Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Technology Marketing Summaries

Here you’ll find marketing summaries for technologies available for licensing from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL). The summaries provide descriptions of the technologies including their benefits, applications and industries, and development stage.

106 Technology Marketing Summaries
Category	Title and Abstract	Laboratories	Date
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	Sulfur-Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Cathodes for Lithium/Sulfur Cells A Berkeley Lab team headed by Yuegang Zhang and Elton Cairns has developed a method to fabricate battery cathodes from nanoscale flakes of graphene oxide and sulfur. This innovation solves at once two design problems that have impeded efforts to make commercially viable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries: 1) sulfur is a natural insulator, and designers must find ways to overcome its resistance; 2) Li-S batteries are notoriously short-lived because sulfur that dissolves in the electrolyte can... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	04/30/2013 New!
Early Stage R&D Solar Thermal	Water Based Process for Fabricating Thermoelectric Materials Berkeley Lab scientists Rachel Segalman, Jeffrey Urban and Kevin See have invented a water based process to make thermoelectric films. The resulting composite film displays both the high thermovoltage expected of nanocrystals and the high electrical conductivity of polymers—a beneficial pairing of traits. These traits can counteract in conventional thermoelectric materials to limit a thermoelectric device’s efficiency and economic utility.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	04/30/2013 Updated!
Building Energy Efficiency Energy Storage Industrial Technologies	Organic Flash Cycles for Intermediate and High Temperature Waste Reclamation Researchers at Berkeley Lab have developed a highly efficient technology for the reclamation of waste heat in mechanical heat engines widely used in solar-thermal, geothermal, and industrial processes. This new approach yields gains in efficiencies for both high temperature and intermediate temperature thermal sources, marking a significant advance over strategies that focus predominately on high temperature efficiency solutions.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	04/30/2013 New!
Building Energy Efficiency	Ventilation Controller for Improved Indoor Air Quality Iain Walker and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have developed a dynamic control system for whole-house ventilation fans that provides maximal air quality while reducing by 18-44% the energy spent on ventilation. The system, the Residential Integrated Ventilation Energy Controller (RIVEC), coordinates the operation of a whole-house exhaust fan in response to other exhaust and supply fans in the house and to extremes of indoor-outdoor temperature difference. The system can be used in various... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	04/30/2013 New!
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Transition Metal Switchable Mirrors Berkeley Lab's Transition Metal Switchable Mirrors (TMSMs) utilize a thin film made from an alloy of magnesium and one or more transition metals. This film enables the glass to which it is bonded to be reversibly converted between reflecting and transparent states either by applying an electrical current or exposing it to hydrogen gas. *Please note, this technology is only available in the following fields of use: displays and passive solar devices.*	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	04/19/2013 Updated!
Advanced Materials	Polyaniline-Based Membranes for Separating Carbon Dioxide and Methane Berkeley Lab researchers have optimized polymer membrane technology to more efficiently remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from natural gas. The invention employs a novel method of fabricating a multilayered composite membrane, enlisting readily available porous polypropylene as a supporting film for an ultrathin (100 nanometers or less), homogeneous, defect-free polyaniline (PANI) layer. Modifications activating the surface for reaction with diamines and enabling accommodation of an oligoethylene... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/25/2013
Advanced Materials	Multiple Layer Graphene Optical Modulator Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a tiny optical modulator based on graphene, potentially leading to significantly improved data transmission speeds in digital communications. The extremely strong interaction between light and relativistic electrons in graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms, allows the integration of an optical modulator within an ultra-small footprint while operating at a high speed with broad bandwidth under ambient conditions.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/30/2013
Building Energy Efficiency Industrial Technologies	Energy Saving System to Remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from Indoor Air Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a catalyst and deployment devices to improve indoor air quality and reduce ventilation energy needs.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/17/2012
Advanced Materials Industrial Technologies	Superhydrophilic Nanostructure for Antifogging Glass Samuel Mao and a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab have created superhydrophilic nanostructures that can be used as a stable antifogging agent when applied to glass. The Berkeley Lab invention does not require UV irradiation and is nontoxic.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/17/2012
Building Energy Efficiency Energy Analysis	APIs for Online Energy Saving Tools: Home Energy Saver and EnergyIQ Berkeley Lab is offering direct access to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for two popular, proven energy saving online tools: Home Energy Saver and EnergyIQ. The APIs allow software developers to access the algorithms and underlying data for Home Energy Saver and EnergyIQ and to use them for the development of customized web interfaces or other services.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2012
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	Multilayer Graphene-Silicon Structures for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes A team of Berkeley Lab researchers led by Yuegang Zhang and Liwen Ji has taken a major step toward an improved lithium ion battery with the development of anodes coated with vanishingly thin, alternating layers of graphene and silicon. Tests have shown that Berkeley Lab’s graphene-silicon layers create anodes with a much higher charge capacity than those made of graphite. In addition, the multilayer nanostructure of this easy-to-fabricate design resists the rapid degradation that... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2012
