April 2014 

NASA/TM–2014-218241 

Feasibility Study of Cargo Airship 

Transportation Systems Powered by New 

Green Energy Technologies 

Jonathan R. Skuza, Yeonjoon Park, Hyun Jung Kim, and Shane T. Seaman 

National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Virginia 

Glen C. King and Sang H. Choi 

Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 

Kyo D. Song and Hargsoon Yoon 

Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia 

Kunik Lee 

Department of Transportation, McLean, Virginia 
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April 2014 

NASA/TM–2014-218241 

Feasibility Study Cargo Airship 

Transportation Systems Powered by New 

Green Energy Technologies 

Jonathan R. Skuza, Yeonjoon Park, Hyun Jung Kim, and Shane T. Seaman 

National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Virginia 

Glen C. King and Sang H. Choi 

Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 

Kyo D. Song and Hargsoon Yoon 

Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia 

Kunik Lee 

Department of Transportation, McLean, Virginia 
Available from: 

NASA Center for AeroSpace Information 

7115 Standard Drive 

Hanover, MD 21076-1320 

443-757-5802 

Acknowledgments 

This research was partially supported under the collaborative agreement (IA1–1098) 

between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research 

Center (LaRC) and the Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation. 

The authors appreciate the assistance of various contributors at NASA LaRC: Ashton D. 

Brown, Robert G. Bryant, Kenneth L. Dudley, Jay J. Ely, Kay V. Forrest, Stephen J. 

Hales, Jeffrey S. Hill, Joseph Kim, Sandra V. Koppen, Mel H. Lucy, John J. Mielnik, 

Vernet P. Mull, Truong X. Nguyen, Michael J. Scherner, Rheal P. Turcotte, Erik Vedeler, 

and Noel J. West. 

The use of trademarks or names of manufacturers in this report is for accurate reporting and does not constitute an 

official endorsement, either expressed or implied, of such products or manufacturers by the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration.
iii

Abstract

The development of transportation systems that use new and sustainable energy technologies is 

of utmost importance due to the possible future shortfalls that current transportation modes will 

encounter because of increased volume and costs. The introduction and further research and 

development of new transportation and energy systems by materials researchers at the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the 

Department of Transportation are discussed in this Technical Memorandum. In this preliminary 

study, airship concepts were assessed for cargo transportation using various green energy 

technologies capable of 24-hour operation (i.e., night and day). Two prototype airships were 

successfully constructed and tested at LaRC to demonstrate their feasibility: one with 

commercially available solar cells for operation during the daytime and one with microwave

rectennas (i.e., rectifying antennas) developed in-house for night-time operation. The test results 

indicate the feasibility of a cargo transportation airship powered by new green energy sources 

and wireless power technology. Future applications will exploit new green energy sources that 

use materials and devices recently developed or are in the process of being developed at LaRC. 

These include quantum well SiGe solar cells; low, mid-, and high temperature thermoelectric 

modules; and wireless microwave and optical rectenna devices. This study examines the need 

and development of new energy sources for transportation, including the current status of 

research, materials, and potential applications.
iv

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v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1

SECTION 2 FEASIBILITY STUDY OF CARGO AIRSHIP TRANSPORTATION USING 

WIRELESS POWER............................................................................................... 3

SECTION 3 ADVANCES IN WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION ..................................... 19

SECTION 4 FEASIBILITY STUDY OF CARGO AIRSHIP TRANSPORTATION USING 

SOLAR POWER................................................................................................... 24

SECTION 5 RHOMBOHEDRAL EPITAXY OF CUBIC SiGe ON TRIGONAL C–PLANE 

SAPPHIRE............................................................................................................ 34

SECTION 6 FABRICATION OF RHOMBOHEDRAL SiGe ON SAPPHIRE........................... 39

SECTION 7 CHARACTERIZATION OF RHOMBOHEDRAL SiGe ON SAPPHIRE.............. 44

SECTION 8 QUANTUM WELL SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS............................................ 50

SECTION 9 HIGH TEMPERATURE THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE APPLICATIONS .......... 55

SECTION 10 LOW TO MID-TEMPERATURE THERMOELECTRICS ..................................... 58

SECTION 11 THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE APPLICATIONS ................................................. 75

SECTION 12 SUMMARY............................................................................................................ 79

SECTION 13 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 80
vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Design parameters of the wireless powered cargo airship as shown in Figure 2..... 5

Table 2. Parameters of the WPT system; the power handling capacity of a Schottky diode is 

100 mW for the 10, 45, and 85 GHz frequencies...................................................... 7

Table 3. Output power of rectenna array patches for various serial and parallel 

combinations............................................................................................................ 15

Table 4. Prototype cargo airship parameters of a scaled-down 100 ton version (Case 1) and 

the actual scaled-down version for tests in the reverberation chamber (Case 2). . 16

Table 5. Rectenna circuit parameters and output voltage and power using a silicon Schottky 

diode (SMS621–060)............................................................................................... 22

Table 6. Lifting forces and masses of the various airship components................................. 25

Table 7. Etchant composition of Secco etch-pit density test and its effects (ref. 41)............ 45

Table 8. Estimations of the TE regenerative cycle efficiencies for a three layer tandem 

system...................................................................................................................... 76
vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Layout and dimensions of the WPT ground stations and the cargo airship flight 

corridor. ...................................................................................................................... 4

Figure 2. Schematic design of the cargo airship with corresponding dimensions listed in 

Table 1. ...................................................................................................................... 5

Figure 3. Size of the receiving rectenna array needed to capture the entire dispersed 

microwave beam as a function of the distance from the transmitting antenna. ....... 8

Figure 4. Experimental setup for the rectenna array performance test in the anechoic 

chamber. .................................................................................................................... 9

Figure 5. Output power of four rectenna arrays measured as a function of frequency and 

distance from the horn antenna in the anechoic chamber...................................... 10

Figure 6. Flexible dipole rectenna arrays attached to prototype cargo airship....................... 10

Figure 7. HIRF Lab reverberation chamber used to test the prototype WPT cargo airship. .. 11

Figure 8. Power, voltage, and current output of the rectenna arrays measured as a function 

of frequency in the reverberation chamber. ............................................................ 12

Figure 9. Output power of the rectenna arrays measured as a function of input power for the 

7.2 and 10.2 GHz maxima. The arrays were measured at a distance of 6 m from 

the rectangular horn antenna. ................................................................................. 13

Figure 10. The output power of the rectenna array at various incidence angles. ................... 14

Figure 11. Power characteristics of the rectenna array with various load resistors at 6 m from 

the horn antenna...................................................................................................... 15

Figure 12. Power output of rectenna array in a 30 percent deflated “flat” condition. ............... 17

Figure 13. Photos of the flight test inside the reverberation chamber with WPT. .................... 18

Figure 14. S11 parameter of dipole rectenna versus frequency for various widths of the 

antenna and a schematic diagram of a rectenna design. ....................................... 20

Figure 15. 45 GHz Schottky diode............................................................................................. 21

Figure 16. Power conversion efficiency of a rectenna with various Schottky diode 

resistances............................................................................................................... 21

Figure 17. V-band rectenna....................................................................................................... 22

Figure 18. Simulations of a Schottky diode assembly on a V-band rectenna array................. 23

Figure 19. Fabricated Schottky diode assemblies on a V-band rectenna array....................... 23

Figure 20. View of the airship with its dimensions. ................................................................... 24

Figure 21. View of the top of the airship with the approximation for the lift calculation............ 25

Figure 22. Bridle strap locations on the helium envelope for securing the airship during 

fabrication and testing (55 lb) and attaching the gondola (35 lb)............................ 25

Figure 23. Current-voltage (I-V) data (red) and best fit (black) for the 24-cell solar panels 

tested in ambient sunlight conditions..................................................................... 26

Figure 24. Dark I-V curve used to approximate the values of Rs and Rsh................................. 27

Figure 25. 3-D rendered top view of the semi-production model of the solar powered cargo 

airship prototype. ..................................................................................................... 28

Figure 26. Propulsion gondola module with four variable angle main propellers and two fixed 

side propellers.......................................................................................................... 28

Figure 27. 2-D CAD view of the front side of airship with the vertical weight distribution. ....... 29

Figure 28. Joint and supporting aluminum blocks for servos and gears. ................................. 29

Figure 29. Location of each motor, ESC, servo, and gear box................................................. 30

Figure 30. Propulsion and flight control system diagram with 14 channels.............................. 31

Figure 31. The fully assembled solar powered cargo airship prototype attached to its support 

structure. .................................................................................................................. 32

Figure 32. Scene from video of the indoor flight test of the solar airship. ................................ 32
viii

Figure 33. Bandgap engineering diagrams and epitaxy schemes for cubic, hexagonal, and 

rhombohedral crystal systems (ref. 34)................................................................... 34

Figure 34. Rhombohedral hybrid band-gap engineering diagram shown in Figure 33. ........... 35

Figure 35. Crystallographic alignment of a cubic (111) crystal on a trigonal (0001) substrate 

(ref. 36)..................................................................................................................... 36

Figure 36. Crystal structures and relationships (ref. 37). .......................................................... 36

Figure 37. Rhombohedrally grown single crystalline SiGe on trigonal c-plane sapphire. ........ 38

Figure 38. Three-dimensional CAD design of the SOA e-beam growth chamber. .................. 39

Figure 39. Three-dimensional rendered CAD view of the SOA e-beam growth chamber. ...... 40

Figure 40. Photograph of the SOA e-beam growth chamber. .................................................. 40

Figure 41. Dual rotation substrate heater module with entry/exit flanges for load-lock 

assembly. ................................................................................................................. 41

Figure 42. Various components of the e-beam growth chamber.............................................. 42

Figure 43. Fabricated rhombohedral SiGe samples on 6 inch c-plane sapphire wafers. A 

quarter dollar coin is shown for size comparison. ................................................... 42

Figure 44. Symmetric –2 XRD scan shows only the SiGe (111) reflection at 2θ ~ 27.5 

degrees along with the Al2O3 (003), (006), (009), and (0012) reflections. SiGe (220) 

 scan shows three strong reflections (offset by 120 degrees) with three small 

reflections rotated 60 degrees from them indicating greater than 99.5 percent inplane orientation of the SiGe. .................................................................................. 44

Figure 45. Four Secco etch-pit density tests on rhombohedral SiGe grown on c-plane 

sapphire, where etch-pits (red circles) exist but line dislocations do not................ 46

Figure 46. Secco etch-pit test results. ....................................................................................... 46

Figure 47. Photograph of ~100 nm thick SiGe samples with mirror-like surfaces.................... 47

Figure 48. Cross-sectional SEM images of a smooth SiGe layer on c-plane sapphire in layerby-layer growth mode and a rough SiGe layer on c-plane sapphire in SK growth 

mode. The SK growth mode begins layer-by-layer and transitions to coherent 3-D 

island growth at a critical thickness. ........................................................................ 48

Figure 49. AFM images of bare c-plane sapphire and different thicknesses of rhombohedral 

SiGe layers on c-plane sapphire. ............................................................................ 49

Figure 50. Quantum well structure of SiGe (left) and the mobility enhancement of electrons 

and holes in a QW (ref. 42 and 43). ........................................................................ 52

Figure 51. Energy absorption regimes of silicon and germanium solar cells with respect to the 

solar spectra............................................................................................................. 53

Figure 52. Rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire and transparent double-side polished 

sapphire wafer (inset). ............................................................................................. 53

Figure 53. Comparison of a conventional silicon solar cell that receives sunlight from the front 

side where electrodes shadow sunlight and a rhombohedral SiGe solar cell on cplane sapphire that receives sunlight from rear side with no obstructing 

electrodes................................................................................................................. 54

Figure 54. SiGe/Sapphire/GaN hybrid crystal structure device on a double-sided sapphire 

wafer with illumination from each side..................................................................... 54

Figure 55. XRD pole figures on the SiGe (220) reflection for two SiGe materials with different 

crystalline qualities................................................................................................... 55

Figure 56. TE FoM equation and the historical development of TE materials at various 

operating temperature regimes (ref. 46).................................................................. 56

Figure 57. Thermal conductivity is lowered by phonon scattering at the stacking-fault interface 

of a twin crystal. ....................................................................................................... 57

Figure 58. Electrical mobility of fabricated twinned Si1–xGex samples with respect to bulk SiGe. 

An increase in the electrical conductivity leads to an increase in ZT (ref. 47 and 

48). ........................................................................................................................... 57
ix

Figure 59. The efficiency of current power generating systems and their improvement of 

generating efficiency assuming the additional use of TE systems with 20 percent 

efficiency (ref. 49). ................................................................................................... 58

Figure 60. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's finding during their 2008 study of 

energy use (ref. 51).................................................................................................. 59

Figure 61. Optimizing ZT through carrier concentration tuning. Maximizing the efficiency (ZT) 

of a thermoelectric involves a compromise of increasing the Seebeck coefficient 

and electrical conductivity, while decreasing the thermal conductivity (ref. 52). .... 60

Figure 62. Current values and expected achievements after five years of the nondimensional 

power generating performance index (ZT) of low temperature (red), midtemperature (orange), and high temperature (blue) TE conversion materials (ref. 

49). ........................................................................................................................... 61

Figure 63. NASA developed TE material design by decorating grains with metallic 

nanoparticles in order to increase the Seebeck coefficient and electrical 

conductivity, while decreasing the thermal conductivity to increase the TE FoM. . 62

Figure 64. Two procedures for synthesizing Bi2Te3 crystals (ref. 55)....................................... 63

Figure 65. The solvothermally synthesized Bi2Te3 powders..................................................... 64

Figure 66. Surface morphologies of the Bi2Te3 grains covered with nanoparticles.................. 65

Figure 67. (a) The Seebeck coefficient, (b) the electrical conductivity, (c) the power factor, (d) 

the thermal conductivity, and (e) the dimensionless FoM of Bi2Te3 samples 

decorated with 0.001 wt percent / 0.05 wt percent Au or 0.05 wt percent Ag metallic 

nanoparticles using Bi2Te3 as the starting material at room temperature. (f) The 

dimensionless FoM of nanocomposite samples (NC1, NC2) and zone-melted (ZM) 

sample (ref. 57) compared with data measured for Bi2Te3 samples decorated with 

Au and Ag nanoparticles (blue and red triangles, respectively). ............................ 66

Figure 68. Synthetic process of Ag2Te grains whose surfaces are covered with metallic 

bismuth nanoparticles.............................................................................................. 67

Figure 69. (a) A cleavage surface SEM image of the Ag2Te grain covered by bismuth metallic 

nanoparticles, (b) BSE image, (c) HAADF STEM image (red circle: EDS point 

analysis area), (d) EDS spectra of nanoparticle (red circle area in c), (e) HRTEM 

image of nanoparticles, and (f) BF TEM image of the Ag2Te grain covered by 

bismuth metallic nanoparticles. ............................................................................... 68

Figure 70. Temperature dependencies of electrical conductivity (σ)........................................ 69

Figure 71. Temperature dependencies of various TE parameters for a Ag2Te sample 

decorated with Bi-rich metallic nanoparticles. The purple data indicated at room

temperature is cited from Borca-Tasciuc et al. (ref. 61).......................................... 70

Figure 72. Concept for TE ink for airship application. ............................................................... 72

Figure 73. SEM images and photos for Bi2Te3 / epoxy resin, Bi2Te3 / polystyrene (PS), Bi2Te3 / 

PMMA, and Bi2Te3 / polyaniline (PAN) composites. ............................................... 72

Figure 74. Material properties of printed TE composites at 300 K (ref. 62).............................. 74

Figure 75. TE tandem system block diagram showing the potential energy savings assuming a 

