Materials and energy technologies

• Iron sulfide cathode materials for lithium- and sodium-based rechargeable batteries - NRL has developed patent-pending, low-temperature chemical methods to synthesize lithiated and sodiated iron sulfide in a variety of forms (e.g. powders, coatings on 3D carbon scaffolds). These materials deliver high specific capacity (>300 mAh/g) when tested in coin cells for energy-storage purposes. NRL seeks potential commercial partners in the battery industry who may be interested in scaling and commercializing this class of materials for battery use.
• Porous metal electrodes for energy storage, water desalination and beyond - NRL has developed and patented scalable, manufacture-friendly processes to fabricate monolithic porous zinc and silver electrodes that function as high-performance electrodes for use in rechargeable batteries and electrochemical deionization/desalination devices. NRL seeks potential industry collaborations to transition these materials toward commercial- and military-relevant applications through CRADAs or licensing agreements.
• End-of-life battery deactivation - An NRL developed technology utilizing low cost, non-toxic materials can safely dissipate stranded energy in batteries and render them inert to abuse (e.g. external short circuit, heating, or mechanical damage), independent of cell form factor. NRL seeks potential industry collaboration with an interest to license this technology for scale up and market sampling. 

• Heterogeneous integration of GaN RF transistors - NRL has developed a selective release process for GaN RF high-electron-mobility transistors and demonstrated the transfer of individual devices via the micro-transfer printing technique to a variety of interposer substrates. NRL seeks potential industry collaboration to advance the field by circuit-level demonstrations of high performance GaN RF devices leveraging this technology.
• High-frequency midwave infrared detectors - NRL has demonstrated resonant cavity infrared detectors (RCIDs) with > 3x higher responsivity than any previous midwave infrared (MWIR) sensors having > 1 GHz frequency response. Responsivity is > 2 amperes/watt (A/W) is combined with 3-dB bandwidth > 6 GHz at a resonance wavelength of 4.6 microns. High-speed sensors are increasingly needed to detect rapidly-modulated MWIR laser signals. NRL seeks potential industry collaboration to design and manufacture this technology for military and/or commercial uses.
• High power electronics utilizing NRL SiC or GaN based transistor technology - NRL in collaboration with major commercial vendors established a 3.3kV SiC MOSFET device die process at a DoD trusted foundry with similar 3.3kV, 6.5kV and 10kV die and packaged part processes under development. NRL has a parallel effort to establish 1.7kV and 3.3kV vertical GaN devices in a commercial production line. NRL seeks potential industry collaboration to develop 3.3kV to 20kV power electronic modules leveraging either SiC and/or GaN based discrete devices.

• Computationally lightweight global models of cyclone potential intensity from environmental parameters - NRL has developed and patented a method for calculating tropical cyclone (TCs) potential intensity (PI) from ocean and atmosphere modeled parameters. NRL seeks potential industry collaboration to advance these methods enabling more accurate forecasts and to facilitate an AI/ML approaches to predicting TCs.