Bruce E. Gnade - US grants

Planning Grant for an I/UCRC for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems

0856032 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Daniel Inman
0856046 Clemson University; Stephen Foulger
0855891 University of Texas, Dallas; Bruce Gnade

The proposal seeks a planning grant for a new multi-university Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems to focus on recovery (harvesting) of unused energy from various sources such as radio and television towers, satellites and various portable electronics. Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VT), Clemson University (CU) and the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD) are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with VT as the lead institution. The research plan includes developing new products and designs in the following areas: Energy Harvesting for Vibration Measurement, PiezoCell and Panels for Harvesting Wind Energy, VLSI Circuit Design, Materials for "Self-Powered" Position and Speed Sensors and Electrical Energy Storage, Micro-Scale Thermal to Electric Energy Conversion, Magnetic to Electric Energy Conversion in Ocean Environments, On-Chip Energy Source Using Indium Nitride Quantum Dot Solar Cells, Piezoelectric Cantilevers Based Energy Harvesters, and Roll-to-Roll Printing of Organic Energy Harvesters. VT, CU and UTD plan to use the NSF planning grant fund to hold a meeting with prospective industrial partners, and to develop an initial research agenda for CEHMS of sufficient commercial interest that attendees will be willing to invest in and sustain the Center.

The proposed Center has the potential to improve sustainability and profitability of US manufacturing firms by developing new technologies that will reduce energy consumption and harvest energy that is normally wasted. Industrial members will benefit from the research conducted at the Center in areas of materials synthesis, thin-film deposition, energy conversion devices, micro/nano electronics, electrochemical storage systems, sensor development, system design, integrated hybrid architectures, computational and theoretical modeling, and nano-scale fabrication techniques. Students and faculty members of CEHMS will gain valuable experience by interaction with industry partners.

I/UCRC for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems

1035042 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Daniel Inman
1035024 University of Texas, Dallas; Bruce Gnade

The Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems ((CEHMS) will focus on recovery (harvesting) of unused energy from various sources such as radio and television towers, satellites and various portable electronics. Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VT) and the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD) are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with VT as the lead institution.

The proposal seeks a grant for a new multi-university Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems to focus on energy harvesting approaches. The focus of research within this center will be to investigate a wide range of potential energy harvesting opportunities in power systems, human activity, industrial machines, vehicles, vibrating structures and other such sources. While the energy harvested in any one of the opportunities is small, the accumulation effect can be very significant. The proposed researchers have identified some unique and creative opportunities to assess the value and potential for harvesting energy that would otherwise be untapped. The research is important to the US and much of the world in efforts to capture new sources of energy. The reduction in dependence on foreign oil is always of significant value. The PIs have excellent credentials for conducting the research effort, and the involvement of a number of qualified researchers from the two collaborative universities is impressive. The proposal is very well written and the project descriptions are clear and well documented. The research tasks are appropriate and appear to be very well conceived.

The proposed Center has the potential to improve sustainability and profitability of US manufacturing firms by developing new technologies that will reduce energy consumption and harvest energy that is normally wasted. The proposal uses a diverse group of researchers to develop new technologies that can be used in developing new industries, new jobs, new products and new services in the future. The research team is made up of various ethnic and gender groups that have a variety of educational and professional experiences including minority and disadvantage groups. The technologies that are developed by this proposal have the potential to have a large economical impact by producing jobs in new industries and reducing the need for existing fossil fuels. The plan for involving underrepresented students and faculty in the center is very well presented and appropriate. The research program will enhance the already impressive infrastructure at the two universities. Because of the wide range of topics, the dissemination of the results will be primarily through publications and industry meeting. The students involved with the program will be well prepared to enter the workforce and provide additional technology transfer.