30 percent conversion efficiency of waste heat at each TE layer........................... 75

Figure 76. 3-D conceptual view of an advanced TE device in a tandem arrangement............ 75

Figure 77. Possible economic impacts of more efficient TE device technology....................... 77

Figure 78. A new concept powertrain that recoups and converts wasted thermal energy into 

useful electrical energy. ........................................................................................... 78
x

Nomenclature

A amps

AC alternating current

AES Auger electron spectroscopy

AFM atomic force microscope

BF bright field

BSE backscattered electron

C Celsius

CAD computer aided design

CF conflat

cm centimeters

CMOS complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor

CNT carbon nanotubes

cps counts per second

C&I Creativity and Innovation

dB decibels

DC direct current

DoF degrees of freedom

e-beam electron beam

EDS energy dispersive spectroscopy

EM electromagnetic

EMF electromotive force

ESC electronic speed controller

fcc face centered cubic

FE field emission

FFT fast Fourier transform

FM frequency modulation

FoM figure of merit

g grams

GHz gigahertz

GPS global positioning system

h hour

HAADF high-angle annular dark field

HDR high dynamic range

HF hydrofluoric acid

HIRF high intensity radiated fields

hp horsepower
xi

HRTEM high resolution transmission electron microscope

IC integrated circuit

IMU inertia motion unit

I-V current voltage

K Kelvin

keV kiloelectron volt

kg kilogram

kHz kilohertz

km kilometers

kW kilowatts

LaRC Langley Research Center

lbs pounds

LD line dislocation

LED light emitting diode

LEED low energy electron diffraction

m meters

mA milliamps

MFP mean free path

MHz megahertz

mW milliwatt

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NC nanocomposite

nm nanometer

NW northwest

OD outer diameter

PE polyethylene

PET polyethylene terephthalate

PID proportional integral derivative

PP polypropylene

Q amount of heat

QW quantum well

RF radio frequency

RFA retarding field analyzer

RHEED reflection high energy electron diffraction

RMS root mean square

rpm revolutions per minute

RTG radioisotope thermoelectric generator
xii

R/C radio controller

R&D research and development

s second

SAED selected area electron diffraction

SE southeast

SEM scanning electron microscope

SK Stranski-Krastanov

SOA state-of-the-art

SOI silicon on insulator

SOS silicon on sapphire

SSP single side polished

STI scientific and technical information

TDP threading dislocation pit

TE thermoelectric

TED transmission electron diffraction

TEM transmission electron microscope

TM technical memorandum

TW terawatt

TWT travelling wave tube

UHV ultrahigh vacuum

Ultra-CMOS ultra-complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor

U.S. United States

V volts

VGA video graphics array

VTOL vertical takeoff and landing

W watts

WPT wireless power transmission

XRD x-ray diffraction

ZM zone-melted

° degrees

’ feet

” inches

2-D two-dimensional

3-D three-dimensional

Arec area of receiving antenna aperture

Atrans cross-sectional area of transmitted beam

C0 zero bias junction capacitance
xiii

D directivity

 efficiency

beam beaming efficiency

C Carnot efficiency

TE thermoelectric efficiency

 half power beamwidth

FC cutoff frequency

ISC short circuit current

 thermal conductivity

 wavelength

m mass

m micrometer

V microvolt

P power

R distance between transmitting and receiving antenna apertures

RL load resistance

RS series resistance

RSH shunt resistance

air density of air at airship cruising altitude

He density of helium

sea density of air at sea level

S Seebeck coefficient

S

2

 electrical power factor

 electrical conductivity

TC cold temperature

TH hot temperature

 beaming efficiency

v speed

V volume

VB breakdown voltage

Vbi diode junction voltage

VOC open circuit voltage

V0 output voltage

Z thermoelectric figure of merit or average proton number

ZT dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit

 Ohms
1

 SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

The development of radically new and sustainable transportation modes for both passengers and 

cargo is absolutely necessary due to (i) a continuous increase in transportation numbers and 

volumes from the expansion of commercial activities, (ii) a fast growing and spreading 

urbanization, (iii) a saturated state of current transportation systems and infrastructures, and (iv) 

an increasing concern for environmental issues with currently dominant petroleum-based 

transportation systems. Accordingly, transportation safety and mobility have become critical 

issues that need to be resolved using new technologies. The anticipated development of new 

transportation systems will require substantial future investments in entirely new energy sources 

and infrastructures, along with smart and intelligent transportation system networks.

The timely adoption of new green energy sources will slowly diminish the dominance of 

petroleum-based power plants for transportation systems. The possibility also exists to alleviate 

onboard power generation systems by alternatively using wireless power transmission (WPT)

technology. However, green energy technologies are not yet fully developed and cannot harness 

sufficient amounts of energy to compete with existing petroleum-based systems. Therefore, 

research and development (R&D) of these technologies must be accelerated in order to offset the 

approximately $1 trillion spent annually in the United States (U.S.) on fossil fuel energy 

consumption (ref. 1), which accounts for 82 percent of the total energy consumption in the U.S.

(ref. 2). However, almost all (95.5 percent) of the energy for the transportation sector comes 

from fossil fuels (ref. 2), thus the transportation sector accounts for just over one-fourth of the 

total fossil fuel consumption in the U.S. (ref. 2). Furthermore, approximately $300 billion of 

fossil fuels are imported annually from foreign countries (ref. 2). The development of new green 

energy technologies, not only for transportation but also for other needs, will eventually allow 

the U.S. to become more self-reliant for its energy needs and continue a healthy and strong 

economic leadership in the world.

One such new transportation system that will use these sources of clean and efficient energy are 

cargo airships that can easily overcome common barriers to cargo traffic. For example, rivers, 

valleys, canyons, and mountains require costly construction of bridges, tunnels, or roads. These 

cargo airships would be fully powered by green energy sources, thus alleviating reliance on 

fossil fuels. They would be able to primarily transport several 40 ft cargo containers, offering 

complementary solutions to current transportation demands and creating delivery solutions that 

were once previously nonexistent.

This National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Technical Memorandum (TM) 

discusses the feasibility of these cargo airship transportation systems using currently available 

green energy technologies: WPT in the X-band and solar energy using monocrystalline silicon 

(Si) cells. The discussion continues with the R&D of existing and new green energy technologies 

in order to improve their efficiencies for use on these cargo airships and other transportation 

systems. Langley Research Center (LaRC) has complete in-house fabrication and 

characterization facilities to push these technologies to their theoretical limits, which include 

rhombohedral SiGe (silicon germanium) to capture solar energy with quantum well (QW) solar 

cells and waste heat energy with high temperature thermoelectric (TE) materials combined in a 

tandem TE device with other low and mid-temperature TE materials decorated with metallic 
2

nanoparticles, and an advanced WPT device in the microwave regime beyond the X-band (i.e.,

from the K-band through the W-band).
3

 SECTION 2

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF CARGO AIRSHIP

TRANSPORTATION USING WIRELESS POWER

The feasibility of using an airship to transport heavy cargo loads is examined and three primary 

design constraints are identified: (i) the propulsion system, (ii) the power supply, and (iii) the 

flight path. The selection of these criteria will determine further parameters of the cargo airship, 

such as its physical size, cargo load capabilities, etc.

An ideal propulsion system for an airship that is carrying many metric tons of cargo should have 

electrically powered propellers, which are highly efficient for low speed flight applications (ref. 

3). These electric motors would be powered using a WPT system that would alleviate any 

onboard power generation systems. This concept of harvesting power wirelessly is envisioned as 

one of the best options to alleviate the complexity associated with hard-wired control circuitry in 

propulsion systems. This is accomplished through a rectifying antenna or "rectenna," which 

consists of a dipole antenna with a diode connected across its elements. The diode rectifies the 

alternating current (AC) induced in the dipole antenna from the electromagnetic (EM) waves to 

create direct current (DC) power.

William C. Brown developed microwave WPT technology in the 1960s (ref. 4). His research 

demonstrated power transmission using EM waves and the subsequent rectification to DC power. 

However, Nikola Tesla conceived of and demonstrated the fundamental idea for WPT (ref. 5–7), 

whereby he used a coil that was connected to a 60 m tower and fed by a 1300 kW, 150 kHz 

power source. The realization that higher frequency EM waves (i.e., microwaves) were necessary 

to effectively focus those waves towards the power receiver was then made. Therefore, it is 

important to consider high frequency amplifiers for the WPT. Albert W. Hull invented the 

magnetron in 1921 (ref. 8) to amplify microwaves, and in 1937 the Varian brothers (Russell H. 

and Sigurd F.) fabricated the klystron, which was based on the original idea by the Heil brothers

(A. Arsenjewa and Oskar) (ref. 9). In 1964, Brown gave the first historical demonstration of 

WPT in the frequency range of 2.4–2.5 GHz for a helicopter (ref. 10). A power conversion 

device, called a rectifying antenna or rectenna for short, was developed and used for these 

helicopter demonstrations. Later, semiconductor diodes were replaced by Si Schottky diodes that 

raised the microwave to DC conversion efficiency from 40 percent to 80 percent. WPT was 

continually developed for solar power satellites in 1978 (ref. 11) for the Next Generation Space 

Telescope (now known as the James Webb Space Telescope) in 1996 (ref. 12) and was applied 

to smart actuators (ref. 13–15), and to medical applications (ref. 16–19). WPT is a proven

technology; however, more studies are required to target specific applications, such as the 

development of rectenna elements for maximum density, conversion efficiency, and higher 

frequencies, the development of Schottky diodes for higher breakdown voltages, as well as the 

design of robust rectenna patch arrays and their integration into surfaces (e.g., airships) (ref. 20)

for optimized boundary layer air flow.

EM waves are collected through a high resonance antenna and delivered to a Schottky diode to 

obtain high efficiencies (ref. 21) where the Schottky diode rectifies the alternating current (AC) 

power into DC power. Rectenna arrays can attain high power transfer capacity from radiated EM 

energy sources by connecting the rectennas in series, parallel, or combination of both, as well as 

by enlarging the receiving area. The configuration of the rectennas in the array can be altered for 
4

specific applications. Parallel connections are preferred over serial connections for high current 

applications, such as operating motors that require a high level of instantaneous torque (ref. 22).

This is because the current passing through a Schottky diode is only in the range of a few 

hundred milliamps. Consequently, the output power from a serial connection would be limited to 

within one watt for an electric motor with a load resistance of a few ohms. Therefore, serial and 

parallel connection combinations are essential to increase the current for high current operations.

The cargo airship would have rectenna arrays populated over the surface of its membrane in 

order to receive the transmitted wireless microwave power from ground power stations. The 

positioning of these ground power transmission stations would determine the flight path of the 

cargo airship. The altitude for the flight operation of the airship was chosen to be less than 2.5 

km within a flight corridor width of 4 km between two rows of power transmission stations.

Figure 1 shows the overall positioning of these ground power stations and the flight corridor. The

cargo airship receives wireless power from the four nearest transmission stations, so when the 

airship passes through the imaginary boundary between two beaming stations, the next pair of 

stations take over for uninterrupted power transmission. The airship flight range would be 

limited to within 1 km from the midline separating the two rows of power stations as indicated in 

Figure 1 for stable power delivery and flight control. These conditions, along with the size of the 

cargo airship and WPT conditions (i.e., frequency, antenna size, rectenna array size, etc.), allow 

a maximum power reception distance of approximately 4.4 km between the transmitting 

antennas and rectenna arrays operating at 10 GHz.

Figure 1. Layout and dimensions of the WPT ground stations and the cargo airship flight 

corridor.

The physical dimensions of the cargo airship and the amount of energy needed for its propulsion 

can be determined based on the design constraints set previously. In this preliminary study, two 

different scenarios of airship operation based on cargo payload were investigated: (i) 100 metric 
5

tons and (ii) 400 metric tons. The design parameters are calculated below for the 100 metric ton 

payload.

The volume of the cargo airship needed to lift a payload mass is calculated using the 

reduced density of air at a specified altitude and the density of helium using equation 

(1):

air He

m

V

  



(1)

A total volume of approximately 1.5 × 105 m

3

is necessary in order to transport 100 metric tons 

of cargo payload at a cruising altitude of 2.5 km. The mass of the airship itself is estimated to be 

about 20 metric tons with the conceptual design shown in Figure 2 and the parameters listed in 

Table 1.

Figure 2. Schematic design of the cargo airship with corresponding dimensions listed in 

Table 1.

Table 1. Design parameters of the wireless powered cargo airship as shown in Figure 2.

Design Parameters Cargo Payload

100 ton 400 ton

Weight of unloaded airship 20 ton 80 ton

Cruise Speed 70 km/hour

Airship volume 1.5  105 m

3

6.0  105 m

3

Airship 

Dimensions

Length, 2a 145 m 230 m

Height, c 25 m 40 m

Width, d 60 m 96 m

Width of bottom rectenna area, e 35 m 56 m

Length of bottom rectenna area, f 116 m 184 m

Required total power 825 kW 1,895 kW

Effective area for rectenna 9,656 m224,515 m2

Required power density 85 W/m277 W/m2
6

The propulsion power for the cargo airship was analyzed following Lorenz’s study (ref. 23),

where airships ranging in size from small radio-controlled ones to ones the size of the Zeppelin

were analyzed as a function of their mass and maximum speed. The propulsion power can be 

calculated as given in equation (2):

 







0.33 0.5

0.6 1.85 3





















sea

air P m v

 (2)

where is the airship mass, is the speed of the airship, is the density of the air at the

cruising altitude, is the density of air at sea level, and is the efficiency of electric power 

propeller propulsion system (ref. 24). The required electrical power for this 120 metric ton cargo 

airship is 825 kW, assuming a flight speed of 70 km/h at an altitude of 2 km. The electrical to 

mechanical power conversion efficiency for the electric motors was assumed to be a 

conservative value of 80 percent (ref. 25). The electrical power for the motors is wirelessly 

transmitted from the ground power stations to the rectenna arrays that are attached on the outside 

bottom (80 percent coverage) and sides (60 percent coverage) of the airship surface as shown in 

Figure 2. The power efficiency for cargo airship operation increases with the airship size and 

cargo payload, as can be seen from equation (2) and shown in Table 1 (ref. 23 and 26).

The overall architecture of the WPT system can now be designed since the power and power 

density requirements have been set for both 100 and 400 metric ton cargo airships. The crosssectional area of the WPT beam can be calculated using the Goubau relationship (ref. 27)

as in equation (3):

rec

trans A

R

A

2 2

 



(3)

where is the beaming efficiency between the transmitting and receiving antenna apertures and 

equals three for 100 percent efficiency, is the wavelength of the EM waves, is the distance 

between the transmitting and receiving antenna apertures, and is the area of the receiving 

antenna aperture (i.e., the rectenna arrays on the airship). The distance between the transmitting 

antenna and receiving rectenna arrays meets the far-field condition leading to equation (4):

2

4



 Atrans D 

(4)

where is the directivity. Therefore, the number of transmitting antenna arrays should be 

80  80 to obtain a directivity of 43 dB for 10 GHz operation. The half-power beamwidth is 

calculated as 1.26° using equation (5):

D

32000  

(5)

As shown in Table 2, WPT systems are outlined for different microwave frequencies of 10, 45, 

and 85 GHz. The power attenuation by oxygen and water molecules in the atmosphere near 45 

GHz is much lower than either the Ka-band or V-band frequencies and, therefore, is regarded as 

an important factor for long distance WPT. The areas of the rectenna unit cells and the number of 

Schottky diodes can be calculated as shown in Table 2 for the 10, 45, and 85 GHz frequencies. 
7

Power conversion efficiencies of 80, 60, and 40 percent are assumed in this study for 10, 45, and 

85 GHz, respectively, based on previous research (ref. 28–30). The power transmission flux 

density from the 10 GHz system is calculated to be 89 W/m2, which meets the required powers 

of 85 W/m2and 77 W/m2for the operation scenario of cargo airships with respective payloads of 

100 and 400 tons at cruising speeds of 70 km/h. In the case of 45 GHz, the power receiving 

capacity of 1,350 W/m2far exceeds the requirement of 77 W/m2, which means that the rectenna 

array area can be reduced to 6.3 percent (approximately one-sixteenth) of the size for the array 

needed for 10 GHz operation. Correspondingly for 85 GHz, the rectenna array area can be much 

further reduced to 2.6 percent (approximately one thirty-eighth) of the size compared to 10 GHz 

operation. 

