The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is a federally legislated program that requires federal agencies expending over $100 M annually in extramural research and development (R&D) to reserve 2.5% of that budget for awards to for-profit, small businesses to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal R&D and to stimulate small business innovation in technology.
The SBIR in support of Technology Transfer (SBIR-TT) model is focused on providing SBIR funds to advance federal laboratory technologies toward commercial application. Along with SBIR funds, intangible resources such as expert know-how and protected intellectual property are provided to support SBIR Awardees in their commercialization effort.
Multi-layer semiconductor detectors can enhance image resolution, contrast, and position sensitivity in positron emission tomography (PET) systems, but the conventional electrodes used require a prohibitive number of readout channels. Now, a breakthrough compact PET detector offers a specialized configuration of cross strip electrodes in its detector stack to reduce readout channels by half and efficiently generate ultra-high resolution images in PET scan and other gamma radiation detection systems.
The primary intended use of the Reduced Readout Channel Semiconductor Detector Module is in PET systems and medical imaging. However, semiconductor radiation detectors are now used in a large variety of fields, including homeland security, nuclear nonproliferation, non-destructive detection, radiation imaging, nuclear physics, X-ray and gamma ray astronomy, and nuclear medicine.
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Platinum is the most efficient electrocatalyst for accelerating the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells, but it is both rare and expensive. These breakthrough palladium-cobalt nanoparticles successfully replace platinum in this crucial reaction, resulting in a highly effective, low-cost electrocatalyst.
The nanoparticle electrocatalyst has been successfully tested for fuel cells, but in principle could be used to reduce oxygen in any context.