The overall technical goal of this program is to study the science and technology needed to develop very large area, rugged, high sensitivity, low power, pixilated, thermal neutron detectors. Very large area detector systems, meters on a side, provide the large aperture needed to quickly scan large containers with high sensitivity. There are three technology areas that will be addressed to meet the goals; 1) the neutron conversion layer, 2) the charged particle detection layer, and 3) the high sensitivity active matrix pixel electronics for low parasitic capacitance detection and signal amplification to allow large arrays. For each of the three technologies there are multiple approaches we will pursue to provide both performance and reliability. For the neutron conversion layer our first approach is to evaluate nanoparticles containing Boron-10 and/or Lithium-6 dispersed in a polymer-based matrix in contact with a thin-film sensor (converter-on-diode). Our longer term approach is to evaluate nanoparticles containing Boron-10 and/or Lithium-6 dispersed in a solution processable semiconductor diode (converter-in-diode). For the charged particle detection system we will develop a fundamental understanding for the current generation and collection in thin-film semiconductor diodes induced by charged particles. To maximize sensitivity while maintaining selectivity we will develop high sensitivity pixel electronics, which will require very low noise amplifiers. We will evaluate new amplifier designs based on thin-film transistors. A significant goal of this project will be developing models to simulate device performance, as well as system performance to evaluate system sensitivity for different detection scenarios.

Because of the quickly dwindling supply of Helium-3 a new neutron detection technology is needed. Our project will develop a novel thermal neutron detection system that will provide performance never seen before in nuclear threat detection. The overall concept is based on the idea that overall sensitivity scales with the area of the detector and that the overall selectivity vs. false positives scales with the ability to locate the source of the neutrons by pixelating the detector, increasing the signal-to-noise. Because the proposed technologies are compatible with flat panel display manufacturing technology, the detectors should be relatively inexpensive. Also, because all of the proposed processes are compatible with low temperature plastic substrates, ruggedness is inherent in the design, rather than an afterthought. A significant part of the program is the training of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students that will learn about nuclear threat detection all the way from the fundamental interactions of neutrons and charged particles with matter to testing devices for sensitivity and radiation hardness, an opportunity available to few students anywhere. As part of the training we will develop a series of classes that can be taught at the senior undergraduate / graduate level, or as a short course for people working in nuclear detection. University of Texas at Dallas and Arizona State University have teamed to work together to develop these large area thermal neutron detectors, with close collaboration with the Army Research Labs. Prototypes will be fabricated in the Flexible Display Center at ASU, providing a path to making the technology available.

This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project from the University of Texas-Dallas seeks to develop a multifunctional microelectrode array platform technology that has the potential to revolutionize how neuroscience research is conducted. Microelectrode arrays (MEAs) have provided significant insight into how the nervous system receives, processes, and transmits information. With the ability to stimulate and record from cells within the nervous system using MEAs, neuroscientists have been able to probe neural circuitry and examine the underlying spatiotemporal dynamics in health and disease. The overall goal of this partnership is to develop and productize a microelectrode array platform technology for neuroscience that is in turn capable of successively producing increasingly complex high performance devices. The vision is a multifunctional MEA platform technology that incorporates: 1) multichannel optical stimulation, using embedded organic light emitting diodes for selective neurostimulation; 2) shape memory polymers to provide a more robust, long-lived interface with the nervous system; 3) embedded microsystems based on thin-film transistors and piezoelectric polymers for on-board signal processing and micro-positioning of electrodes in vivo; and 4) low-cost, disposable fabrication materials and methods for in vitro neuropharmacological assay use. The project team proposes to develop this novel multifunctional MEA platform technology by leveraging advances in flexible display technology and materials science, demonstrating this technology platform in both in vitro and in vivo neuroscience studies.

The broader impacts of this research will include the resulting technologies that will be productized in various embodiments for use in clinical research and treatment. Because the proposed MEA platform is based on materials and processes that have been developed for the flexible display industry, a clear path to large volume manufacturing has already been demonstrated. In addition to the technology to be developed, which will open up whole new areas of research in neuroscience, the graduate and undergraduate students involved in this project will be exposed to a wide array of science and technology, ranging from semiconductor processing to neuroscience. They will also learn a tremendous amount about systems engineering, because, while the bulk of the project is about microelectrode array development, the arrays have to be compatible with the recording and stimulating electronics and software. Even more important, the students have the opportunity to work with proven entrepreneurs, such as Harvey Wiggins, the founder of Plexon. Mr. Wiggins has taken Plexon from a one person operation to the leading manufacturer of neuroscience recording hardware and software in the world. The students will be involved in the entire innovation process, including product definition, product design, process development, product fabrication and testing and finally marketing. UT Dallas' High School Comets program will also get local high school students involved in the project. The ultimate goal of the program is to create a technology platform that will create high paying jobs for students like those involved in this project, and, at the same time, benefit society by providing a new set of tools for neuroscientists to solve the most pressing medical problems.

