Status: ACTIVE
State: OH
Project Term: 08/30/2022 - 08/29/2024
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $500,000

pH Matter

pH Matter will use electrochemical compression within an electrolysis stack and contained in a Type V vessel to eliminate or reduce the amount of additional mechanical compression required to make high-pressure hydrogen (200-700 bar). Historically, mechanical stability, hydrogen crossover, or diffusion problems made such an approach very challenging. In addition to the Type V vessel, pH Matter will utilize their patented, hybrid liquid alkaline-anion exchange membrane electrolysis cell that has 30x less crossover than a state-of-the-art proton exchange membrane electrolyzer. Current hydrogen…

Status: ALUMNI
State: KY
Project Term: 12/03/2013 - 03/01/2015
Program: METALS
Award: $758,649

Phinix

Phinix is developing a specialized cell that recovers high-quality magnesium from aluminum-magnesium scrap. Current aluminum refining uses chlorination to separate aluminum from other alloys, which results in a significant amount of salt-contaminated waste. Rather than using the conventional chlorination approach, Phinix’s cell relies on a three-layer electrochemical melting process that has proven successful in purifying primary aluminum. Phinix will adapt that process to purify aluminum-magnesium scrap, recovering magnesium by separating that scrap based on the different densities within…

Status: ALUMNI
State: WI
Project Term: 03/07/2021 - 03/07/2023
Program: GAMOW
Award: $2,500,000

Phoenix

No technology available today can provide the neutron flux, energy spectrum, and other characteristics required to test and qualify materials’ performance under prototypical fusion operating conditions. The fusion community acknowledges the need for a materials test facility soon or risk a crippling impact on the ability to effectively design and test a fusion pilot plant. Phoenix will seek to increase the neutron flux by a factor of 100 over that of state-of-the-art beam-target fusion neutron sources by developing and testing a plasma window (PW) to enable an increase in the pressure of the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 06/21/2021 - 12/20/2022
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $499,855

Phoenix Tailings

Rare earth metals (REMs) are crucial for a domestic clean energy future, as they are key to several emerging technologies from wind turbines to electric vehicles. Currently, high energy requirements, hazardous waste generation, and the associated costs inhibit domestic commercial viability of rare earth separation and metallization processes, so rare earth material is sent to China for processing. Phoenix Tailings (PT) has developed novel techniques to separate rare earth oxides (REOs) without the use of hazardous chemicals and reduce them to REMs using 35-45% less energy. PT will separate…

Status: ACTIVE
State: MA
Project Term: 04/13/2023 - 10/12/2025
Program: MINER
Award: $1,275,000

Phoenix Tailings

Phoenix Tailings’ CO2 GONE process uses and recycles CO2 to extract energy-relevant minerals, primarily nickel (Ni) and magnesium (Mg), from iron- and aluminum-rich ore through carbonation with CO2. Using CO2 with high pressures, temperatures, and mixing breaks down the rock structure and enables greater extraction of energy-relevant elements like Ni and Mg, which are then converted to metal carbonates (NiCO3, MgCO3). The resulting NiCO3 and MgCO3 are chemically separated from each other and other gangue materials by ammonia-base leaching and then refined to generate nickel oxide and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NC
Project Term: 12/11/2009 - 03/30/2012
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $2,999,999

Phononic Devices

Phononic Devices is working to recapture waste heat and convert it into usable electric power. To do this, the company is using thermoelectric devices, which are made from advanced semiconductor materials that convert heat into electricity or actively remove heat for refrigeration and cooling purposes. Thermoelectric devices resemble computer chips, and they manage heat by manipulating the direction of electrons at the nanoscale. These devices aren't new, but they are currently too inefficient and expensive for widespread use. Phononic Devices is using a high-performance, cost-effective…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 04/16/2015 - 12/31/2018
Program: MONITOR
Award: $2,948,259

Physical Sciences (PSI)

