Feature Channels: Energy

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Atomic nuclei take a range of shapes, from spherical to football-like deformed. Spherical nuclei are often described by the motion of a small fraction of the protons and neutrons, while deformed nuclei tend to rotate as a collective whole. A third kind of motion, nuclear vibration, has been proposed since the 1950s. However, a new investigation of cadmium-106 nuclei found that these nuclei rotate, not vibrate, counter to scientists’ expectations.

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A team from Florida State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a new strategy to build solid-state batteries that are less dependent on specific chemical elements, particularly pricey metals with supply chain issues. Their work was published in the journal Science.

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The Spallation Neutron Source at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory set a world record when its linear accelerator reached an operating power of 1.55 megawatts, which improves on the facility’s original design capability.

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A team from Berkeley Lab and Florida State University has designed a new blueprint for solid-state batteries that are less dependent on specific chemical elements. Their work could advance efficient, affordable solid-state batteries for electric cars.

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Scientists have built and tested for a thousand cycles a lithium-air battery design that could one day be powering cars, domestic airplanes, long-haul trucks and more. Its energy storage capacity greatly surpasses that possible with lithium-ion batteries.

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A Yale-led study examines the potential environmental benefits of more carefully selecting patients for prostate biopsy in a way that can also spare low-yield and potentially harmful procedures

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With larger, purer shipments on a more frequent basis, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is moving closer to routine production of promethium-147.

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The resulting distortions are 'huge' compared to those in other materials, and represent the first demonstration of the Jahn-Teller effect in a layered material with a flat, planar lattice, like a high-rise building with evenly spaced floors.

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Crises can accelerate structural change and spur an absolute decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth.

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A database updated in 2022 reported around 4,852 active satellites orbiting the earth. These satellites serve many different purposes in space, from GPS and weather tracking to military reconnaissance and early warning systems.

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Below are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Chemistry news channel on Newswise.

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In APL Photonics, researchers design a solar harvester with enhanced energy conversion capabilities. The device employs a quasiperiodic nanoscale pattern, meaning most of it is an alternating and consistent pattern, while the remaining portion contains random defects that do not affect its performance. The fabrication process makes use of self-assembling nanoparticles, which form an organized material structure based on their interactions with nearby particles without any external instructions. Thermal energy harvested by the device can be transformed to electricity using thermoelectric materials.

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ROCKVILLE, MD – Our current solar panels aren’t very efficient; they are only able to convert up to about 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. As a result, to generate a lot of electricity, the panels require a lot of space—sometimes leading forests to be cut down or farms to be replaced by solar.

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Governments could help millions of people and save a lot of money with targeted energy subsidies.

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Physicists in the U.S. jumped a major hurdle standing in the way of the commercialization of solar cells created with halide perovskites as a lower-cost, higher-efficiency replacement for silicon when generating electricity from the sun.

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Nuclear energy provides a fifth of total U.S. electrical power and half of its clean electricity. With new results from one scientist’s study of computer vision at Argonne National Laboratory’s IVEM facility, it may do even more.

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Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have shown that a new 3D-printed superalloy could help power plants generate more electricity while producing less carbon.

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A good deal of research shows that surplus heat, such as from data centres, lends itself well as a heat source.

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Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to chemically transform molecules into different products.

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Turning to plants as an energy source is something we take for granted. Every day, we power our bodies and feed our livestock with plants. Ongoing climate change poses a threat to this energy source as some of our most-used crops are facing stressors like never before.But a promising new candidate, sorghum, is changing the game.

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The cement industry emits more than 3 gigatons of carbon dioxide worldwide from the manufacturing of about 4.5 gigatons of cement every year because of its carbon-dioxide- and energy-intensive processing. This amount of cement is necessary to produce the concrete that shapes modern infrastructure.

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Since it first went online more than 30 years ago, the Vertical Test Area at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has gotten used to superlatives. One of the biggest testbeds of its kind. The busiest. The most versatile.Now, the Vertical Test Area that was created to help build Jefferson Lab’s main particle accelerator has hit another milestone: In 2022, it conducted a mind-boggling 470 different superconducting radiofrequency accelerator cavity tests. In the rarified world of accelerators, that’s an Olympic-level achievement.

