Feature Channels: Materials Science

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As silicon-based semiconductors reach their performance limits, gallium nitride is becoming the next go-to material for several technologies. Holding GaN back, however, is its high numbers of defects. Expanding our understanding of how GaN defects form at the atomic level could improve the performance of the devices made using this material. Researchers have taken a significant step by examining and determining six core configurations of the GaN lattice. They present their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.

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Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have recorded the most detailed atomic movie of gold melting after being blasted by laser light. The insights they gained into how metals liquefy have potential to aid the development of fusion power reactors, steel processing plants, spacecraft and other applications where materials have to withstand extreme conditions for long periods of time.

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A discovery by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory supports a century-old theory by Albert Einstein that explains how heat moves through everything from travel mugs to engine parts.

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A tiny vial of gray powder produced at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the backbone of a new experiment to study the intense magnetic fields created in nuclear collisions.

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Scientists at Missouri University of Science and Technology are drawing inspiration from toy building blocks to create fixed molecular units used to accelerate the material discovery process known as rational design. They’ll use these “molecular blocks” to discover highly ionic conductive materials that could be used to make today’s much sought after all-solid-state lithium batteries.

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IMSA hosts ISSF to promote global collaboration and cooperation in STEM research

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A multicolor laser pointer you can use to change the color of the laser with a button click — similar to a multicolor ballpoint pen — is one step closer to reality thanks to a new tiny synthetic material made at Sandia National Laboratories. Research on the new light-mixing metamaterial was published in Nature Communications earlier today.

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The program to extend the life of the W80 nuclear warhead recently passed a significant milestone when the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) gave passing grades to the plans to refurbish certain components and the proposed approach to developing component cost estimates.

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Evidence from rocks in Yosemite National Park suggests that granite stored in the Earth’s crust is partially molten at 500 degrees Celsius, nearly 200 degrees lower than had previously been believed.

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The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences today announced the 2018 Laureates of the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, who will each receive $250,000: the largest unrestricted scientific prize offered to America’s most promising faculty-level scientific researchers 42 years of age and younger.

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For the first time, researchers have created a nanocomposite of ceramics with a two-dimensional material that opens the door to new designs of nanocomposites with a variety of applications, such as solid-state batteries thermoelectrics, varistors, catalysts, chemical sensors and much more.

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Bioelectrochemical systems combine the best of both worlds – microbial cells with inorganic materials – to make fuels and other energy-rich chemicals with unrivaled efficiency. Yet technical difficulties have kept them impractical anywhere but in a lab. Now researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a novel nanoscale membrane that could address these issues and pave the way for commercial scale-up.

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Those cute little whiskers you see on your pet do more than just twitch adorably. Intrigued by the hairs’ versatility, University of Texas at Dallas researchers used shape-memory polymers to create artificial, electronic versions called e-whiskers, which mimic the properties of the real thing.

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Supercomputer simulations and theoretical analysis shed new light on when and how fast reconnection occurs.

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The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is once again officially home to the fastest supercomputer in the world, according to the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems.

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Elegant techniques of trapping and polarizing atoms open vistas for beta-decay tests of fundamental symmetries, key to understanding the most basic forces and particles constituting our universe.

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Atom probe tomography reveals key explanations for stable performance over a cutting-edge diesel-exhaust catalyst’s lifetime.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 84 scientists from across the nation – including 30 from DOE’s national laboratories and 54 from U.S. universities – to receive significant funding for research as part of the DOE Office of Science’s Early Career Research Program.

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Infrared cameras are the heat-sensing eyes that help drones find their targets even in the dead of night or through heavy fog. Hiding from such detectors could become much easier, thanks to a new cloaking material that renders objects — and people — practically invisible.

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Three Argonne researchers have earned the DOE’s 2018 Early Career Research Program awards.

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Four scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will receive Early Career Research Program awards for research that’s developing new ways to study fundamental particles with machine learning and study nanoscale objects and quantum materials with powerful X-ray laser beams.

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A nickelate thin film senses electric field changes analogous to the electroreception sensing organ in sharks, which detects the bioelectric fields of prey.

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The first examples of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were discovered in 2005, but quality has been poor and preparation methods uncontrolled. Now a Northwestern University research team is the first to produce high-quality versions of these materials, demonstrate their superior properties and control their growth. The team’s two-step process produces organic polymers with crystalline, two-dimensional structures. The precision of the material’s structure and the empty space its hexagonal pores provide will allow scientists to design new materials with desirable properties.

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Six scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science to receive significant funding for research through its Early Career Research Program.

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Demonstrate your new materials technology in front of industry and investors.

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Sandia National Laboratories is using its solar tower to help assess the impact of extreme temperature changes on materials.The tests, now in their second year, take advantage of the ability of Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility to simulate a very rapid increase in temperature followed by an equally rapid decrease. The testing is for the Air Force and will continue for at least another year.

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Actinium-225 is a promising isotope for cancer treatment. Only a few places in the world can produce an extremely limited supply of it. Recently, researchers at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories have collaborated to use particle accelerators to expand this isotope’s availability.