Partners at the inception of the project are all part of the Knowledge Enhancement Partnership (KEP) unit, consisting consisting of the University of Texas-Dallas (Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Neuroscience) and two small businesses: Plexon, Inc. (Dallas, TX), the leading manufacturer of neural recording equipment and software in the world, which will provide the team with expertise in electrical engineering and computer science; and Syzygy Memory Plastics (Atlanta, GA) which will provide expertise needed to develop the appropriate polymer substrate materials for both in vivo and in vitro multielectrode arrays.

This project will support the establishment of a new international research collaboration between the University of Texas-Dallas (UTD) and the New University of Lisbon (UNL) in Portugal. Researchers at UNL focus on materials research, and recently demonstrated the use of cellulose based paper as either a substrate for physical support of electronic devices (such as organic thin film transistors, logic circuits and electrochromic displays) or as an ?interstrate? structure where the device is built on both sides of the cellulose sheet. The group at UT Dallas focuses on device design and process integration, and recently demonstrated Flexible CMOS digital gates and integrated column drivers for electrophoretic displays, non-volatile memory based on the organic ferroelectric polymer P(VDF-TrFE), and flexible displays based on organic thin-film transistors and organic light emitting diodes. In the current catalytic project, the two teams will work together to develop new devices based on integrating novel device structures and circuits on cellulose substrates, providing the possibility for very inexpensive, highly functional electronic paper.

The broader impacts of the planning visit supported through this award are substantial. The development of a new field of electronics based upon cellulose is potentially transformative, and the complementary research expertise and infrastructure will foster strong international collaborations. Student researchers will participate in the planning visit to Portugal and gain valuable international experience and networks. Anticipated follow-on activities also include the development of long-term exchange programs for both US and Portuguese students.

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating research on solid state neutron detectors based on silicon p-i-n diodes coupled with a 10B neutron conversion layer. Low cost, high performance portable neutron detectors will have applications ranging from homeland security to medical treatment. First responders will be able to continuously monitor for the presence of special nuclear materials, providing a distributed, networked array of detectors covering the entire country, making it nearly impossible to move special nuclear materials without being detected. Medical physicists will be able to monitor the production of neutrons during heavy ion cancer treatment to collect data on the long term impact of secondary neutrons.

The technology is based on research that resulted in detectors that have shown >13% intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency. Currently, most portable neutron detectors are based on 3He-filled tubes. While these detectors have been the workhorse of the nuclear industry for many years, they require high voltage and they are fragile, bulky, and too expensive to be widely distributed. There is a need for high efficiency neutron detectors that are rugged, low cost, low power and that can be networked together. This PFI program involves the University of Texas at Dallas working closely with Texas Instruments to develop the electronics to tile many small solid state neutron detectors together into an array that will provide performance similar to commercially available 3He detectors at a greatly reduced cost.

This project addresses several technology gap(s) as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application. For example, this program will couple highly efficient neutron detector elements with high performance signal processing electronics made from state-of-the-art silicon CMOS, based on an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) that has at least 25 channels of pre-amplification and pulse shaping circuitry, with one channel coupled to each 1 cm2 detector element. This will allow the demonstration of a 25 cm2 solid state neutron detector array with performance equivalent to a conventional 3He detector. Simulations show that the high performance, low noise electronics should enable 20% intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency. Because all of the electronics are combined in one ASIC, the cost of the electronics can be reduced from approximately $1200 using discreet components for each channel, to <$10 for the entire array. Because of the greatly reduced cost, portable neutron detectors would be available for applications never before possible. This project will support two graduate students who will be trained in the area of radiation detectors and nuclear electronics. This is quickly becoming a lost skill set and there is a need for the next generation of engineers and scientists that understand radiation detectors and the associated electronics. The students will also have the opportunity to work with engineers and scientists at Texas Instruments, the leader in the field of analog and mixed signal electronics. This is an opportunity to which few students have access.