Physical Sciences (PSI), in conjunction with Heath Consultants, Princeton University, the University of Houston, and Thorlabs Quantum Electronics, will miniaturize their laser-based Remote Methane Leak Detector (RMLD) and integrate it with PSI’s miniature unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), known as the InstantEye, to create the RMLD-Sentry. The measurement system is planned to be fully autonomous, providing technical and cost advantages compared to manual leak detection methods. The team anticipates that the system would have the ability to measure ethane, as well as methane, which would allow it…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 05/01/2020 - 03/31/2023
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $561,092

Phytodetectors

Phytodetectors will design and engineer a synthetic biological pump circuit to increase the volume of water produced via photosynthetic desalination. This project builds off previous technology designed by Phytodetectors: a mangrove-inspired ultra-filter that allows plants to purify salt water as well as secrete water with properties comparable to bottled water. The partnership seeks to demonstrate the commercial viability of photosynthetic desalination.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 08/12/2019 - 08/11/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $5,000,000

PingThings

PingThings will develop a national infrastructure for analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) on the power grid using a three-pronged approach. First, a scalable, cloud-based platform will store, process, analyze, and visualize grid sensor data. Second, massive open and accessible datasets will be created through (a) deploying grid sensors to capture wide-scale and localized grid behavior, (b) simulating and executing grid models to generate virtual sensor data, and (c) establishing a secure data exchange mechanism. Third, a diverse research community will be developed through focused…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CA
Project Term: 06/21/2019 - 02/28/2022
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $7,999,954

Pinnacle Engines

Pinnacle Engines will develop a highly efficient hybrid electric engine that, if successful, will significantly reduce petroleum consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. Adding a unique electric powertrain to Pinnacle’s four-stroke, spark-ignited, opposed-piston sleeve-valve engine technology enables a fundamental leap forward in fuel efficiency. Electric motor-generators on each crankshaft will improve engine efficiency by modifying and optimizing the piston motion and resulting combustion process. Pinnacle will also evaluate direct fuel injection, high rates of exhaust gas…

Status: CANCELLED
State: FL
Project Term: 07/01/2010 - 04/10/2012
Program: BEEST
Award: $2,530,342

Planar Energy Devices

Planar Energy Devices is developing a new production process where lithium-ion batteries would be printed as a thin film onto sheets of metal or plastic. Thin-film printing methods could revolutionize battery manufacturing, allowing for smaller, lighter, and cheaper EV batteries. Typically, a battery’s electrolyte—the material that actually stores energy within the cell—is a liquid or semi-liquid; this makes them unsuitable for use in thin-film printing. Planar is working with a ceramic-based gel electrolyte that is better suited for printing. The electrolyte would be printed onto large reels…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MD
Project Term: 03/15/2013 - 06/14/2017
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $2,050,471

Plant Sensory Systems (PSS)

Plant Sensory Systems (PSS) is developing an enhanced energy beet that will provide an improved fermentable feedstock. A gene that has been shown to increase biomass and soluble sugars in other crop species will be introduced into beets in order produce higher levels of non-food-grade sugars and use both nutrients and water more efficiently. These engineered beets will have a lower cost of production and increased yield of fermentable sugars to help diversify feedstocks for bioproduction of fuel molecules.

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 09/20/2022 - 03/19/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $1,147,032

Polymath Research

Polymath Research will enable the use of longer-wavelength lasers for IFE. This project seeks to control LPI using pulses composed of Spike Trains of Uneven duration and Delay (STUD), a sequence of precisely timed laser pulses designed to disrupt LPI growth and memory build up in the plasma due to persistent self-organization of the plasma undergoing continuous and undisrupted laser energy deposition. The challenge is that with rather limited knowledge of the dynamic (micro-) state of the plasma, laser pulses composed of STUD must be devised to combat memory build up and exponential…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 07/01/2010 - 12/31/2012
Program: BEEST
Award: $5,396,310

