Award Data

Sustainable fuels and chemicals production is necessary for the future of the global economy. Opus 12 has developed an electrochemical process to convert CO2 into solar chemicals and fuels. Key to our process is a new polymer-electrolyte membrane design that enables CO2 electroreduction in existing a polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer hardware. PEM electrolyzers are ideal for coupling ...

Development of a solid with high conductivity of Mg2+ cations will allow application of that substance as membrane in magnesium-air batteries. These batteries will be much cheaper, safer, and at the same time store much more energy than lead-, lithium- or sodium batteries with the same weight. Such batteries would be ideal for electric vehicles and for the off-peak storage of renewable elect ...

The main focus of this STTR is to design, develop, and evaluate high temperature capacitors using novel thermal spray coating processes, which will allow the devices to meet the performance requirements. Multilayer coating architecture will be adopted and the electrodes and dielectric material selections will be screened in Phase I to note material compatibility and high temperature performance. ...

X-Ray microscopy offers rich internal information of objects under study due to the highly penetrative nature of x-rays. Significant improvements in laboratory x-ray sources, synchrotrons and detector technologies in the past few years have pushed the frontiers of spatial and time resolution enabling time-lapse imaging of structures in the micron scale. Xradia, a US based small business founded in ...

Low-Flow Liquid Desiccant Air Conditioning (LDAC) has the potential to dramatically lower the electricity used for commercial air conditioning by directly removing moisture from the air prior to cooling. But in order to achieve widespread market adoption, the mechanisms by which the liquid desiccant is regenerated must be made more energy efficient, reliable and cost-effective. Membrane technolo ...

Development of Li-ion conducting membranes capable of supporting Li-metal anode to enable high- performance Li-metal batteries (LiMB) is a priority for the Department of Energy (DOE). State-of- the-art membranes used for Li-ion batteries (LiB) are not suitable for LiMB and have a number of disadvantages including poor cycling performance, low Li-ion conductivity, and electrochemical stability with ...

We need transformational manufacturing technologies for fabrication of nanomaterials for manufacturing batteries and capacitors that will have a huge impact on improving the energy and power density of batteries and capacitors for transportation, energy storage and consumer electronics applications. Development of novel nanomaterials with high energy and power capability and a novel, nontradition ...

The extreme operating conditions experienced by many moving mechanical components in aerospace and automotive engines require the uses of high-performance materials and lubricants. Current oil-based lubricants degrade rapidly under such conditions and become useless, especially at high temperatures. As a result, many moving components of engines that are run at high temperatures to impro ...

Electrons play a very key role in plasma chemistry and dynamics of low temperature plasmas. Improved capability for measuring electron number density, ne, and electron energy distribution function, EEDF, in weakly ionized low temperature plasmas would benefit both fundamental study and application areas. For example, the capability would directly benefit emerging research targeted at modifying and ...

Improved ignition methods are needed for advanced vehicle combustion systems, in particular those that allow reliable ignition of lean mixtures in gasoline engines at elevated pressures. Laser ignition is a candidate technology having the potential to address these needs. However, despite more than 40 years of laser ignition research, the technology is not yet in commercial use. A critical proble ...