Filter News
Area of Research
News Type
News Topics
- (-) Materials (35)
- (-) Materials Science (33)
- (-) Neutron Science (27)
- (-) Security (1)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (31)
- Advanced Reactors (13)
- Artificial Intelligence (13)
- Big Data (15)
- Bioenergy (15)
- Biology (17)
- Biomedical (11)
- Biotechnology (3)
- Buildings (18)
- Chemical Sciences (8)
- Clean Water (13)
- Climate Change (21)
- Composites (9)
- Computer Science (39)
- Coronavirus (11)
- Critical Materials (12)
- Cybersecurity (3)
- Decarbonization (8)
- Energy Storage (31)
- Environment (43)
- Exascale Computing (1)
- Frontier (1)
- Fusion (9)
- Grid (20)
- High-Performance Computing (11)
- Hydropower (6)
- Irradiation (2)
- Isotopes (5)
- ITER (3)
- Machine Learning (10)
- Mathematics (1)
- Mercury (3)
- Microscopy (11)
- Molten Salt (5)
- Nanotechnology (12)
- National Security (3)
- Net Zero (1)
- Nuclear Energy (18)
- Partnerships (1)
- Physics (4)
- Polymers (9)
- Quantum Computing (4)
- Quantum Science (10)
- Simulation (6)
- Space Exploration (10)
- Statistics (1)
- Summit (6)
- Sustainable Energy (44)
- Transportation (35)
Media Contacts
![Red background fading into black from top to bottom. Over top the background are 20 individual rectangles lined up in three rows horizontally with a red and blue line moving through it.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-05/cover_image.jpg?h=f61ad192&itok=-DQxXWM_)
ORNL scientists develop a sample holder that tumbles powdered photochemical materials within a neutron beamline — exposing more of the material to light for increased photo-activation and better photochemistry data capture.
![A tan and black cylinder that is made up of three long tubes vertically with a black line horizontally going across the bottom and the top. There is a piece laying on the floor that says ORNL.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-05/0N4A1403.jpg?h=193fc484&itok=LG0sANT8)
ORNL researchers used electron-beam additive manufacturing to 3D-print the first complex, defect-free tungsten parts with complex geometries.
![An international team using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries. Credit: Phoenix Pleasant/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-04/roost.jpg?h=4f43c43c&itok=_42L5o3J)
An international team using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/Lui_solid_state_0.png?h=27870e4a&itok=hd5IA-bH)
Currently, the biggest hurdle for electric vehicles, or EVs, is the development of advanced battery technology to extend driving range, safety and reliability.
![Valuable chemicals are selectively produced from mixed plastic waste by an ORNL-developed plastic deconstruction process. Credit: Tomonori Saito, Md Arifuzzaman and Adam Malin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/Saito.Story_Tip2%20Image%20%28002%29_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=iUQBav7Y)
Almost 80% of plastic in the waste stream ends up in landfills or accumulates in the environment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a technology that converts a conventionally unrecyclable mixture of plastic waste into useful chemicals, presenting a new strategy in the toolkit to combat global plastic waste.
![A new method to control quantum states in a material is shown. The electric field induces polarization switching of the ferroelectric substrate, resulting in different magnetic and topological states. Credit: Mina Yoon, Fernando Reboredo, Jacquelyn DeMink/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/pnglbernardstorytip.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=NOT32zpa)
An advance in a topological insulator material — whose interior behaves like an electrical insulator but whose surface behaves like a conductor — could revolutionize the fields of next-generation electronics and quantum computing, according to scientists at ORNL.
![Neutron scattering experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source revealed how the dynamics between copper and oxygen make a special type of enzyme excel at breaking down biomass. Insights could lead to lowering the cost of biofuel production. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-05/23-G02576_Meilleur_0.png?h=b6717701&itok=jPIOwV6b)
Nonfood, plant-based biofuels have potential as a green alternative to fossil fuels, but the enzymes required for production are too inefficient and costly to produce. However, new research is shining a light on enzymes from fungi that could make biofuels economically viable.
![ORNL researchers used diamonds to compress materials to 1.2 million times ambient pressure and software to remove signal interference and extract data on pressure-induced atomic structures. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-05/23-G03399_DiamondAnvil_proof3_red_beams_0.png?h=36fc5f13&itok=cOUv6W8n)
For decades, scientists sought a way to apply the outstanding analytical capabilities of neutrons to materials under pressures approaching those surrounding the Earth’s core.
![Heat is typically carried through a material by vibrations known as phonons. In some crystals, however, different atomic motions — known as phasons — carry heat three times faster and farther. This illustration shows phasons made by rearranging atoms, shown by arrows. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/23-G01840_Phason_Manly_proof3_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=3NpjriWi)
Warming a crystal of the mineral fresnoite, ORNL scientists discovered that excitations called phasons carried heat three times farther and faster than phonons, the excitations that usually carry heat through a material.
![Even small movements of hydrogen, shown in yellow, were found to cause large energy shifts in the attached iron atoms, shown in silver, which could be of interest in creating novel chemical reactions. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-02/Feb_nscd_storytip_1.png?h=b69e0e0e&itok=kwLq6_Wl)
Researchers from Yale University and ORNL collaborated on neutron scattering experiments to study hydrogen atom locations and their effects on iron in a compound similar to those commonly used in industrial catalysts.