Table 2. Parameters of the WPT system; the power handling capacity of a Schottky 

diode is 100 mW for the 10, 45, and 85 GHz frequencies.

Frequency 10 GHz 45 GHz 85 GHz

Area of rectenna unit cell 9.0  10-4 m

2

4.4  10-5 m

2

1.2  10-5 m

2

Number of Schottky diodes per m21,111 22,500 80,278

Power conversion efficiency of rectenna 80% 60% 40%

Power attenuation at the maximum distance 0.04 dB 0.35 dB 0.35 dB

Power flux density 89 W/m21,350 W/m23,211 W/m2

The receiving area of these rectenna arrays (i.e., an antenna) can be estimated for a certain power 

density using the Goubau relationship (ref. 27) as in equation 3. The footprint of the microwave 

beam (i.e., the size of the rectenna array needed to capture the entire dispersed transmitted 

microwave beam) at various distances from the 0.2 m diameter transmitting antenna can be 

calculated for various frequencies as shown in Figure 3 assuming 100 percent efficiency. The

dispersion of the microwave beam decreases as the frequency is increased as indicated in the 

graph, and is the reason for the dramatic increase in power flux density of higher frequency 

microwaves.
8

Figure 3. Size of the receiving rectenna array needed to capture the entire dispersed 

microwave beam as a function of the distance from the transmitting antenna.

A feasibility test using a 7.5 foot prototype cargo airship powered by novel flexible rectenna 

arrays optimized for 10 GHz was performed in order to evaluate the WPT system that has been 

previously devised and outlined. Individual X-band rectenna arrays were fabricated and tested in 

a 4 × 4 × 8 foot anechoic chamber with a setup as shown in Figure 4. A signal generator (HP–

8672A) and amplifier (VZX–6983–G5GLM, TWT, Varian) provided 200 W of microwave 

power input within a frequency range of 7–18 GHz. The 200 W of microwave power was 

delivered through a travelling-wave tube (TWT) waveguide connected to a Narda rectangular 

horn antenna for irradiating the rectenna arrays. The flexible rectenna arrays were connected to a 

power measurement system that was located outside of the anechoic chamber by means of a dual 

output BNC connector in order to measure the output voltage and current. The distance between 

the horn antenna and the rectenna arrays was varied between 10–70 inches.
9

Figure 4. Experimental setup for the rectenna array performance test in the anechoic 

chamber.

The performance of approximately 600 rectenna arrays (18 cm × 19.5 cm) optimized for 10 GHz 

was evaluated within this anechoic chamber as described above with typical results shown in

Figure 5. Four rectennas were used in these performance tests (see inset of Figure 5), where the 

output power was measured as a function of frequency and distance from the horn antenna. A

3.5  load resistance was used to match the resistance value of the propeller motors from the 

prototype cargo airship for these measurements. The 32 best performing rectenna arrays from 

these tests were attached to the prototype cargo airship (i.e., 16 on the port side and 16 on the 

starboard side) as shown in Figure 6.
10

Figure 5. Output power of four rectenna arrays measured as a function of frequency and 

distance from the horn antenna in the anechoic chamber.

(a) Flexible dipole rectenna array. (b) Prototype cargo airship.

Figure 6. Flexible dipole rectenna arrays attached to prototype cargo airship.

A 14.1 m × 6.9 m × 2.9 m reverberation chamber in the High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF)

Laboratory of NASA LaRC was used for the testing of the WPT prototype cargo airship (see 

Figure 6 and Figure 7). This electromagnetically screened chamber is made of quarter inch thick 
11

steel walls, floor, and ceiling that minimally absorb EM waves down to 120 dB in the 80 MHz to 

18 GHz range. The low absorption of the metal causes the radiated fields to reflect off of the 

chamber surfaces numerous times, thus creating standing waves and making the EM wave 

distribution inhomogeneous. However, it is presumed that the rectenna arrays on the airship will 

face the intensity of impinging waves averaged by every direction throughout the chamber. In 

addition, two rectangular horn antennas with a 45 degree angle were installed to enhance the 

uniformity of these radiated fields.

Figure 7. HIRF Lab reverberation chamber used to test the prototype WPT cargo airship.

The rectenna arrays attached to the prototype cargo airship were tested in the reverberation 

chamber prior to the test flights. Different frequency maxima along with a diminished power 

output (50 mW averaged power) of the rectenna arrays were found as compared to tests in the 

anechoic chamber (Figure 8). Two strong maxima were observed at 7.2 and 10.2 GHz with a 

power output of approximately 8 W, 9–10 V, and 800–900 mA. The multiple resonances could 

have been due to the rectangular shape of the horn antenna, and the decreased power output was 

most likely due to multiple reflections of the EM waves inside the reverberation chamber that 

caused changes in the polarization angles (i.e., the EM waves are unpolarized). Therefore, the 

aligned orientation of the linearly polarized dipole antennas of the rectennas within each array 

did not absorb the incoming EM waves as effectively as in the anechoic chamber tests where 

completely polarized EM waves were used.

Power

Amplifier

Transmit 

Antenna

Transmitter

Repeater 

Receiver

Repeater 

Amplifier

Video 

Camera

Radio 

Controller

R/C

Length: 14.1m Width: 6.9m

Height: 

2.9m

Rectenna

Array
12

The rectenna arrays attached to the prototype cargo airship were placed perpendicularly at a 

distance of 6 m from the rectangular horn antenna, and their output power was measured as the 

input power was varied from 20–200 W (Figure 9). The output power varied linearly versus 

input power for both 7.2 and 10.2 GHz with a 3–4 percent overall efficiency.

Figure 8. Power, voltage, and current output of the rectenna arrays measured as a 

function of frequency in the reverberation chamber.
13

Figure 9. Output power of the rectenna arrays measured as a function of input power for 

the 7.2 and 10.2 GHz maxima. The arrays were measured at a distance of 6 m 

from the rectangular horn antenna.

The output power was also measured from the rectenna arrays on both sides of the airship (i.e.,

the port side facing away from the horn antenna and the starboard side facing towards it as 

shown in Figure 7). The output power of the port side was 88–95 percent of the starboard side 

when the airship was located 6 m from the horn antenna. This result demonstrates that 

microwave power propagating through the airship and reflecting off the reverberation chamber 

walls was converted into electrical energy. This interesting result warrants further investigation 

since it will influence the airship design, including materials selection and dimensions.

Another important factor that influences airship design is the output power of the rectenna arrays

with respect to the incident angle of the transmitted microwave beam, which is determined by 

Lambert's cosine law. The output power was measured as the airship was rotated around its 

vertical axis from 0–120 degrees as shown in Figure 10, where the rectenna arrays are 

perpendicular to the microwave beam at zero degrees. The output power varied from 9.86 W at 0

degrees to 6.12 W at 90 degrees, about a 40 percent drop.
14

Figure 10. The output power of the rectenna array at various incidence angles.

The power characteristics of the rectenna arrays must also be evaluated for ideal operation of the 

airship motors (i.e., high current output at a low load resistance). Various resistor loads were 

used to determine the I-V characteristics of the rectenna arrays at various frequencies as shown 

in Figure 11, where a maximum power output of 1.7 W with a 19  load resistance was found. 

Output power was maximized when impedance was matched at ideal load conditions, and,

therefore, investigations of serial and parallel rectenna connections are needed.
15

Figure 11. Power characteristics of the rectenna array with various load resistors at 6 m 

from the horn antenna.

The power requirements of the prototype cargo airship motors is approximately 4.8 V and 0.7 A

to power three propellers (two for forward/backward motion and one for lateral movement). One 

rectenna array patch produces 4 V and 0.18 A at an average distance of 2 m from the 200 W horn

antenna. Table 3 lists the various electrical connections of the rectenna array patches in serial and 

parallel combinations to maximize the needed output. Parallel connections are more desirable in 

order to increase the amount of current, since the maximum current flow capacity of the Schottky 

diodes is limited to 20 mA. Therefore, five serial connections of eight parallel patches were 

chosen to maximize the output power from the rectenna arrays.

Table 3. Output power of rectenna array patches for various serial and parallel 

combinations.

Parameters Total Power Power per Patch

4 serial connections of 4 parallel patches 0.496 W 31 mW

6 serial connections of 4 parallel patches 0.601 W 25 mW

6 serial connections of 6 parallel patches 1.284 W 36 mW

12 serial connections of 3 parallel patches 0.787 W 22 mW

4 serial connections of 8 parallel patches 1.320 W 41 mW

5 serial connections of 8 parallel patches 1.618 W 40 mW
16

Although the overall size and performance of a full-size 100 ton cargo airship was scaled down

to approximately 2 percent of its size for tests in a reverberation chamber, the same design 

parameters discussed previously for a full-sized cargo airship were applied to the prototype cargo 

airship. The parameters of this scaled down version are shown as Case 1 in Table 4. A

commercial ellipsoid airship with a diameter of 1.1 m and a length of 2.3 m was selected, as 

shown in Case 2, to match the scaled-down dimensions for the actual reverberation chamber 

tests. The electric power propulsion system was designed for a slow flight speed of 10 km/h in 

order to operate within the relatively small size of the chamber and was approximately 3 percent

of the values for Case 1. Single rectenna patches at a frequency of 10.5 GHz delivered an

averaged output power of 470 mW, which surpassed the required power of 190 mW for the Case 

2 prototype airship.

Table 4. Prototype cargo airship parameters of a scaled-down 100 ton version (Case 1) 

and the actual scaled-down version for tests in the reverberation chamber 

(Case 2).

Parameters Case 1 Case 2

Cruise Speed 70 km/h 10 km/h

Airship volume 1.31 m3

Diameter of airship 0.94 m 1.12 m

Length of airship 2.82 m 2.25 m

Required power 759 W 21 W

Effective area for rectenna 4.25 m24.02 m2

Required power density 179 W/m25.2 W/m2

Power on a rectenna patch 6.4 W 0.19 W

The output power of the rectenna arrays was investigated for the case of a partially deflated or 

“flat condition” of the airship because of the possibility of a leak. The output power was 

expected to change because of a change in the exposure area of the rectenna arrays to the 

microwave beam. This condition was tested by measuring the output power in a fully inflated 

airship and comparing it to a 30 percent flat condition as shown in Figure 12. This flat condition 

was measured by an equilibrium weight of helium buoyancy force. The measured output power 

of the rectenna arrays in the flat condition was less than 15 percent of the normal condition in the 

frequency range of 9–10 GHz. In the other frequency ranges, the output power slightly increased 

as compared to the normal fully inflated condition. These results indicate little concern about 

losing output power in a flat condition of the airship. In general, these test results show that WPT 

is a promising technology to deliver power to a cargo airship under various foreseen conditions.
17

Figure 12. Power output of rectenna array in a 30 percent deflated “flat” condition.

Flight testing of the prototype cargo airship inside of the reverberation chamber in the HIRF lab 

was performed using 400 W of continuous wave power at 10.5 GHz as shown in Figure 13. A 

radio frequency controller (R/C) was added to the gondola for airship control and a four-channel 

frequency modulation (FM) receiver was added to receive 78 MHz control signals from the 

remote driver. Pulse position modulated signals from the R/C transceiver were delivered to a 

servo motor, while two SPY motor control units were used to control two thrust motors for 

propulsion and a tail fan for turning. No batteries were used and electric power was only 

supplied from the rectenna array. Flight tests under WPT rectenna arrays were monitored and 

recorded by two digital cameras installed in the reverberation chamber. A HIRF lab movie clip 

demonstrated the speed and control of the cruising airship in the chamber. Even though the 

power conversion efficiency in the reverberation chamber was far less than the one measured in 

the anechoic chamber, the prototype airship presented full control with a maximum speed around 

10 km/h aided by the wind-free conditions inside the chamber. 
18

(a) Nose view. (b) Side view.

Figure 13. Photos of the flight test inside the reverberation chamber with WPT.

The power flux density received by a rectenna array is an important factor for the design of a 

WPT cargo airship. Therefore, it is essential to design higher frequency rectennas in the V-band, 

W-band, and optical-band regions. Therefore, V-band rectennas with enhanced efficiencies have 

been fabricated and optimized for cargo airship transportation applications beyond the X-band.
19

 SECTION 3

ADVANCES IN WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION

In conventional rectenna design, parallel rectenna distribution employs direct connections on a 

single plane, where the electrical power distribution lines directly connect the antenna to the 

adjacent rectenna. This approach can reduce the complexity of power line distribution, as long as 

the input impedance is well matched to the resonance frequency of the dipole antenna. This

design scheme of connecting the AC and DC circuits along the transmission line can also be 

effective based on the assumption that output filters with shunt capacitors can sufficiently block 

EM wave transmission. This approach can be applied by employing discrete capacitors with 

large capacitance values at low frequencies.

However, when the operation frequency increases beyond the X-band, the physical layout of the 

rectenna does not allow the placement of discrete chip capacitors because of the small layout 

space. The size of a capacitor becomes comparable to the wavelength of the operation frequency 

that can generate higher order harmonics and furious wave modes. Within the layout area limit, 

discrete chip bonding is often difficult and the cost of chip bonding significantly increases. If a 

planar capacitor is employed following the conventional rectenna design, the low capacitance 

from a planar structure does not effectively block the EM wave propagation. Instead, EM waves

may leak through the blocking capacitor and couple with the other rectenna circuit elements 

located next to the dipole antenna. Specifically, the coupling of dipole antennas with Schottky 

diodes is a critical factor in rectenna performance. The nature of EM wave dispersion due to this 

coupling can be a significant barrier, dropping power conversion efficiency in rectenna 

operation. Even a small shift of antenna resonance frequency can significantly drop the 

efficiency of the rectenna.

Thus, to improve the rectenna performance, a new rectenna design for the V-band was performed 

using IE3D software. Figure 14 shows an S11 parameter of a dipole rectenna with an impedance 

of 68  on a flexible duroid board. At 45 GHz, a 15–20 dB level of S11 is calculated with the 

widths of the dipole rectenna from 25–200 m. A coupled stripline was placed on the board for 

the design of passive elements including low pass filters and a short capacitor. The characteristic 

impedance of the design was matched with the input impedance (120 ) and bonding pad layout 

of the Schottky diode.
20

(a) S11 parameter. (b) Rectenna design.

Figure 14. S11 parameter of dipole rectenna versus frequency for various widths of the 

antenna and a schematic diagram of a rectenna design.

