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ORNL polymer scientists Tomonori Saito, left, and Sungjin Kim upcycled waste plastic to create a stronger, tougher, solvent-resistant material for new additive manufacturing applications. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL researchers have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.

Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy, a nondestructive technique in which the tip of the probe of a microscope scatters pulses of light to generate a picture of a sample, allowed the team to obtain insights into the composition of plant cell walls. Credit: Ali Passian/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

To optimize biomaterials for reliable, cost-effective paper production, building construction, and biofuel development, researchers often study the structure of plant cells using techniques such as freezing plant samples or placing them in a vacuum.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Mitch Allmond works with the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Decay Station initiator, which combined diverse detectors for FRIB’s first experiment. Credit: Robert Grzywacz/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Two decades in the making, a new flagship facility for nuclear physics opened on May 2, and scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have a hand in 10 of its first 34 experiments.

MDF Exterior

ORNL scientists will present new technologies available for licensing during the annual Technology Innovation Showcase. The event is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL’s Hardin Valley campus.

Jennifer Morrell-Falvey leads the Molecular and Cellular Imaging group at ORNL, advancing new insights in several scientific areas, including the interactions between plants and microbes that influence ecosystem health and carbon cycling. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Jennifer Morrell-Falvey’s interest in visualizing the science behind natural processes was what drew her to ORNL in what she expected to be a short stint some 18 years ago. 

A smart approach to microscopy and imaging developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could drive discoveries in materials for future technologies. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Researchers at ORNL are teaching microscopes to drive discoveries with an intuitive algorithm, developed at the lab’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, that could guide breakthroughs in new materials for energy technologies, sensing and computing.

Physicist Charles Havener uses the NASA end station at ORNL’s Multicharged Ion Research Facility to simulate the origin of X-ray emissions from space. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Scientists are using Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Multicharged Ion Research Facility to simulate the cosmic origin of X-ray emissions resulting when highly charged ions collide with neutral atoms and molecules, such as helium and gaseous hydrogen.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers built an Earth-to-space communications system to work with private and government partners with the goal of directly connecting data downlinks to high performance computing. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is debuting a small satellite ground station that uses high-performance computing to support automated detection of changes to Earth’s landscape.

ORNL, VA and Harvard researchers developed a sparse matrix full of anonymized information on what is thought to be the largest cohort of healthcare data used for this type of research in the U.S. The matrix can be probed with different methods, such as KESER, to gain new insights into human health. Credit: Nathan Armistead/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A team of researchers has developed a novel, machine learning–based  technique to explore and identify relationships among medical concepts using electronic health record data across multiple healthcare providers.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated center-of-mass scanning transmission electron microscopy to observe lithium along with heavier elements in battery materials at atomic resolution. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers demonstrated an electron microscopy technique for imaging lithium in energy storage materials, such as lithium ion batteries, at the atomic scale.