Lab Researchers Win 2020 R&D 100 Award

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A cold-spray chamber is shown during deposition, with the nozzle at the top of the image and a near-full density sample being fabricated in the center. Particles of the brittle thermoelectric bismuth telluride are accelerated to more than 900 meters per second, or almost Mach 3, in inert gas and directed onto a copper surface, laying down the strips that form the basis of a functioning thermoelectric generator to harvest waste heat. Graphic by Jacob Long/LLNL

The trade journal R&D World Magazine announced the winners of the awards, often called the “Oscars of invention,” during a virtual event and on the magazine’s website. This year’s LLNL award is for a new technique called Versatile Cold Spray (VCS) that has been developed through a partnership of LLNL and TTEC Thermoelectric Technologies, a Berryville, Virginia-based company. The new VCS technique deposits a broad range of brittle and glassy materials, including functional materials such as thermoelectric devices and magnets, onto any substrate.

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