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For immediate release E2I and EPRI Award Three Nanotechnology Research
Grants Palo Alto, Calif. - July 27, 2004 - The Electricity Innovation Institute (E2I) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have awarded the first three grants through its newly created Innovative Small Grants Program. The program's first year of funding, provided through the EPRI Strategic Science and Technology Program, supports research that examines ways nanotechnology can advance the future of the electricity enterprise. One-year research grants, each worth $100,000, were awarded to Dr. Craig Grimes, Pennsylvania State University; Drs. Chien Wai and Frank Cheng, University of Idaho; and Dr. Pamela Shapiro, University of Idaho. "It is exciting to stimulate the application of new breakthrough technologies from other disciplines into the electricity sector, where they can offer wide benefits to society. These concepts promise not only to offer cost-effective solutions for our industry, but also have strong potential for applications in other fields," said T.J. Glauthier, President and CEO of the E2I. "In addition to encouraging the development of valuable new technologies, sponsoring university programs helps train the next generation of scientists." Grimes, whose proposal is titled "Development of Nanotubular/Nanoporous Metal Oxide E-Nose Sensor for In-situ Monitoring of Dissolved Gases in Power Transformers," will fabricate e-nose sensors that will be installed on-line to continuously monitor concentrations of eight gases in mineral oil power transformers. The result of the proposed research will help mitigate the risks and the negative economic impact of power transformer failure. More generally, sensors are important for a wide variety of processes across many industries. Wai and Cheng's winning entry is titled "Carbon Nanotube-Supported Catalytic Nanoparticles for Fuel Cell Applications." Using supercritical CO2 processing, they will deposit and examine nanoscale electrocatalysts that are important to the successful development of highly efficient low-temperature fuel cells. And because it is nontoxic, nonflammable, and recyclable, supercritical CO2 is an environmentally friendly solvent. In "Synthetic Approaches to New Photovoltaic Materials based on Ordered Chalcopyrite Quantum Dot Arrays in Polymer Matrices for the Development of High Efficiency Solar Cells," Shapiro proposes to use polymer synthesis to prepare quantum dot solar cells, a new architecture that has the potential for three times the solar-energy-conversion efficiency of current commercial technology. She aims to create ordered arrays of chalcopyrite (CuInS2) nanoparticles within an insulating polymer matrix. The methods developed in this research can potentially be extended to assemble other types of nanoparticles. The efficient and cost-effective manipulation of such particles into ordered arrangements is a current challenge for nanotechnology. The one-year research period will culminate in publication of a
technical report and a workshop at the Institute's Palo Alto headquarters.
For more information, visit the E2I web site, www.e2i.org. The Electricity Innovation Institute's mission is to stimulate innovation in strategic electricity technologies through public/private partnerships. The non-profit public benefit organization is an EPRI affiliate based in Palo Alto, Calif. E2I's focus is to develop strategic technology innovations with the potential to transform the value of electricity to customers and society and provide great public benefits. Visit E2I at www.e2i.org. Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), headquartered
in Palo Alto, Calif., was established in 1973 as a non-profit center
for public interest energy and environmental research. EPRI's collaborative
science and technology development program now spans nearly every
area of power generation, delivery and use. More than 1,000 energy
organizations and public institutions in 40 countries draw on EPRI's
global network of technical and business expertise. Visit EPRI at
www.epri.com. - # # # -
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