Electric vehicles can drive longer distances if their lithium-ion batteries deliver more energy in a lighter package. A prime weight-loss candidate is the current collector, a component that often adds 10% to the weight of a battery cell without contributing energy.
In fiscal year 2023 — Oct. 1–Sept. 30, 2023 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory was awarded more than $8 million in technology maturation funding through the Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund, or TCF.
As current courses through a battery, its materials erode over time. Mechanical influences such as stress and strain affect this trajectory, although their impacts on battery efficacy and longevity are not fully understood.
ORNL has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center, or EERC, focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.
Quantum computing sits on the cutting edge of scientific discovery. Given its novelty, the next generation of researchers will contribute significantly to the advancement of the field. However, this new crop of scientists must first be cultivated.
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.
In late May, the Quantum Science Center convened its first in-person all-hands meeting since the center was established in 2020. More than 120 QSC members gathered in Nashville, Tennessee to discuss the center’s operations, research and overarching scientific aims.
ORNL scientists found that a small tweak created big performance improvements in a type of solid-state battery, a technology considered vital to broader electric vehicle adoption.
For the third year in a row, the Quantum Science Center held its signature workforce development event: a comprehensive summer school for students and early-career scientists designed to facilitate conversations and hands-on activities related to
Researchers used Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Quantum Computing User Program to perform the first independent comparison test of leading quantum computers.