SBIR Phase II: Scalable Photonic Crystal Fabrication for Mesoscale Fuel-to-Electricity Conversion

SBIR 第二阶段：用于中尺度燃料到电力转换的可扩展光子晶体制造

• 批准号: 2132718
• 负责人: Veronika Stelmakh
• 金额: $ 94.53万
• 依托单位: MESODYNE INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-15 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2132718&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Scalable; Photonic

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to commercialize a novel technology that enables compact, efficient, silent, reliable, and fuel-flexible power generation. Existing power solutions can lack endurance, reliability, and portability and often generate harmful emissions; or they are prohibitively expensive or incompatible with existing fuels and distribution infrastructure. The power generation platform developed in this project has the potential to be a key enabling technology for the future rapid growth of commercial drone applications, which currently are often limited by the performance of lithium ion batteries. Drones are expected to make an impact across numerous industries including transport and delivery, power and utilities, telecommunications, and remote sensing. Additionally, this power generation technology can benefit industrial internet of things applications.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a novel power source that is easily portable and is compatible with existing fuel infrastructure. This project develops a system that converts most fuels to electricity via light; combustion heats a nanophotonic material to incandescence and the resulting light drives photovoltaic cells. The nanophotonic material is engineered to be spectrally matched to the photovoltaic cells, enabling efficient conversion. This technology can increase the endurance of drones or other systems up to ten times over batteries alone. This work is focused on cost reduction through new material development. The specific research objectives are to demonstrate a low-cost and scalable process for the nanophotonic material and photovoltaic cell while maintaining high performance, and then integrate and pilot the low cost system. Successful completion of these objectives will enable this technology to translate to drone applications with a compelling need for long-lasting portable power.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是将一项新技术商业化，以实现紧凑、高效、安静、可靠和燃料灵活的发电。现有的电源解决方案缺乏耐用性、可靠性和便携性，并且经常产生有害排放；或者它们过于昂贵或与现有燃料和分配基础设施不兼容。 该项目开发的发电平台有潜力成为商用无人机应用未来快速增长的关键使能技术，目前商用无人机应用往往受到锂离子电池性能的限制。无人机预计将对运输和送货、电力和公用事业、电信和遥感等众多行业产生影响。此外，这种发电技术可以使工业物联网应用受益。小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二期项目旨在开发一种易于携带且与现有燃料基础设施兼容的新型电源。该项目开发了一种系统，可以通过光将大多数燃料转化为电能；燃烧将纳米光子材料加热至白炽状态，产生的光驱动光伏电池。纳米光子材料经过精心设计，可与光伏电池进行光谱匹配，从而实现高效转换。该技术可以将无人机或其他系统的续航时间比单独使用电池的续航时间提高十倍。这项工作的重点是通过新材料开发降低成本。具体研究目标是展示纳米光子材料和光伏电池的低成本和可扩展工艺，同时保持高性能，然后集成和试点低成本系统。成功完成这些目标将使该技术能够转化为迫切需要持久便携式电源的无人机应用。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。