Research Summaries

Back Enhancement of Energetic Mixtures Efficiency Through the Use of Graphene/Graphite Oxide Additives

Fiscal Year 2015
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Lucas, Thomas W.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The proposed work aims to advance the field of fuel and propellant mixtures efficiency by the use of drop in additives that will increase burn / oxidation rates or control ignition delays while producing less toxic byproducts. In order to achieve energy efficiency through the fleet diverse strategies could be used: We could employ alternative sources of energy, which are known to be more environmentally friendly that, in case of being adopted, will force us to radically change existent systems and protocols. As examples of this first category we can mention the use of solar and wind energy technologies or the use of novel material formulations for energy storage devices (as the ones employed in batteries, capacitors and supercapacitors), to harvest the energy when possible but deliver it when needed. Or we could develop more effective options than the current state while still employing the existent systems and protocols. Optimizing the design of power supply networks, implementing more stringent power saving approaches, use diverse fossil/biofuel mixtures or drop in additives are instances of this second strategy. This proposal focuses in a mixed tactic: since the use of marine diesel fuels and renewable diesel will continue until new energy alternatives are readily available and the technological challenges of using them addressed, we recommend using a novel nanomaterial formulation, Graphitic Oxide and its derivatives, such as Graphene or doped Graphene, as drop in additives to increase the efficiency of currently employed fuels and biofuel mixtures, while retaining the systems and protocols we have in place.
Keywords
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Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal