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![ORNL’s Michael Manley led a study to discover the key to the success of modern materials used in ultrasound machines and other piezoelectric devices. ORNL’s Michael Manley led a study to discover the key to the success of modern materials used in ultrasound machines and other piezoelectric devices.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/2016-P04731.jpg?itok=b-quvxzq)
The lighter wand for your gas BBQ, a submarine’s sonar device and the ultrasound machine at your doctor’s office all rely on piezoelectric materials, which turn mechanical stress into electrical energy, and vice versa. In 1997, researchers developed piezoelectric...
![To direct-write the logo of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists started with a gray-scale image. To direct-write the logo of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists started with a gray-scale image.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/ORNL%20Leaf%20Logo_No%20Scale_Green_v2.jpg?itok=rpIXT_ko)
![Paul Kent of Oak Ridge National Laboratory directs the Center for Predictive Simulation of Functional Materials. Paul Kent of Oak Ridge National Laboratory directs the Center for Predictive Simulation of Functional Materials.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/2016-P04277.jpg?itok=jOJBdTf5)
The US Department of Energy announced today that it will invest $16 million over the next four years to accelerate the design of new materials through use of supercomputers.
![A 32-face 3-D truncated icosahedron mesh was created to test the simulation’s ability to precisely construct complex geometries. A 32-face 3-D truncated icosahedron mesh was created to test the simulation’s ability to precisely construct complex geometries.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/nn-2016-021085_0009_0.jpeg?itok=ZRBSAZox)
![ORNL’s Huiyuan Zhu places a sample of boron nitride, or “white graphene,” into a furnace as part of a novel, nontoxic gas exfoliation process to separate 2D nanomaterials. ORNL’s Huiyuan Zhu places a sample of boron nitride, or “white graphene,” into a furnace as part of a novel, nontoxic gas exfoliation process to separate 2D nanomaterials.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/01%20BN%20Gas%20Exfoliation%20Process_0.jpg?itok=xTDiW79S)
![After running a simulation proving calcium-48 was a magic isotope, ORNL researchers were surprised to find experimental data and simulations that suggested calcium-52 was not magic, as expected. After running a simulation proving calcium-48 was a magic isotope, ORNL researchers were surprised to find experimental data and simulations that suggested calcium-52 was not magic, as expected.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/ca-52%20tip.jpg?itok=7gRqs68E)
![A 3-D printed table was manufactured using 10 percent bamboo fiber, an initial step toward sustainable practices using bio-derived materials A 3-D printed table was manufactured using 10 percent bamboo fiber, an initial step toward sustainable practices using bio-derived materials](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/bamboo%20table.jpg?itok=yYwObbdX)
![ORNL’s Juan Carlos Idrobo helped develop an electron microscopy technique to measure magnetism at the atomic scale. ORNL’s Juan Carlos Idrobo helped develop an electron microscopy technique to measure magnetism at the atomic scale.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Idrobo_STEM_0.jpg?itok=o9AfJo-p)
Scientists can now detect magnetic behavior at the atomic level with a new electron microscopy technique developed by a team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Uppsala University, Sweden. The researchers took a counterintuitive approach ...
![In conventional, low-temperature superconductivity (left), so-called Cooper pairing arises from the presence of an electron Fermi sea. In the pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors (right), parts of the Fermi sea are “dried out” and the charge-ca In conventional, low-temperature superconductivity (left), so-called Cooper pairing arises from the presence of an electron Fermi sea. In the pseudogap regime of the cuprate superconductors (right), parts of the Fermi sea are “dried out” and the charge-ca](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/maier_image.png?itok=aGk3XL3v)
![Department of Energy national lab researchers found strain dramatically influences low-temperature oxygen electrocatalysis on perovskite oxides, enhancing bifunctional activity essential for fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Department of Energy national lab researchers found strain dramatically influences low-temperature oxygen electrocatalysis on perovskite oxides, enhancing bifunctional activity essential for fuel cells and metal–air batteries.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/news/images/bifunctional%20catalysis-Lee.jpg?itok=U0L_rWaH)
Catalysts make chemical reactions more likely to occur. In most cases, a catalyst that’s good at driving chemical reactions in one direction is bad at driving reactions in the opposite direction. However, a research team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory ...