SNM: Scalable Manufacturing of Unique Hexaboride Nanomaterials for Advanced Energy Generation and Gas Storage Applications

非技术描述：该项目的目标是探索独特的纳米级硼化物材料的可扩展制造和基本行为，用于几种工业相关和关键技术，特别强调能源生产和储气应用。该项目侧重于连续和规模化制造硼化物材料的两种新型和互补的加工技术（用于生产硼化物粉末的溶液燃烧合成和用于粉末固化的火花等离子烧结），以及可以消除这些先进材料最终可制造性的关键障碍的基础研究。该项目涉及社区大学生的参与，以及与工业伙伴的合作。技术细节：本项目旨在从原子水平的晶界工程到这些材料的宏观物理行为，在各种长度尺度上创造、合理设计、优化和规模化制造硼化物纳米材料。这是一个综合的努力，将理论和建模方法融合到材料加工的最新实验发展中，包括溶液燃烧合成和火花等离子烧结。该项目是第一个研究(i)规模的燃烧合成过程，以生产硼化物纳米材料，（ii）设计和实施一个过程，连续制造散装样品的火花等离子烧结，（iii）优化扩散行为和气体储存能力的各种六硼化物化合物的电场，以及（iv）结合实验工作与分子模拟技术来研究离子和气体在六硼化物中的扩散。这个关于可扩展纳米制造（SNM）的项目是由数学和物理科学（MPS）和工程（ENG）理事会共同资助的。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The goal of this project is to explore the scalable manufacturing and fundamental behavior of unique nanoscale boride materials for applications in several industrially-relevant and critical technologies, with a special emphasis on energy generation and gas storage applications. This project focuses on two novel and complementary processing techniques for the continuous and scaled manufacturing of boride materials (solution combustion synthesis for production of the boride powders and spark plasma sintering for consolidation of the powders), as well as on fundamental studies that can eliminate critical roadblocks during scale-up for the eventual manufacturability of these advanced materials. The project involves the participation of community college students, as well as collaborations with industrial partners.TECHNICAL DETAILS: The purpose of this project is the creation, rational design, optimization, and scaled manufacturing of boride nanomaterials at a variety of length scales, from atomic level grain boundary engineering to macroscopic physical behavior of these materials. It is an integrated effort that will fuse theoretical and modeling approaches to recent experimental developments in materials processing, including solution combustion synthesis and spark plasma sintering. This project is the first study to (i) scale the combustion synthesis process for the production of boride nanomaterials, (ii) design and implement a process for the continuous manufacturing of bulk specimens by spark plasma sintering, (iii) optimize the diffusion behavior and gas storage capacity of a variety of hexaboride compounds in electric fields, and (iv) combine experimental work with molecular modeling techniques to study the diffusion of ions and gases in hexaborides.This project on Scalable Nanomanufacturing (SNM) is co-funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Engineering (ENG) Directorates.