Decoding reactive species in molten salts
By unraveling vibrational signatures and observing ion exchanges, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team revealed how chemical species form in a highly reactive molten salt mixture of aluminum chloride and potassium chloride.
A First Look Inside Radium's Solid-State Chemistry
: For the first time, scientists measured radium's bonding interactions with oxygen atoms in an organic molecule. This finding will aid researchers developing chelators for the delivery of radium isotopes for cancer treatment. The results are important in part because they revealed that radium is less similar than expected to barium, which is often used as a substitute for radium during chelator development.
AI approach elevates plasma performance and stability across fusion devices
A team of fusion researchers led by engineers at Princeton University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have successfully deployed machine learning methods to suppress harmful edge instabilities -- without sacrificing plasma performance. The research team demonstrated the highest fusion performance without the presence of edge bursts at two different fusion facilities -- each with its own set of operating parameters.
Metal Alloys that Can Take the Heat
Complex metal alloys enter a new era of predictive design for aerospace and other high-temperature applications.
Building energy around changing climate
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed free data sets to estimate how much energy any building in the contiguous U.S. will use in 2100. These data sets provide planners a way to anticipate future energy needs as the climate changes.
Researchers make 'green' floor to replace steel
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Maine have designed and 3D-printed a single-piece, recyclable natural-material floor panel tested to be strong enough to replace construction materials like steel. The project is part of the Sustainable Materials & Manufacturing Alliance for Renewable Technologies, or SM2ART, program. The SM2ART team previously constructed BioHome3D, the nation's first additively manufactured home made entirely from biologically based materials.
A novel spray device helps researchers capture fast-moving cell processes
Researchers figured out how to spray and freeze a cell sample in its natural state in milliseconds, helping them capture basic biological processes in unprecedented detail.
Scientists find new way to enhance durability of lithium batteries
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have created a new nickel-rich cathode for lithium-ion batteries that both stores more energy and is more durable than conventional cathodes.
Scientists Engineer Yellow-seeded Camelina with High Oil Output
Using tools of modern genetics, plant biochemists have produced a new high-yielding oilseed crop variety -- a yellow-seeded variety of Camelina sativa, a close relative of canola, that accumulates 21.4% more oil than ordinary camelina.
New Technique Could Help Build Quantum Computers of the Future
Researchers have demonstrated a new method that could enable the large-scale manufacturing of optical qubits. The work is a major advancement that could bring us closer to a scalable quantum computer.
Scientists Make and Test Efficient Water-Splitting Catalyst Predicted by Theory
Scientists have developed a new efficient catalyst for the most challenging part of "water splitting," a series of two simultaneous electrochemical reactions that generate hydrogen gas, a green energy source, from water. The new catalyst was designed based on theoretical predictions and validated in laboratory tests and industrially relevant demonstrations.
New plasma escape mechanism could protect fusion vessels from excessive heat
The exhaust heat generated by a fusing plasma in a commercial-scale reactor may not be as damaging to the vessel's innards as once thought, according to new research about escaping plasma particles made by researchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and ITER Organization (ITER).
Researchers harness AI for autonomous discovery and optimization of materials
Today, researchers are developing ways to accelerate discovery by combining automated experiments, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. A novel tool developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that leverages those technologies has demonstrated that AI can influence materials synthesis and conduct associated experiments without human supervision.
Scientists Tame Quantum Bits in a Widely Used Semiconductor Material
Building large-scale quantum computers will require the ability to create and control qubits made of industrially relevant materials. Researchers have used atomic-level simulations to understand how the vacancies in silicon carbide that translate into spin-based qubits form and behave. This is an important step toward the future of quantum computing as well as quantum sensing.
New Insights on the Role of Nucleon Exchange in Nuclear Fusion
The way protons and neutrons move between two nuclei is key to understanding the processes in low-energy nuclear fusion reactions. As the nuclei draw close enough for the nuclear forces to become effective, neutrons and protons can migrate from one nucleus to another, potentially easing the fusion process.
Renewable route to rapid manufacturing
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists ingeniously created a sustainable, soft material by combining rubber with woody reinforcements and incorporating "smart" linkages between the components that unlock on demand.
Sky's the limit for biofuels
The United States has enough biomass potential to produce 35 billion gallons per year of aviation biofuel by 2050, a new report confirms. ORNL's John Field provided biomass feedstock production expertise to the report focused on the role of the bioeconomy in U.S. decarbonization strategies.
Multitasking Microbes Could Improve Biofuel Economics
Lignin is the world's largest renewable source of aromatic carbon for potential bioproducts manufacture. Scientists have now engineered a bacterium to convert this aromatic carbon into two useful chemical compounds: carotenoids and an acid called PDC. This could help make biorefineries more sustainable and economically viable.
Deciphering the Functions Encoded in Phage Genomes
Bacteriophages are the most common biological entities in microbial communities, but it has been challenging to study their biology. As a result, the genomes of most phages contain many genes of unknown function. In this study, researchers developed a new CRISPR-based technology to reduce the activity of genes in phages to determine if those genes are essential.
Study Reveals Reversible Assembly of Platinum Catalyst
Chemists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University (SBU), and their collaborators have uncovered new details of the reversible assembly and disassembly of a platinum catalyst. The new understanding may offer clues to the catalyst's stability and recyclability.
New Understanding of Astatine's Chemical Properties Will Aid Targeted Alpha Therapy for Cancer
Astatine-211 is a promising alpha emitter for targeted alpha therapy for cancer, but astatine is among the least-studied elements. In this research, scientists investigated astatine's behavior when interacting with ion exchange and extraction chromatography resins used to produce radioisotopes and delivering them to targets in the body.
Quantum Effects Make Electrons Superconduct while Standing Still
Previous research found that twisted bilayer graphene is superconductive when the layers are rotated by 1.08 degrees. Electrons in parts of these materials move very slowly and should therefore not conduct electricity at all, much less display superconductivity. New research shows how the current theory of superconductivity, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, must be modified to fit the observations of twisted bilayer graphene.
Different Microorganisms Have a Taste for Different Flavors of Ammonia
Ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) use ammonia as an energy source while converting it to nitrite and play a pivotal role in the global nitrogen cycle. This study explored whether different AOM species preferred to use urea over ammonia. It found that some AOMs preferred urea while others used ammonia and urea simultaneously.
JPMorgan Chase, Argonne and Quantinuum show theoretical quantum speedup with the quantum approximate optimization algorithm
Researchers demonstrated a quantum algorithmic speedup with the quantum approximate optimization algorithm, laying the groundwork for advancements in telecommunications, financial modeling, materials science and more.
A Cleaner Way to Produce Ammonia
Ammonia is the starting point for the fertilizers that have secured the world's food supply for the last century. It's also a main component of cleaning products, and is even considered as a future carbon-free replacement for fossil fuels in vehicles.