Purdue’s hub for interdisciplinary and translational research, conceived as a place where scholars from all disciplines could work together to define whole new areas of research and solve grand challenges.

Purdue Energy Center: We engage researchers and students in a community that delivers new discoveries and develops disruptive technologies with national and global impact.

Over 150 faculty engaged in interdisciplinary energy science and engineering Research strengths in transportation (biofuels, aviation engine testing, electric vehicles,

ground vehicle power, transportation systems) Power generation and transmission (solar, wind, nuclear, smart grid, energy efficiency, state utility forecasting)

Maureen McCann, Director Pankaj Sharma, Managing Director

Roadmap to neat biofuels Energy challenges require systems-level and interdisciplinary approaches, for example, for making liquid hydrocarbon fuels from biomass

Purdue has worked on 600 Navy-related projects in the last decade ($80M in funding)

Energy and fuel Power electronics and power systems Propulsion Air-sea battle management Cyber security/ information assurance Graduate and undergraduate education and technology transition expertise

2014-15 participants of the Purdue Military Research Initiative, a program that brings active-duty officers to campus for advancing their graduate research degrees

Navy-relevant signature strengths at Purdue

"The Department of the Navy and Purdue have a deep interest in working together to reduce reliance on carbon-based fuels and energy sources. Not only does this help decrease our

dependence on fossil fuel, it makes our Navy and Marine Corps a better warfighting force." - Ray Mabus, U.S. Secretary of the Navy

Navy – Purdue co-sign statement of co-operation

May 14th, 2014

Roadmap to neat biofuels Naval Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence: Advance DoN personnel and sustainable energy objectives by supporting university research activities that directly incorporate participation and education of naval personnel across active military duty, ROTC and veterans 7 interdisciplinary projects engaging 13 graduate students and 12 undergraduate students

Potential for Purdue – NSWC CRANE interactions Showcase research to campus visitors from industry, government, academia and public

Rakesh Agrawal ChemE

Rodney Trice ECE

Xiangyu Zhang ECE

Gozdem Kilaz Aviation Technology

Dongyan Xu ECE

Timothee Pourpoint AAE

Suresh Garimella ME

Jeffrey Youngblood Mat. Eng

Vilas Pol ChemE

Justin Weibel ME

Peter Bermel ECE

Hilka Kenttamaa Chemistry

Peide Ye ECE

NEPTUNE Center for Power and Energy

Challenge • Require high-performance, low-

cost batteries for medium to large scale storage systems

• Li-ion batteries • Costly manufacturing • Safety concerns • Low Li abundance (20 ppm) • Geopolitical issues

Approach • Use sodium – earth abundance 2 to 3% • Low cost (1/50 w.r.to. Li) • Use ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

• Preparation of anode (carbon) and cathode (Nax[FeyMnz]O2) suspension

• Film deposition and characterization • Battery fabrication and electrochemical

testing

Naval Relevance • Energy storage plays an important role

to ensure combat-readiness and maintain superior warfare capabilities

• Future navy operations will need • Increased demand in electrical power • Renewable integration/microgrid • Powering pulse radars and advanced

weapon systems (e.g. rail guns)

Anode and cathode materials for Na-ion batteries

Development of low-cost, high-performance electrode materials for Na-ion batteries Jeffrey Youngblood, Materials Engineering; Vilas Pol, Chemical Engineering

Challenge • Miniaturization of electronics requires

efficient dissipation of high heat fluxes • Better understanding of non-uniform

surface wettability on boiling heat transfer efficiency will enable improved thermal management technologies

Approach • Fabricate metallic surfaces using etching,

low-surface energy coating, and laser ablation processes to yield surfaces that are:

• Extremely wetting (superhydrophilic), or • Extremely nonwetting

(superhydrophobic) • Study the ‘critical heat flux’ on patterns

of intermixed wetting and nonwetting regions

Naval Relevance • Deterioration of electrical performance

and reliability at high temperature necessitates transformative cooling strategies

• Better thermal management of naval platforms for higher power density gadgets, radar electronics and weapons systems is required

Surfaces with wettability gradients to manipulate vapor bubble

motion during boiling will be evaluated in a test chamber

Heterogeneous surface wettability for manipulation of dryout hydro-dynamics & bubble departure during high-heat-flux boiling processes Justin Weibel & Suresh Garimella, Mechanical Engineering

superhydro-phobic

superhydrophilic

Challenge • Portable, reliable, robust power sources for

electronics and expeditionary forces • Abundant hydrogen

• Use Ammonia Borane (NH3-BH3; 19.6 wt.%) as hydrogen storage and production

• Reduce cost using other catalysts instead expensive Pt-based catalyst

• Low weight/volume and ease-of-use

Approach • Use commercially available acidic-cation

exchange resin (e.g.: Amberlyst 15) • 150 times cheaper than Pt-based catalysts • Shield Ammonia Borane and resin using

water soluble membrane (e.g.: polyethylene; POLYOXTM; Poly(vinyl alcohol))

Naval Relevance • Versatile system • Low weight • Low cost • Enable new and

longer missions

Reaction occurs after water comes in contact with AB. Membrane dissolves 6 seconds after adding water. The exotherm is under 5°C.

Lab-scale demonstration of Ammonia Borane decomposition using Amberlyst 15 and a water soluble membrane.

