Quantum precision reached in modeling molten salt behavior
A novel method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory creates supertough renewable plastic with improved manufacturability. Working with polylactic acid, a biobased plastic often used in packaging, textiles, biomedical implants and 3D printing, the research team added tiny amo...
To improve models for drilling, hydraulic fracturing and underground storage of carbon dioxide, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists used neutrons to understand how water flows through fractured rock.
A novel approach that creates a renewable, leathery material—programmed to remember its shape—may offer a low-cost alternative to conventional conductors for applications in sensors and robotics. To make the bio-based, shape-memory material, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists streamlined a solvent-free process that mixes rubber with lignin—the by-product of woody plants used to make biofuels.
A novel approach for studying magnetic behavior in a material called alpha-ruthenium trichloride may have implications for quantum computing. By suppressing the material’s magnetic order, scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee observed be...
A novel approach to studying the viscosity of water has revealed new insights about the behavior of water molecules and may open pathways for liquid-based electronics.
One drop of liquid, a cutting-edge laser 3D-printer and a few hours are all it takes to make a fidget spinner smaller than the width of a human hair. The tiny whirligig was created by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences to illustrate the facility’s unique resources and expertise available to scientists across the world.
Having the right tool for the job enabled scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their collaborators to discover that a workhorse catalyst of vehicle exhaust systems—an “oxygen sponge” that can soak up oxygen from air and store it for later use in oxidation reactions—may also be a “hydrogen sponge.”
For some crystalline catalysts, what you see on the surface is not always what you get in the bulk, according to two studies led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The investigators discovered that treating a complex
New method to detect spin current in quantum materials unlocks potential for alternative electronics
A new method that precisely measures the mysterious behavior and magnetic properties of electrons flowing across the surface of quantum materials could open a path to next-generation electronics. A team of scientists has developed an innovative microscopy technique to detect the spin of electrons in topological insulators, a new kind of quantum material that could be used in applications such as spintronics and quantum computing.
For many scientists and engineers, the first real test of their mettle comes not in a classroom, but in a lab or the field, where hands-on experience can teach volumes. For Susan Hogle, that hands-on experience just happened to be with material that was too hot to handle—literally....