STAR Park launches low-cost, scalable nanosilicon production

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
August 2, 2013

The STAR One facility at Texas State University will host a joint effort to develop inexpensive, high-quality nanosilicon (nSi) powder for the U.S. Army for a variety of applications.

Texas State will work in conjunction with Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) as well as Texas Tech University on the project.

With similar energy density and better aging effects than nanoaluminum, silicon is an excellent candidate for use as a nanometal fuel. With its university partners, SMRC will begin producing nanosilicon powders in a novel scalable process during the Army-sponsored Phase II SBIR program.

SMRC anticipates demonstrating a continuous flow process that generates pure silicon by the end of the two-year Phase II SBIR program. The as-produced materials will be made non-pyrophoric and be transported as micron-sized powders with no hard agglomerates. SMRC will also demonstrate a path to large scale production by the end of the Phase II program.

For more information, contact David J. Irvin, SMRC, at davidirvin@systemsandmaterials.com; Jennifer Irvin, Texas State Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, at ji12@txstate.edu; or Michelle Pantoya, Texas Tech, at michelle.pantoya@ttu.edu.

About the STAR Park

STAR Park is a 38-acre site hosting Texas State’s first incubator building, STAR One. Dedicated to the university’s research and commercialization efforts, STAR One, a 20,000-square-foot facility, serves as a technology incubator/accelerator for start-up and early-stage businesses, and provides companies access to secure wet labs, clean space, conference room, office space and other university-provided services. For more information, visit www.txstate.edu/starpark/.