PolyPlus Battery Company

PolyPlus Battery Company is developing the world's first commercially available rechargeable lithium-air (Li-Air) battery. Li-Air batteries are better than the Li-Ion batteries used in most EVs today because they breathe in air from the atmosphere for use as an active material in the battery, which greatly decreases its weight. Li-Air batteries also store nearly 700% as much energy as traditional Li-Ion batteries. A lighter battery would improve the range of EVs dramatically. PolyPlus is on track to making a critical breakthrough: the first manufacturable protective membrane between its…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 01/20/2017 - 05/31/2022
Program: IONICS
Award: $8,578,002

PolyPlus Battery Company

PolyPlus Battery Company, in collaboration with SCHOTT Glass, will develop flexible, solid-electrolyte-protected lithium metal electrodes made by the lamination of lithium metal foil to thin solid electrolyte membranes that are highly conductive. Past efforts to improve lithium cycling by moving to solid-state structures based on polycrystalline ceramics have found limited success due to initiation and propagation of dendrites, which are branchlike metal fibers that short-circuit battery cells. A major benefit of the PolyPlus concept is that the lithium electrode is bonded to a "nearly…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 02/06/2013 - 03/31/2016
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $4,500,000

PolyPlus Battery Company

PolyPlus Battery Company is developing an innovative, water-based Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery. Today, Li-S battery technology offers the lightest high-energy batteries that are completely self-contained. New features in these water-based batteries make PolyPlus’ lightweight battery ideal for a variety of military and consumer applications. The design could achieve energy densities between 400-600 Wh/kg, a substantial improvement from today’s state-of-the-art Li-Ion batteries that can hold only 150 Wh/kg. PolyPlus’ technology—with applications for vehicle transportation as well as grid…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 03/01/2010 - 03/31/2013
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $1,153,974

Porifera

Porifera is developing carbon nanotube membranes that allow more efficient removal of CO2 from coal plant exhaust. Most of today's carbon capture methods use chemical solvents, but capture methods that use membranes to draw CO2 out of exhaust gas are potentially more efficient and cost effective. Traditionally, membranes are limited by the rate at which they allow gas to flow through them and the amount of CO2 they can attract from the gas. Smooth support pores and the unique structure of Porifera's carbon nanotube membranes allows them to be more permeable than other polymeric membranes, yet…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 06/03/2022 - 06/02/2024
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $3,820,749

Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney will design a novel, high-efficiency hydrogen-power turbomachine for commercial aviation. The Hydrogen Steam Injected Intercooled Turbine Engine (HySIITE) concept is intended to eliminate carbon emissions and significantly reduce nitrous oxide (NOx) inflight emissions for commercial single-aisle aircraft. The HySIITE engine will burn hydrogen in a Brayton (thermodynamic) cycle engine and use steam injection to dramatically reduce NOx. Via an innovative semi-closed system architecture, HySIITE aims to achieve thermal efficiency greater than fuel cells and reduce total…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 05/01/2013 - 03/15/2016
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $5,246,281

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR)

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is developing two distinct—but related—technologies that could revolutionize how we convert natural gas. First, PWR will work with Pennsylvania State University to create a high-efficiency gas turbine which uses supercritical fluids to cool the turbine blades. Allowing gas turbines to operate at higher temperatures can drive significant improvements in performance, particularly when coupled with the recapture of waste heat. This advancement could reduce the cost of electricity by roughly 60% and resulting in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 06/14/2013 - 03/15/2015
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $462,236

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR)

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is developing a new combustor for gas turbine engines that uses shockwaves for more efficient combustion through a process known as continuous detonation. These combustors would enable more electricity to be generated from a given amount of natural gas, increasing the efficiency of gas turbine engines while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. PWR will design and build continuous detonation combustors and test them in a simulated gas turbine environment to demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating the technology into natural gas-fueled turbine electric…

Status: CANCELLED
State: CT
Project Term: 02/01/2021 - 10/31/2023
Program: REEACH
Award: $1,799,889

Precision Combustion (PCI)

Precision Combustion (PCI) is proposing an advanced energy storage and power generator design for meeting aggressive specific power and energy targets for all-electric propulsion of narrow-body commercial aircraft. Key enablers are an exceptionally power-dense solid oxide fuel cell system operating with energy-dense carbon neutral liquid fuels and a hybridized system architecture that maximizes component efficiencies for ultra-high system efficiency. PCI will validate compliance via component demonstration and develop a verifiable model for scale-up. It will also address performance…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 04/18/2022 - 04/17/2024
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $1,540,224

