An international team of researchers including a team from the Center for the Advancement of Topological Semimetals (CATS), an Energy Frontier Research Center under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science led by Ames National Laboratory, experimentally demonstrated a new type of nonlinear Hall effect.
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory developed a new machine learning model for discovering critical-element-free permanent magnet materials based on the predicted Curie temperature of new material combinations.
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory and Texas A&M University developed a new quantum-mechanics-based approach to predict metal ductility. The team demonstrated its effectiveness on refractory multi-principal-element alloys.
Ames National Laboratory partnered with the Colgate-Palmolive Company to improve stannous fluoride, an FDA approved ingredient that prevents tooth decay and plaque formation, and combats gum disease.
In an effort to discover new 2D materials, a team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory determined the structure of boron monoxide using new NMR methods and previously unavailable analytical tools.
A team from Ames National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of the magnetism of TbMn6Sn6, a Kagome layered topological magnet. They were surprised to find that the magnetic spin reorientation in TbMn6Sn6 occurs by generating increasing numbers of magnetically isotropic ions as the temperature increases.
A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory in partnership with the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, used the terahertz SNOM microscope, originally developed at Ames Lab, to investigate the interface and connectivity of a nano Josephson Junction that was fabricated by Rigetti Computing. The images they obtained with the terahertz microscope revealed a defective boundary in the nano junction that causes a disruption in the conductivity.
Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory made an intriguing discovery while characterizing the magnetism in a dilute magnetic topological insulator. Despite this material’s ferromagnetism, they discovered strong antiferromagnetic interactions between some pairs of magnetic defects that play a key role in several families of magnetic topological insulators.
A team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory have developed a way to collect terahertz imaging data on materials under extreme magnetic and cryogenic conditions. They accomplished their work with a new scanning probe microscope that was recently developed at Ames Lab. The team used the ultralow temperature terahertz microscope to take measurements on superconductors and topological semimetals that were exposed to high magnetic fields and extremely cold temperatures.
A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory demonstrated a way to advance the role of quantum computing in materials research with an adaptive algorithm for simulating materials. Quantum computers have potential capabilities far beyond today’s computers, and using an adaptive algorithm allows them to produce solutions quickly and accurately.
A new type of catalyst breaks down polyolefin plastics into new, useful products. This project is part of a new strategy to reduce the amount of plastic waste and its impact on our environment, as well as recover value that is lost when plastics are thrown away. The catalyst was developed by a team from the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastic (iCOUP), a U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Frontier Research Center.
Researchers created a new catalyst that transforms hydrocarbons into chemicals and materials that are higher value, easier to recycle, and biodegrade in the environment. This catalyst transforms materials such as motor oil, plastics in single-use grocery bags, water or milk bottles, and their caps, and even natural gas.
A new hybrid catalyst converts carbon dioxide into ethylene in one pot. The catalyst was developed by scientists from Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University, University of Virginia, and Columbia University.
A team of scientists from the Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory developed a new characterization tool that allowed them to gain unique insight into a possible alternative material for solar cells.
Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI) and Ames National Laboratory have improved the properties of a rare-earth-free permanent magnet material and demonstrated the process can be upscaled for manufacturing.
Research into the synthesis of new materials could lead to more sustainable and environmentally friendly items such as solar panels and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Scientists from Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material and study the surface chemistry.
Newly discovered magnetic interactions in the Kagome layered topological magnet TbMn6Sn6 could be the key to customizing how electrons flow through these materials. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of TbMn6Sn6 to better understand the material and its magnetic characteristics.
An ancient metal used for its microbial properties is the basis for a materials-based solution to disinfection. A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University, and University at Buffalo developed an antimicrobial spray that deposits a layer of copper nanowires onto high-touch surfaces in public spaces.
A recently developed catalyst for breaking down plastics continues to advance plastic upcycling processes. In 2020, a team of researchers led by Ames Laboratory scientists developed the first processive inorganic catalyst to deconstruct polyolefin plastics into molecules that can be used to create more valuable products. Now, the team has developed and validated a strategy to speed up the transformation without sacrificing desirable products.
Artificial intelligence advances how scientists explore materials. Researchers from Ames Laboratory and Texas A&M University trained a machine-learning (ML) model to assess the stability of rare-earth compounds. The framework they developed builds on current state-of-the-art methods for experimenting with compounds and understanding chemical instabilities.
