Sandia National Labs Academic Alliance & UNM Collaboration Report 2020-2021

CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLGHT

Fernando Garzon

Fernando Garzon, a UNM professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, was previously a faculty research scientist in Sandia’s Advanced Materials Laboratory. He stated of his experiences, “The LDRD program definitely helped me grow collaborations with the Power Sources Technology Group (PSTG). I am advising three students within PSTG and collaborating on other projects. I have also met other Sandia staff who are engaged in energy research and submitted LDRD proposals in the battery research areas.”

AM offers an attractive and scalable approach to fabricating thermal battery films in large form factors. Gravure printing, a particularly attractive AM technology for this application, is capable of rapid and conformal deposition of large areas with small film thickness and precise overlay capabilities. Slurry formulations will address the rheological needs of the AM fabrication process while still meeting battery needs in terms of film adhesion, cohesion, and electrochemical performance. The realization of this involved process would be a thin, conformal thermal battery cell produced via AM that retains high functionality and enables a new paradigm for system designs in which the power source is modular rather than fixed.

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2020-2021 Collaboration Report