Diamond Proves Useful Material for Growing Graphene
A team has developed a method to grow graphene that contains relatively few impurities, and costs less to make, in a shorter time and at lower temperatures compared to the processes widely used to make graphene today.
Study Yields New Knowledge About Materials for Ultrasound and Other Applications
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their research partners have used neutron scattering to discover the key to piezoelectric excellence in newer materials for ultrasound and other applications.
Developing Scientific Computing Capabilities for the Workforce of Tomorrow
For young scientists joining a research project for a summer, every minute of the experience is precious. In addition to reading previous publications and learning the scientific vernacular, many of the students coming to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory for summer research internships must scramble to teach themselves how to code so they can work with their data. Brookhaven's Office of Educational Programs (OEP) created the Scientific Computing 102 course to help students meet this challenge.
Complex Materials Can Self-Organize Into Circuits, May Form Basis for Multifunction Chips
Researchers studying the behavior of nanoscale materials at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have uncovered remarkable behavior that could advance microprocessors beyond today's silicon-based chips.
Experts Anticipate Significant Continued Reductions in Wind Energy Costs
Technology advancements are expected to continue to drive down the cost of wind energy, according to a survey of the world's foremost wind power experts led by Berkeley Lab. Experts anticipate cost reductions of 24%-30% by 2030 and 35%-41% by 2050, under a median or 'best guess' scenario, driven by bigger and more efficient turbines, lower capital and operating costs, and other advancements
Water Helps Assembly of Biofibers That Could Capture Sunlight
A new study from Argonne National Laboratory has shown water can serve a previously undiscovered role to help micelles coalesce to spontaneously form long fibers. The study could help scientists to understand how light-harvesting molecules are incorporated into the micelle fiber as it assembles, which would be a key step to understanding some forms of artificial photosynthesis.
Argonne Technology Puts Solar Power to Work All Night Long
Current thermal energy storage systems for solar power plants rely on materials of low energy density and thermal conductivity, requiring more material at greater cost to meet storage requirements. To combat this challenge, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory designed an inexpensive thermal energy storage system that will be significantly smaller with over 20 times better thermal performance than current systems.
Two Protein Studies Discover Molecular Secrets to Recycling Carbon and Healing Cells
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have mapped out two very different types of protein. One helps soil bacteria digest carbon compounds; the other protects cells from the effects of harmful molecules.
PPPL Researchers Successfully Test New Device That Analyzes the Surfaces of Tokamak Components Within a Vacuum
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have successfully tested a new device that will lead to a better understanding of the interactions between ultrahot plasma contained within fusion facilities and the materials inside those facilities.
Electron Beam Microscope Directly Writes Nanoscale Features in Liquid with Metal Ink
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the first to harness a scanning transmission electron microscope to directly write tiny patterns in metallic "ink," forming features in liquid that are finer than half the width of a human hair.
Seeing Energized Light-Active Molecules Proves Quick Work for Argonne Scientists
To understand how molecules undergo light-driven chemical transformations, scientists need to be able to follow the atoms and electrons within the energized molecule as it gains and loses energy. In a recent study, a team of researchers at Argonne, Northwestern University and the Technical University of Denmark used the ultrafast high-intensity pulsed X-rays produced by the Linac Coherent Light Source to take molecular snapshots of these molecules.
New perovskite research discoveries may lead to solar cell, LED advances
"Promising" and "remarkable" are two words U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory scientist Javier Vela uses to describe recent research results on organolead mixed-halide perovskites.
Berkeley Lab to Lead Two DOE Exascale Computing Proposals, Support Four Others
Scientists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will lead or play key roles in developing 11 critical research applications for next-generation supercomputers as part of DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP).
How Fungi Help Trees Tolerate Drought
Specific adaptations in the transcriptome of the most common ectomycorrhizal fungus could help their hosts be more resistant to drought stress, a finding that could be useful in developing more plant feedstocks for bioenergy amidst the changing climate.
SLAC, Stanford Team Finds a Tough New Catalyst for Use in Renewable Fuels Production
Researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have developed a tough new catalyst that carries out a solar-powered reaction 100 times faster than ever before, works better as time goes on and stands up to acid.
Story Tips From the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, September 2016
1) Metals that bind. 2) Cleaner coatings. 3) Testing future reactors. 4) Modeling radiation damage.
SLAC's High-speed 'Electron Camera' Films Atomic Nuclei in Vibrating Molecules
An ultrafast "electron camera" at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has made the first direct snapshots of atomic nuclei in molecules that are vibrating within millionths of a billionth of a second after being hit by a laser pulse. The method, called ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), could help scientists better understand the role of nuclear motions in light-driven processes that naturally occur on extremely fast timescales.
Study Finds Potential New Biomarker for Cancer Patient Prognosis
Berkeley Lab researchers linked the overexpression of 14 genes related to cell division to cancer patients' prognosis and response to specific treatments. The findings could be used to develop a biomarker that doctors and patients use to make better informed decisions in clinical settings.
Researchers Peel Back Another Layer of Chemistry with 'Tender' X-rays
Scientists can now directly probe a previously hard-to-see layer of chemistry thanks to a unique X-ray toolkit developed at Berkeley Lab.
Argonne Theorists Solve a Long-Standing Fundamental Problem
Trying to understand a system of atoms is like herding gnats - the individual atoms are never at rest and are constantly moving and interacting. When it comes to trying to model the properties and behavior of these kinds of systems, scientists use two fundamentally different pictures of reality, one of which is called "statistical" and the other "dynamical." The two approaches have at times been at odds, but scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory announced a way to reconcile the two pictures.
A Virtual Flight Through a Catalyst Particle Finds Evidence of Poisoning
Merging two powerful 3-D X-ray techniques, a team of researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Utrecht University in the Netherlands revealed new details of a process known as metal poisoning that clogs the pores of catalyst particles used in gasoline production, causing them to lose effectiveness.
Super Cement's Secret
Mayenite is one smart cement -- it can be turned from an insulator to a transparent conductor and back. It is also suitable for use as semiconductors in flat panel displays. The secret behind mayenite's magic is a tiny change in its chemical composition. In new work in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show how components called electron anions help to transform crystalline mayenite, also called C12A7, into semiconducting glass.
Poof! The Weird Case of the X-Ray That Came Out Blank
Imagine getting a medical X-ray that comes out blank - as if your bones had vanished. That's what happened when scientists cranked up the intensity of the world's first X-ray laser, at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to get a better look at a sample they were studying: The X-rays seemed to go right through it as if it were not there.
Five Brookhaven Lab Projects Selected as R&D 100 Award Finalists
Five projects from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have been selected as finalists for the 2016 R&D 100 awards, which honor the top 100 proven technological advances of the past year as determined by a panel selected by R&D Magazine.
Streamlining Accelerated Computing for Industry
In an effort to modernize CFD, a group of Imperial College researchers has developed new open-source software called PyFR, a Python-based application that combines highly accurate numerical methods with a highly flexible, portable, and scalable code implementation that makes efficient use of accelerators. Industry adoption of the code could allow companies to better exploit petascale computing to understand long-standing fluid flow problems, unsteady turbulence in particular.