Figure 15 shows schematic and circuit designs of a Schottky diode based on the silicon 

integrated circuit (IC) fabrication process. Based on the design, the power conversion efficiency 

was calculated with respect to the Schottky diode series resistance (RS) at 45 GHz as shown in 

Figure 16. Based on the circuit analysis and simulation result, a dual layer of a V-band rectenna 

design was adopted as shown in Figure 17. This design provides a significant size reduction and 

suppressing parasitic impedance. A closed form of the power conversion efficiency can be 

derived from the rectifying circuit model (Figure 14 and Figure 17) and the fundamental 

frequency input (45 GHz). This simple form of analysis assumes that there is no power loss by 

higher order harmonics, the diode forward voltage drop is constant during the forward biasing 

period, and there are no insertion and return losses from the antenna and filter design. Details of 

the theoretical analysis can be found in references 28 and 29. Thus, the power conversion of the 

45 GHz rectenna is calculated as 40 percent by following this analysis and using the parameters 

of the silicon Schottky diode (SMS7621–060) that are shown in Table 5. This power conversion

can be increased to a 60 percent level if the series resistance and the junction capacitance values 

are lowered as shown in Figure 16.
21

 (a) Schematic design. (b) Equivalent circuit.

Figure 15. 45 GHz Schottky diode.

Figure 16. Power conversion efficiency of a rectenna with various Schottky diode 

resistances.

0

20

40

60

80

0 10 20 30 40

Efficiency (%)

Diode Series Resistance ()

140fF 55fF
22

 (a) Design. (b) Circuit analysis.

Figure 17. V-band rectenna.

Table 5. Rectenna circuit parameters and output voltage and power using a silicon 

Schottky diode (SMS621–060).

Parameters Values

Breakdown voltage, VB 3 V

Diode Junction Voltage, Vbi 0.51 V

Series Resistance, Rs 12.5 

Zero Bias Junction Capacitance, C0 130 fF

Cutoff Frequency, FC 189 GHz

Load Resistance, RL 109 

Output Voltage, V0 1.4 V

Output Power, P 18 mW

This V-band rectenna design has been further optimized based on IE3D software simulations as 

shown in Figure 18 and then fabricated as shown in Figure 19. This progress on V-band rectenna 

arrays now opens the door to higher frequency bands, such as the W-band, with the possibility of 

continuing towards the optical band.
23

 (a) S11 parameter. (b) 3-D radiation pattern.

Figure 18. Simulations of a Schottky diode assembly on a V-band rectenna array.

 (a) Individual rectenna with Schottky (b) V-band rectenna array.

 diode assembly.

Figure 19. Fabricated Schottky diode assemblies on a V-band rectenna array.
24

 SECTION 4

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF CARGO AIRSHIP

TRANSPORTATION USING SOLAR POWER

A solar powered airship prototype was designed, built, and flight-tested at NASA LaRC in order 

to study size-scaling effects, in-air cargo manipulation, photovoltaic power conversion, and the 

storage/delivery of electrical power from solar cells and batteries. Solar power may be combined 

with the wireless power technology discussed in the previous sections to provide uninterruptible 

power to a cargo airship. This airship prototype was designed with a 20 foot length, a payload 

capacity of 3 kg (neutral buoyancy with no energy consumption) or 13 kg (maximum energy 

consumption), a solar recharge capacity of 1 kW, a maximum power delivery of 10 kW (13.4 hp) 

from batteries, and a multi-rotor propulsion system controlled by a simple avionics computer 

equipped with wireless video transmission. This study shows that this solar powered airship 

prototype provides very efficient cargo delivery solutions to overcome many transportation 

obstacles.

The prototype airship was designed to have a single helium envelope consisting of two 

cylindrical-like components separated by a middle section. This configuration offers more lift 

than the conventional (i.e., cigar-shaped) airship design, while still featuring a slender, 

aerodynamic shape. It also offers more surface area for solar cells on the top surface of the 

helium envelope, as well as for the gondola and cargo containers on the lower surface. The 

dimensions of the airship were determined by calculating the lift necessary for a neutrally 

buoyant and 100 percent cargo container payload configuration. These dimensions, as shown in 

Figure 20, were determined by taking into consideration such factors as: the helium envelope 

material and corresponding attachments, the solar cell array for power generation, and the 

gondola for propulsion control and cargo manipulation.

(a) Front. (b) Side.

Figure 20. View of the airship with its dimensions.

The volume of the helium envelope for the lift calculation was approximated using two oblate 

spheroids plus a midsection as shown in Figure 21. The resulting calculation yields a helium 

volume of ~25 m3that can provide ~25.6 kg of lift. Table 6 lists the known masses of the 

envelope material (3.5 mil polyurethane) and other components.
25

Figure 21. View of the top of the airship with the approximation for the lift calculation.

Table 6. Lifting forces and masses of the various airship components.

Specification Approximation

Total volume 25 cu meters (882 cu ft)

Lifting force 25.6 kg (56.5 lbs)

Total surface area 50 sq meters (13.5 ft)

Envelope material weight 6 kg (13 lbs)

Weight of fins, patches, etc. 2.8 kg (6 lbs)

Weight of solar cells, wire, etc. 8.3 kg (18 lbs)

Weight of gondola w/ cargo 9.9 kg (21.8 lbs)

Total weight without helium 27 kg (59.5 lbs)

Total lifting force –1.4 kg (–3 lbs)

The fins and bridle patches were secured to the helium envelope using vinyl cement. The bridle 

patches served as attachment points for the gondola (8–35 lb patches) and for tethering the 

airship during fabrication and testing (6–55 lb patches) as shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Bridle strap locations on the helium envelope for securing the airship during 

fabrication and testing (55 lb) and attaching the gondola (35 lb).
26

A negative buoyancy of 1.4 kg was determined to be acceptable because the actual lifting force 

varies with atmospheric changes (i.e., temperature and pressure). These variables can be 

accounted for on a full-sized cargo airship by a ballonet that functions to maintain the shape and 

lift of the airship as its volume changes because of temperature and pressure gradients.

Commercially available off the shelf silicon solar cells were used, along with other materials, to 

fabricate the solar cell panels for the cargo airship. Thirty-two solar panels were constructed to 

power the airship with each panel measuring approximately 0.33 m × 0.95 m with a mass of 

215 g. Each panel consisted of twelve grade B monocrystalline silicon solar cells (200 m thick) 

secured to a 9.5 mm thick rigid polystyrene backing material with a spray adhesive. This rigid 

and lightweight backing material was commercially available off the shelf and had a density of 

21.5 g/m3. Two of these 12-cell panels were connected in series, such that 24 solar cells provided

12–13 volts in an open circuit configuration (VOC) and up to 8.8 amps in a short-circuit 

configuration (ISC). The current-voltage (I-V) curves for each of these 24-cell panels were tested 

in ambient sunlight conditions with the irradiance measuring near 1000 watts/m2 (Figure 23).

The maximum power generated by these 24-cell panels was approximately 35–40 watts at 7–8 

volts and 5 amps. Four of these 24-cell panels are connected in parallel allowing the current from 

each 24-cell panel to be summed, such that approximately 20 amps can be delivered to the 

motors. This results in approximately 600 watts of electrical power that can be generated from 

the sun under ambient conditions.

Figure 23. Current-voltage (I-V) data (red) and best fit (black) for the 24-cell solar panels 

tested in ambient sunlight conditions.

These grade B monocrystalline silicon solar cells have an advertised efficiency of 17 percent

with 4 watts of peak power. However, the measurements of these cells under ambient conditions 

show that there are substantial losses due to series ( ) and shunt ( ) resistances, as can be 

evidenced from the I-V data shown in Figure 23. Measurements under ambient sunlight 

conditions show that the efficiency is closer to 7 percent with a peak power near 1.7 watts. Dark 

I-V curves, shown in Figure 24, can be used to approximate the values of and , which are 

0.2  and 30 , respectively.
27

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.01

0.1

1

10

100

Rsh ~ 30 

Voltage, V (Volts) Current, I (Amps)

Rs ~ 0.2 

Figure 24. Dark I-V curve used to approximate the values of Rs and Rsh.

The solar cell panels were attached to the airship using vinyl cement and hook and loop strips.

Each 12-cell solar panel had a mass of 215 g, which included the rigid polystyrene backing 

material, spray adhesive, monocrystalline silicon solar cells, tabbing wire, and solder. These 32 

panels (6.9 kg) were connected in parallel with 0.1 kg of busbar wire and were attached to the 

polyurethane envelope of the airship with 0.7 kg of hook and loop strips. This yielded

approximately 7.7 kg of mass on top of the airship. An additional 0.625 kg of wire to distribute 

the power generated by the solar panel assembly ran down the side of the airship to the motors.

The design of the propulsion modules and gondola required assessments of the cargo airship’s 

structural design, weight distribution, remote control and avionics integration, and programming 

development for the flight dynamics and controls.

The gondola and propulsion modules were designed with a three-dimensional (3-D) computeraided design (CAD) program where a 3-D rendered view of the semi-production model is shown 

in Figure 25. The four main propulsion propellers are shrouded and attached to a rotatable arm

that is controlled by a high torque servo and gear set as shown in Figure 26. The main propeller 

can rotate forward at 100 percent of the maximum revolutions per minute (rpm) and backward at

50 percent of the maximum rpm with programmable electronic speed controllers (ESCs). The 

high torque servo allows at least 180 degrees of rotation (i.e., ±90 degrees rotation from the 

forward 0 degree direction). Each of the four main propellers has independent angle and 

propulsion control, such that eight degrees of freedom (DoF) are possible: four rotation angles 

and four rpm controls. Two side propellers are also fixed on the front and rear pins, which allow 

a roll motion, a hover left/right motion, and a clockwise/counterclockwise motion when coupled 

with the four main propellers, thus allowing a total of ten DoF. Eight cargo trailers are suspended 

from cargo lift pulleys that allow the cargo containers to be raised and lowered in the vertical 

direction.
28

Figure 25. 3-D rendered top view of the semi-production model of the solar powered 

cargo airship prototype.

Figure 26. Propulsion gondola module with four variable angle main propellers and two 

fixed side propellers.

Figure 27 shows a two-dimensional (2-D) CAD view of the front of the cargo airship prototype

with the vertical weight distribution. The mass of the solar panels is slightly less than 7 kg, the 

airship membrane is approximately 5.5 kg, and the gondola is 8–10 kg, depending on the cargo

mass. The large solar cell mass on the top surface of the cargo airship raises the center of mass

towards the center of the airship body. However, the center of the mass will be lowered as the 

airship size becomes larger because the lifting force is proportional to the volume (i.e., radius 

cubed 

 

), whereas the mass of the solar cells is proportional to the area (i.e., radius squared 

 

).

Two Side Propulsion

Propellers (Front & Rear)
29

Therefore, as the size of the airship becomes larger, the mass percentage of the solar cells 

becomes smaller while the mass percentage of the propulsion gondola and cargo containers 

becomes larger. Thus, the center of the mass will become lower, offering greater stabilization as 

the size of the airship is increased.

Figure 27. 2-D CAD view of the front side of airship with the vertical weight distribution.

Figure 28. Joint and supporting aluminum blocks for servos and gears.
30

The propulsion modules and gondola were originally designed with approximately 260 

components and estimated to be between 8 kg (no cargo) and 10 kg (full cargo). However, they 

were fabricated with about 300 components, including extra propeller shrouds and supporting 

rods during final modifications. The actual final mass of the propulsion gondola was 9.9 kg 

without any cargo. All of the joints and supporters for the servos, pulleys, and gears were made 

with L-, C-, and D-shaped aluminum plates for high strength with minimal mass as shown in

Figure 28. Figure 29 shows the location and mounting schemes for the motors, servos, and ESCs.

Brushless outrunner motors with rare-earth neodymium iron borate (NdFeB) magnets that can 

operate at up to 180°C were used as the main propulsion motors. These motors are rated at 840 

W, 60 A maximum current, and 1110 rpm per volt at no load and were able to deliver 1.1 kg of 

thrust at 220 W and 1500 rpm with the selected propeller.

Figure 29. Location of each motor, ESC, servo, and gear box.

The control software for the cargo airship prototype was developed for 10 DoF vector propulsion

using a programmable 14-channel 2.4 GHz transmitter (Futaba 14MZ with TM-14 radio) that has 

a microcomputer running on the Windows CE operating system with dual internal processors. 

The servo motion, control and mixing, propulsion control, cargo lift operations, and camera 

movements were controlled via a custom-designed program on the transmitter. All 14 channels 

(12 analog and 2 digital) were controlled individually by the custom-designed program as 

diagramed in Figure 30. This custom-designed software enables a transformable propulsion 

system that can start with a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) mode, then transform into a 

hovercraft mode, and finally transform into a quad-copter mode for maximum cargo 

manipulation during hovering.
31

Figure 30. Propulsion and flight control system diagram with 14 channels.

The cargo airship prototype has basic avionics with a global positioning system (GPS), 900 MHz

wireless camera with pan and tilt, and various sensors. This avionics system supports the 

wireless display of GPS position with longitude and latitude, heading with a compass display, 

speed, altitude, time, voltage, current, motor temperature, satellite reception, and line-of-sight 

distance from the takeoff point. An additional inertia motion unit (IMU) with a 3-D 

accelerometer was installed for the artificial horizon display, which allows for precise 

determination of the attitude of the airship for better pitch, yaw, and roll data.

The first internal flight test was conducted on October 4, 2011, and the final demonstration flight 

was made on October 26, 2011, with NASA LaRC and DoT members in attendance. The flight

tests were made inside a large hangar at NASA LaRC using four lithium-ion batteries to power 

the cargo airship prototype, since solar energy was not available. However, these batteries were 

completely removed to demonstrate the full operation of the airship with solar power while it 

was attached to its structure as seen in Figure 31. Outdoor flight tests of the airship did not occur 

because the wind conditions (speed and direction) at this time of year were not within the limits 

imposed because NASA LaRC is located next to Langley Air Force Base. Nevertheless, all of 

the important factors were measured under direct ambient sunlight in a tethered airship control 

mode: (i) total propulsion thrust and power, (ii) electrical power generation, delivery, and 

consumption, (iii) 10 DoF vector propulsion control, and (iv) avionics operations. Figure 32

shows the indoor flight test inside the hangar at NASA LaRC where the basic flight dynamics 

(i.e., yaw, pitch, and roll) and flight modes (i.e., VTOL, hovercraft, and quad-copter) were 

examined along with cargo manipulation. The indoor flight tests and outdoor propulsion tests of 

the solar powered cargo airship prototype were recorded and are available. These tests of a solar 
32

airship proved the unprecedented excellent propulsion control for maximum cargo manipulation 

and very high propulsion thrust from direct sunlight without batteries.

Figure 31. The fully assembled solar powered cargo airship prototype attached to its 

support structure.

Figure 32. Scene from video of the indoor flight test of the solar airship.

Additional measurements and testing can be performed on the airship by installing an onboard 

data acquisition microcomputer with a long-range wireless modem such as an RF modem that 

has a range of 14–40 miles or a satellite modem with almost unlimited global coverage. An 

onboard microcomputer was installed on the solar cargo airship for data collection and video 

processing. However, the automatic flight control of motors and servos based on the data from 

sensors (e.g., GPS, altitude, and attitude) was not used because of regulations and certification 

requirements.

Two of the most critical advancements that are needed for cargo airships at this time are further 

stability control and power generation capabilities. Better stability control from electronic control 

systems will be needed as the physical size and cargo carrying capacity of these cargo airships 

get larger and larger. Their huge surface area makes them susceptible to high winds and other 

unfavorable weather conditions and will need to be addressed. Also, more efficient power 
33

generation sources will be needed to keep these control systems operational without the need for 

energy storage. One possible technology that is explored in the next section and related to the 

solar powered cargo airship is NASA-developed crystalline rhombohedral SiGe on trigonal 

sapphire substrates. This technology offers the possibility of increased efficiency as discussed in 

the next section. 
34

 SECTION 5

RHOMBOHEDRAL EPITAXY OF CUBIC SiGe

ON TRIGONAL C–PLANE SAPPHIRE

New green energy sources with high efficiencies are needed to meet growing energy demands. 

