Research Themes +
Energy Technologies Area (ETA) researchers are continually building on the strong scientific foundation we have developed over the past 50 years. We address the world’s most pressing climate challenges by bringing to market energy-efficient innovations across the buildings, transportation, and industrial sectors. ETA is at the forefront of developing better batteries for electric vehicles; improving the country's aging electrical grid and innovating distributed energy and storage solutions; developing grid-interactive, efficient buildings; and providing the most comprehensive market and data analysis worldwide for renewable technologies like wind and solar.
Strategic Initiatives +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) Strategic Plan is the guiding force for our research and development for the next ten years. It clearly charts a path toward clean-energy solutions and focuses on five detailed Strategic Initiatives. The Plan provides an in-depth look at how ETA is accelerating research to provide affordable, clean energy to all while accomplishing deep, economy-wide decarbonization, looking to avoid a rise in global average temperature while simultaneously developing solutions to increase humanity's resilience to extreme weather volatility.
Publications
News +
For media inquiries,
please contact ETA
Interim Communications Manager
Kiran Julin

[email protected]
About Us +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) is unique in translating fundamental scientific discoveries into scalable technology adoption. Our approach combines an understanding of the marketplace and the role of state and federal regulation and policies. ETA's research drives real-world, practical results that affect and improve the everyday lives of Americans and those across the globe. Saving energy and battling the Climate Crisis are key to the foundation of our research, which is driven by technoeconomic analysis and in-lab experimentation and discovery.

Thermal characterization of carbon-opacified silica aerogels

Publication Type

Journal Article

Authors

Lee, Daehee, Peter C. Stevens, Shou Quan Zeng, Arlon J. Hunt

Abstract

A new method to introduce carbon into aerogels to block the infrared component of radiant heat transfer within the aerogel was developed to improve the thermal properties of silica aerogel. Chemical vapor infiltration and heat treatment were used to deposit and grow nanophase carbon deposits inside the aerogel. Infrared measurements were performed on the doped material to determine the absorption. A vacuum thermal tester was used to measure the thermal conductivity as a function of air pressure and specimen temperature on flat plate aerogel samples.

Journal

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

Volume

186

Year of Publication

1995

Notes

0022-3093doi: DOI: 10.1016/0022-3093(95)00055-0

Organization

Laser Technologies Group, Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division