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	Lower Cost, Nanoporous Block Copolymer Battery Separator Although the polyolefin polymer material often used for lithium battery separators costs approximately $1.30/kg, the difficult process used to make it porous, to allow the flow of ions and electrons, raises its cost by two-orders of magnitude, to $120–$240/kg. A Berkeley Lab team led by Nitash Balsara has developed an inexpensive and easily controlled process yielding a nanoporous polymer separator that performs just as well as those made by conventional means.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2012
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	Block Copolymer Cathode Binder to Simultaneously Transport Electronic Charge and Ions A Berkeley Lab team led by Nitash Balsara has developed a highly efficient lithium ion battery in which a single inactive material—a polymeric binding agent—serves as a binder that holds active cathode materials together and as a two-lane conductor that simultaneously carries lithium ions and electronic charge.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2012
Building Energy Efficiency Industrial Technologies Solar Photovoltaic	Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide Nanoink Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a method for fabricating conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanocrystals that provide a lower cost, less toxic, earth-abundant alternative to the widely used transparent conductive oxide (TCO) indium tin oxide while offering comparable optical and electronic properties. TCOs are used in devices such as flat screen displays, photovoltaic cells, photochromic windows, chemical sensors, and biosensors.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	09/16/2011
Electricity Transmission Vehicles and Fuels	Carbon Nanofiber Supercapacitor Berkeley Lab scientist Yuegang Zhang and colleagues have invented an efficient method of fabricating carbon nanofiber supercapacitors using a nickel foam substrate. This technology eases the way for scaled-up production of versatile charge storage devices with a small form factor and high power-to-size ratio.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	09/16/2011
Industrial Technologies	Carbon Dioxide Capture at a Reduced Cost Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a method that reduces the expense of capturing carbon dioxide generated by the combustion of fossil fuels. This technology would allow power plants and the chemical and cement industries to better sequester carbon dioxide and reduce the associated expenses passed on to consumers. The method uses novel promoters that kinetically favor the reactions for CO2 absorption and solvent regeneration.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	09/15/2011
Building Energy Efficiency Industrial Technologies	Carbon Nanotube Field Emission Devices Novel field emission sources using carbon nanotubes have been developed by Berkeley Lab researchers Alex Zettl and Marvin Cohen. The Berkeley Lab technology overcomes problems currently associated with field emission devices (FEDs).	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	08/22/2011
Biomass and Biofuels	Efflux Pumps to Increase Microbial Tolerance and Biofuel Production Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, Jay Keasling, and Mary Dunlop at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a method for providing industrial host microbes with resistance to valuable but potentially toxic molecules, such as solvents and fuel-like compounds. Providing such tolerance is a crucial step in engineering organisms to produce desirable substances. The scientists used efflux pumps to confer resistance on E. coli and developed a library of the most effective pumps for protection... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	08/22/2011
Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	Advanced Lithium Ion Battery Technologies Scientists at Berkeley Lab have invented highly conductive polymer binder materials that significantly improve the viability of using silicon as an electrode material in lithium ion batteries. They have also combined lithium metal with the Berkeley Lab conductive binder, plus other materials, to create a hybrid electrode system for use in lithium ion batteries.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/26/2011
Building Energy Efficiency Solar Thermal	Heat Transfer Interface for Thermo-Solar Energy Alex Zettl of Berkeley Lab has invented a high efficiency solar energy collector and converter. By addressing both solar absorption and heat transfer elements, the resulting technology promises to be more efficient than conventional thermo-solar energy methods.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/13/2011
Energy Analysis Geothermal	TOUGH +: Modeling Fluid and Heat Flow in Porous and Fractured Ground TOUGH+ is a general-purpose numerical simulation program for modeling multiphase fluid and heat flow through porous and fractured media. It is the successor to the TOUGH2 suite of codes developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Various modules can be linked to the core of TOUGH+ to describe different fluids and their compositions, or to simulate more complex, coupled processes.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/03/2011
Biomass and Biofuels Early Stage R&D	Energy Crops Engineered for Increased Sugar Extraction through Inhibition of snl6 Expression Pamela Ronald and a team of researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered plants with inhibited expression of snl6, a cinnamoyl-CoA reductase-like (CCR-like) gene. As a result, the JBEI plants have reduced lignin or phenolic compounds compared to wild type plants and yield an increase of up to 10 percent of sugar extracted. The JBEI technology can be applied to a wide range of plants including rice, miscanthus, switchgrass, sugarcane, sugar beet, sorghum and corn, among... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/03/2011
Biomass and Biofuels Early Stage R&D	Directing Biomolecules to Intracellular Microcompartments and Scaffolds Cheryl Kerfeld and James Kinney at Berkeley Lab have identified peptide targeting signals that can direct selected enzymes, metabolites, and other macromolecules to microcompartments or scaffolds used to engineer reactions in cells and non-cellular systems. To achieve methods of inserting microcompartments into cells and nonliving vesicles to engineer desirable reactions, a targeting signal can be required to bring the enzymes and necessary reaction components to the microcompartment or... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/03/2011
Industrial Technologies	Piezotube Borehole Seismic Source for Continuous Crosswell Monitoring Tom Daley and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have invented a seismic source that can be operated while fluid is being injected or withdrawn from an aquifer or oil well. The piezotube seismic source offers several advantages that will result in more efficient oil reservoir monitoring and management. It enables the continuous monitoring of well behavior, delivering data indicating trends that might be missed by time-lapse imagery, and it eliminates the need to stop production and remove and... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/25/2011