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Dr. Jose M. Torres, President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, will attend the first-of-its-kind State-Federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education Summit hosted by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on June 25-26, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

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When Jimmy Carter was diagnosed with end-stage metastatic melanoma in 2015, he began taking a drug developed in part using 3D molecular data. Insights like these into drug discovery and other fields of scientific research are possible using the 140,000-plus 3D molecular structures made freely available in the RCSB Protein Data Bank at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

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Let’s talk! Scientists demonstrate coherent coupling between a quantum dot and a donor atom in silicon, vital for moving information inside quantum computers.

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In a paper published in Nature, a team led by Uli Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University, reports discovery of 10-nanometer, individual, self-assembled dodecahedral structures – 12-sided silica cages that could have applications in mesoscale material assembly, as well as medical diagnosis and therapeutics.

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Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have discovered a new way to harness the potential of a type of spontaneously oxidized MXene thin films, to create nanocomposites that could sense both light and the environment. Previously, such spontaneous oxidation was considered detrimental because it degrades the MXene structure. The research is published in the June 2018 issue of ACS Nano, one of Google Scholar’s top-rated, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

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Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found new evidence suggesting that batteries based on sodium and potassium hold promise as a potential alternative to lithium-based batteries.

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Researchers at Los Alamos and partners in France and Germany are exploring the enhanced potential of carbon nanotubes as single-photon emitters for quantum information processing. Their analysis of progress in the field is published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature Materials.

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Neutron facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are aiding scientists in research to boost the power and efficiency of thermoelectric materials. These performance increases could enable more cost-effective and practical uses for thermoelectrics, with wider industry adoption, to improve fuel economy in vehicles, make power plants more efficient, and advance body heat–powered technologies for watches and smartphones.

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Argonne material scientists have discovered a reaction that helps explain the behavior of a key electrolyte additive used to boost battery performance.

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Researchers have found a way to convert nanoparticle-coated microscopic beads into lasers smaller than red blood cells. These microlasers, which convert infrared light into light at higher frequencies, are among the smallest continuously emitting lasers of their kind ever reported and can constantly and stably emit light for hours at a time, even when submerged in biological fluids such as blood serum.

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A team of chemical engineers has developed a more sustainable way of making tape by using plants. The new process allows for the manufacturing of tape adhesive using a substance paper manufacturers throw away. Their invention performs just as well as at least two major brands.

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Solar energy is clean and abundant, but when the sun isn't shining, you must store the energy in batteries or through a process called photocatalysis. In photocatalytic water splitting, sunlight separates water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen can then be recombined in a fuel cell to release energy. Now, a new class of materials -- halide double perovskites -- may have just the right properties to split water, according to a newly published paper in Applied Physics Letters.

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Competition for faculty, staff, students and alumni to support entrepreneurship and innovation to advance IMSA’s mission to address one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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Dr. Torres, President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), shares his excitement and vision for IMSA hosting the 14th Annual International Student Science Fair, June 27th - July 1st, 2018

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Li (Emily) Liu, associate professor of nuclear engineering and engineering physics in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to receive a $1.8 million award to study high-temperature molten-salt properties and corrosion mechanisms.

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A team of USC Viterbi engineers might aid in future CTE prevention and treat other sports injuries with 3-D printed body armor like helmets, other protective devices and prosthetics – all by learning from nature’s toughest structures.

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Profiled is Zili Wu of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who leads ORNL’s Surface Chemistry and Catalysis group and conducts research at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at ORNL.

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An experimental campaign conducted at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) – the world’s largest and most energetic laser – has achieved a total fusion neutron yield of 1.9e16 (1.9x1016) and 54 KJ of fusion energy output – double the previous record. The experiments utilized a diamond capsule – a layer of ultra-thin high-density carbon containing the deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion fuel. In addition to increased yield, the experiments achieved unprecedented pressures, exceeding those found at the center of the Sun.

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News Release SEQUIM, Wash. — For the first time, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and LCW Supercritical Technologies have created five grams of yellowcake — a powdered form of uranium used to produce fuel for nuclear power production — using acrylic fibers to extract it from seawater."This is a significant milestone," said Gary Gill, a researcher at PNNL, a Department of Energy national laboratory, and the only one with a marine research facility, located in Sequim, Wash.

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Carlex Glass America LLC has exclusively licensed optically clear, superhydrophobic coating technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory aimed initially at advancing glass products for the automotive sector.

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Scientists, biotech, engineering and commercial building and design professionals are gathering at the Life Sciences Real Estate Development Symposium today to reimagine New York City using biology, and to thoughtfully begin planning for building new environments to accommodate projected rapid expansion of applied life sciences in the City and globally. The newly forming NYC Builds Bio+ initiative, an interdisciplinary collaborative organization of leaders in real estate and life sciences, will be announced at the meeting in response to the projected unprecedented decade of growth ahead.

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Notre Dame study shows a magnet-controlled “switch” in superconductor configuration provides unprecedented flexibility in managing the location of vortex filaments, altering the properties of the superconductor.

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Scientists have developed a metal-organic framework material offering selective, reversible and repeatable capture of nitrogen dioxide from ambient air. This could lead to cost-effective capture of greenhouse gases, to facilitate sequestration and help mitigate air pollution and global warming.