Precision Combustion (PCI)

Precision Combustion Inc. (PCI) will develop a process-intensified, multi-functional SOFC architecture that permits a power dense, lightweight design and fast start-up for transportation applications. PCI will combine advanced concepts, process intensification, and additive manufacturing to develop a cost-effective and readily manufacturable SOFC system. It is analogous to a scalable electrochemical chip. The unique SOFC architecture will include an ultra-compact reforming technology to improve heat management, novel composition to improve efficiency, and lightweight additively-manufactured…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CT
Project Term: 03/14/2022 - 03/13/2025
Program: REMEDY
Award: $3,720,317

Precision Combustion (PCI)

Precision Combustion (PCI) proposes an innovative modular array to eliminate the release of ventilation air methane (VAM) associated with coal production. The team’s technology combines (1) a short contact time, low thermal mass reactor design to achieve high methane conversion in a small volume, (2) catalyst formulation and loading to minimize the required operating temperature of the oxidation reactor, and (3) system design and architecture to maximize the degree to which released heat is retained and recirculated. Computational fluid dynamics and thermal modeling will be used to optimize…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 09/01/2010 - 12/31/2012
Program: GRIDS
Award: $1,999,999

Primus Power

Primus Power is developing zinc-based, rechargeable liquid flow batteries that could produce substantially more energy at lower cost than conventional batteries. A flow battery is similar to a conventional battery, except instead of storing its energy inside the cell it stores that energy for future use in chemicals that are kept in tanks that sit outside the cell. One of the most costly components in a flow battery is the electrode, where the electrochemical reactions actually occur. Primus Power is investigating and developing mixed-metal materials for their electrodes that could ultimately…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 03/25/2019 - 05/31/2022
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $1,297,970

Princeton Fusion Systems

Princeton Fusion Systems seeks to develop technologies to enable future commercial fusion power. The team’s PFRC concept is a small, clean, and portable design based on a field-reversed-configuration plasma. The concept uses an innovative method called odd-parity rotating-magnetic-field (RMF) heating to drive electrical current and heat plasma to fusion temperatures. Odd-parity heating holds the potential to heat ions and electrons to fusion-relevant temperatures in a stable, sustained plasma, while maintaining good energy confinement. The team will pursue improved electron and ion…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 02/01/2021 - 01/25/2024
Program: GAMOW
Award: $1,070,000

Princeton Fusion Systems

Fusion power plants will need efficient, high-power electrical drivers for plasma heating, compression, and control. Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices and innovative amplifiers may speed up the development of high-power fusion systems and reduce their eventual levelized cost of electricity. Princeton Fusion Systems will develop integrated, power-dense, reliable, and scalable power amplifier boards for plasma heating and control applications using WBG silicon carbide devices and employ advanced cooling. Individual boards will be capable of delivering more than 10 kW of power. The boards…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 10/01/2014 - 09/30/2015
Program: IDEAS
Award: $500,000

Princeton Optronics

Princeton Optronics will develop a low-cost, high-temperature capable laser ignition system which can be mounted directly on the engine heads of stationary natural gas engines, just like regular spark plugs are today. This will be done using a newly developed high-temperature Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) pump combined with a solid-state laser gain material that can operate at temperatures typically experienced on a stationary natural gas engine. The key innovations of this project will allow the laser pump and complete laser ignition system to deliver the required pulse…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 02/26/2016 - 09/30/2017
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $1,120,000

Princeton Optronics

Princeton Optronics will develop a new device architecture for optical interconnect links, which communicate using optical fibers that carry light. The maximum speed and power consumption requirement of data communication lasers have not changed significantly over the last decade, and state-of-the-art commercial technology delivers only 30 Gigabits per second (Gb/s). Increasing this speed has been difficult because the current devices are limited by resistance and capacitance constraints. Princeton Optronics will develop a novel device architecture to improve the data transfer and reduce the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 10/01/2019 - 12/31/2021
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $500,000

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Build and calibrate a portable diagnostic for measuring ion energies in potentially transformative fusion-power projects. The passive charge-exchange stripping-cell ion energy analyzer (SC-IEA), will have the sensitivity to measure ion temperatures from ½ to 30 M°C, unraveling processes in these research devices that heat and cool their fusion-relevant plasmas.

