Project Grant 1058133

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $275,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project grant to Fourth Power, Inc., a minority-owned small business, to develop an energy storage technology that stores electricity as heat and converts it back to electricity using thermophotovoltaics (TPV). The goal is to create a low-cost battery system that can decouple power and energy, enabling discharge durations between 1-100 hours, which is not currently achievable with other...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $275,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to Maxwave LLC on December 15, 2023 under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084). The project aims to develop a novel wireless power-beaming technology using millimeter waves that can efficiently transmit high-power energy over long distances. Key applications include wireless charging of heavy-duty drones and establishing resilient airborne energy...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering (ENG) awarded a $420,000 Project Grant to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (Tees) to develop a battery-less, wireless sensor network system for monitoring critical food quality parameters during transportation and storage. The project aims to create a cost-effective, reusable food container monitoring system that can wirelessly power and communicate with semiconductor-based sensors to detect factors like pH,...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $978,993 Cooperative Agreement to Unigrid Inc. under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA #47.084) program. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop and demonstrate a new non-flammable, cost-effective, and domestically-sourced stationary energy storage solution based on sodium-based solid-state battery technology. The goal is to advance the technology from the laboratory to a...

Federal Grant Award Summary The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $303,107 to Power 3D, Inc. under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project commencing June 1, 2025, and concluding February 28, 2026. The project focuses on developing high-performance, rechargeable lithium-ion microbatteries utilizing 3D-printed microscale cathode electrodes and wafer-level processing techniques. The primary...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant award of $305,000 to Beamfeed LLC provides funding to develop a highly efficient photovoltaic power converter for optical power beaming applications. The innovation aims to address critical bottlenecks in the unmanned aerial vehicle, wireless power transmission, and semiconductor industries by advancing wireless power transfer capabilities. The...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Cooperative Agreement award, funded under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084), provides $1,000,000.00 to Wilo Networks Inc. to develop a cutting-edge sensor network platform designed to operate with exceptionally low power consumption. The core innovation involves integrating low-power wake-up radio technology with optimized network protocols, enabling always-on, low-latency communication without the traditional...

The National Science Foundation awarded Activecharge LLC a $256,000 Project Grant under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) to develop an integrated, self-powered sensor node for wind turbine blade monitoring. The one-year project will address technical hurdles such as lack of reliable energy sources and logistical challenges replacing batteries inside blades. Activecharge will prototype a sensor node that reliably harvests electrical voltage from blade...

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awarded a $1,120,000 Cooperative Agreement to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) on July 1, 2024. The goal of this three-year project is to develop a prototype 1 kWh rechargeable solid-state lithium-air battery (RSS-LAB) with a gravimetric energy density over 1,000 Wh/kg and a volumetric energy density over 1,000 Wh/L, as well as a 100-cycle life. The project also aims to produce a detailed design for a...

Cooperative Agreement Summary Fourth Power, Inc. received a $1.13M Cooperative Agreement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084), awarded July 15, 2025, with completion targeted for June 30, 2027. The awardee will conduct an SBIR Phase II project to advance thermal battery systems for grid-scale energy storage through optimization and validation of a thermal cycle test rig. The primary deliverable involves...