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Low-cost catalyst for portable hydrogen generation and on-demand power Timothée Pourpoint and Jason Gabl, Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering

Challenge • Aviation fuels provide lubrication/cooling

in addition to power source • Engine safety/durability needed for 30 yrs,

ASTM approval takes ~5 years, costs $30M and tests only allowable/restricted compounds

• Several sources of biomass for biofuel • Fuel impurities (S, P, Na, K, alkaline/alkaline earth metal

oxides) can react with engine and other components leading to corrosion and efficiency/emissions issues

Approach • Use gas-liquid chromatography with high-

resolution tandem mass spectrometry to determine fuel composition

• Correlate fuel composition to “fit for purpose” and “performance” criteria

• Study hot corrosion • Combine experimental data with quantum

chemical calculations to develop predictive models to enable fuel manufactures to “tu-ne” their products for desired application

Naval Relevance • Improving the ability to identify the best

possible fuels for the various applications in Navy without expensive testing

• Assist Navy in achieving its target of 50% energy from alternative sources

Mass Spectrometry Lab, Chemistry Department

Fundamental studies on composition/performance correlations for aviation fuels Hilkka Kenttämaa, Chemistry; Gozdem Kilaz, Aviation Technology; Rodney Trice, Materials Engineering

Challenge • Sensing & Control systems playing

critical role in naval operations • Increasing dependence on computer

firmware and software • Security solutions for traditional

cyberinfrastructures not applicable • Detecting hidden malicious logic;

revealing triggering vulnerabilities; assessing impacts on physical system

Approach • Porting sensor/controller firmware for

vetting by software analysis tools • Force-executing firmware/software for

hidden malicious logic revelation • Analyzing control loop for damage

assessment

Naval Relevance • Computerized S&C systems widely

deployed in naval ship and shore infrastructures (e.g., power generation, autonomic avionics)

• Integrated S&C firmware-software vetting, protection, and risk analysis framework needed in naval contexts

• Gap between cyber and physical aspects of S&C security to be filled

An integrated approach to securing cyber/physical aspects of sensing and

control systems

Towards Vetted Sensing and Control System Firmware and Software Dongyan Xu and Xiangyu Zhang, Department of Computer Science and CERIAS

Challenge • High-frequency GaN power electronics

can operate in regimes inaccessible to Si MOS electronics

• However, they may still be subject to semiconductor interface issues: • Gate leakage current/reliability • Current collapses • Interface traps/recombination losses

Approach • Atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) enables perfectly

lattice-matched growth of passivating oxides on GaN

• Will characterize surface recombination velocities & interface defect densities with two approaches:

1. Optical (photoluminescent excitation) 2. Electronic (capacitance-voltage

measurements) • Will serve as a diagnostic to refine MgCaO

gate oxide deposition, for best passivation and performance

Naval Relevance • Research will enable development of

novel GaN RF power electronic devices with reduced recombination losses

• Improve characteristics of III-N insulated gate transistors

• Improve an order-of-magnitude of DoD electronic systems, including radars and communication, navigation and munitions’ electronics.

S D 6.8 nm InAlN

SiC Substrate

Transition Layer

Intrinsic GaN channel

1nm AlN

G 2 nm Al2O3 4 nm MgCaO

InAlN/GaN MOSHFET

TEM MgCaO on InAlN

MOSHFET electronic operation

data

GaN interface engineering for naval RF power electronics applications via atomic layer epitaxy Peide Ye and Peter Bermel, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Birck Nanotechnology Center

Challenge • Traditional electronic devices require hard

substrates and slow/costly vacuum-based processing

• Solution-processing allows cost-effective, roll-to-roll, and rapid fabrication of flexible electronic devices. Examples are • PV, thermoelectrics, thin film transistors, batteries

and sensors • Most inorganic salts are insoluble in many

organic solvents; chemistry is unknown

Approach • PV thin films: Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4, Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2, CdTe • Study precursors, such as Zn, S, Se and Te, as well as

salts of metals of interest for electronic devices, such as Cu, Zn, Sn, Ga, In, As, Sb, P, Pb, and Cd.

• Use alkylthiols or alkyldithiols and alkylamines or alkyldiamines to dissolve materials otherwise insoluble

• Use the following techniques to study mechanisms (dissolution and products)

• High-resolution tandem mass spectrometry • X-ray diffraction • Raman spectroscopy • Electron microscopy

Naval Relevance • Access to wearable, flexible, and

lightweight electronics, such as solar cells, batteries and sensors, could impact many aspects of Navy mission.

Fabrication of thin film photovoltaic devices

Unlocking the Chemistry of the Amine-thiol Universal Solvent System for Solution-processed, Flexible Electronic Devices Hilkka Kenttämaa, Chemistry; Rakesh Agrawal, Chemical Engineering

Roadmap to neat biofuels Power and Energy: A STEM program to inspire leadership in S and T for the workforce of the future fleet

Upper-level course for undergraduates and graduate students in the Colleges of Science, Technology and Engineering

Modular structure for transition to online delivery Use “Power and Energy” as a test-bed to expand to 8 other Naval S and T focus

areas A cohort of students with deep domain expertise; exposure to interdisciplinary

“team science”; mirroring societal diversity: exposed to Navy culture Engage guest speakers from DoN, NSWC, industry, Naval Research Labs Incorporate field trips (e.g. NSWC and Battery Innovation Center at Crane) Case studies and student-driven projects related to DoN needs