The Vehicle-to-Grid Simulator (V2G-Sim) invented at Berkeley Lab provides systematic quantitative methods to address the uncertainties and barriers facing vehicle-grid integration (VGI). The model is scalable to simulate impacts and opportunities for any number of vehicles (from one to one million or more PEVs). In the real world, each person drives a different vehicle, in different ways, with different trip distances, at different times. Predicting the adequacy of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) for the needs of drivers, and accurately predicting the impacts and opportunities to the electricity grid from increased PEV deployment require models that can consider these differences at the individual vehicle level. V2G-Sim models the driving and charging behavior of individual PEVs to generate temporally- and spatially-resolved predictions of grid impacts and opportunities from increased plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) deployment. V2G-Sim provides bottom up modeling from individual vehicle dynamics all the way up to aggregate grid impacts and opportunities. Any managed charging or discharging control approach can be modeled to predict the impacts on individual vehicles, or at any grid scale. Battery degradation from driving or vehicle-grid services can be modeled with battery degradation models integrated into V2G-Sim.

Berkeley Lab researchers Junqiao Wu, Kai Liu, and Kevin Wang have developed a powerful new microscale actuator that simultaneously achieves high amplitude, high work output, and high speed in both air and water. In fact, this technology is the first to exceed performance limits in amplitude, force, and speed of standard microactuators and piezoelectric devices. The Berkeley Lab microactuator is made of bimorph structures based on vanadium dioxide, an advanced material that responds to heat, electric current, and light. In both ambient and aqueous conditions, the actuators bend with exceedingly high - displacement-to-length ratios, on the order of 1 in the sub-100 μm length scale, and - work densities, 0.63 – 7.0 J/cm3, at frequencies up to 6 kHz. Microactuators are essential for converting external stimuli, such as heat, electricity, and light, into mechanical motion in such advanced technologies as MEMS and artificial muscles. The Berkeley Lab technology’s integrated designs of two- or three-dimensional geometries are customizable for these applications as well as for microfluidics used in drug delivery systems.

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated that the piezoelectric and liquid-crystalline properties of a modified virus, such as a recombinant M13 bacteriophage (phage), can be used to generate electrical energy. Using piezoresponse force microscopy, they characterized the structure-dependent piezoelectric properties of the phage at the molecular level and then showed that self-assembled thin films of phage can exhibit piezoelectric strengths of up to 7.8 pm V−1. They also demonstrated that it is possible to modulate the dipole strength of the phage, hence tuning the piezoelectric response, by genetically engineering the major coat proteins of the phage. Finally, they developed a phage-based piezoelectric generator that produces up to 6 nA of current and 400 mV of potential and used it to operate a liquid-crystal display. Piezoelectric materials can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, and piezoelectric devices made of a variety of inorganic materials and organic polymers have been demonstrated. However, synthesizing such materials often requires toxic starting compounds, harsh conditions and/or complex procedures. It has been shown that hierarchically organized natural materials such as bones, collagen fibrils, and peptide nanotubes, can display piezoelectric properties. Because biotechnology techniques enable large-scale production of genetically modified phages, phage-based piezoelectric materials potentially offer a simple and environmentally friendly approach to piezoelectric energy generation.

Berkeley Lab scientists Rachel Segalman, Jeffrey Urban and Kevin See have invented a water based process to make thermoelectric films. The resulting composite film displays both the high thermovoltage expected of nanocrystals and the high electrical conductivity of polymers—a beneficial pairing of traits. These traits can counteract in conventional thermoelectric materials to limit a thermoelectric device’s efficiency and economic utility. In the Berkeley Lab technology, water soluble tellurium nanorods coated with a conductive polymer are spin- or drop-cast into high quality, smooth films. The resulting composite is a thin film thermoelectric device with a figure of merit (ZT) of 0.2—ten times the efficiency achieved by competing groups that employ carbon nanotubes and organic polymers. With further engineering, using the same materials and techniques, a five-fold improvement in efficiency (a ZT of 1.0) is attainable. Significant reductions in cost are made possible by the use of low-temperature solution processing similar to that employed in the production of plastic photovoltaic and light-emitting devices. This readily scalable fabrication process can be carried out using only water as a solvent. In the aqueous solution is a mixture of inorganic tellurium and commercially available poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene poly(styrenesulfonate) or PEDOT:PSS, a conducting polymer. The rod-shaped tellurium nanocrystals, coated with that polymer, are formed in the casting process. Thermoelectric devices hold enormous potential for converting waste heat into electricity or for heating and cooling without the use of mechanical pumps or fans. Such devices can convert heat into electric power or be configured into solid state heat pumps that cool or emit heat depending on the direction an electric current is flowing. The barriers to widespread use of thermoelectric devices have been their relatively high cost and low efficiency. The Berkeley Lab technology charts a path toward lower cost and higher efficiency.

Berkeley Lab researcher Kenneth N. Raymond and colleagues have developed a Thorium (IV) (Th(IV)) sequestering agent that can be used to bind Th(IV) in water very rapidly at extremely low concentrations. The new agent is a macrocyclic octadentate ligand, 2,3,-Dihydrooxyterephthalamide, called Th

Berkeley Lab researchers Ren-Min Ma and Xiang Zhang have developed a deep subwavelength waveguide embedded (WEB) plasmon laser with directional emission, highly efficient optical power conversion efficiency, high radiation efficiency, and on-chip array of multiplexed, multicolored nanolasers in a minimal footprint. The WEB plasmon laser directs more than 70% of its radiation into an embedded semiconductor nanobelt waveguide, resulting in a radiation efficiency 20 times greater than previous technologies. The nanoscale plasmon laser design allows both efficient electrical modulation and wavelength multiplexing. Its plasmonic circuit integrates five independently modulated, multicolored plasmon laser sources into a single semiconductor nanobelt waveguide. These features combine to offer industry a unique solution for large-scale, ultradense photonic integration at the nano level. Nanoscale plasmon lasers are key to advancing ultradense optoelectronic circuitry, single-molecule sensing, and ultrahigh density data storage technologies. Until now, however, concerns with their beam divergence, efficiency, and size have limited advance commercial applications.