An innovative method of recycling rare earth elements from electronic waste has gone commercial. A team of researchers from the Critical Materials Institute (CMI), a U.S. Department of Energy Innovation Hub led by the Ames Laboratory, developed a novel way to extract rare earth elements (rare earths) from the high-powered magnets in electronic waste.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have developed computational quantum algorithms that are valuable tools to gain greater insight into the physics and chemistry of complex materials, and they are specifically designed to work on existing and near-future quantum computers.
Experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their collaborators have identified the way to tune the strength and ductility of a class of materials called high-entropy alloys. The discovery may help power-generation and aviation industry develop more efficient engines.
While making materials samples to pursue their own research goals, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory discovered that an unwanted byproduct of their experiments was an extremely high-quality and difficult-to-obtain substance sought after by scientists researching layered materials.
Scientists at the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) have discovered a chemical process that provides biodegradable chemicals, which are used as surfactants and detergents in a range of applications, from discarded plastics.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have observed novel helical magnetic ordering in the topological compound EuIn2As2 which supports exotic electrical conduction tunable by a magnetic field.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their partners from Clemson University have discovered a green, low-energy process to break down polystyrene, a type of plastic that is widely used in foam packaging materials, disposable food containers, cutlery, and many other applications.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and collaborators at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have discovered a new light-induced switch that twists the crystal lattice of the material, switching on a giant electron current that appears to be nearly dissipationless. The discovery was made in a category of topological materials that holds great promise for spintronics, topological effect transistors, and quantum computing.
Computational materials science experts at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory enhanced an algorithm that borrows its approach from the nesting habits of cuckoo birds, reducing the search time for new high-tech alloys from weeks to mere seconds.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Critical Materials Institute has developed a low-cost, high performance permanent magnet by drawing inspiration from an out-of-this-world source: iron-nickel alloys in meteorites. The magnet rivals widely used “Alnico” magnets in magnetic strength and has the potential to fill a strong demand for rare-earth- and cobalt-free magnets in the market.
A team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has developed a first-of-its-kind catalyst that is able to process polyolefin plastics, types of polymers widely used in things like plastic grocery bags, milk jugs, shampoo bottles, toys, and food containers.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have discovered a metal-free carbon-based catalyst that has the potential to be much less expensive and more efficient for many industrial concerns, including manufacturing of bio- and fossil fuels, electrocatalysis, and fuel cells.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory will lead the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), with $12.8 million in funding over four years.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their collaborators from Iowa State University have developed a new approach for generating layered, difficult-to-combine, heterostructured solids. Heterostructured materials, composed of layers of dissimilar building blocks display unique electronic transport and magnetic properties that are governed by quantum interactions between their structurally different building blocks, and open new avenues for electronic and energy applications.
Scientists have discovered a light-induced switching mechanism in a Dirac semimetal. The mechanism establishes a new way to control the topological material, driven by back-and-forth motion of atoms and electrons, which will enable topological transistor and quantum computation using light waves.
Scientists have theorized that organometallic halide perovskites— a class of light harvesting “wonder” materials for applications in solar cells and quantum electronics— are so promising due to an unseen yet highly controversial mechanism called the Rashba effect. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have now experimentally proven the existence of the effect.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have discovered that applying vibrational motion in a periodic manner may be the key to preventing dissipations of the desired electron states that would make advanced quantum computing and spintronics possible.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory is employing a testing device that pairs materials science with engineering systems development. Called CaloriSMART (Caloric Small-scale Modular Advanced Research Test-stand), the one-of-a-kind system is being used to rapidly test new materials that might eventually be part of an entirely new kind of refrigeration technology.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute have a new and more accurate tool—a start-to-finish, controlled atmosphere materials processing system.
Experimental physicists have combined several measurements of quantum materials into one in their ongoing quest to learn more about manipulating and controlling the behavior of them for possible applications. They even coined a term for it-- Magneto-elastoresistance, or MER.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have discovered an indicator that reliably demonstrates a sample’s high quality, and it was one that was hiding in plain sight for decades.
Ames Laboratory researchers heated shape memory alloys inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM), so that they could observe phase transitions in real time. The information could lead to more reliable SMAs for applications.
Scientists have discovered a potential tool to enhance magnetization and magnetic anisotropy, making it possible to improve the performance of samarium-cobalt magnets.