News

'Tennessine' acknowledges state institutions' roles in element's discovery

November 30, 2016

The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named "tennessine" in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Va

Materials – Mixed results

November 2, 2016

Scientists have developed a process for mixing unmodified lignin with general-purpose rubber and other components that yields high-performance renewable thermoplastics containing up to 41 percent of lignin content.

This isotropic, neodymium-iron-boron bonded permanent magnet was 3D-printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

3D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions, conserve rare materials

November 1, 2016

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials.

Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into ethanol

October 12, 2016

In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol.

A simulation shows the path for the collision of a krypton ion (blue) with a defected graphene sheet and subsequent formation of a carbon vacancy (red). Red shades indicate local strain in the graphene. Image credit: Kichul Yoon, Penn State

Simulations Show How to Turn Graphene’s Defects into Assets

October 7, 2016

Researchers at Penn State, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company have developed methods to control defects in two-dimensional materials, such as graphene, that may lead to improved membranes for

Samsung licenses ORNL transparent superhydrophobic glass coatings for electronic devices

September 26, 2016

Samsung Electronics has exclusively licensed optically clear superhydrophobic film technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to improve the performance of glass displays on smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices.

ORNL’s Michael Manley led a study to discover the key to the success of modern materials used in ultrasound machines and other piezoelectric devices.

Study yields new knowledge about materials for ultrasound and other applications

September 16, 2016

The lighter wand for your gas BBQ, a submarine’s sonar device and the ultrasound machine at your doctor’s office all rely on piezoelectric materials, which turn mechanical stress into electrical energy, and vice versa.

Electron beam microscope directly writes nanoscale features in liquid with metal ink

September 9, 2016

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the first to harness a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to directly write tiny patterns in metallic “ink,” forming features in liquid that are finer than half the wi

Paul Kent of Oak Ridge National Laboratory directs the Center for Predictive Simulation of Functional Materials.

Energy Department to invest $16 million in computer design of materials

August 16, 2016

The US Department of Energy announced today that it will invest $16 million over the next four years to accelerate the design of new materials through use of supercomputers.

A 32-face 3-D truncated icosahedron mesh was created to test the simulation’s ability to precisely construct complex geometries.

Researchers combine simulation, experiment for nanoscale 3-D printing

August 5, 2016

Designing a 3-D printed structure is hard enough when the product is inches or feet in size.

Materials