Industrial Technologies	Accurate Identification, Imaging and Monitoring of Fluid-Saturated Underground Reservoirs Use of seismic low frequencies has strong potential for prognoses of fluid content and mapping of productive highly permeable zones of reservoirs. The low-frequency effects are especially important when no noticeable fluid signature is found in the high-frequency domain of seismic reflections from the oil-saturated reservoirs. Frequency-dependent seismic imaging allows the characterization of the subsurface fluid reservoirs in situations where other approaches fail. To date, the low... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/25/2011
Industrial Technologies	Tube-wave Seismic Imaging and Monitoring Method for Oil Reservoirs and Aquifers Valeri Korneev at Berkeley National Lab has developed a low cost method for real-time seismic monitoring of underground fluid reservoirs based on tube-wave analysis. The method is capable of providing an automated daily update of the changes between wells, informed by data that includes readings from reservoirs at drilling depths.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/25/2011
Energy Analysis	Gas Exploration Software for Reducing Uncertainty in Gas Concentration Estimates Estimating reservoir parameters for gas exploration from geophysical data is subject to a large degree of uncertainty. Seismic imaging techniques, such as seismic amplitude versus angle (AVA) analysis, can provide good information about the physical location and porosity of potential gas-bearing sands but cannot discriminate between economical and uneconomical gas concentrations. Using seismic AVA data alone, even with high resolution, it is difficult to distinguish high or low gas... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/25/2011
Energy Analysis	EMGeo: Risk Minimizing Software for Finding Offshore Fossil Fuels by Fluid Identification Berkeley Lab researchers Greg Newman and Michael Commer have developed advanced software for discovering and mapping offshore fossil fuel deposits. When combined with established seismic methods, this software makes possible direct imaging of reservoir fluids.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Solar Photovoltaic	Carbon Nanohoops: Molecular Templates for Precision Nanotube Synthesis Ramesh Jasti and Carolyn Bertozzi of Berkeley Lab have developed a technique to build carbon-ring “nanohoops,” molecular building blocks for the formation of carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanohoops might serve as seeds, or templates, for the efficient and large-scale synthesis of nanotubes of exceptional precision and uniformity. Nanohoops are cycloparaphenylenes, carbon-ring structures that are the smallest sub-units of “armchair” nanotubes, which have unique electrical and... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Advanced Materials Solar Photovoltaic	Conducting Domain Walls in Insulating Oxides Scientists at Berkeley Lab have built on their discovery that the 2-nm wide domain walls in insulating multiferroic oxides conduct electricity at room temperature. The researchers are able to reversibly manipulate the number, position, and conductivity of these walls. This technology will make it possible to read, write, and erase memory and logic in electronic devices on an unprecedented nanometer scale.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Advanced Materials Solar Photovoltaic	Tunable Graphene Electronic Devices Alex Zettl and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have induced a two-dimensional superconducting order on a graphene sheet and tuned its material properties—transition temperature, critical field, and critical current—via an electrostatic gate. The technology enables the properties of diverse electronic devices to be controlled by the simple addition of dopants (or coatings) combined with the application of an electric field via external circuitry. In addition to control, properties of... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Advanced Materials	Widely Tunable Bandgap in Bilayer Graphene Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a tunable electronic bandgap in bilayer graphene that spans a spectral range from zero to 250 meV (mid-infrared range). In essence, the invention causes graphene to behave like a semiconductor, but at a narrower bandgap than silicon or gallium arsenide.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Biomass and Biofuels	Custom Engineered Microcompartments for Enzyme Efficiency Cheryl Kerfeld and Dominique Loque at Berkeley Lab have developed a technology that can be used to introduce new or enhanced metabolic pathways to bacteria, yeast, algae, and plant and animal cells for the purpose of providing additional functions for biofuel production, CO2 sequestration, fixation, etc. The technology involves colocalizing metabolic enzymes within microcompartments in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and in cell-free non-living systems such as vesicles.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Vehicles and Fuels	Lead-free Thin Film Piezoelectric Devices In a breakthrough discovery, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Robert Zeches, and their research team at Berkeley Lab have developed a technology for lead-free piezoelectric materials using thin-film bismuth ferrite. In addition to being less hazardous to human health and the environment, the Berkeley Lab invention offers an order of magnitude more efficient performance, for all applications, than conventional lead-based piezoelectric materials. The invention can be used to fabricate rewritable data storage... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Geothermal Industrial Technologies	Novel Tube-in-Tube System Simplifies Subsurface Fluid Sampling Barry Freifeld of Berkeley Lab has developed a device that simplifies subsurface fluid sampling. The technology’s tube-within-a-tube construction is a substantial improvement to the U-tube sampling system widely used for borehole sampling today. Using only one line, instead of two, the tube-in-tube system enables the sampling device to get lowered easily through a pressure control device (such as a grease head or pack-off) for discrete level sampling of live oil and gas wells.... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	01/21/2011
