The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, FCA US LLC, and the foundry giant, Nemak of Mexico, are combining their strengths to create lightweight powertrain materials that will help the auto industry speed past the technological
Quasiparticles—excitations that behave collectively like particles—are central to energy applications but can be difficult to detect. Recently, however, researchers have seen evidence of quasiparticles called negative trions forming and fading in a layer of semiconducting mate...
Steady progress in the development of advanced materials has led to modern civilization’s foundational technologies—better batteries, resilient building materials and atom-scale semiconductors. Development of the next wave of materials, however, is being slowed by the sheer co...
Electron microscopy at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is pointing researchers closer to the development of ultra-thin materials that transfer electrons with no resistance at relatively high temperatures.
The study delivers direct evidence of high-tem...
In the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, the state of the art of materials science defined technology’s zenith and accelerated economies. Now, in the Information Age, data is beginning to drive the development of advanced materials, from photovoltaics for solar energy and superconductors for efficient el...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have invented an automated droplet-based sampling probe system that scientists at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro are using for quick identification of bioactive compounds in fungi. As more medicines are identified from natur...
Lightweight powertrain materials could play a hefty role in helping automakers meet stricter Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s supercomputer could accelerate their deployment. Working with industry, ORNL researchers are developing material...
Moving rods of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to interim storage or a geologic repository requires road or rail travel. Although a heavy shielding cask protects the rods, long distance transportation subjects SNF to vibrations, sudden movements and other potentially agitating for...
Gains in engine efficiency are often accompanied by emissions challenges, but a catalyst developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers could provide a solution. The mixed oxide catalyst features low-cost materials and potentially overcomes the problem of inhibition, in which...
From the bluebird painting propped against her office wall and the deer she mentions seeing outside her office window, Linda Lewis might be mistaken for a wildlife biologist at first glance. But rather than trailing animal tracks, Lewis, a researcher at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is more interested in marks left behind by humans.