One of these potential green energy sources is a quantum well (QW) solar cell that relies on the 

material development of rhombohedral SiGe. Conventional silicon solar cells have 

approximately a 30 percent theoretical limit of efficiency assuming perfect p-n junctions (ref. 

31), although the highest recorded efficiency measures only at 25 percent (ref. 32). 

Polycrystalline silicon tends to be less efficient than monocrystalline silicon, showing that the 

crystallographic quality affects performance (ref. 33). Silicon has a cubic crystal structure, which 

is one of the two crystal structures into which most semiconductors in today’s industry are 

categorized. The cubic crystal structure encompasses Group IV materials (Si, Ge, C, etc.) in the 

diamond structure, and Group III-V semiconductors (GaAs, GaP, InP, AlAs, etc.) and Group IIVI semiconductors (CdSe, HgTe, etc.) in the zinc-blende structure as shown in the cubic 

bandgap engineering diagram in Figure 33. This group of cubic materials has encompassed a 

multi-trillion dollar market since the invention of the transistor in 1947.

Figure 33. Bandgap engineering diagrams and epitaxy schemes for cubic, hexagonal, 

and rhombohedral crystal systems (ref. 34).
35

The other category for semiconductors is the hexagonal crystal structure, which encompasses the 

wide bandgap III-Nitrides (GaN, AlN, InN), the ZnO group, and the SiC high temperature 

semiconductors. These hexagonal semiconductors are used in light emitting diodes (LEDs), laser 

diodes, and high temperature semiconductor sensors, which have formed a multi-billion dollar 

market since the 1990s. However, these two groups of semiconductors (cubic and hexagonal) 

have not been integrated into a singular crystal form because of their differences in structure.

That is, until recently, when the NASA LaRC team developed unprecedented crystalline 

rhombohedral SiGe on trigonal sapphire substrates (ref. 34–36). This innovative epitaxial 

technology creates a third bandgap engineering diagram (Figure 33 and Figure 34) that opens up 

a new horizon for hundreds of novel hybrid crystal structures between cubic semiconductors (Si, 

Ge, GaAs, InP, etc.) and trigonal crystals such as sapphire. Since this new hybrid crystal 

structure can make hundreds of new semiconductor materials and thousands of new device 

structures possible, it is expected to have various applications in order to match market demands 

in the near future.

Figure 34. Rhombohedral hybrid bandgap engineering diagram shown in Figure 33.

Sapphire has a trigonal symmetry with a rotation of 120 degrees and is commonly described in 

hexagonal axis coordinates. LaRC’s rhombohedral epitaxy uses an alignment of the [111] 

crystallographic direction of cubic SiGe on top of the [0001] crystallographic direction of the 

sapphire basal plane (c-plane) as shown in Figure 35 and Figure 36. This new epitaxial 

configuration follows the cubic—rhombohedral—trigonal symmetry while conventional epitaxy 
36

technology follows the cubic—tetragonal—orthorhombic symmetry as shown in Figure 36. 

Single crystal growth in this new configuration was thought to be impossible because of the 

formation of a high density of twin defects.

Figure 35. Crystallographic alignment of a cubic (111) crystal on a trigonal (0001) 

substrate (ref. 36).

(a) Cubic structure of SiGe. (b) Trigonal structure of sapphire.

(c) Crystal symmetry relations of cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, rhombohedral, and 

trigonal structures.

Figure 36. Crystal structures and relationships (ref. 37).

∩

∩

=

Cubic Rhombohedron Trigonal

Cubic Tetragonal

(a)

(b)

(c) (d

Sa

∩

Orthorhombic

∩

∩

∩

=

Cubic Rhomb

Cubic Tetra

(a)

(b)

(c) 

∩

∩

=

Cubic Rhombohedron Trigonal

Cubic Tetragonal

(a)

(b)

(c) (d) (e)

Sapphire

SiGe SiGe

Sapphire

∩ Orthorhombic

∩
37

(d) Rhombohedral epitaxy of SiGe on 

sapphire.

(e) Two possible in-plane orientations.

Figure 36. Concluded.

Two new x-ray diffraction (XRD) methods were invented by the LaRC team to solve this 

problem of characterizing these twin defects (ref. 38 and 39). XRD is a scattering phenomenon 

whereby x-ray energy photons interact with the charge density of electrons within a material. If 

these electrons are bound to atoms that are arranged in a periodic way within a crystal, then 

constructive and destructive interference will occur along certain directions. This interference 

can be used to probe structural information from the crystalline sample. Figure 37 shows various 

XRD data for rhombohedrally grown SiGe on c-plane sapphire: (i) a symmetric –2 scan 

demonstrating nearly single-crystalline (111) oriented SiGe, (ii) a  scan of the SiGe (220) 

reflection demonstrating nearly no twinning, and (iii) spatial wafer maps of the majority and 

minority twinning demonstrating that twin defects exist only at the edge of the wafer. 

Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images (Figure 37) confirm an almost perfect atomic 

resolution lattice structure for this rhombohedrally grown SiGe on c-plane sapphire.
38

 (a) XRD methods. (b) Atomic resolution TEM image. (ref. 40).

Figure 37. Rhombohedrally grown single crystalline SiGe on trigonal c-plane sapphire.

Therefore, a state-of-the-art (SOA) electron-beam (e-beam) growth chamber was designed by the 

LaRC team to facilitate and enhance the materials research on rhombohedral SiGe and other new 

material systems for green energy applications (e.g., SiGe QW solar cells and TE devices).
39

 SECTION 6

FABRICATION OF RHOMBOHEDRAL SiGe ON SAPPHIRE

This SOA growth chamber enables physical vapor deposition growth with atomic precision and 

chemical control. Figure 38–Figure 40 show the CAD design, rendered CAD view, and 

photographs of the SOA e-beam growth chamber, respectively.

Figure 38. Three-dimensional CAD design of the SOA e-beam growth chamber.
40

Figure 39. Three-dimensional rendered CAD view of the SOA e-beam growth chamber.

Figure 40. Photograph of the SOA e-beam growth chamber.
41

The growth chamber has a two-angle (in-plane and vertical) rotatable substrate heater, as shown 

in Figure 41, that can reach temperatures of up to 1200° C (Figure 42a). It has a continuous 360

degree in-plane rotation with variable speeds to accommodate uniform deposition of up to 6 inch

wafers (Figure 43) and a vertical ±180 degree rotation made possible with a ferro-fluid sealed 

rotatable 13.25 inch conflat (CF) flange. Growth capabilities on 6 inch wafers are important 

because most industrial companies will move from 4 inch wafers to 6 inch wafers within a few 

years. The vertical rotation allows in-situ characterization of the wafer with low energy electron 

diffraction (LEED). The substrate heater can accommodate 6 inch wafers through an 8 inch loadlock port that is connected to the growth chamber with 8.3 inch square flanges. Several 

automated wafer delivery and process systems may be installed and connected by using these 8.3

inch square flanges as entry and exit ports.

Figure 41. Dual rotation substrate heater module with entry/exit flanges for load-lock 

assembly.
42

 (a) Six inch substrate heater. (b) 10 keV six-cell e-beam evaporator. 

 (c) RHEED pattern of sapphire (0001). (d) LEED pattern of sapphire (0001).

Figure 42. Various components of the e-beam growth chamber.

 (a) Bare sapphire. (b) ~100 nm SiGe. (c) ~1000 nm SiGe.

Figure 43. Fabricated rhombohedral SiGe samples on 6 inch c-plane sapphire wafers. A 

quarter dollar coin is shown for size comparison.

Deposition of materials was performed in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber capable of 

achieving base pressures in the 10-8 Torr range. The UHV chamber is equipped with a six-cell 
43

electron-beam evaporator that can produce a physical vapor molecular beam flux of up to 4000°

C by direct e-beam heating (Figure 42b). In addition to the e-beam evaporator, the growth 

chamber has two dopant effusion cells, one for high temperature (up to 2400° C) and one for low 

temperature materials (up to 1350° C). The sample growth was monitored with 14-bit high 

dynamic range (HDR) cameras that were installed outside of the UHV chamber. In-situ

characterization of the sample growth was possible with 30 keV reflection high energy electron 

diffraction (RHEED), LEED, and retarding field analyzer (RFA) Auger electron spectroscopy 

(AES) instruments for atomic surface structure monitoring, growth rate monitoring, and 

chemical analysis (Figure 42c and d). The upper 13.25 inch CF flange port is for atomic 

precision material growth with in-situ characterization (RHEED, LEED, etc.), while the lower 

stage was designed with a very short distance from the six-cell e-beam evaporator in order to 

achieve a very high growth rate of up to 278 nm/s.

The chamber was designed for expansion capabilities to accommodate effusion cells, direct 

current (DC) and radio frequency (RF) plasma sources, and sputtering sources to allow multiple 

methods of depositing materials, such as GaN growth with a nitrogen plasma. Different assisted 

growth techniques are possible, such as direct e-beam heating and ion-beam assisted sputter 

deposition. The in-situ monitoring capabilities may also be expanded to include glancing angle 

ellipsometry and quartz thickness monitors. The material sources in the six-cell e-beam 

evaporator are not limited to only Si and Ge, but can support high temperature refractory metals 

such as tungsten, zirconium, and hafnium.

Although very high quality rhombohedral SiGe layers on c-plane sapphire wafers with 99.7

percent single crystal quality have been previously obtained by the NASA LaRC team (ref. 35), 

the reproducibility of similar high quality epitaxial layers had been difficult to achieve prior to 

the upgrade to the six-cell e-beam growth chamber with its tight process control. These 

instabilities arise from the difficulty of controlling the growth parameters, in particular the 

sapphire wafer substrate temperature, because of its transparent nature in the infrared (IR) and 

visible spectra. This causes most of the heating due to IR light to be lost because it passes 

directly through the sapphire wafer causing the actual temperature of the sapphire wafer surface 

to be much lower than the temperature measured by the thermocouple of the substrate heater. 

Therefore, backside carbon-coated sapphire wafers are similarly prepared to absorb heat, thus,

maintaining accurate temperatures during the SiGe growth. This has allowed very reliable 

fabrication of highly single crystalline (>99.5 percent) SiGe layers in consecutive growth runs 

with identical growth parameters.
44

 SECTION 7

CHARACTERIZATION OF RHOMBOHEDRAL SiGe ON SAPPHIRE

XRD data of these highly single crystalline (>99.5 percent) SiGe layers on c-plane sapphire 

wafers are shown in Figure 44. A symmetric θ–2 scan, which probed the surface normal 

direction of the sample, showed only the SiGe (111) reflection at 2θ ~ 27.5 degrees along with 

the Al2O3 (003), (006), (009), and (0012) reflections. No other SiGe reflections, such as the 

(220), (311), or (400), appeared in the symmetric scan, verifying that all of the crystallites were 

oriented in the [111] direction. The in-plane orientation of the crystallites was measured with a 

scan of the SiGe (220) reflections. Three strong reflections offset by 120 degrees in the  scan 

indicated the majority in-plane orientation of the SiGe, and three small peaks indicated the 60

degrees rotated (twinned) minority in-plane orientation. The intensity was plotted in a log-scale,

and the twin crystal’s peak was very weak compared with the majority single crystal’s peak. The 

majority percentage of the SiGe crystallites can be determined by comparing the integrated areas 

under each peak. Single crystalline SiGe layers greater than 99.5 percent were fabricated in these 

growth runs according to these XRD measurements shown in Figure 44. The best sample grown 

to date is >99.8 percent single crystalline.

20 40 60 80 100

100 101 102 103 104 105 Intensity (counts)

2 (degrees) 0 60 120 180 240 300 360

1

10

100

1000 Intensity (counts)

 (degrees)

 (a) Symmetric –2 scan. (b)  scan. 

Figure 44. Symmetric –2 XRD scan shows only the SiGe (111) reflection at 2θ ~ 27.5

degrees along with the Al2O3 (003), (006), (009), and (0012) reflections. SiGe 

(220) scan shows three strong reflections (offset by 120 degrees) with three 

small reflections rotated 60 degrees from them indicating greater than 99.5

percent in-plane orientation of the SiGe.

In addition to the crystalline quality of the SiGe samples, the amount of defects present in the 

sample is utterly important to device performance. The industry standard to determine the 

amount of defects is a Secco etch-pit density measurement (ref. 41) that uses an etchant 

composition of solvent, hydrofluoric acid (HF), and K2Cr2O7 oxidizer as shown in Table 7. It

reveals line defects or dislocations (LDs) as pits and point defects as shallow pits or hillocks. 

Although a Secco etch works on all crystallographic orientations, the etching effect on {111} 

wafers is slightly different from that of {100} wafers.
45

Table 7. Etchant composition of Secco etch-pit density test and its effects (ref. 41).

Composition (Mol %) Results on {100}

H2O + CH3COOH (HAc)

(Solvent) HF CrO3 + HNO3(Oxidizer)

Line 

defects

Point 

defects

67.6 32.2 0.17 Pits Shallow pits 

or hillocks

A Secco etch was performed on SiGe layers on c-plane sapphire. Figure 45 shows that 

rhombohedral SiGe grown on c-plane sapphire has a very small number of etch pits (~102per 

cm

2

) indicated by red circles and no LDs (i.e., no cross-hatch pattern) after Secco etching for 

three seconds. On the contrary, SiGe grown on Si (100) wafers typically show a high density of 

etch pits and LDs on the order of about 104per cm

2

. Figure 46 shows a comparison of a Secco 

etch pit test between a typical Si65Ge35 film on a Si (100) wafer and rhombohedral Si22Ge78 on a 

c-plane sapphire wafer. The rhombohedral Si22Ge78 grown on c-plane sapphire has a threading 

dislocation pit (TDP) density of 1.9 × 102per cm

2

, no visible line defects, and no cross-hatch 

patterns, while Si65Ge35 on a Si (100) wafer has a TDP density of 3.9 × 104per cm

2

, LD density 

of 1.73 × 104per cm

2

, and many cross-hatch patterns. Therefore, rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane 

sapphire has approximately 200 times less defect densities than conventional SiGe on Si (100) 

wafers as measured with Secco etching tests.
46

Figure 45. Four Secco etch-pit density tests on rhombohedral SiGe grown on c-plane 

sapphire, where etch-pits (red circles) exist but line dislocations do not.

 (a) Si65Ge35 on Si(100) wafer. (b) Si22Ge78 on c-plane sapphire.

Figure 46. Secco etch-pit test results.
47

Another important parameter to achieve for device applications (particularly electronic microdevice and solar cell fabrication) of rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire is a uniform and 

smooth surface. Figure 47 shows the mirror-like surfaces of 100 nm thick SiGe on 2 and 4 inch

c-plane sapphire wafers. Planar TEM real-space and reciprocal-space images (not shown) 

indicate that these SiGe samples are single crystalline and oriented along the [111] direction.

Figure 47. Photograph of ~100 nm thick SiGe samples with mirror-like surfaces.

The growth of rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire has been shown to follow the StranskiKrastanov (SK) growth mode through cross-sectional scanning electron microscope (SEM) 

analysis. In the SK growth mode, the epitaxial layer grows in a layer-by-layer (Frank-Van der 

Merwe) growth mode until the layer thickness reaches some critical thickness. Coherent 3-D 

island growth begins after this critical thickness is reached and the film becomes a rough surface 

(Figure 48). The critical thickness where this transition from 2-D layer-by-layer growth mode to 

3-D island growth mode occurs is determined by epitaxial strain from the lattice mismatch 

between the epitaxial layer (i.e., SiGe) and substrate (i.e., sapphire) and can be tailored by the Si 

and Ge concentrations.
48

 (a) Layer-by-layer growth mode. (b) SK growth mode.

