Skip to main content
Researchers have shown how an all-solid lithium-based electrolyte material can be used to develop fast charging, long-range batteries for electric vehicles that are also safer than conventional designs. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Currently, the biggest hurdle for electric vehicles, or EVs, is the development of advanced battery technology to extend driving range, safety and reliability.

Steven Campbell’s technical expertise supports integration of power electronics innovations from ORNL labs to the electrical grid. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Steven Campbell can often be found deep among tall cases of power electronics, hunkered in his oversized blue lab coat, with 1500 volts of electricity flowing above his head. When interrupted in his laboratory at ORNL, Campbell will usually smile and duck his head.

ORNL’s additive manufacturing compression molding, or AMCM, technology can produce composite-based, lightweight finished parts for airplanes, drones or vehicles in minutes and could acclerate decarbonization for the automobile and aeropsace industries. 

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed advanced manufacturing technology, AMCM, was recently licensed by Orbital Composites and enables the rapid production of composite-based components, which could accelerate the decarbonization of vehicles

: This schematic of tokamak core-pedestal-boundary regions show what will be simulated by an ORNL project applying machine learning to plasma physics modeling. Credit: Giacomin et al., J. Comput. Phys., 463, (2022) 111294, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2022.11294

ORNL will lead three new DOE-funded projects designed to bring fusion energy to the grid on a rapid timescale.

3d prnited lunar rover wheel based on a NASA design

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with NASA, are taking additive manufacturing to the final frontier by 3D printing the same kind of wheel as the design used by NASA for its robotic lunar rover, demonstrating the technology for specialized parts needed for space exploration.

ORNL researcher Sreenivasa Jaldanki was recently elevated to IEEE senior member. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Sreenivasa Jaldanki, a researcher in the Grid Systems Modeling and Controls group at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was recently elevated to senior membership in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.

ORNL’s Fulvia Pilat and Karren More recently participated in the inaugural 2023 Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit and Workshop at the White House, held Sept. 11–13. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL’s Fulvia Pilat and Karren More recently participated in the inaugural 2023 Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit and Workshop at the White House.

 A group of ORNL staff standing in a long corridor with flags hanging from the ceiling

For 25 years, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have used their broad expertise in human health risk assessment, ecology, radiation protection, toxicology and information management to develop widely used tools and data for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the agency’s Superfund program.

The 25th annual National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering was held August 6–18. Each year, graduate students visit Oak Ridge and Argonne National Laboratories to learn how to use neutrons and X-rays to study energy and materials. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

In 2023, the National School on X-ray and Neutron Scattering, or NXS, marked its 25th year during its annual program, held August 6–18 at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Argonne National Laboratories.   

Attendees of SMC23 pose for their annual group photo in downtown Knoxville, TN.

ORNL hosted its annual Smoky Mountains Computational Sciences and Engineering Conference in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.