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Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an affordable add-on acid gas reduction technology that removes 99.9% of acidic gases and other emissions to produce an ultraclean natural gas furnace. The AGR technology can also be added to other natural gas-driven equipment.

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A new Iowa State University research project will explore how to grow crops and keep bees amid solar panels. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, most of the research will be conducted a few miles south of Ames, where Alliant Energy plans to begin construction in April on a 1.35 megawatt solar farm.

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Researchers have produced new evidence of how graphene, when twisted to a precise angle, can become a superconductor, moving electricity with no loss of energy. In a study published today (Feb. 15, 2023) in the journal Nature, the team led by physicists at The Ohio State University reported on the key role that quantum geometry plays in allowing this twisted graphene to become a superconductor.

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A public-private alliance, convened by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by Argonne National Laboratory, released an action plan to accelerate the creation of a robust domestic manufacturing base and supply chain for lithium-based batteries.

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Society’s growing demand for high-voltage electrical technologies—including pulsed power systems, cars and electrified aircraft, and renewable energy applications—requires a new generation of capacitors that store and deliver large amounts of energy under intense thermal and electrical conditions. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Scripps Research have now developed a new polymer-based device that efficiently handles record amounts of energy while withstanding extreme temperatures and electric fields.

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Story tips: Neutrons uncover hydrogen’s hidden role in twisting iron; Entangled quantum particles are viable in space; Reused car batteries rev up electric grid; Pulling the shades for energy savings

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New research in quantum computing at Sandia National Laboratories is moving science closer to being able to overcome supply-chain challenges and restore global security during future periods of unrest.

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Michael De Groot, assistant professor in the Indiana University Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, reflects on the economic impact of Russia's war in Ukraine as the 1-year anniversary of the invasion approaches.

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A new all-dry polymerization technique uses reactive vapors to create thin films with enhanced properties, such as mechanical strength, kinetics and morphology.

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A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck south central Turkey near the Turkey/Syria border on February 6. Within 11 minutes, a magnitude 6.7 aftershock convulsed a region 60 miles north. So far, more than 35,000 people have died, surpassing Japan’s Fukushima earthquake disaster in March 2011. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said an earthquake of this magnitude is rare anywhere in the world Husam Najm, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Rutgers School of Engineering who specializes in the study of various advanced concrete materials and the design of novel forms of concrete bridges, discusses the unfolding tragedy, its causes and efforts to design earthquake-resistant structures to stave off such catastrophic losses in the future.

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Spotlighting Argonne innovations in electric vehicles during the Chicago Auto Show.

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A new type of solar technology has seemed promising in recent years. Halide perovskite solar cells are both high performing and low cost for producing electrical energy – two necessary ingredients for any successful solar technology of the future. But new solar cell materials should also match the stability of silicon-based solar cells, which boast more than 25 years of reliability.

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Climate change is a global environmental concern. A major contribution to climate change comes from excessive burning of fossil fuels.

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Lithium-ion batteries have remained unrivaled in terms of overall performance for several applications, as evidenced by their widespread use in everything from portable electronics to cellular base stations.

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Microgrid in a Box, it includes 320 kilowatt-hours of battery storage, and can tie seamlessly into a modern electrical grid and coordinate the distribution of electricity for a small village, military base, or, in the event of a disaster, a hospital, transportation depot, or other critical infrastructure building.

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Splitter, who is a senior researcher in fuel science and engine technologies, was selected for his early career contributions in combustion as well as his potential for future leadership in the field and service to the research community

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The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Seok Jin Yoon) announced that Dr. Jihyun Hong's research team at the Energy Materials Research Center identified the cause of the rapid decline in life span-a chronic problem of high-capacity manganese-based spinel cathode materials.

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Recent experiments involving a tiny left-right asymmetry in electron scattering off lead-208 and calcium-48 indicate a disagreement between the experiments’ results and the predictions of global nuclear models. This result indicates a need to investigate limitations of current nuclear models or other sources of uncertainty. This has repercussions for scientists studying topics from neutron skins to nuclear symmetry energy to neutron star physics.

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Binghamton University Distinguished Professor and Nobel Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham will join U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer in the nation’s capitol tonight for U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Whittingham is available for interviews via Zoom at 3 p.m. EST today to highlight Binghamton's growing role in the lithium battery industry.