Project Grant 2026077

This SBIR Phase I project, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084), aims to develop novel, sustainable textile fibers and fabrics derived from seaweed biopolymers and nanomaterials. The project seeks to create a plastic-free, multifunctional textile material with enhanced properties such as fire resistance, UV protection, and heat shielding, which can serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-based textiles....

This National Science Foundation Project Grant award of $528,627 supports research at Washington State University from March 2022 through February 2027 to develop a new wet-spinning technology for manufacturing flexible conductive fibers using intrinsically conductive polymers. The research will utilize experimental and theoretical methods to investigate the side-by-side fiber formation process and evaluate its influence on fiber properties when intrinsically conductive polymers are co-spun with...

This STTR Phase I Project Grant, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program, aims to develop a novel manufacturing process to produce melt-extrudable polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based precursor fibers for carbon fiber production. The $305,000 award to Graphenetx Inc., with a period of performance from May 2025 to April 2026, seeks to replace the current hazardous solvent-based spinning process with a melt-spinning...

This Project Grant award of $305,000.00 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of an advanced plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) processing technology using nanosecond pulse power. The goal is to advance semiconductor manufacturing by providing cutting-edge technology to produce super-thin, high-quality coatings for advanced semiconductor chips. The technology uses rapid, controlled bursts of...

This $305,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of an innovative, fully additive manufacturing process for producing ultra-low-cost flexible transparent metal-mesh conductive electrodes. The key technical objectives are to: (1) develop improved catalytic ink formulations compatible with high-speed micropatterning, and (2) prototype a roll-to-roll electroless...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $580,623 to support fundamental research into a probe-based hybrid nanopatterning process for conductive polymers. The objective is to create and understand this new process to enable high-resolution and versatile patterning of conductive polymers, which can enhance the performance of nanoelectronics like advanced sensors and energy devices. The 5-year project will: (1) pilot the...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) federal Project Grant award of $550,000 aims to further develop and commercialize a novel conducting coordination polymer material called NITTFTT. The goal is to optimize the material's unique properties, including high conductivity, stability in harsh conditions, and solution processability, and explore its applications in electromagnetic shielding coatings and flexible electronics. The...

This $400,000 project grant awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports fundamental research on using liquid crystals as templates to guide the formation of novel polymeric nanostructures via chemical vapor polymerization. The research aims to expand the capabilities of chemical vapor polymerization to enable large-scale manufacturing of surface coatings with tailored nanoscopic structures, such as nanofiber arrays, interconnected nanosheets, and...

This SBIR Phase I Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (CFDA 47.084 - NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships) to Finiks Forge, Inc. will develop chemical processes and material fabrication platforms to enable the upcycling of keratin protein waste, derived from animal hair, into sustainable textile fibers. The $275,000 award will fund research to: 1) extract keratin from hair waste through a non-denaturing process, 2) engineer the extracted keratin into textile fibers...

This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $413,362 will support the development of new area selective deposition methods for the low-temperature photoassisted chemical vapor deposition of metals onto functionalized thermally sensitive materials from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2025. Funded under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), which aims to promote progress in these fields and strengthen the nation's scientific enterprise, researchers at the University...