROACH Specific nano-patterning of sub-wavelength features to produce antennae provides coupling of incoming laser light with the surface of the metal cathode. Bowtie nano-anten ...

The Brayton cycle for power generation offers significant advantages over the Rankin cycle typically used. Unfortunately, the Brayton cycle uses very high pressure and high temperature, supercritical CO2 (sCO2) as the heat transfer fluid. New materials that can handle the harsh environment of sCO2 are required to enable power generation and prevent issues with corrosion and erosion or efficiency d ...

Current methods for manufacturing carbon fiber rely on high temperature ovens for the stabilization/oxidation and carbonization steps, which tend to be slow and energy intensive. As such, carbon fiber composites are expensive then steel, which limits their use in costsensitive, highvolume industrial applications such as automobiles, oil and gas, and infrastructure. To reduce energy consumption and ...

Ensuring adequate agricultural productivity in the face of an increasing human population is a major concern with implications for both production of bioenergy products (Jones and Hinsinger, 2008) and global food security. Increasing agricultural productivity requires a stronger understanding of soil biogeochemical processes that impact plant nutrient availability. We propose development of an inn ...

The Department of Energy needs improved radiation resistant electrical insulation materials for the superconducting magnet coils in fusion reactors. To achieve safe, reliable, economic and environmentally benign fusion energy system, DOE is seeking organic/inorganic insulation-capable materials that are wrappable. These materials under irradiation will enable magnet coils to: (1) operate reliably ...

Trabus Technologies (TRABUS), working with Louisiana State University (LSU), will develop a predictive analytics-based US Inland Waterways Voyage Planning Analysis tool to help vessel traffic managers, tow boat pilots, and river lock operators maximize transport logistic resources. This tool will use current and forecasted hydrographic, meteorological, lock status, and Marine Safety Information to ...

NanoSD, Inc. with its partners will develop a transparent, nanostructured thermally insulating film that can be applied to existing single-pane windows to reduce heat loss. To produce the nanostructured film, the team will create hollow ceramic or polymer nanobubbles and consolidate them into a dense lattice structure using heat and compression. Because it is mostly air, the resulting nanobubble s ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program aims at development and demonstration of an integrated theoretically/experimentally combinatorial method for the accurate prediction of rheological behaviors of special polymer solutions. In-depth understandings of dynamic responses of the polymer solutions under external shear are essential for development of the “smart” polymer-based add ...

To increase the utilization of electric vehicles, the US Department of Energy is seeking to reduce the cost of electric vehicle batteries to less than $125/kWh by 2022. To achieve this goal, the costs of cathode materials, which account for approximately 30% of the cost of vehicle batteries, must be reduced significantly. To address the challenge of lowering the costs of advanced lithium battery c ...

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is one of the primary tools for biological and materials characterization and has many important research applications. There is an overarching need to improve the temporal resolution of TEMs. State-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art single shot TEM only achieve 10 nanoseconds temporal resolution. Technical Approach UCLA and RadiaBeam Tec ...