Figure 48. Cross-sectional SEM images of a smooth SiGe layer on c-plane sapphire in 

layer-by-layer growth mode and a rough SiGe layer on c-plane sapphire in SK 

growth mode. The SK growth mode begins layer-by-layer and transitions to 

coherent 3-D island growth at a critical thickness.

The coherent 3-D island formation is a result of accumulated strain on the hillocks of atomic 

lattices in 2-D layer-by-layer growth. The residual stress from the lattice mismatch between SiGe 

and c-plane sapphire distorts the 2-D flat layer causing a slight bending of the atomic lattices. 

More bending occurs upon the distorted lattice sites as the deposition continues, and the SiGe 

layer becomes thicker. The 3-D island growth starts at the critical thickness where the formation 

of a 3-D island requires less energy than the formation of a distorted 2-D flat layer.

Therefore, it is important to control the SiGe composition to reduce the lattice mismatch with the 

c-plane sapphire and maintain an appropriate molecular beam flux rate to ensure smooth layerby-layer growth. SK growth theory shows that the epitaxial layer can grow very thick in a 

smooth layer-by-layer growth mode in the nearly lattice-matched condition.

Atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements show the surface morphology and root mean 

square (RMS) roughness of a thin 100 nm Si7Ge93 film and a several micrometers thick Si16Ge84

film (Figure 49). The RMS roughness of the thinner Si7Ge93 film was 8.1 nm as compared to 13 

nm for the thicker Si16Ge84 film. The 8.1 nm roughness arises from the small 3-D islands forming 

on top of the layer-by-layer growth.
49

Figure 49. AFM images of bare c-plane sapphire and different thicknesses of 

rhombohedral SiGe layers on c-plane sapphire.
50

 SECTION 8

QUANTUM WELL SOLAR CELL APPLICATIONS

The conventional silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology developed during the 1980s uses the 

epitaxy of Si on r-plane (1-102) sapphire. SOS became crucial in devices using silicon-oninsulator (SOI) wafers because sapphire is one of the best insulators. The SOS wafer provides 

electrically separated regions because of the insulating properties of the sapphire itself, as 

opposed to other typical devices where the regions are electrically separated using reverse bias 

between the substrate and device area. The space charge region (carrier depletion region) in the 

reverse bias case is very thin (micrometer range), and, thus, the capacitance between a device 

and the substrate is high and causes the device to have a leakage current at high frequency 

operating speeds. On the contrary, sapphire is very thick and has an ultra-small capacitance 

thereby reducing parasitic capacitance and leakage currents at high operating frequencies. 

Peregrine Semiconductor, who patented ultra-complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor 

(Ultra-CMOS) SOS technology, built numerous RF ICs such as RF switches, digital step 

attenuators, phase-locked loop frequency synthesizers, prescalers, mixers/up-converters, and 

video graphics arrays (VGAs) with fully depleted MOS transistors, and used only a 95 nm thick 

silicon layer on sapphire in a PE42612 switch. The remaining silicon thickness after the polysilicon gate stack with oxidation and recession was only 75 nm.

In rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane (0001) sapphire, the SiGe layer can be grown in layer-by-layer 

mode from sub-100 nm to a few hundred nanometers of thickness. Therefore, thin rhombohedral 

SiGe films on c-plane sapphire have many commercial applications as SOI wafers in addition to 

solar cell applications. While the carrier mobilities of SOI are limited by the silicon material, the 

mobilities of SiGe on c-plane sapphire can be a few times higher than those of silicon due to the 

high carrier mobilities of germanium (p-type Si: 430 cm2/V·s, p-type Ge: 2200 cm2/V·s, n-type 

Si: 1300 cm2/V·s, n-type Ge: 3000 cm

2

/V·s at 1016per cm

3

doping density). Therefore, RF 

devices that are made with rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire can potentially run a few 

times faster than RF devices on SOS wafers. 

Today, SOS wafers find many applications in the following areas:

 analog-to-digital converters

 monolithic digital isolation buffers

 SOS-CMOS image sensor arrays 

 patch-clamp amplifiers

 energy harvesting devices

 3-D integration with no galvanic connections

 temperature sensors

Rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire will have these similar applications in the beginning. 

However, c-plane sapphire can easily accommodate wide-bandgap III-Nitride devices such as 

GaN, AlN, and InN. Thus, it is possible to build a hybrid crystal of cubic zinc-blende or diamond 

structures (group IV, III-V, II-VI semiconductors) and hexagonal wurtzite structures (group IIINitride, ZnO semiconductors). Actually, c-plane (0001) sapphire is the most common substrate

on which to grow GaN LED devices today. This unique capability to fabricate hybrid crystals on 

trigonal substrates such as sapphire can enable a new horizon of thousands of unprecedented 

applications with new novel devices beyond the application areas of SOS wafers.
51

In order to realize these applications and fabricate solar cells and other electronic devices, it is 

necessary to form p-n junctions. Boron and phosphorous, which are typical p-type and n-type 

dopants in silicon, can be used in SiGe to control the doping concentration. Effusion cells 

installed on the e-beam growth chamber are very efficient methods to inject dopants in solid 

phase epitaxial growth. While phosphorous has a very high vapor pressure at a low temperature 

range (300°C), boron requires very high temperatures (1700°C) in order to evaporate it. Two 

hot-lip effusion cells, a low temperature cell for phosphorous and a high temperature cell for 

boron were installed to avoid cold spot deposition at the opening of the crucible. Since the 

dopant vapor from effusion cells has an exponential dependence on the temperature, very tight 

temperature control with proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback is required. A delicate 

fine tuning with PID feedback control was performed to allow stable doping control.

This research is ongoing and now partly supported by NASA LaRC under the Creativity and 

Innovation (C&I) program to develop QW solar cell devices, where these p-n junctions are now 

being fabricated and studied. They are explained in more detail here.

Silicon and germanium have different energy levels in their conduction and valence bands. 

Therefore, if these two materials meet each other in a layer-by-layer structure, each layer can 

collect electrons and holes separately in QWs as shown in Figure 50. Generally, the mobility of a 

semiconductor decreases as the doping density becomes higher because the ionized dopant atoms 

scatter the mobile electrons and holes. Since this leads to a low mobility that equates to longer 

times for carriers to reach the electrodes, higher current losses occur because of thermal lattice 

vibrations and electron-hole recombination processes. Once the QWs are formed with an 

intrinsic layer or low-doped layer, electrons and holes can be separated from the higher-doped 

regions. The right side of Figure 50 shows that the mobility in a QW can be increased 10 times 

compared with a high-doped layer. Also, germanium has three times higher electron and hole 

mobilities than silicon. Therefore, QWs with low-doped layers can enhance the power 

conversion efficiency of new QW solar cells above the current theoretical limit of 25 percent for 

pure silicon solar cells. Figure 51 shows the absorption spectra of silicon and germanium. While 

silicon solar cells can absorb in the wavelength regime up to 1100 nm, germanium solar cells can 

use more of the solar spectrum, up to 1800 nm.
52

Figure 50. Quantum well structure of SiGe (left) and the mobility enhancement of 

electrons and holes in a QW (ref. 42 and 43).
53

Figure 51. Energy absorption regimes of silicon and germanium solar cells with respect 

to the solar spectra.

Sapphire wafers are completely transparent in the visible spectrum as shown in the inset of 

Figure 52. Therefore, the rhombohedral SiGe solar cell can use both the front and rear surface of 

the transparent sapphire to absorb light, whereas conventional solar cells only use one surface for 

light absorption (Figure 53). If the light enters from the rear side of the transparent sapphire 

substrate, the metal electrodes on the front side do not block the light. Therefore, a high density 

of metal electrodes can be fabricated to reduce the carrier diffusion length and minimize the 

thermal loss of current. Also, special treatments of the sapphire surface, such as the deposition of 

an anti-reflection coating, are possible in order to absorb more direct sunlight and ambient light, 

thus maintaining a higher light collection efficiency.

Figure 52. Rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire and transparent double-side 

polished sapphire wafer (inset).

*From American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Terrestrial Reference Spectra

Si

Ge

Transparent 

Sapphire
54

 (a) Conventional Si solar cell. (b) Rhombohedral SiGe solar cell.

Figure 53. Comparison of a conventional silicon solar cell that receives sunlight from 

the front side where electrodes shadow sunlight and a rhombohedral SiGe 

solar cell on c-plane sapphire that receives sunlight from rear side with no 

obstructing electrodes.

In addition, while SiGe is grown on one side of the sapphire wafer, a GaN layer can be grown on 

the opposite side (Figure 54). This double-sided super-heteroepitaxial hybrid crystal that was 

developed at LaRC can be used in many new hybrid crystal structure devices. For example, this 

hybrid device can absorb sunlight from the photovoltaic (solar cell) side in the daylight and 

illuminate colored light from the GaN LED structure on the opposite side of the sapphire wafer 

at night.

 (a) Illumination from SiGe side. (b) Illumination from the GaN side.

Figure 54. SiGe/Sapphire/GaN hybrid crystal structure device on a double-sided

sapphire wafer with illumination from each side.

Opaque Bulk Si Substrate

p-i-n

Silicon

Sun light

Metal electrodes block sun-light. Long carrier 

travel distance to electrodes: Less currents

hv > 1.1eV

(1) Conventional Silicon Photo-Voltaic Cell

Metal electrodes

Anti-reflection coating & surface modification

Many metal electrodes do not block sun-light.

Short carrier travel distance: More currents

Transparent Trigonal Substrate Rhombohedral 

Hybrid Single 

Crystal!

Sun light

hv > 1.1eV hv > 0.66eV

(2) Hybrid Silicon-Germanium Photo-Voltaic Cell

Metal electrodes

GaN Devices (Light Emitting Diode, Laser Diode, etc.)

* Dense metal electrodes do not block sun-light. Short carrier travel distance 

delivers more currents

Transparent Sapphire Substrate

Rhombohedral 

Si(Ge) single crystal

p-i-n solar cell

Sun light

(2) GaN-side Illuminated Hybrid Si(Ge)-Sapphire-GaNPhoto-Voltaic/LED Cell

Metal electrodes

GaN LED/LD Light
55

 SECTION 9

HIGH TEMPERATURE THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE APPLICATIONS

In addition to QW solar cells, rhombohedral SiGe also finds energy harvesting applications in 

TE devices (please see the next section for a detailed background on TEs). SiGe materials are 

one of the most frequently used TE materials for radioactive thermoelectric generators (RTGs)

because of their high operating temperatures (>1000°C) that can achieve a large electric power 

output per kg (ref. 44 and 45) and were used in many of NASA’s deep space explorers (e.g.,

Voyager I, II, and Cassini). Rhombohedral SiGe has the potential to further improve the 

efficiency of these high temperature TE devices.

The crystalline quality of rhombohedral SiGe on trigonal c-plane sapphire can be well controlled 

via the deposition conditions as discussed in the previous section, thus suiting rhombohedral 

SiGe for many versatile applications. Figure 55 shows two XRD pole figures of this material 

with two different crystalline qualities: a highly twinned SiGe material (left) and a nearly single 

crystalline SiGe material (right). The single crystalline SiGe film has applications in 

semiconductor devices (e.g., QW solar cells) because of its high mobility, while a highly twinned 

SiGe film has applications in high temperature TE devices because of its phonon scattering 

properties.

Figure 55. XRD pole figures on the SiGe (220) reflection for two SiGe materials with 

different crystalline qualities.

The efficiency of TE materials is measured by a TE figure of merit (FoM) that is defined by the 

equation in Figure 56. The FoM is the dimensionless quantity ZT, which is proportional to the 

Seebeck coefficient (S) squared, the electric conductivity (), and inversely proportional to the 

thermal conductivity (). This allows the TE FoM to be increased by optimizing these three 
56

parameters. Figure 56 shows the increase of the FoM for a number of different materials with 

various operating temperature regimes.

Figure 56. TE FoM equation and the historical development of TE materials at various 

operating temperature regimes (ref. 46).

The Seebeck coefficient is an intrinsic property of a material that is difficult to modify, therefore 

a more efficient TE material can be engineered by increasing the electric conductivity () and 

decreasing the thermal conductivity (). This can be achieved with highly twinned SiGe, where 

the transfer of electric carriers along the [111] direction occurs without much boundary 

scattering, while off-axis phonon propagation is blocked because of twin boundaries as shown in 

Figure 57. Therefore, an increase in the ZT factor (FoM) can be achieved by scattering phonons 

at this twin boundary plane. Measurements show that the rhombohedral Si15Ge85 TE material 

samples show much higher carrier mobility, as well as very low thermal conductivity as shown 

in Figure 58. These fabricated twinned Si15Ge85 samples had 2.5 times higher electrical 

conductivity than bulk Si15Ge85 at the same doping concentration. 
57

Figure 57. Thermal conductivity is lowered by phonon scattering at the stacking-fault 

interface of a twin crystal.

Figure 58. Electrical mobility of fabricated twinned Si1–xGex samples with respect to bulk 

SiGe. An increase in the electrical conductivity leads to an increase in ZT

(ref. 47 and 48).
58

 SECTION 10

LOW TO MID-TEMPERATURE THERMOELECTRICS

The utilization efficiency of fossil fuels has virtually reached its limits (ref. 49). Therefore, the 

recovery of energy from waste heat using a TE conversion system is the only means of achieving 

further increases in energy use efficiency with fossil fuels. Figure 59 shows the current 

efficiency of various power generating systems and the improvement in efficiency assuming the 

additional use of a TE generating system with an efficiency of 20 percent (ref. 50).

Figure 59. The efficiency of current power generating systems and their improvement of 

generating efficiency assuming the additional use of TE systems with 20

percent efficiency (ref. 49).

Generating efficiency from the combustion of fossil fuels as a heat source is 40–60 percent when

a gas and steam turbine are used in combined cycle power generation. This means that up to 60

percent of the energy from the combustion of fossil fuels (equivalent to approximately 15 TW) is 

waste heat (Figure 60; ref. 51). In the case of automobiles with a reciprocating engine that uses 

fossil fuels, the energy consumed for power is on the order of 30 percent with up to 70 percent of 

the energy being wasted as heat. This does not mean that all of this waste heat is simply

discharged into the atmosphere without use; part of this heat is used in maintenance and control 

of the power generating system and as a heat source for hot water, heating, etc. Nevertheless, the 

amount of thermal energy that is discarded without use is quite large. If this waste heat energy 
59

can be recovered effectively then an increase in the total efficiency of these power generating 

systems can be expected.

Figure 60. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's finding during their 2008 

study of energy use (ref. 51).

Development of TE materials that convert thermal energy to electrical energy with high 

efficiencies is being promoted as a technology for use in realistic applications. However, the 

efficiency results of TE materials and systems to date have not reached a level that can support a 

TE power generation market, including cost competitiveness, with other types of power 

generating systems.

TE power generating modules are comprised of two types of elements: a p-type semiconductor 

element that has more holes than electrons and an n-type semiconductor element that has more 

electrons than holes. The electrons in the high temperature region are activated when heating in 

the n-type semiconductor causes them to diffuse to the low temperature region. This generates a 

thermal electromotive force (EMF) and the high temperature side reaches a high electric

potential. The case is reversed for the p-type semiconductor where the holes in the high 

temperature region are activated when heated. These holes migrate to the low temperature region 

generating a thermal EMF, and the low temperature side achieves a high electric potential. A

current flow occurs between the n-type and p-type semiconductor elements when they are 

combined, thus allowing power generation. The power generating performance of TE conversion 

materials is expressed by the figure of merit (FoM) Z in the following equation: 

 , 

where S is the Seebeck coefficient (V/K), σ is the electrical conductivity (Ω·cm), and κ is the

thermal conductivity (W/cm·K). The dimensionless power generating performance index ZT is a 
60

value obtained by multiplying Z by the absolute temperature T (K). High efficiency TE 

conversion materials, where ZT is large, are obtained when S and σ are large and κ is small.

