Quantum precision reached in modeling molten salt behavior
A team of scientists led by a professor from Duke University discovered a way to help make batteries safer, charge faster and last longer. They relied on neutrons at ORNL to understand at the atomic scale how lithium moves in lithium phosphorus sulfur chloride, a promising new type of solid-state battery material known as a superionic compound.
Melissa Cregger of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineers, or PECASE, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers.
P&G is using simulations on the ORNL Summit supercomputer to study how surfactants in cleaners cause eye irritation. By modeling the corneal epithelium, P&G aims to develop safer, concentrated cleaning products that meet performance and safety standards while supporting sustainability goals.
National lab collaboration enables faster, safer inspection of nuclear reactor components, materials
A research partnership between two Department of Energy national laboratories has accelerated inspection of additively manufactured nuclear components, and the effort is now expanding to inspect nuclear fuels.
ORNL researchers created and tested two methods for transforming coal into the scarce mineral graphite, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently demonstrated an autonomous robotic field monitoring, sampling and data-gathering system that could accelerate understanding of interactions among plants, soil and the environment.
ORNL researchers reached a significant milestone by building an entire 6.5-foot turbine blade tip using novel materials. The team then tested it against the forces of simulated lightning in a specialized lab at Mississippi State University, where the blade tip emerged pristine after tests that isolate the effects of high voltage.
A team of scientists with two Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers — the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — identified a gene in a poplar tree that enhances photosynthesis and can boost tree height by about 30% in the field and by as much as 200% in the greenhouse.
More than 200 stakeholders attended a recent workshop at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility to discuss the future of powder metallurgy-hot isostatic pressing as a manufacturing technique.
A paper written by researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory was selected as the top paper of 2023 by Welding Journal that explored the feasibility of using laser-blown powder direct energy deposition, or Laser-powder DED.