By Dave Lucas
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-888941.mp3
Troy, NY – the 2010 Winner is Javad Rafiee : Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering "Graphene - A Revolutionary Material for Hydrogen Storage"
Hydrogen storage has proven to be a significant bottleneck to the advancement and proliferation of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies in vehicles and other applications. Rafiee has developed a new method for manufacturing and using graphene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged like a nanoscale chain-link fence, to store hydrogen.
Rafiee used a combination of mechanical grinding, plasma treatment, and annealing to engineer the atomic structure of graphene to maximize its hydrogen storage capacity. This new graphene has exhibited a hydrogen storage capacity of 14 percent by weight at room temperature far exceeding any other known material. Rafiee's new graphene material holds the promise of opening the door to better, more affordable hydrogen-powered cars and trucks.
Jiuru Xu, Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy "My Inventiveness at Rensselaer The Cure of the Efficiency Droop"
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) will one day replace common light bulbs and illuminate the world, but this progress continues to be slowed by the "efficiency droop" that plagues most LEDs. Still not fully understood, the droop causes LEDs to lose efficiency as they receive higher electrical currents. Xu, however, has developed a new method for defeating the droop once and for all.
Xu demonstrated a new type of LED, called the polarization-matched LED, for reducing the efficiency droop. Xu's new LEDs feature a polarization-matched active region, which puts a stop to the electron leakage and reduces the effects of the droop. This work could be a key step toward the wider use of greener, longer-lived LEDs.
Casey Hoffman, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering
"Specialized Elastomeric Tooling for Advanced Thermoset Composites"
With an eye to cutting production costs and driving industrial efficiency, Hoffman has developed an entirely new method for curing advanced composites commonly used in the aerospace and biomedical industries. His patent-pending Specialized Elastometic Tooling (SET) process replaces the need for autoclaves inefficient machines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in composites manufacturing.
Hoffman's SET process involves curing composite laminate by pressing the material between heated, rubber-lined molds. It's a cheaper, smarter, energy-sipping, and simpler alternative to autoclaves. Advanced composites, which are now almost prohibitively expensive to manufacture, could one day see wider use in more varied applications including construction vehicles, transportation vehicles, and energy devices because of Hoffman's SET process.