The TE efficiency is given by equation (6):

 

 

 

 

 

 (6)

where is the Carnot efficiency, and and are the hot and cold temperatures, respectively. 

The power obtained from a TE device is dependent on its efficiency, which is determined by the 

heat flux from the high temperature heat source, the temperature differential during TE power 

generation, and the TE properties of the elements. The theoretical generating efficiency is around 

20–30 percent for a TE material with ZT ≈ 2 – 3.

Figure 61 shows the compromise between a large Seebeck coefficient and high electrical 

conductivity in TE materials that must be met to maximize the electrical power factor ( 

 ) and,

hence, the FoM ( ). This peak typically occurs at carrier concentrations between 1019 and 1020

carriers per cm

3

(depending on the material system), which falls in-between common metals and 

semiconductors (i.e., concentrations found in heavily doped semiconductors). In addition, the 

thermal conductivity must be decreased, but this is difficult because of the mutual dependence of 

the electrical and thermal conductivities (i.e., both increase in a similar fashion). Therefore, it has 

been extremely difficult within the past 50 years to increase the performance ( ) of 

materials suitable for practical applications, but recent efforts have been made to produce new 

TE material designs that leverage nanotechnology in order to enhance their TE performance.

Figure 61. Optimizing ZT through carrier concentration tuning. Maximizing the 

efficiency (ZT) of a thermoelectric involves a compromise of increasing the 

Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, while decreasing the thermal 

conductivity (ref. 52).
61

Figure 62 shows a graph of the current non-dimensional power generating performance index 

(ZT) values of low temperature (red), mid-temperature (orange), and high temperature (blue) TE 

conversion materials, including their expected values after five years of research. ZT of the 

respective materials tends to increase within their respective temperature range to a maximum

value and then proceed to decrease with increased temperature. In the temperature region under 

500 K, BiTe-based compounds display high ZT values with the power generating performance of 

Bi2Te3 peaking at ZT ~ 1.2. In the mid-temperature region of 500–900 K, AgTe-based 

compounds display high ZT values with AgSbTe2/GeTe having ZT ~ 1.25 and CeFe4CoSb12

having ZT ~ 1.4. In the high temperature range above 900 K, SiGe- and CoO-based materials 

show high ZT values, with Si0.2Ge0.8 displaying a ZT ~ 0.8.

Figure 62. Current values and expected achievements after five years of the nondimensional power generating performance index (ZT) of low temperature 

(red), mid-temperature (orange), and high temperature (blue) TE conversion 

materials (ref. 49).

The metallic nanoparticle decoration of grains of low to mid-temperature TE materials that 

already exhibit high ZT values has been explored to achieve a new type of material that pushes 

ZT even higher. Figure 63 illustrates this concept of an aggregated form of TE material in which 

each crystalline grain is surrounded by metallic nanoparticles. This morphological arrangement 

shows a significant performance improvement by reducing the thermal conductivity () from one 

grain to another through the introduction of a separation gap greater than the phonon mean free 
62

path (MFP). Thus, phonons scatter at such grain boundaries and remain within the morphological 

domain of the grain without conducting and contribute to a reduction of the thermal conductivity. 

Of course, these metallic bridges formed by the nanoparticles allow electrons to pass through, 

thus sustaining the level required for electrical conductivity () but also allowing thermal 

transport by energetic electrons. However, much less than 30 percent of the total thermal energy

is due to electron transport (the other 70 percent due to phonon transmission is now blocked)

within the given low temperatures and morphological domain of grains.

Figure 63. NASA developed TE material design by decorating grains with metallic 

nanoparticles in order to increase the Seebeck coefficient and electrical 

conductivity, while decreasing the thermal conductivity to increase the TE 

FoM.

The tailoring of these nanoparticle-decorated TE materials becomes critical because the overall 

FoM for these new TE materials can be determined by the nanostructure of a low-dimensional 

material. For example, the composition, size, and quantity of the nanoparticles, including the 

uniformity of their dispersion over the grain surfaces, are important factors that influence the 

reduction of the thermal conductivity () through phonon scattering, while increasing the 

electrical conductivity () through conduction pathways with possible engineering of the 

Seebeck coefficient (S).

A new method of preparing a range of micro- to nano-scale Bi2Te3 (for low temperature TEs) 

and Ag2Te (for mid-temperature TEs) grains surrounded by metallic nanoparticles has been 

established through tailoring the nanostructure as discussed above and as shown in Figure 63. 

One of the key issues to developing these high FoM TE materials is to introduce metallic 

nanoparticles that are larger than the phonon MFP into bulk TE materials. The phonon MFPs of 

Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te were calculated using both the Debye model (ref. 53) and phonon dispersion 

model (ref. 54). The calculated phonon MFPs of Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te with the phonon dispersion 

model was found to be about 17 nm at room temperature. The phonon MFP obtained from the 
63

Debye model was calculated to be much smaller than that of the dispersion model. Therefore, the 

size of the metallic nanoparticles was chosen to be larger than 17 nm (i.e., larger than the phonon

MFP predicted by either model).

To maximize its TE performance, Bi2Te3 was first synthesized into a form of low-dimensional 

nanocrystals where good control over the size and shape of the nanoparticles is essential since 

phonon scattering depends on these parameters. Basically, nanometer-sized particles tend to 

aggregate because of a large surface-to-volume ratio and high surface energy. In the case of high 

energy ball milling, the particle size can be controlled by the milling speed and the diameters of 

the milling balls (Figure 64a). It is also possible to synthesize these powders with a chemical 

process in a simple beaker-system where the sizes and shapes of the synthesized particles can be 

precisely controlled. The solvothermal synthesis successfully produced dark grey powders of 

bismuth telluride nanocrystals after a separation procedure, which included filtering, washing, 

and drying (Figure 64b).

Figure 64. Two procedures for synthesizing Bi2Te3 crystals (ref. 55).

Figure 65a exhibits the x-ray diffraction (XRD) scans of bismuth telluride nanocrystals 

fabricated using potassium hydroxide (KOH) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). All 

peaks in the patterns correspond to the reflections of the rhombohedral phase R

3

m with lattice 
64

constants a = 4.28 Å and c = 30.50 Å, which are in agreement with the reported values a =

4.3852 Å and c = 30.4830 Å (JCPDS 15–0863) (ref. 56). No other diffraction peaks were 

detected such as Bi or Te crystalline phases. The nanoparticles have sheet shapes with a size 

distribution of fewer than 200 nm in the TEM bright-field image. The inset is the corresponding 

selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns of bismuth telluride. The SAED patterns (both 

indexing and intensity of patterns) are in agreement with the XRD results. The patterns do not

show any additional diffraction spots or rings for any other phase (Figure 65b). The elemental

analysis of bismuth telluride was measured by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of 

field emission (FE) TEM (Figure 65c). The atomic ratios of Bi and Te are analyzed to be 39 and 

61 percent, respectively. This reveals that the bismuth telluride nanocrystals are composed of the 

stoichiometric Bi2Te3 phase. The synthesized Bi2Te3 particles were used as a starting material for

new TE crystal design including Bi2Te3 decorated with Au/Ag nanoparticles, Ag2Te decorated 

with Bi nanoparticles, and Bi2Te3 ink.

 (a) XRD scan. (b) TEM and SAED pattern. (c) EDS analysis.

Figure 65. The solvothermally synthesized Bi2Te3 powders.

A cleavage surface of the Bi2Te3 grains coated with Au or Ag metallic nanoparticles was imaged 

using SEM; micrographs from which are shown in Figure 66. In these images, the metallic 

nanoparticles exhibit a uniform distribution on the Bi2Te3 grain surface. In Figure 66a, Au 

nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution in the 20–25 nm range are shown decorating Bi2Te3

grains. In Figure 66b, there are no aggregated Ag particles, and the sizes of Ag nanoparticles are 

fairly uniform with a range of 70–120 nm.
65

 (a) 0.05 wt percent Au nanoparticles. (b) 0.05 wt percent Ag nanoparticles.

Figure 66. Surface morphologies of the Bi2Te3 grains covered with nanoparticles.

Four samples were prepared in total. The amount of gold used to prepare the first, second, and 

third samples were 0, 0.001, and 0.05 percent of Bi2Te3 by weight, respectively. The amount of 

silver used to prepare the fourth sample was 0.05 percent of Bi2Te3 by weight.

The results show that the samples of the Bi2Te3 grains covered with 0.05 wt percent Au and 0.05

wt percent Ag metallic nanoparticles have lower thermal conductivity than the original Bi2Te3

(Figure 67d). Despite the decrease in the thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity 

doubled with the 0.05 wt percent Au and Ag (Figure 67b). As the amount of Au and Ag 

increased, the power factor increased as well (Figure 67c), along with the FoM (Figure 67e). The 

Bi2Te3 decorated with 0.05 wt percent Au (blue triangle) and Ag (red triangle) particles 

demonstrated a higher FoM than that of the nanocomposite (NC) samples and zone-melted (ZM) 

sample (Figure 67f) taken from literature (ref. 57). The FoM of Au and Ag decorated Bi2Te3

samples are above unity, which is not only significantly higher than that of the NC or ZM 

samples, but also higher than SOA Bi2Te3 alloys. In general, the thermal conductivity and the 

electrical conductivity have a linear relationship, as indicated with the Wiedemann-Frantz law

(ref. 58). However, the authors have developed and demonstrated a new material design to 

improve TE properties by using Au or Ag nanoparticle bridges that connect Bi2Te3 grains. 
66

Figure 67. (a) The Seebeck coefficient, (b) the electrical conductivity, (c) the power 

factor, (d) the thermal conductivity, and (e) the dimensionless FoM of Bi2Te3

samples decorated with 0.001 wt percent / 0.05 wt percent Au or 0.05 wt

percent Ag metallic nanoparticles using Bi2Te3 as the starting material at 

room temperature. (f) The dimensionless FoM of nanocomposite samples 

(NC1, NC2) and zone-melted (ZM) sample (ref. 57) compared with data 

measured for Bi2Te3 samples decorated with Au and Ag nanoparticles (blue 

and red triangles, respectively).
67

The authors have developed a simple method to create micro-sized silver telluride grain powders 

surrounded by bismuth-rich metallic nanoparticles. A thermal process for alloy formation of 

Ag2Te was used with a mixture of bismuth telluride powders (Bi2Te3) and silver acetate 

(CH3COOAg) powders. The chemical process during thermal loading for alloy formation can be 

described by

2 Bi2Te3 + 12 CH3COOAg ∙ 6 H2O → 6 Ag2Te + 4 Bi + 12 CH3COOH + 3 O2

The mixture of two powders contains enough water molecules whose hydrogen replaces the 

silver in silver acetate. The silver atoms replaced by the hydrogen atoms form silver telluride 

molecules by tossing out bismuth atoms from Bi2Te3. These tossed-out bismuth atoms aggregate 

together to form nano-sized particles, while the acetic acid and oxygen are vaporized away at the 

reaction temperature. This was an unknown process and a new discovery that during 

development of the bismuth nanoparticles, they position and anchor themselves over the surface 

of the micro-sized silver telluride grains as shown in Figure 68 (ref. 59).

Figure 68. Synthetic process of Ag2Te grains whose surfaces are covered with metallic 

bismuth nanoparticles.

A SEM image of the cleavage surface of a Ag2Te grain coated with bismuth metallic 

nanoparticles is shown in Figure 69a. As shown in this SEM image, the Bi metallic nanoparticles 

are uniformly distributed on the Ag2Te grain surface. The sizes of Bi nanoparticles are fairly 

uniform (sizes range between 50–100 nm). High resolution compositional maps of the sample

were obtained from the backscattered electron (BSE) image to distinguish different phases 

(Figure 69b). Nanoparticles have brighter BSE intensities than other areas. A "brighter" BSE 

intensity correlates with a greater average proton number Z (Bi rich) in the sample, and "dark" 

areas have a lower average Z. This result confirmed the atomic number contrast (Z-contrast) 

imaging using a high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) detector (Figure 69c). A quantitative 

analysis of the nanoparticles from the EDS confirmed a stoichiometry ratio of Bi to Te of 9:1 

(Bi-rich phase) (Figure 69d). The high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) 

2Bi2Te3 12CH3COOAg∙6H2O

Mixing

Milling Quartz Crucible

300oC for 1 hr

Ar Charged

Isotherm Curing

300oC for 3 hrs

6Ag2Te + 4Bi

12CH3COOH + 3O2
68

image of a nanoparticle (Figure 69e) demonstrates that it has the face centered cubic (fcc) 

structure (the zone axis of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) image is [011]) and is single 

crystalline. The TEM bright field (BF) image (Figure 69f) shows that Ag2Te grain powders are 

coated with bismuth-rich metallic nanoparticles, which are positioned as bridges between 

thermoelectric Ag2Te grains.

Figure 69. (a) A cleavage surface SEM image of the Ag2Te grain covered by bismuth 

metallic nanoparticles, (b) BSE image, (c) HAADF STEM image (red circle:

EDS point analysis area), (d) EDS spectra of nanoparticle (red circle area in 

c), (e) HRTEM image of nanoparticles, and (f) BF TEM image of the Ag2Te 

grain covered by bismuth metallic nanoparticles.

It has been known that Ag2Te has a characteristic metal-to-semiconductor transition around 400 

K, as shown in Figure 70b (ref. 60). The author’s sample shows the same phase transition around 

400 K (Figure 70a).
69

 (a) Author’s sample. (b) From (ref. 60).

Figure 70. Temperature dependencies of electrical conductivity (σ).

In general, it is difficult to increase ZT because of the competing effects of the electrical and 

thermal conductivities. Here, the authors have developed a materials processing technique to 

create Ag2Te powders coated with bismuth-rich metallic nanoparticles, and it has shown 

improved thermoelectric properties. Figure 71 shows (a) the Seebeck coefficient, (b) the 

electrical resistivity, and (c) the thermal diffusivity of the samples. 
70

 (a) Seebeck coefficient. (b) Electrical resistivity. (c) Thermal diffusivity.

Figure 71. Temperature dependencies of various TE parameters for a Ag2Te sample 

decorated with Bi-rich metallic nanoparticles. The purple data indicated at 

room temperature is cited from Borca-Tasciuc et al. (ref. 61).

The Seebeck coefficient of Ag2Te grains covered with Bi metallic nanoparticles was increased 

compared to that of Bi2Te3 (starting material) (Figure 71a). The thermal diffusivity was linearly 

related with the thermal conductivity. The test results showed that the sample of Ag2Te grains 

covered with Bi-rich metallic nanoparticles had less than half of the thermal diffusivity of Bi2Te3

(Figure 71c). Further, despite the decrease in the thermal diffusivity, the electrical conductivity 
71

doubled (i.e., electrical resistivity decreased by half) near room temperature (Figure 71b). These 

results suggest that the Bi metallic nanoparticles dangling on the Ag2Te grain surface would play 

a major role in reducing the thermal conductivity by promoting phonon scattering while 

enhancing electron conduction.

The novel nanoparticle decorated TE materials discussed previously (Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te) are not 

well suited to high speed and low cost assembly operations. This is because they are 

manufactured by dicing, extrusion, or sintering processes that are time consuming.

