Department of Energy (DOE)

DOE views nanoscience and nanotechnology as having a vitally important role to play in solving the nation’s energy and climate change challenges. This field of research and development will likely have dramatic impact on future technologies for solar energy collection and conversion, energy storage, alternative fuels and energy efficiency, to name just a few.

FY 2011 Proposed $423.9 Million
FY 2010 Estimated $372.9

DOE funding spans all eight program component areas of the NNI, with the majority falling into three categories: fundamental phenomena and processes (PCA 1), nanomaterials (PCA 2), and major research facilities and instrumentation acquisition (PCA 6). In the latter category the DOE investment is significantly larger than that of any other agency, due primarily to the operation of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs), state-of-the-art user facilities for interdisciplinary nanoscale research that are an integral part of DOE’s comprehensive portfolio for nanoscale science and technology. The NSRCs offer access to advanced capabilities, tools, and expertise for design, synthesis, processing, fabrication, analysis and characterization, and theory and modeling of nanoscale materials and are co-located with complementary scientific user facilities for X-ray, neutron, and electron-beam scattering at DOE laboratories across the country. As DOE user facilities, access to the NSRCs is available to all researchers at no cost for non-proprietary work through an external peer merit review process.

Dr. Andrew R. Schwartz, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
301-903-3535, andrew.schwartz@science.doe.gov

Media: John Carter at Brookhaven
631-344-5195, jcarter@bnl.gov

DOE Office of Science

EERE

ARPA-E