![Weyl semimetal](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-08/Picture4.jpg?h=b38bf506&itok=nYXXiLDs)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Clean Energy (76)
- (-) Materials (37)
- Biology and Environment (26)
- Computational Biology (2)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (4)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Energy Sciences (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (2)
- Fusion and Fission (5)
- Isotopes (1)
- Materials for Computing (4)
- National Security (6)
- Neutron Science (8)
- Supercomputing (44)
News Topics
- (-) Energy Storage (86)
- (-) High-Performance Computing (9)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (89)
- Advanced Reactors (9)
- Artificial Intelligence (13)
- Big Data (7)
- Bioenergy (30)
- Biology (12)
- Biomedical (10)
- Biotechnology (4)
- Buildings (36)
- Chemical Sciences (33)
- Clean Water (10)
- Climate Change (23)
- Composites (19)
- Computer Science (36)
- Coronavirus (14)
- Critical Materials (19)
- Cybersecurity (10)
- Decarbonization (34)
- Environment (64)
- Exascale Computing (3)
- Fossil Energy (2)
- Frontier (3)
- Fusion (7)
- Grid (41)
- Hydropower (2)
- Irradiation (1)
- Isotopes (13)
- ITER (1)
- Machine Learning (10)
- Materials (94)
- Materials Science (90)
- Mathematics (3)
- Mercury (3)
- Microelectronics (1)
- Microscopy (29)
- Molten Salt (3)
- Nanotechnology (41)
- National Security (6)
- Net Zero (3)
- Neutron Science (42)
- Nuclear Energy (22)
- Partnerships (16)
- Physics (29)
- Polymers (21)
- Quantum Computing (3)
- Quantum Science (12)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (7)
- Simulation (4)
- Space Exploration (5)
- Statistics (1)
- Summit (6)
- Sustainable Energy (71)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (5)
- Transportation (69)
Media Contacts
![Caption: Jaswinder Sharma makes battery coin cells with a lightweight current collector made of thin layers of aligned carbon fibers in a polymer with carbon nanotubes. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/sharma1_1.jpg?h=f7dae89e&itok=JiSsMewF)
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.
![Alexey Serov researches ways to improve hydrogen fuel cells and materials and the electrolysis process. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P14038.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=JCWAG0sI)
It would be a challenge for any scientist to match Alexey Serov’s rate of inventions related to green hydrogen fuel. But this researcher at ORNL has 84 patents with at least 35 more under review, so his electrifying pace is unlikely to slow down any time soon.
![ORNL researchers Lu Yu and Yaocai Bai examine vials that contain a chemical solution that causes the cobalt and lithium to separate from a spent battery, followed by a second stage when cobalt precipitates in the bottom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/2023-P12386_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CVJOHRVM)
Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries.
![The sun sets behind the ORNL Visitor Center in this aerial photo from April 2023. Credit: Kase Clapp/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/sunset_visitor-center_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=jLImPT0R)
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.
![The image conceptualizes the processing, structure and mechanical behavior of glassy ion conductors for solid state lithium batteries. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/SSB%20image_0.jpg?h=9d172ced&itok=o6AXEIXc)
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’s David Sholl is director of the new DOE Energy Earthshot Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions center to help decarbonize the industrial chemical industry. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2021-P04915.David_.Sholl_.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=qT7ZMJX2)
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.
![As a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tugba Turnaoglu is investigating new thermal energy storage materials and ways to incorporate them into cost-effective and energy-efficient heat pump designs. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2023-P11283.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=vr7C7cTK)
The common sounds in the background of daily life – like a refrigerator’s hum, an air conditioner’s whoosh and a heat pump’s buzz – often go unnoticed. These noises, however, are the heartbeat of a healthy building and integral for comfort and convenience.
![ORNL researcher Zhijia Du inserts a newly developed liquid electrolyte material into a battery pouch cell. The formulation extends the life of extreme-fast-charging batteries like those used in electric vehicles. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/du_0.jpg?h=d228da7b&itok=k918MIXQ)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are taking fast charging for electric vehicles, or EVs, to new extremes. A team of battery scientists recently developed a lithium-ion battery material that not only recharges 80% of its capacity in 10
![Jonathan Harter, a technical professional in ORNL’s Engineering Science and Technology Directorate, uses a robot and other automated methods to disassemble electric vehicle batteries for recycling or reuse in the electric grid. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/2021-P06328_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=elZeutaQ)
After being stabilized in an ambulance as he struggled to breathe, Jonathan Harter hit a low point. It was 2020, he was very sick with COVID-19, and his job as a lab technician at ORNL was ending along with his research funding.
![ORNL researchers found that a battery anode film, made by Navitas Systems using a dry process, was strong and flexible. These characteristics make a lithium-ion battery safer and more durable. Credit: Navitas Systems](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-07/Dry-Process%20Anode.horizontal.Navitas_0.jpg?h=86ae50b6&itok=zgdHv3Ls)
Early experiments at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have revealed significant benefits to a dry battery manufacturing process. This eliminates the use of solvents and is more affordable, while showing promise for delivering a battery that is durable, less weighed down by inactive elements, and able to maintain a high capacity after use.