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 09/15/2020 - 09/30/2022
Program: BETHE
Award: $3,000,000

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will design and build a prototype structure with an array of rare-earth permanent magnets to generate the precise shaping fields of an optimized, quasi-axisymmetric stellarator design. The stellarator is an attractive fusion-energy concept because it has minimal recycling power and auxiliary systems, and no-time dependent electro-magnet systems. Two challenges have delayed its progress: 1) obtaining adequate confinement in three-dimensional (3D) fields and 2) engineering the magnetic configuration with sufficient precision at low cost. Breakthroughs…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 12/01/2020 - 04/29/2024
Program: BETHE
Award: $450,000

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Woodruff Scientific, Inc., will develop a costing capability to help ARPA-E fusion performers estimate both the projected overnight capital cost and levelized cost-of-electricity (LCOE) of a fusion power plant based on their fusion concepts. These estimates will underlie essential technology-to-market analysis and help guide R&D priorities by illuminating the costliest aspects of different concepts and need for further development. This costing activity builds on and leverages the costing study performed for the ALPHA project concepts, and this…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 05/01/2020 - 11/30/2022
Program: DIFFERENTIATE
Award: $648,000

Princeton University

The Princeton University team will use machine learning-enabled methods to transform the modeling and design methods of power magnetics and catalyze disruptive improvements to power electronics design tools. They will develop a highly automated, open-source, machine learning-based magnetics design platform to greatly accelerate the design process, cut the error rate in half, and provide new insights to magnetic material and geometry design. Princeton’s Simulation Program with its Integrated Circuit Emphasis-based, or SPICE-based modeling platform, will utilize a highly automated data…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 10/01/2015 - 03/30/2017
Program: IDEAS
Award: $486,825

Princeton University

Princeton University is developing a non-invasive, low-cost, ultrasonic diagnostic system to determine battery state-of-health and state-of-charge, and to monitor internal battery defects. This system links the propagation of sound waves through a battery to the material properties of components within the battery. As a battery is cycled, the density and mechanical properties of its electrodes change; as the battery ages, it experiences progressive formation and degradation of critical surface layers, mechanical degradation of electrodes, and consumption of electrolyte. All of these phenomena…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 12/11/2013 - 03/31/2015
Program: RANGE
Award: $952,187

Princeton University

Alkaline batteries are used in a variety of electronic devices today because of their ability to hold considerable energy, for a long time, at a low cost. In order to create alkaline batteries suitable for EVs, Princeton University will use its expertise in alkaline battery systems examine a variety of suitable positive and negative electrode chemistries. Princeton will then select and experiment with those chemistries that show promise, using computational models to better understand their potential cycle life and storage capacities. Once a promising chemistry has been settled on, Princeton…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 07/13/2020 - 04/30/2025
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $1,033,454

Princeton University

Princeton University will improve and apply the existing GenX configurable electricity system planning model to evaluate the value of fossil-fueled power plants with CCS and direct air capture technologies in future electricity grids under a range of possible future scenarios, including high shares of variable renewable energy sources. With these improvements, Princeton University will explore the ‘design space’ or combination of possible cost and performance parameters for each major subcomponent of a generic natural gas-fired power plant with CCS. The team will evaluate several designs and…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 09/28/2020 - 09/27/2024
Program: PERFORM
Award: $3,500,000

Princeton University

Modern electricity markets face new sources of uncertainty and risk due to a growing adoption of renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. Princeton will quantify the impact of uncertainty on daily system operation and will ascribe risk and costs to each asset’s contribution to overall system cost. The team will develop methods to quantify the stochasticity and variability in load, renewable generation, outages, and other uncertainties, and incorporate these to yield a probabilistic distribution of the system-wide operational cost. The resulting cost is aggregated into a monetary…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 05/21/2021 - 05/20/2024
Program: SMARTFARM
Award: $3,004,563