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	First Diode for Thermal Management of Micro and Macro Devices Alex Zettl, Arun Majumdar and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have invented the first solid state thermal rectifier. The device consists of a boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) loaded at one end with a high mass density material - specifically, trimethyl cyclopentadienyl platinum (C9H16Pt). The researchers achieved thermal rectifications as high as 7 percent at room temperature. Mass loaded carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were found to display thermal rectification of 2 percent.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	12/27/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Energy Analysis	Wiki-based Techno Economic Analysis of a Lignocellulosic Biorefinery JBEI has developed a model for a lignocellulosic biorefinery and posted it on an open wiki, making it the first open and widely accessible tool of its kind. The model can be used to estimate the economic impact of various aspects of lignocellulosic biorefinery processing technology. The model can be used to calculate the economic, environmental, and energetic performance of the corn stover-to-ethanol process, and allows users to model the scenarios that are of most interest to them. For... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	09/17/2010
Electricity Transmission Energy Storage	Non-Cross-Linked Gel Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium Ion Batteries Berkeley Lab scientists have invented nanostructured gel polymer electrolytes for lithium ion batteries. The electrolytes have high ionic conductivity, high mechanical strength, and they can be easily and affordably processed for lithium ion batteries.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	08/20/2010
Building Energy Efficiency	High Performance OLEDs with Air-stable Nanostructured Electrodes Scientists at Berkeley Lab have modified the cathode-organic layer of an OLED device to significantly enhance electron injection efficiency and reduce the sensitivity of the cathode to environmental degradation by water and oxygen. Two approaches are used: 1. An ordered arrangement of nanostructures (top-down processing) or 2. A nanomaterial interfacial layer (bottom-up processing).	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage	High Power Performance Lithium Ion Battery Gao Liu and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have increased the power performance of lithium ion batteries by over 20 percent by optimizing the ratio of polymer binder to conductive additive (acetylene black) in the cathode. The new electrode compositions also significantly improve mechanical resilience and promise longer cycling lifetimes.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Water-retaining Polymer Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications While polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells offer promising power alternatives, the performance of current state-of-the-art PEMs is hindered by water loss when operating at temperatures greater than 60°C, and under low humidity (relative humidity of about 50%). This is a disadvantage, because proton conductivity, which is essential for a functioning fuel cell, is directly related to the ability of the PEM to retain water. Although low temperatures and high humidity are the ideal... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Fail-Safe, Inexpensive Electrochemical Device Stack Design Craig Jacobson, Steven Visco, and Lutgard DeJonghe have invented a robust and low cost electrochemical device stack system based on a modified segmented-cell-in-series design. In this invention a number of small cylindrical cell segments are in contact with a planar metallic interconnect sheet that electrically connects one cell segment to the one above and/or below it as well as to the cell segments on the same interconnect sheet. This system allows one or more cells to malfunction without... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	High Quality, Dense Thin Films Using Metal/Metal Alloy Additives Berkeley Lab researchers Mike Tucker, Grace Lau, and Craig Jacobson have invented a novel layered structure for preparing a high-operating temperature electrochemical cell.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technologies: Improved Electrode-Electrode Structures for Solid State Electrochemical Devices Berkeley Lab researchers Lutgard DeJonghe, Steven Visco, and Craig Jacobson have focused their attention on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and related technologies. Fuel cells "burn" hydrogen or hydrocarbons to produce electricity. They are highly fuel-efficient and almost non-polluting, making them an attractive alternative for energy generation. Some solid oxide fuel cells burn hydrocarbons by first converting them to hydrogen, while others burn them directly. The latter are the... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Inexpensive Production of High Density Thin Ceramic Films on Rigid or Porous Substrates Steven Visco, Lutgard DeJonghe, and Craig Jacobson have developed a simple, inexpensive method for producing high density, crack-free, thin ceramic films on rigid or porous substrates. Polycrystalline films with thicknesses between 1m and 100 mm are achieved by compressing a ceramic material onto a pre-fired substrate.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Low Cost Fabrication of Thin-Film Ceramic Membranes for Nonshrinking Substrates Certain fuel cell manufacturing specifications require deposition of a thin ceramic membrane onto a substrate that doesn't shrink over it's lifetime. Pre-firing the substrate improves substrate reliability and may lower its cost. This requires a film that has minimal volume change during drying and sintering.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Metal Current Collector Protected by Oxide Film Steven Visco, Craig Jacobson, and Lutgard DeJonghe have designed a cost-efficient, structurally sound technology for current collection and cell-to-cell interconnection of high temperature (>600 C) planar electrochemical devices. Current collection is normally achieved using expensive metal oxides or metals such as platinum or nickel.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Method for Making Flat, High Performance Thin Membrane Structures on Porous Substances Craig Jacobson, Lutgard DeJonghe, and Steven Visco have invented an improved colloidal deposition technique whereby high-quality films of a wide variety of ionic and mixed ionic-electronic conductors can be deposited on highly-porous electrode substrates. They have discovered that in order to fabricate large area, flat, bilayered plates, it is necessary to have exceptionally good homogeneity of substrate and film, as well as similar (well matched) sintering rates and total shrinkage to avoid... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Novel Support Structure for Ceramic Electrochemical Devices Berkeley Lab researchers Lutgard DeJonghe, Steven Visco, and Craig Jacobson have focused their attention on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and related technologies. Fuel cells "burn" hydrogen or hydrocarbons to produce electricity. They are highly fuel efficient and almost nonpolluting, making them an attractive alternative for energy generation. Some solid oxide fuel cells burn hydrocarbons by first converting them to hydrogen, while others burn them directly. The latter are the... