Seeing Atoms and Molecules in Action with an Electron 'Eye'
A unique rapid-fire electron source--originally built as a prototype for driving next-generation X-ray lasers--will help scientists at Berkeley Lab study ultrafast chemical processes and changes in materials at the atomic scale.
ORNL Researchers Discover New State of Water Molecule
Neutron scattering and computational modeling have revealed unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules under extreme confinement that is unmatched by any known gas, liquid or solid states.
Bakery Switches to Propane Vans
A switch to propane from diesel by a major Midwest bakery fleet showed promising results, including a significant displacement of petroleum, a drop in greenhouse gases and a fuel cost savings of 7 cents per mile, according to a study recently completed by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.
Cleaning Up Hybrid Battery Electrodes Improves Capacity and Lifespan
Hybrid batteries that charge faster than conventional ones could have significantly better electrical capacity and long-term stability when prepared with a gentle-sounding way of making electrodes. Called ion soft-landing, the high-precision technique resulted in electrodes that could store a third more energy and had twice the lifespan compared to those prepared by a conventional method, the researchers report today in Nature Communications.
Advances in Extracting Uranium From Seawater Announced in Special Issue
The oceans hold more than four billion tons of uranium--enough to meet global energy needs for the next 10,000 years if only we could capture the element from seawater to fuel nuclear power plants. Major advances in this area have been published.
What Screens Are Made Of: New Twists (and Bends) in LCD Research
A research team has directly measured a spiral molecular arrangement formed by liquid crystals that could help unravel its mysteries and possibly improve the performance of electronic displays.
Unexpected Discovery Leads to a Better Battery
An unexpected discovery has led to a zinc-manganese oxide rechargeable battery that's as inexpensive as conventional car batteries, but has a much higher energy density.
Mapping a Path to Improved Cassava Production
Though cassava is easy to cultivate, it is particularly vulnerable to plant pathogens which can significantly reduce crop yields. With the help of genomics, researchers hope to apply advanced breeding strategies that can improve cassava's resistance to diseases and improve crop yields.
'Odd Couple' Monolayer Semiconductors Align to Advance Optoelectronics
In a study led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists synthesized a stack of atomically thin monolayers of two lattice-mismatched semiconductors and created an atomically thin solar cell.
SLAC Researchers Recreate the Extreme Universe in the Lab
Conditions in the vast universe can be quite extreme: Violent collisions scar the surfaces of planets. Nuclear reactions in bright stars generate tremendous amounts of energy. Gigantic explosions catapult matter far out into space. But how exactly do processes like these unfold? What do they tell us about the universe? To find out, researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory perform sophisticated experiments and computer simulations that recreate violent cosmic conditions on a small scale in the lab.
Princeton Graduate Student Imene Goumiri Creates Computer Program That Helps Stabilize Fusion Plasmas
This piece describes a new method for controlling plasma rotation to limit instabilities that can halt fusion reactions.
Elusive State of Superconducting Matter Discovered after 50 Years
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cornell University, and collaborators have produced the first direct evidence of a state of electronic matter first predicted by theorists in 1964 -- a "Cooper pair density wave." The discovery, described in a paper published online April 13, 2016, in Nature, may provide key insights into the workings of high-temperature superconductors.
Researchers Discover New Type of 'Pili' Used by Bacteria to Cling to Hosts
Many bacteria interact with their environment through hair-like structures known as pili, which attach to and help mediate infection of host organisms, among other things. Now a U.S.-Japanese research team, including scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has discovered that certain bacteria prevalent in the human gut and mouth assemble their pili in a previously unknown way - information that could potentially open up new ways of fighting infection.
Ames Laboratory Physicists Discover New Type of Material That May Speed Computing
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered a topological metal, PtSn4 (platinum and tin), with a unique electronic structure that may someday lead to energy efficient computers with increased processor speeds and data storage.
Engine Design Takes a Major Leap at Argonne
A team with Argonne's Virtual Engine Research Institute and Fuels Initiative (VERIFI) announce that they have completed development of engineering simulation code and workflows that will allow as many as 10,000 engine simulations to be conducted simultaneously on the Mira supercomputer.
New Magnetism Research Brings High-Temp Superconductivity Applications Closer
A research team by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing the first conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism.
Quantum Dots Enhance Light-to-Current Conversion in Layered Metal Dichalcogenide Semiconductors
Scientists combined the excellent light-harvesting properties of quantum dots with the tunable electrical conductivity of a layered tin disulfide semiconductor to produce a hybrid material that exhibited enhanced light-harvesting and energy transfer properties -- both in laboratory tests and when incorporated into electronic devices. The research paves the way for using these materials in optoelectronic applications such as energy-harvesting photovoltaics, light sensors, and light emitting diodes (LEDs).
ORNL Neutron 'Splashes' Reveal Signature of Exotic Particles
Researchers used neutrons to uncover novel behavior in materials that holds promise for quantum computing. The findings provide evidence for long-sought phenomena in a two-dimensional magnet.
Microbes Take Center Stage in Workings of 'the River's Liver'
Scientists have found evidence that rising river waters deliver a feast of carbon to hungry microbes where water meets land, triggering increased activity and altering the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Plastic Proteins: Synthetic Material Mimics Essential Characteristics of Natural Proteins
Researchers hoping to design new materials for energy uses have developed a system to make synthetic polymers -- some would say plastics -- with the versatility of nature's own polymers, the ubiquitous proteins. Based on an inexpensive industrial chemical, these synthetic polymers might one day be used to create materials with functions as limitless as proteins, which are involved in every facet of life.
ORNL Tracks How Halogen Atoms Compete to Grow 'Winning' Perovskites
Researchers have found a potential path to further improve solar cell efficiency by understanding the competition among halogen atoms during the synthesis of sunlight-absorbing crystals.
PPPL Scientists Help Test Innovative Device to Improve Efficiency of Tokamaks
Article describes successful test of liquid lithium limiter on China's EAST tokamak.
Existing State Laws Collectively Require a 50% Increase in U.S. Renewable Electricity
State renewables portfolio standards (RPS) have contributed to more than half of all renewable electricity growth in the United States since 2000. Most state RPS requirements will continue to rise through at least 2020, if not beyond, and collectively these policies will require substantial further growth in U.S. renewable electricity supplies, according to a new report from Berkeley Lab.
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2016
ORNL researchers focus on minimizing impact of natural and man-made disasters hit; Aberrated probes helping to detect magnetic properties in materials; Thermoelectric heat pump dryer potentially uses 40 percent less energy; ORNL researchers discover structures designed to monitor fish movement are potential obstacles
World's Fastest Electron Diffraction Snapshots of Atomic Motions in Gases
Scientists have made a significant advance toward making movies of extremely fast atomic processes with potential applications in energy production, chemistry, medicine, materials science and more. Using a superfast, high-resolution "electron camera," a new instrument for ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, researchers have captured the world's fastest UED images of nitrogen molecules rotating in a gas, with a record shutter speed of 100 quadrillionths of a second.