SBIR Phase I: NANOSTRUCTURED 3D CATALYTIC COATINGS FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY POLLUTION CONTROL AND AIR PURIFICATION

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是解决对环境、健康和经济产生深远影响的污染减少和空气净化的全球挑战。每年在排放控制活动上花费数千亿美元，但空气污染每年给全球经济带来的福利成本超过5万亿美元，每8人死亡中就有1人死于空气污染。目前工业催化空气净化技术的设计和性能不足以处理越来越多的空气污染物。为这一问题寻找可持续的、具有成本效益的解决办法，鉴于监管日益严格，这一点变得越来越重要。我们提出的技术具有很高的商业化潜力，因为它具有成本效益，表现出良好的长期性能，并且在美国现有的制造框架内具有可扩展制造的潜力。此外，该公司的创始人是该技术的发明者，并拥有核心知识产权的独家许可。值得注意的是，我们在降低工作温度方面的示范得到了业界的好评，我们通过NSF I-Corps等项目的客户发现成果证明了这一点。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目解决了催化转化器面临的突出挑战，特别是与冷启动、耐久性和高成本相关的技术挑战，这些挑战可归因于大量铂族金属的使用，以及对这些金属有限储量的依赖。通过高度控制的组成和纳米、微观和宏观结构，我们已经证明了在已知污染物的催化分解中显著降低了贵金属含量。这个SBIR项目的研究目标是开发一种可扩展的沉积方法，将这些先进的催化材料沉积到工业相关的基板上，以促进和加速它们与商业产品的整合，以解决日益严重的空气污染和温室气体排放问题。技术工作将涉及这些材料的合成和对合成方案的修改，以适应这种大规模沉积过程，以及寿命，坚固性和催化测试。这将需要建筑设备进行沉积。克服作为SBIR项目主题的技术挑战将促进纳米结构材料转化为与污染减少和空气净化有关的广泛催化应用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to address the global challenge of pollution abatement and air purification which have a profound impact on the environment, health, and economy. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on emission control activities, yet air pollution costs the global economy over five trillion of dollars annually in welfare costs and is attributed to one in every eight deaths. The design and performance of current industrial catalytic air purification technologies is insufficient to treat the growing number of airborne pollutants. Finding sustainable, cost-effective solutions to this problem, and is becoming increasingly important in view of tightening regulations. The technology we propose has a high commercialization potential due to the fact that it is cost-effective, shows excellent long-term performance and potential for scalable fabrication within an existing manufacturing framework within the United States. Further, the founders of the company are inventors of the technology and have exclusive licensing of the core IP. Significantly, our demonstration of operating temperature reductions has been well-received by industry as evidenced by findings from our customer discovery effort through programs such as NSF I-Corps.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses outstanding challenges in catalytic converters, notably technical challenges associated with cold start, durability, and high cost, which can be attributed to the use of substantial amounts of platinum group metals, and reliance on the limited reserves of these metals. Through highly controlled composition and nano-, micro-, and macro- structuration, we have previously demonstrated dramatically reduced precious metal content in a catalytic decomposition of known pollutants. The research objectives of this SBIR project are to develop a scalable deposition method of these advanced catalytic materials onto industrially relevant substrates, to promote and accelerate their integration into commercial products to tackle the growing problem of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The technical work will involve the synthesis of these materials and modifications to the synthetic schemes in a way that will be compatible with such large-scale deposition processes, as well as longevity, robustness, and catalytic testing. It will require building equipment for the deposition. Overcoming the technological challenges that are the subject of this SBIR Project will facilitate translation of the nanostructured materials to a broad range of catalytic applications related to pollution abatement and air purification.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.