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Surface Additives for Enhanced Electrode Performance Berkeley Lab researchers Lutgard DeJonghe, Steven Visco, and Craig Jacobson have focused their attention on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and related technologies. Fuel cells "burn" hydrogen or hydrocarbons to produce electricity. They are highly fuel-efficient and almost non-polluting, making them an attractive alternative for energy generation. Some solid oxide fuel cells burn hydrocarbons by first converting them to hydrogen, while others burn them directly. The latter are the... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles and Fuels	Nanoporous Metal-Inorganic Materials for Storage and Capture of Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Other Gases Arlon Hunt and Samuel Mao and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have developed a new class of hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2) storage materials with favorable storage capacities under conditions suitable for on-board vehicle use.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Hot Electron Photovoltaics Using Low Cost Materials and Simple Cell Design "Third-generation" PV technologies are being actively pursued in academic research labs. These include nano-optics, multi-junction architectures, multi-exciton, plasmonics, and lower cost tandem cells. The goal is a module cost of less than $0.60/watt. Many of these technologies are in exploratory or early research stages but still can be evaluated according to their material requirements, processing complexity, and potential scalability. For example, concepts that utilize... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Energy Analysis Geothermal	Bore II - Advanced Wellbore Technology Characterizes Groundwater Flow and Contamination Bore II, co-developed by Berkeley Lab researchers Frank Hale, Chin-Fu Tsang, and Christine Doughty, provides vital information for solving water quality and supply problems and for improving remediation of contaminated sites. Termed "hydrophysical logging," this technology is based on a new concept for measuring fluid flow that enables characterization of groundwater problems more quickly, more cost effectively, and with higher resolution than ever before.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Energy Analysis Geothermal	Geophysical Earth Modeling (GEM) Software Berkeley Lab’s Geophysical Earth Model (GEM) software is a graphical user interface for various geophysical modeling programs.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials	Braze for Robust Seals with Ceramic Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a composite braze material that can be used to manufacture strong, gas-tight joints where one of the joining members is ceramic – typically yttrium stabilized zirconium (YSZ). The braze composition can be controlled to reduce the stress due to mismatched thermal expansion between the ceramic and the braze. Joints made using the new braze were failure-free after rapid thermal cycling up to 700°C.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Fuel Cell Housing for Rapid Start-Up Auxiliary Power and Gas Separation Berkeley Lab scientists have designed a fuel cell housing unit that enables rapid thermal cycling of planar SOFCs made of conventional fuel cell materials. The invention makes strides towards enabling the use of SOFCs for portable applications such as auxiliary automotive power or the use of related electrochemical gas separators for single-user oxygen production for health purposes.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Durable Joining of Dissimilar Materials One barrier to solid oxide fuel cell manufacturing is forming robust joints between materials that don’t chemically bond with each other and/or differ greatly in form or particle size, such as metals and ceramics. Berkeley Lab scientists solve this problem by decorating the surface of the more ductile material with particles of the less ductile material via milling and then sinter-bonding this composite to the less ductile materials and/or another material that will sinter with either of... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Single-step Infiltration for Improved Low Temperature Cathode Performance Scientists at Berkeley Lab have invented a one-step method for infiltrating porous structures with a continuous, electronically conducting monolayer or several continuous monolayers using only 3-5 weight percent of ceramic. The technique enables high SOFC cathode performance at lower temperatures where less expensive and more pliable metals can replace ceramics for some cells parts.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Robust, Multifunctional Joint for Large Scale Power Production Stacks Berkeley Lab scientists have developed a multifunctional joint for metal supported, tubular SOFCs that divides various joint functions so that materials and methods optimizing each function can be chosen without sacrificing space. The functions of the joint include joining neighboring fuel cells in series, sealing cells so that distinct atmospheres don’t interact, providing electrical connections between neighboring cells, and insulating electrodes in the same cell.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Vehicles and Fuels	High Conductivity Single-ion Cross-linked Polymers for Lithium Batteries and Fuel Cells John Kerr and co-workers at Berkeley Lab have developed single-ion cross-linked comb-branched polymer electrolytes with high conductivity for use as membranes in lithium batteries, fuel cells, and electrochromic windows. Solid polymer electrolyte separators are used in lithium batteries instead of common organic solvents because (1) they are non-volatile, (2) they inhibit the growth of dendrites, the tiny metallic snowflake structures in lithium metal electrodes that lead to battery failure,... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage	Graphitized Conductive Carbon Coatings for Composite Electrodes Robert Kostecki and Marek Marcinek of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a method to improve the performance and operational life of composite electrodes by direct deposition of a continuous, uniform film of graphitic carbon coating on the active materials.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicles and Fuels	Fast, Low Cost Method for Manufacturing Porous Structures for Fuel Cells, Catalysts and Filtration Steve Visco, Craig Jacobson, and Michael Tucker of Berkeley Lab have invented a method for manufacturing porous structures that has advantages over using extractable particulates, pore formers that decompose or burn, tape casting, the replica method, and bubble-forming.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Tunable Thermal Link Thermal links are incorporated into everything from frying pans to internal combustion engine spark plugs and heat sinks on integrated circuit boards. Typically, the link’s thermal resistance is fixed and cannot be tuned after manufacture. While the ability to tune electrical resistors is widespread, virtually no tunable thermal resistance link exists, which has held back the development of thermal systems.