Skip to main content
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s PenDoc makes sampling the surface of a strawberry for pesticides, for example, quick and easy.
Mass spectrometry and direct sampling come together in a powerful way with a new technology that can identify a material in mere seconds. PenDoc, invented by Gary Van Berkel and Vilmos Kertesz of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, could help in drug discovery, medical diagnostics, food ...
By wet-sieving stream sediment, (from left) Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Kenneth Lowe, Melanie Mayes and John Dickson sort sediment into different particle size in this stream near Rocky Top.

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory study is providing an unprecedented watershed-scale understanding of mercury in soils and sediments. Researchers focused on evaluating mercury and soil properties along the banks of a mercury-contaminated stream in Oak Ridge, Tenn., sampling 145 loca...

The SaltX heating system offers better efficiency than today’s best furnaces and a potential payback of just three to four years.

Salt and ammonia are key ingredients of a high-efficiency natural gas-fired heat pump system being developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Rheem and ClimateWell. Potentially, the SaltX system could provide 43 percent greater efficiency than today’s best furn...

Temperature is represented by different colors for this heat sink for a 50-kilowatt DC-to-DC converter with red being the hottest.
Increased power densities in electronics will require more efficient heat sinks, and additive manufacturing combined with a simple thermal annealing process could help designers meet that goal. A team that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Tong Wu reported that while a 3-D printed aluminum alloy heat sink equaled or measured 10 percent worse than those manufactured conventionally, after the treatment the performance gap vanished.
Temperature is represented by different colors for this heat sink for a 50-kilowatt DC-to-DC converter with red being the hottest.

Production run spot checks of materials for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells could be a thing of the past because of a process developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The infrared/thermal nondestructive evaluation technique invented by a team led by David Wood examines key parameters such as porosity and thickness of the coating in real time without destroying product.

ORNL Image
Since the discovery of high-temperature superconductors — materials that can transport electricity with perfect efficiency at or near liquid nitrogen temperatures (minus-196 degrees Celsius) — scientists have been working to develop a theory that explains their essential physics.
After running a simulation proving calcium-48 was a magic isotope, ORNL researchers were surprised to find experimental data and simulations that suggested calcium-52 was not magic, as expected.
​A multi-institution team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Gaute Hagen used computation to corroborate experimental findings throwing calcium-52’s status as a magic isotope into question.
A 3-D printed table was manufactured using 10 percent bamboo fiber, an initial step toward sustainable practices using bio-derived materials
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using bamboo fiber in 3-D printing experiments to determine whether bio-based feedstock materials are feasible in additive manufacturing.
Future Formula E cars could be powered by batteries that feature up to 30 percent increased energy density.

Drivers of Formula E cars may soon no longer have to change cars midway through the race, thanks to a battery coating technology developed by XALT Energy of Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. By depositing a nanoscale layer of alumina on oxide cathodes, researchers have incre...

A superhydrophobic additive increases resistance to water, soiling and microbial growth.

An anti-soiling highly reflective and water-resistant roof coating developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and evaluated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has produced encouraging results. The coating based on superhydrophobic particles resulted in only 3.3 and 4.9 percent r...