However, when the element thickness is less than 500 μm, it is very difficult to apply an 

automated manufacturing system, most notably with a low production yield. Meanwhile, current 

TE module technology requires that the substrates be thick enough to withstand cracking, and 

thicker substrates result in heavier TE modules and higher materials costs. In addition, the use of 

silicon or ceramic substrates limits the size and shape of TE module. Printing technology is 

expected to improve the limitations of the current TE manufacturing process because it enables 

high speed fabrication, direct patterning, low material consumption, low temperature process, 

and printing on flexible and rigid substrate with drastically increased throughput. The printed 

devices can be produced by the common printing equipment, such as screen, flexography, offset 

lithography, ink-jet, and gravure. 

The ink is composed of filler, binder, solvent, and additives. Printing inks are fluid inks with 

very low viscosity that allow them to be drawn into engraved cells in the cylinder then

transferred onto the substrate. In order to quick dry the ink and maintain the viscosity, organic 

solvent or water is used. For the manufacturing of flexible printable electronics, many types of 

substrates, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), 

cellulose, etc., can be printed in the gravure printing system. The resolution of the print is highly 

dependent on the quality of the patterns on the roll and the surface and shape properties of the 

non-patterned areas. The engraving patterns can be created with various methods such as 

knurling, electrical discharge texturing, shot blasting, film masking, and laser engraving or roll 

surfaces.

Polystyrene, polyaniline, and epoxy resin were used as a binder in order to obtain TE ink. Epoxy 

resin was prepared with bisphenol f diglycidyl ether, a hardener, and a catalyst. Its viscosity was 

controlled by diluents. The polystyrene was prepared by the solution polymerization method 

with styrene, toluene, and 2,2-azobis (isobutyronitrile). Molecular weight and conversion of 

polystyrene were controlled by varying the amount of the initiator and the monomer and the 

reaction temperature. As a result, white colored polystyrene powders were obtained with 150,000 

(g/mol) number averages of molecular weight and 92 percent final conversion. Viscosity of 

purified polystyrene powder was controlled with toluene. The synthesized Bi2Te3 powder was 

added to the epoxy resin, polyaniline, and polystyrene to make three kinds of printable slurries. 

The slurry was mixed by an ultrasonicator for 1 hour. The TE slurries were then printed on a 

glass substrate to form 100–200 μm thick films and cured to form solid thick films (Figure 72). 

Figure 73 shows photographs and SEM images of the Bi2Te3 / epoxy resin, Bi2Te3 / polystyrene, 

Bi2Te3 / PMMA, and Bi2Te3 / polyaniline films. It was confirmed that the samples have a grey 

collar, and Bi2Te3 particles were well dispersed in the binder. Conductivities were affected by 

annealing time and Bi2Te3 contents. To improve the electrical conductivity of the TE inks, 

carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphite were added to the samples.
72

Figure 72. Concept for TE ink for airship application.

Figure 73.SEM images and photos for Bi2Te3 / epoxy resin, Bi2Te3 / polystyrene (PS), 

Bi2Te3 / PMMA, and Bi2Te3 / polyaniline (PAN) composites.

Figure 74 shows the measured material properties of the n-type Bi2Te3/polyaniline, 

Bi2Te3/polystyrene, Bi2Te3/1% CNT, Bi2Te3/2%, Bi2Te3/1% graphite, and Bi2Te3/2% graphite 

composites at 300 K. The epoxy composite materials appear to have relatively close Seebeck 

coefficients compared to the bulk materials. However, the electrical conductivities of the 

composites are two orders of magnitude less than that of bulk. This is likely due to the 

electrically insulating properties of the polymer and the contact resistance due to the fine 

particles. This presents trade-offs in the composite materials properties, and, as a result, both the 
73

power factors and figure of merit (Z) values of the composites are at least one to two orders of 

magnitude less than that of bulk materials. The current limiting factor in the performance of the 

composite materials is the low electrical conductivity. The CNT and graphite were added to 

improve the electrical properties through composite optimization and additives.

These innovative methods of creating Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te grains decorated with metallic 

nanoparticles significantly increase the TE efficiency compared to existing values. Further 

advanced TE materials research at NASA LaRC will hopefully reach a level that is able to 

support a TE power generation market.
74

Figure 74. Material properties of printed TE composites at 300 K (ref. 62).
75

 SECTION 11

THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE APPLICATIONS

These new TE materials (e.g., SiGe, Ag2Te, Bi2Te3) that are being developed at NASA LaRC 

will be critical in producing viable commercial technologies with pronounced efficiencies. The 

goal is to attain a FoM (ZT factor) of 2.5 for these TE material concepts, which will require at 

least five years of further R&D efforts. Additional refinement of the TE devices that use these 

materials is possible by combining one TE material to another in a tandem mode (Figure 75 and 

Figure 76), thus compounding the recovery of waste energy.

Figure 75. TE tandem system block diagram showing the potential energy savings 

assuming a 30 percent conversion efficiency of waste heat at each TE layer.

Figure 76. 3-D conceptual view of an advanced TE device in a tandem arrangement.
76

Figure 75 shows a block diagram of the energy that a TE tandem system could harvest if each TE 

material layer has 30 percent efficiency. The first TE layer converts a portion (0.3 Q) of the 

incident waste energy from a process (1 Q) at a high temperature, and the unconverted portion of 

energy (0.7 Q) goes into the next layer. This second layer converts this waste energy (0.7 Q)

from the first layer at a mid-temperature range into usable energy (0.21 Q). The unrecovered 

portion (0.49 Q) of energy goes into the next layer at a lower operating temperature, and the 

process repeats itself. Thus, each of the layers is optimized for the temperature range of the 

application, establishing a regenerative cycle that maximizes the total (cascaded) conversion 

efficiency of the TE system. In this example, the TE tandem system would be 65 percent

efficient.

Figure 76 shows a conceptual 3-D view of a three layer TE tandem system. Thermal energy,

which is incident on the first layer, is converted into electrical power, and the waste heat from 

the first layer is passed to the second layer for conversion. This process is repeated as discussed 

before, where the performance of the tandem TE system is greatly influenced by the FoM of 

each material layer. Estimations of the TE regenerative cycle efficiencies are tabulated in Table 8

for various ZT factors and corresponding efficiencies, assuming that ~ 0.4–0.6. The 

cascaded efficiency of a three layer TE tandem system can be very high, reaching 27 percent for 

a TE FoM ≥ 1.5 and further increasing far beyond the efficiency level of any conventional 

energy conversion system as the FoM increases to 3.5, 4.5, and beyond.

Table 8. Estimations of the TE regenerative cycle efficiencies for a three layer tandem 

system.

TE 

Tandem 

System

TE FoM ≥ 1.5

 = 10 %

TE FoM ≥ 3.5

 = 20 %

TE FoM ≥ 4.5

 = 30 %

Solar 

Cells

Loaded 

Energy, Q 

Loaded 

Energy, Q 

Loaded 

Energy, Q  

1

st Layer 

(HiT)

1Q in

10%

1Q in

20%

1Q in

30%

30% (?) 

for 

membrane 

PV

0.9Q out 0.8Q out 0.7Q out

2

nd Layer 

(Med T)

0.9Q in

10%

0.8Q in

20%

0.7Q in

30%

0.81Q out 0.64Q out 0.49Q out

3

rd Layer 

(Low T)

0.81Q in

10%

0.64Q in

20%

0.49Q in

30%

0.729Q out 0.512Q out 0.343Q out

Cascade 

Efficiency

0.271Q 

Harvested 27% 0.488Q Harvested 48% 0.657Q Harvested 65%

Figure 77 shows the possible economic impact assessment of this TE device technology. The 

economic benefits may amount to several hundred billion dollars if the R&D efforts to increase 

the ZT factor hold. These benefits are due to a paradigm shift of energy technologies where 

advanced TE technology will replace steam cycle (i.e., Rankin cycle) technology, such as the 

steam turbine and powertrain of the conventional automotive cycle (i.e., Otto cycle). Therefore, 

the development of advanced TE materials is well-justified for continuous R&D with reasonable 

amounts of investment.
77

Figure 77. Possible economic impacts of more efficient TE device technology.

These tandem TE devices can be used in many existing power applications to recover waste heat 

energy. One primary example is the case of the internal combustion engine. Recent rises in fuel 

costs, along with environmental issues, have driven the auto industry to develop more fuel

efficient automobiles. The proposed new concept cars are based on recouping wasted thermal 

energy into useful electrical energy. This wasted energy, which amounts to roughly 66 percent of 

the fossil fuel energy going into the engine, has typically been neglected in the past. The main 

reason for negligence has been due largely to the inexpensive fuel cost, but also partially to the 

lack of technology that converts thermal energy into useful (electrical) energy.

Most hybrid systems currently use a combination of an internal combustion engine, electric 

motor, and battery to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles. The battery system for these

electric or hybrid cars remains heavy, complex, and expensive. TE tandem systems, as discussed 

earlier, could be attached around the engine block and exhaust manifolds to recover the wasted

thermal energy (~66 percent) generated by the fossil fuel combustion process. Recouping such 

losses is most desirable, not only for fuel efficiency reasons but also for increasing the overall 

powertrain performance.

A regenerative cycle for automobile powertrain applications to recover and deliver the converted 

wasted heat energy is shown in Figure 78. A high performance tandem TE device as shown in

Figure 75 and Figure 76 is used to convert the wasteful thermal energy into electrical energy by 

integrating them around the engine block and exhaust manifolds. The efficiency of the TE 

devices is considered to be 27 percent by using a tandem system with a FoM ≥ 1.5 as shown in

800B

Now

Inception

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

Langley TE Material approach on path to deliver Bulk Material w/ ZT > 2

Current best materials;

Niche small scale cooling/

power generation market

Medium scale cooling/

Power generation

(e.g. electronics, automotive

climate control, waste heat

recovery)

Large scale cooling & 

power generation

(e.g. nuke power-plant, 

automotive, air-cond)

400B 200B 200B 400B 800B

2026
78

Table 8. A sub-compact automobile engine with 150 horsepower (hp) will consume a total of 

441 hp (i.e., 150 hp divided by 0.34). 441 hp is equivalent to 329,000 watts, of which 217,000 

watts (~66 percent) is wasted as heat. Twenty-seven percent (the thermal efficiency of the 

tandem TE device) of this waste heat could be collected and converted to electrical power, which 

amounts to 58,600 watts (or 78.6 hp). This converted power from the wasted heat becomes just 

over one-half of the automobile driving power, which increases the total power system efficiency 

by 18 percent. This additional 79 hp obtained from the waste heat is a substantial improvement 

for the powertrain.

Figure 78. A new concept powertrain that recoups and converts wasted thermal energy 

into useful electrical energy.

This additional 79 hp is converted to DC electrical power and either stored in a battery for later 

use or run to the front and rear electric motors in the powertrain, which is distributed by an 

electric power controller unit. The thermal engine operates to generate a driving power and, at 

the same time, to generate electric power to store in the battery. Any excessive power from the 

engine is used to run the motor/generator unit to generate DC power. The clutch engages only 

when driving power is needed directly from the engine. Otherwise, the motor/generator, which is 

neighboring to the transmission, runs the driving while the clutch is disengaged. This driving 

mode is sustained by the DC power from the battery and the DC power from the 

motor/generator, which runs in a generator mode.

Motor/

generator

Motor/

generator

Thermal

Engine

(waste heat

 66%)

Battery Electronic

control

Thermoelectric

generator

Electric power

controller

T

E

Transmission

Clutch

η p  34%

η TE  30%
79

 SECTION 12

SUMMARY

The feasibility of a new transportation system, the cargo airship, and the research and 

development of new green energy sources to power it were discussed within this NASA 

Technical Memorandum. These cargo airships offer complementary solutions to existing 

transportation problems through logistical efforts and would be fully powered by new green 

energy sources, thus diminishing reliance on non-renewable energy sources.

Two prototype cargo airships were successfully built and tested at LaRC demonstrating their 

future role in transportation. Solar and wireless microwave power were able to provide all of the 

energy to propel and maneuver the prototypes, thus offering a platform for the new green energy 

sources being developed within NASA and the Department of Transportation.

Wireless power transmission technology in the X- and V-bands was shown to be sufficient to 

power a heavy load cargo airship with an electrical propulsion system. The results for these 

rectennas suggest their practical use as a power receiver for effectively using microwave energy 

to power a cargo airship, but higher frequency rectennas are needed to increase power 

capabilities.

Rhombohedral SiGe on c-plane sapphire has opened up the possibility of creating hundreds of 

new hybrid crystal structures between cubic semiconductors and trigonal crystals. Two material 

designs of rhombohedral SiGe, single-crystalline and highly twinned, have been demonstrated in 

the laboratory to have important applications in quantum well solar cells (photovoltaics) and 

high temperature thermoelectric materials, respectively. Current efforts are focused on improving 

the efficiency of rhombohedral SiGe beyond the theoretical limits of silicon photovoltaic cells 

and creating operational devices. 

In the area of thermoelectric (TE) materials, the improvement in efficiency for the low to midtemperature materials has been demonstrated in the laboratory. This is achieved by decorating 

Bi2Te3 and Ag2Te grains with metallic nanoparticles in order to increase the ZT factor by 

increasing the electrical conductivity while decreasing the thermal conductivity. ZT is the figure 

of merit for these TE materials, which equates to an increase in efficiency.

All of these technologies are important to further the country’s energy policy and progress in 

developing new energy sources for transportation through research and development. NASA 

LaRC has complete in-house fabrication and characterization facilities to push these technologies 

to their theoretical limits and commercial realization.
80

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http://benthamscience.com/journal/abstracts.php?journalID=rpst&articleID=115059

Accessed on 5 May 2014.
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved

OMB No. 0704-0188

2. REPORT TYPE 

Technical Memorandum

 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Feasibility Study of Cargo Airship Transportation Systems Powered by 

New Green Energy Technologies 

5a. CONTRACT NUMBER

 6. AUTHOR(S)

Skuza, Jonathan R.; Park, Yeojoon; Kim, Hyun Jung; Seaman, Shane T.; 

King, Glen C.; Choi, Sang H.; Song, Kyo D.; Yoon, Hargsoon; Lee, Kunik

 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

NASA Langley Research Center

Hampton, VA 23681-2199

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Washington, DC 20546-0001

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 REPORT NUMBER

L-20307

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NASA

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Unclassified - Unlimited

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14. ABSTRACT

The development of transportation systems that use new and sustainable energy technologies is of utmost importance due to the possible future shortfalls that 

current transportation modes will encounter because of increased volume and costs. The introduction and further research and development of new 

transportation and energy systems by materials researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) 

and the Department of Transportation are discussed in this Technical Memorandum. In this preliminary study, airship concepts were assessed for cargo 

transportation using various green energy technologies capable of 24-hour operation (i.e., night and day). Two prototype airships were successfully constructed 

and tested at LaRC to demonstrate their feasibility: one with commercially available solar cells for operation during the daytime and one with microwave 

rectennas (i.e., rectifying antennas) developed in-house for night-time operation. The test results indicate the feasibility of a cargo transportation airship 

powered by new green energy sources and wireless power technology. Future applications will exploit new green energy sources that use materials and devices 

recently developed or are in the process of being developed at LaRC. These include quantum well SiGe solar cells; low, mid-, and high temperature 

thermoelectric modules; and wireless microwave and optical rectenna devices. This study examines the need and development of new energy sources for 

transportation, including the current status of research, materials, and potential applications.

15. SUBJECT TERMS

Air cargo; Airships; Energy technology; Solar cells; Transportation

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102

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01- 04 - 2014