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Ultraclean Low Swirl Combustion Burners are used in industry for a wide range of applications including water heaters, power generators, oilers, and HVAC systems. Parallel consumer applications include gas-fired home water heaters, heating systems, and clothes dryers. Natural gas is more efficient and less expensive than electricity and is the current and future fuel of choice. However, conventional gas burners emit oxides of nitrogen (NOx) creating ozone in the lower atmosphere due to incomplete fuel combustion and high... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	TRAMS: A New Tracer Gas Airflow Measurement System The technologies currently available to measure airflow rates in duct systems require careful use and substantial time to produce accurate measurements. Traditional measurement systems use Pitot-static tubes or hot-wire or other anemometers to measure velocities at several locations in the cross section of an airstream. It is very difficult to accurately measure airflow rates using these methods because of problems such as large spatial variation in air velocities and air velocities that are so... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Low Cost, Stable Switchable Mirrors: Lithium Ion Mirrors with Improved Stability Switchable mirrors are a new generation of electrochromic windows that can alternate between a reflecting state and a transparent or absorbing state when a small voltage is applied. These energy saving devices have advantages over traditional absorbing electrochromics for radiant energy control because of their large dynamic range in both transmission and reflection for visible light and infrared radiation.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Lean Flame Stabilization Ring Robert Cheng at Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a means for retrofitting existing burners to burn lean, premixed natural gas/air mixtures to reduce NOx emissions without sacrificing efficiency and burner design simplicity.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	07/28/2010
Building Energy Efficiency Energy Analysis	EnergyPlus: Energy Simulation Software for Buildings EnergyPlus is a building energy simulation program for modeling building heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and other energy flows. While it is based on the most popular features and capabilities of BLAST and DOE-2, it includes many innovative simulation capabilities such as time steps of less than an hour, modular systems and plant integrated with heat balance-based zone simulation, multizone air flow, thermal comfort, and photovoltaic systems.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Building Energy Efficiency Industrial Technologies	Energy Efficient Laboratory Fume Hood Fume hoods, used to protect the user from breathing harmful chemical vapors, consume large amounts of energy, estimated to be 1GW in California alone. This power load comes from the fan power need to move air out the hood, and to condition make-up air.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Building Energy Efficiency	Energy Efficient Condensing Side-arm Gas Water Heater James Lutz of Berkeley Lab has invented a gas water heater that promises to be up to thirty percent more efficient than conventional gas water heaters.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Novel Electrochromic Device Controlled by Sunlight Frank McLarnon and Robert Kostecki at Berkeley Lab have designed a two-component electrode, fabricated with titanium and nickel oxides, reacts to both light and electricity.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Clog-free Atomizing and Spray Drying Nozzle Duo Wang and Mark Modera have designed an atomizing nozzle that eliminates clogging. The Berkeley Lab nozzle uses the high velocity gas efflux to create a layer of ambient temperature air around the tube containing the liquid to be atomized. This feature minimizes heat transfer from the gas to the liquid, thus eliminating premature drying. Several other design features also help to eliminate clogs.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Advanced Materials Building Energy Efficiency	Aerosol Remote Sealing System Mark Modera and Francois Remi Carrie from Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a rapid, economical technique to seal duct and other enclosed systems by means of an internally injected aerosol.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Industrial Technologies	Recovery of Sugars by Solvent Extraction Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a technology to extract 5C and 6C sugars directly at two points in an ionic liquid biomass pretreatment process and deliver a concentrated solution of fermentable sugars. The process minimizes toxic byproducts and facilitates ionic liquid reuse.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Industrial Technologies	Novel Thermophilic Cellobiohydrolase Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a hyperthermophilic cellobiohydrolase protein (CBH) to break down cellulose into cellobiose at high temperatures. The JBEI CBH can be used in concert with JBEI endoglucanases (or any other endoglucanase with a similar temperature and ph profile) in high concentrations of ionic liquid. There is no loss of activity in ionic liquid concentrations up to 20%, and the enzyme cocktail is tolerant of ionic liquid concentrations of up to... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Fractionation and Removal of Solutes from Ionic Liquids Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a technology to fractionate and recover biomaterials dissolved in an ionic liquid and to purify water miscible ionic liquids. The JBEI technology utilizes specific mixtures of solvents to precipitate or extract compounds dissolved in an ionic liquid without high pressure, high temperature, salts, or other reagents that cannot be recovered and reused in a closed cycle process. Compared to existing approaches, the JBEI technology... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Thermophilic Endoglucanase Enzymes Engineered for Increased Activity Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have generated and identified new enzyme variants of cellulase from the thermophile Thermotoga maritima with catalytic activities significantly higher than naturally existing (wild type) endoglucanases. The JBEI enzymes allow for more efficient cellulose hydrolysis at high temperatures, and they are more stable at high temperatures than commercially available enzymes.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Stress Tolerant Plants Expressing Mannosylglcerate Enzymes Henrik Scheller of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University have identified genes in eukaryotes encoding mannosylglycerate synthases. Mannosylglycerate, a thermoprotectant compound, had been thought to occur only in archaea and eubacteria.