Chemists at ORNL have invented a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries.
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![ORNL’s Alexey Serov will serve as a deputy director of the R2R Consortium. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, US Department of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-03/2023-P14038.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=0NLSAdKY)
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing national leadership in a new collaboration among five national laboratories to accelerate U.S. production of clean hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers.
![Representatives from several local partners attended a ribbon-cutting for the new SkyNano facility in Louisville, Tennesse. Front row, from left to right are Deborah Crawford, vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Tom Rogers, president and chief executive officer of the UT Research Park; Lindsey Cox, CEO of LaunchTN; Cary Pint, SkyNano co-founder and chief technology officer; Susan Hubbard, ORNL deputy for science and technology; Anna Douglas, SkyNano co-founder and CEO; Ch](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-03/skynano-ribbon.png?h=c74750f6&itok=LKgrfAbi)
SkyNano, an Innovation Crossroads alumnus, held a ribbon-cutting for their new facility. SkyNano exemplifies using DOE resources to build a successful clean energy company, making valuable carbon nanotubes from waste CO2.
![The operating phases of an eVTOL need varying amounts of power; some require the battery to discharge high amounts of current rapidly, reducing the distance the vehicle can travel before its battery must be recharged. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-03/evtol3.jpg?h=748d7e9c&itok=0-VbL5G5)
Researchers at ORNL are taking cleaner transportation to the skies by creating and evaluating new batteries for airborne electric vehicles that take off and land vertically.
![New system combines human, artificial intelligence to improve experimentation](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-02/Screenshot%202024-02-14%20at%2011.37.46%20AM%20%281%29.png?h=e621a1e2&itok=N3lsBqrh)
To capitalize on AI and researcher strengths, scientists developed a human-AI collaboration recommender system for improved experimentation performance.
![Spiral-tip motion combined with image reconstruction techniques is an approach that can help scientists better understand the behavior of an electric charge at the microscopic level, vital for improving batteries and electronic devices. Credit: Stephen Jesse/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-02/high-speed-imaging-of-electric-charge.jpg?h=707772c7&itok=kagAsgy8)
Research led by ORNL’s Marti Checa and Liam Collins has pioneered a groundbreaking approach described in the journal Nature Communications that enables visualizing charge motion at the nanometer level, or one billionth of a meter, but at speeds thousand
![Rigoberto Advincula is a UT-ORNL Governor's Chair and leads the lab's Macromolecular Nanomaterials group. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/advincula-headshot-wide.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=8THSgJEp)
Rigoberto “Gobet” Advincula, a scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
![Scientists applied a simple approach for growing hBN films on the surface of ubiquitous steels and other metal alloys to “armor” them and thus increase their capabilities. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/picture1.jpg?h=69155cd3&itok=yaAE_q0E)
Researchers demonstrated that stainless steel and other metal alloys coated with hexagonal boron nitride, or hBN, exhibit non-stick or low-friction qualities along with improved long-term protection against harsh corrosion and high-temperature.
![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.
![Scientists peer inside materials used to clean automotive exhaust to understand why one works better than the other. Red and blue dots represent positions of copper and aluminum atoms, respectively, for two zeolite catalysts (SSZ-13 and ZSM-5) used in a d Scientists peer inside materials used to clean automotive exhaust to understand why one works better than the other. Red and blue dots represent positions of copper and aluminum atoms, respectively, for two zeolite catalysts (SSZ-13 and ZSM-5) used in a d](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/figure%20for%20ornl%20press%20release%20r1.jpg?itok=7Vi5WBBe)
Diesel vehicles today emit far fewer pollutants than older vehicles, thanks to a zeolite (hydrous silicate) catalytic converter that was invented around 10 years ago to reduce pollutants that cause the formation of acid rain and smog.