Princeton University

The agricultural production of crops, the primary source of nitrous oxide (N2O), contributes approximately 4% of all greenhouse gases from the U.S. annually. Quantifying these emissions, which are non-uniform in space and time, is a significant challenge at the field and farm scales. Princeton University’s NitroNet is an autonomous sensing system designed to monitor N2O emissions over an entire growing season at high spatial and temporal resolutions. By casting a virtual “net” over an entire field, NitroNet will monitor the non-uniform N2O emissions within the field using atmospheric laser…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 03/17/2022 - 03/16/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $1,499,953

Princeton University

Princeton University aims to find fusion configurations that could minimize radiation losses while maximizing fusion reactivity. In a vigorously rotating pB11 plasma, the heavier boron ions will be centrifugally confined far from the lighter protons. Then means are provided such that the very energetic protons, which are responsible for fusion, preferentially come into contact with the boron. Because the likelihood of a collision resulting in fusion essentially only depends on the proton energy, the boron ions and the electrons can be kept relatively cold, mitigating the radiative losses and…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 09/19/2023 - 09/18/2025
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $499,866

Princeton University

Princeton University will develop a new method for particle beam injection that could boost the energy efficiency of plasma ignition to all-time highs. The proposed technology would avoid the major inefficiencies and operational complications associated with the beam neutralization process and strengthen the domestic energy sector through efficiently delivering plasma heating to fusion reactors.

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 07/15/2020 - 11/14/2022
Program: ATLANTIS
Award: $3,917,688

Principle Power (PPI)

Principle Power (PPI) plans to lead a consortium of public and private institutions to develop, validate, and operate the world’s first digital twin software tailored to floating offshore wind applications. This digital twin model will be a real-time, high-fidelity numerical representation of the WindFloat Atlantic Project, which is composed of three semi-submersible platforms and the world’s largest FOWTs ever installed in the ocean. A fleet of interconnected ocean buoys that will be deployed at the WFA site will estimate and predict the local wind and wave environmental conditions. Insights…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 07/12/2023 - 07/12/2026
Program: EVs4ALL
Award: $2,587,618

Project K Energy

Project K is developing and commercializing a potassium-ion battery, which operates similarly to lithium-ion batteries. During discharge, potassium ions move from the negative graphite electrode through the electrolyte—a liquid combining organic solvents, dissolved conductive salts, and specialty additives—to the positive electrode, which contains a Prussian blue analog material synthesized from low-cost and abundant raw materials. Potassium ions can migrate through the electrolyte much faster than lithium ions. Additionally, the thermodynamics of the reaction of potassium ion with graphite…

Status: ALUMNI
State: GA
Project Term: 06/01/2016 - 08/30/2019
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $3,400,000

ProsumerGrid

ProsumerGrid, with its partners, will develop a highly specialized and interactive software tool capable of simulating the operation of emerging DSOs at the physical, information, and market levels while capturing the interactions among the various market participants. The software will offer electricity industry analysts, engineers, economists, and policy makers a "design studio environment" in which various propositions of participant roles, market rules, business processes, and services exchange can be studied to achieve a robust DSO design. The software will utilize a powerful…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CT
Project Term: 09/01/2010 - 03/31/2014
Program: GRIDS
Award: $4,598,306

Proton Energy Systems

Proton Energy Systems is developing an energy storage device that converts water to hydrogen fuel when excess electricity is available, and then uses hydrogen to generate electricity when energy is needed. The system includes an electrolyzer, which generates and separates hydrogen and oxygen for storage, and a fuel cell which converts the hydrogen and oxygen back to electricity. Traditional systems use acidic membranes, and require expensive materials including platinum and titanium for key parts of the system. In contrast, Proton Energy Systems' new technology will use an inexpensive…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CT
Project Term: 05/06/2016 - 02/05/2020
Program: OPEN 2015
Award: $2,500,000