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/24/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Thermophilic Cellulases Compatible with Ionic Liquid Pretreatment Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified an efficient method for the saccharification of lignocellulose using thermophilic endoglucanases compatible with ionic liquid pretreatment. The enzymes are used directly in a solution of ionic liquids and biomass to produce sugars from cellulose. They can solubilize the cellulosic sugars without the need to remove the ionic liquid first as well as when the cellulose is precipitated from the solution with antisolvents, such as... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Irreversible Low Load Genetic Switches Although the use of recombinases for manipulation of genomic sequences is well established, only a few recombinases have been conclusively demonstrated to work orthogonally. That is, as non-cross-reacting recombinases, they do not cause unpredictable recombination events.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Identification and Alteration of Rice-Diverged Glycosyltransferases for Optimizing Biofuel Production From Grasses Glycosyltransferases (GTs) are enzymes that play a role in the formation of polysaccharides in the plant cell wall. Pamela Ronald and researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have identified 609 potential GT genes (769 gene models) in rice. From this group, 33 rice-diverged GT genes (45 gene models) with high expression in above ground tissues were identified.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Feedstocks with Reduced Acetylation for Higher Product Yields and Improved Properties Henrik Scheller of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a method of using plants that have reduced levels of acetylation of their cellulose. The plants are positioned to provide higher yields of sugar for fermentation and improved properties as feedstocks for biofuels, paper production, and livestock feed. When degraded, the feedstocks produce lower levels of acetylation of their cellulose, which is inhibitory to organisms used in downstream fermentation.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Directed Evolution of Microbe Producing Biofuels Using in Vivo Transcription Factor Based Biosensors Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have invented a method of using transcription factors expressed in vivo to evolve, screen, and select for microorganisms producing an intracellular small molecule of interest, such as a short chain alcohol. In the JBEI invention, biosensors composed of transcription factors and their cognate promoters are designed and constructed to be capable of binding the particular molecule of interest.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials Industrial Technologies	Orderly Deposition of Uncontaminated Graphene Xiaogan Liang of Berkeley Lab has invented an inexpensive, high-throughput process for depositing pure few-layer-graphene (FLG) in a desired pattern onto substrates, such as silicon wafers. This method uses electrostatic forces to print FLG in dimensions ranging from less than 20 nm to 100 μm and has the potential to be combined with step-and-repeat technology to cover large areas.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials Industrial Technologies	Nanocatalytic System for High Temperature Reactions and Chemical Processes Scientists in Berkeley Lab’s Chemical and Materials Sciences Divisions have developed a nanocatalyst system that remains stable at temperatures up to 750°C, which includes typical operating temperatures of automobile catalytic converters as well as combustion temperatures observed in petroleum refineries. Conventional catalyst technologies do not operate at these high temperatures.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage	Ceramic-Metal Composites for Electrodes of Lithium Ion Batteries Lithium’s high energy density makes it desirable for use in rechargeable batteries, but its tendency to form dendrites has limited its use to primary batteries. This limitation can be addressed by using alloys, but their sticky consistency has proved an obstacle to manufacturing.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Energy Storage	Lower Cost Lithium Ion Batteries From Aluminum Substituted Cathode Materials Although lithium ion batteries are the most promising candidates for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, the use of cobalt (Co) in cathode materials yields a high battery cost. Mixed transition metal oxides have been considered to replace the standard LiCoO2 cathode materials, but these variations have negative impacts on performance.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Energy Storage	Self-Regulating, Nonflamable Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Rechargeable lithium batteries are superior to other rechargeable batteries due to their ability to store more energy per unit size and weight and to operate at higher voltages. The performance of lithium ion batteries available today, however, has been compromised by their tendency to overheat during operation. This condition, called “thermal runaway,” can melt the battery’s lithium metal and, in the most serious cases, result in explosive chemical reactions.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials Energy Storage	Nanocomposite Carbon/Tin Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries An approach developed by Robert Kostecki and Marek Marcinek of Berkeley Lab has given rise to a new generation of nanostructured carbon-tin films that can be produced quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively. These binderless carbon/tin thin-film anodes provide enhanced charge capacity and excellent cycleability in lithium ion battery systems compared with lithium ion anodes currently on the market.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Building Energy Efficiency	Novel Structured LED and OLED Devices A Berkeley Lab researcher has invented new LED and OLED devices and fabrication techniques that can lead to improved device efficiencies. For LED devices, the invention permits significant reduction of defects in semiconductors, in particular for wide band-gap light-emitting materials. For OLED devices, the invention enables confined current flow in the device and significantly increases light out-coupling from the light emitting layer. For both LED and OLED devices, the invention provides... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Energy Storage	CO2 as Cushion Gas for Compressed Air Energy Storage Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) can make intermittent renewable energy options, such as wind and solar energy, more cost-effective by using excess energy generated during peak supply periods to compress air that is then injected into underground storage reservoirs. When needed, the compressed air can be fed into a gas turbine to replace between one-quarter and one-half of the natural gas needed to run the turbine.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials Industrial Technologies	Nanostructured Water Oxidation Catalysts Heinz Frei and Feng Jiao of Berkeley Lab have developed a visible light driven catalytic system for oxidizing water. Efficient catalytic water oxidation is a critical step for any artificial sunlight-to-fuel conversion system.