A Leap in Using Silicon for Battery Anodes
Scientists have come up with a novel way to use silicon as an energy storage ingredient. They've developed a nanostructure incorporating carbon nanotubes to strengthen the material and modify the way silicon interacts with lithium, a key component in batteries used in electric cars and other devices.
Coupled magnetic materials show interesting properties for quantum applications
In a new study led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have uncovered a novel way in which the excitations of magnetic spins in two different thin films can be strongly coupled to each other through their common interface.
Advanced software framework expedites quantum-classical programming
An ORNL team developed the XACC software framework to help researchers harness the potential power of quantum processing units, or QPUs. XACC offloads portions of quantum-classical computing workloads from the host CPU to an attached quantum accelerator, which calculates results and sends them back to the original system.
Argonne scientists fashion new class of X-ray detector
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne and Los Alamos National Laboratories have identified a new class of X-ray detectors based on layered perovskites, a semiconducting material.
Scientists uncover major cause of resistance in solid electrolytes
Scientists investigated grain boundaries in a solid electrolyte at an unprecedentedly small scale. The resulting insights provide new avenues for tuning chemical properties in the material to improve performance.
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New discovery helps close the gap towards optically-controlled quantum computation
Scientists have discovered a light-induced switching mechanism in a Dirac semimetal. The mechanism establishes a new way to control the topological material, driven by back-and-forth motion of atoms and electrons, which will enable topological transistor and quantum computation using light waves.
Picking Up Threads of Cotton Genomics
In Nature Genetics, a multi-institutional team including DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers sequenced and assembled the genomes of the five major cotton lineages to provide breeders with genetic level insights on crop improvements. The genomes are available on JGI's plant data portal Phytozome.
Finding the beat: New discovery settles a long-standing debate about photovoltaic materials
Scientists have theorized that organometallic halide perovskites-- a class of light harvesting "wonder" materials for applications in solar cells and quantum electronics-- are so promising due to an unseen yet highly controversial mechanism called the Rashba effect. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have now experimentally proven the existence of the effect.
Seeing 'Under the Hood' in Batteries
A high-sensitivity X-ray technique at Berkeley Lab is attracting a growing group of scientists because it provides a deep, precise dive into battery chemistry.
Applying mathematics to accelerate predictions for capturing fusion energy to predict the behavior of fusion plasma
PPPL scientists have borrowed a technique from applied mathematics to rapidly predict the behavior of fusion plasma at a much-reduced computational cost.
Two is Better Than One
UPTON, NY - A collaboration of scientists from the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), Yale University, and Arizona State University has designed and tested a new two-dimensional (2-D) catalyst that can be used to improve water purification using hydrogen peroxide.
Big science, tiny snail
Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail measures in at less than 2 millimeters long.
Cell Membrane Proteins Imaged in 3-D
A team of scientists including researchers at the National Synchrotron Light Source II have demonstrated a new technique for imaging proteins in 3-D with nanoscale resolution. Their work, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, enables researchers to identify the precise location of proteins within individual cells, reaching the resolution of the cell membrane and the smallest subcellular organelles.
Science Snapshots from Berkeley Lab: 3D nanoparticles and magnetic spin
Researchers at Berkeley Lab have captured 3D images of nanoparticles in liquid with atomic precision, and developed an ultrathin electrical switch that could further miniaturize computing devices and personal electronics without loss of performance.
A step ahead in the race toward ultrafast imaging of single particles
New research from Argonne National Laboratory takes a step toward the "holy grail" of imaging: the ability to see the structure of a single, free-form molecule at atomic resolution.
The Milky Way's Satellites Help Reveal Link Between Dark Matter Halos and Galaxy Formation
Just like we orbit the sun and the moon orbits us, the Milky Way has satellite galaxies with their own satellites. Drawing from data on those galactic neighbors, a new model suggests the Milky Way should have an additional 100 or so very faint satellite galaxies awaiting discovery.
Making Biofuels Cheaper by Putting Plants to Work
One strategy to make biofuels more competitive is to make plants do some of the work themselves. Scientists can engineer plants to produce valuable chemical compounds, or bioproducts, as they grow. Then the bioproducts can be extracted from the plant and the remaining plant material can be converted into fuel. But one important part of this strategy has remained unclear -- exactly how much of a particular bioproduct would plants need to make in order to make the process economically feasible?
Capturing 3D microstructures in real time
Argonne researchers have invented a machine-learning based algorithm for quantitatively characterizing material microstructure in three dimensions and in real time. This algorithm applies to most structural materials of interest to industry.
A new way to fine-tune exotic materials: Thin, stretch and clamp
Turning a brittle oxide into a flexible membrane and stretching it on a tiny apparatus flipped it from a conducting to an insulating state and changed its magnetic properties. The technique can be used to study and design a broad range of materials for use in things like sensors and detectors.
An innovative model of the dynamic magnetic field that surrounds Mercury
The first detailed model of the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetic field that surrounds Mercury, findings that could lead to improved understanding of the stronger field around Earth.
Story Tips: Molding matter atom by atom and seeing inside uranium particles
Story Tips: Molding matter atom by atom and seeing inside uranium particles, from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Scientists See Energy Gap Modulations in a Cuprate Superconductor
Scientists studying high-Tc superconductors at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have definitive evidence for the existence of a state of matter known as a pair density wave--first predicted by theorists some 50 years ago. Their results show that this phase coexists with superconductivity in a well-known bismuth-based copper-oxide superconductor.
Uncertain Climate Future Could Disrupt Energy Systems
An international team of scientists has published a new study proposing an optimization methodology for designing climate-resilient energy systems and to help ensure that communities will be able to meet future energy needs given weather and climate variability. Their findings were recently published in Nature Energy.
Argonne and CERN weigh in on the origin of heavy elements
Nuclear physicists from Argonne National Laboratory led an international physics experiment conducted at CERN that utilizes novel techniques developed at Argonne to study the nature and origin of heavy elements in the universe.
A new explanation for sudden collapses of heat in plasmas can help create fusion energy on Earth
PPPL researchers find that jumbled magnetic fields in the core of fusion plasmas can cause the entire plasma discharge to suddenly collapse.