Proton Energy Systems

Proton Energy Systems will develop a hydrogen-iron flow battery that can generate hydrogen for use and energy storage on the electric grid. This dual-purpose device can be recharged using renewable grid electricity and either store the hydrogen or run in reverse, as a flow cell battery, when electricity is needed. The team will develop low-cost catalysts to use on both electrodes and leverage their expertise in system engineering to keep the costs low. By using two highly reversible single electron reactions, the round trip efficiency could exceed 80%. By operating at much higher efficiencies…

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: GOPHURRS
Award: TBD

Prysmian Cables & Systems USA

Prysmian Cables & Systems USA is developing a hands-free power cable splicing machine operating in underground vaults to reduce the share of splicing-caused medium-voltage network failures from 60-80% to less than 5% and dramatically improve the workforce safety by reducing the time the underground cable splicing crews spend in underground vaults. The proposed machine—which fits down a utility hole and is operated from above ground—would implement laser cutting and layer preparation, abrade cable layers, and complete the splice while a vision system augmented with machine learning would…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IN
Project Term: 04/01/2018 - 06/30/2019
Program: IDEAS
Award: $500,000

Purdue University

Purdue University will develop new bio-inspired ultrahigh strength-to-weight ratio materials. To do so, they will develop porous metal replicas of diatom frustules, which are hollow silica (glass) structures that have evolved over millions of years to possess high resistance to being crushed by predators. They are targeting structures possessing high strengths (> 350 MPa or 50,763 PSI) and low densities (<1000 kg/m3), which they will evaluate using microscale mechanical tests and simulations. These results will then be used to develop scaling laws for the design of robust macroscopic…

Status: CANCELLED
State: IN
Project Term: 05/22/2017 - 05/21/2020
Program: NEXTCAR
Award: $4,770,000

Purdue University

Purdue University will develop an integrated, connected vehicle control system for diesel-powered Class 8 trucks. Improvements from this system are expected to achieve 20% fuel consumption reduction relative to a 2016 baseline Peterbilt Class 8 truck. Class 8 trucks are large (over 33,000 lbs) vehicles such as trucks and tractor-trailer combinations like 18-wheelers. While these large trucks represent only 4% of all on-road vehicles in the U.S., they are responsible for almost 22% of global on-road fuel consumption. The Purdue team's work is based on a system-of-systems approach that…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IN
Project Term: 12/02/2013 - 12/31/2015
Program: RANGE
Award: $798,932

Purdue University

Purdue University is developing an EV battery pack that can better withstand impact during a collision. In contrast to today’s EV battery packs that require heavy packaging to ensure safety, Purdue’s pack stores energy like a standard battery but is also designed to absorb the shock from an accident, prevents battery failure, and mitigates the risk of personal injury. Batteries housed in protective units are arranged in an interlocking configuration to create an impact energy dissipation device. Should a collision occur, the assemblies of the encased battery units rub against each other,…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IN
Project Term: 04/16/2018 - 01/15/2022
Program: SENSOR
Award: $1,533,407

Purdue University

Purdue University will develop a new class of small-scale sensing systems that use mass and electrochemical sensors to detect the presence of CO2. CO2 concentration is a data point that can help enable the use of variable speed ventilation fans in commercial buildings, thus saving a significant amount of energy. There is also a pressing need for enhanced CO2 sensing to improve the comfort and productivity of people in commercial buildings, including academic spaces. The research team will develop a sensing system that leverages on-chip integrated organic field effect transistors (FET) and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: IN
Project Term: 08/24/2015 - 05/23/2019
Program: TERRA
Award: $6,662,287

Purdue University

Purdue University, along with IBM Research and international partners from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Australia) will utilize remote sensing platforms to collect data and develop models for automated phenotyping and predictive plant growth. The team will create a system that combines data streams from ground and airborne mobile platforms for high-throughput automated field phenotyping. The team's custom "phenomobile" will be a mobile, ground-based platform that will carry a sensor package capable of measuring numerous plant traits in a large…