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell	Metal-Oxo Catalysts for Generating Hydrogen from Water Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed an inexpensive, highly efficient catalyst that can be used in the electrolysis of water to generate H2—a source of clean fuel, a reducing agent for metal ores, and a reactant used to produce hydrochloric acid and other chemicals. The catalyst is a metal-oxo complex in which modified pyridine rings surround an earth-abundant, low cost metal, such as molybdenum. Compared to other molecular catalysts, the Berkeley Lab compound has a longer life,... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	High-Efficiency, Self-Concentrating Nanoscale Solar Cell While solar cells have the potential to provide clean energy for a large portion of the earth’s population, no one technology has provided the right combination of high-efficiency and low-cost. For example, conventional solar cells are designed to absorb light through an antireflective layer, and through a layer of silicon, to convert light into electricity. However, some of this light exits the device without generating electricity.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Ideal Configuration For Nanoscale Solar Cells The standard design of excitonic solar cells, which includes most organic-based solar cells, is ideal in only two out of three dimensions. In other words, excitons can diffuse vertically and not reach a contact. Moreover, because the structure of real blended systems is less regular than the ideal structure, other problems that limit device performance arise, such as shorting and interface electronics.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Processing Iron Pyrite Nanocrystals for Use in Solar Cells For solar energy to become an economically viable energy source, alternative semiconductor materials to be used in solar cells must be found. Silicon, the longtime standard for solar cells, is expensive to process and in ever-growing demand. Thin films made of CdTe (cadmium telluride) and CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) have potential, but their raw material sources are too limited to meet the world’s growing energy needs.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Controlled Structure of Organic-Nanomaterial Solar Cells Organic, polymer-based solar cells—lightweight alternatives to conventional, silicon-based solar cells—have great potential for delivering inexpensive solar energy and lowering manufacturing costs while maintaining high power efficiency. However, the highest efficiency achieved so far with polymer-based solar cells is only 5% to 6%, far too low to be effective in many applications. In addition, the synthesis of these solar cells is controlled only by temperature and mixing times;... read more	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Advanced Materials	Nanotubes as Robust Thermal Conductors Multiwall nanotubes of carbon (CNT) and of boron nitride (BNNT) have a very high thermal conductance at room temperature. Their twin properties of high thermal conductivity along the axial direction and poor thermal conductivity in the radial direction provide an excellent heat conduction channel that can confine heat currents on the nano scale.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	06/23/2010
Biomass and Biofuels	Engineered Biosynthesis of Alternative Biodiesel Fuel Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have invented a method of producing isoprenyl alkanoates that can be hydrogenated and blended into gasoline or diesel fuel. This invention also includes the design and manipulation of biosynthetic pathways to increase flux for enhanced production of fuel molecules.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/12/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Vehicles and Fuels	5-Carbon Alcohols for Drop-in Gasoline Replacement Jay Keasling and Howard Chou of Berkeley Lab and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have invented a fermentation process to produce 5-carbon alcohols from genetically modified E. coli host cells regardless of the feedstock used. This is the first time isopentanol has been synthesized from the isoprenoid pathway.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/12/2010
Advanced Materials Solar Photovoltaic	Thinner Film Silicon Solar Cells Berkeley Lab scientists have designed a new approach to create thin film silicon solar cells with a potential increase in photon energy conversion of up to 20%, a significant improvement over conventional thin film photovoltaic technologies. By using thinner photon energy absorber layers requiring less silicon than conventional photovoltaic devices of similar photon absorptive power, the technology also promises to lower solar cell material costs.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/12/2010
Industrial Technologies Solar Thermal	Direct Conversion of Light into Work Alex Zettl, Jean M. J. Fréchet, and a team of Berkeley Lab researchers have discovered a mechanism for converting solar energy directly into mechanical work, thus eliminating the need for capital-intensive energy storage and distribution facilities.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/02/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Low-cost, Efficient, Flexible Solar Cells with 3D Nanopillar Arrays Ali Javey and Zhiyong Fan at Berkeley Lab have invented a method for growing highly regular, single-crystalline nanopillar arrays of optically active semiconductors to produce efficient, 3D solar cells. The 3D configuration allows for less stringent requirements in terms of the quality and purity of the input materials, providing for a reduction in cost compared to other solar cell configurations.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/02/2010
Solar Photovoltaic	Improved Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells Alex Zettl, Jeffrey Grossman and Lucas Wagner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have invented hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells with 30% improved performance compared to solar cells previously made with this material.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/02/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Industrial Technologies	Novel Biosynthetic Pathway for Production of Fatty Acid Derived Molecules Jay Keasling and Eric Steen of Berkeley Lab have invented what may be the most efficient metabolic pathway for producing fatty acids, and their derived molecules of desired chain length, by utilizing fatty acid elongases.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/02/2010
Biomass and Biofuels Industrial Technologies	Producing Beneficial Materials from Biomass and Biodiesel Byproducts Researchers at Berkeley Lab have created a process to produce olefins from polyols that may be biomass derived. The team is also the first to introduce a method of producing high purity allyl alcohol at a large scale by using glycerol as the starting material instead propylene, a petroleum feedstock.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	02/02/2010