News

Researchers relied on support from ORNL’s Quantum Computing User Program to simulate a key quantum state at one of the largest scales reported. The findings could mark a step toward improving quantum simulations. Credit: Getty Images
Steering toward quantum simulation at scale
PowerGrid Auburn University
Auburn, ORNL to partner on grid security
Three ORNL researchers receive Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award
Researchers receive SME awards

Filter News

Area of Research

News Type

Date

News Topics

Media Contacts

Connect with ORNL

Researchers have shown how an all-solid lithium-based electrolyte material can be used to develop fast charging, long-range batteries for electric vehicles that are also safer than conventional designs. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Zeroing in on EV batteries with more storage and faster charging

Currently, the biggest hurdle for electric vehicles, or EVs, is the development of advanced battery technology to extend driving range, safety and reliability.

Neutron scattering experiments at the Spallation Neutron Source revealed how the dynamics between copper and oxygen make a special type of enzyme excel at breaking down biomass. Insights could lead to lowering the cost of biofuel production. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The copper key to more efficient biomass breakdown

Nonfood, plant-based biofuels have potential as a green alternative to fossil fuels, but the enzymes required for production are too inefficient and costly to produce. However, new research is shining a light on enzymes from fungi that could make biofuels economically viable.

ORNL researchers used diamonds to compress materials to 1.2 million times ambient pressure and software to remove signal interference and extract data on pressure-induced atomic structures. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Squeezing data from a diamond sandwich

For decades, scientists sought a way to apply the outstanding analytical capabilities of neutrons to materials under pressures approaching those surrounding the Earth’s core.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed an eco-friendly foam insulation for improved building efficiency. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Eco-friendly foam insulates buildings without warming the globe

Scientists at ORNL developed a competitive, eco-friendly alternative made without harmful blowing agents.

Heat is typically carried through a material by vibrations known as phonons. In some crystals, however, different atomic motions — known as phasons — carry heat three times faster and farther. This illustration shows phasons made by rearranging atoms, shown by arrows. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Neutrons reveal key to extraordinary heat transport

Warming a crystal of the mineral fresnoite, ORNL scientists discovered that excitations called phasons carried heat three times farther and faster than phonons, the excitations that usually carry heat through a material.

Even small movements of hydrogen, shown in yellow, were found to cause large energy shifts in the attached iron atoms, shown in silver, which could be of interest in creating novel chemical reactions. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Neutrons uncover hydrogen’s hidden role in twisting iron

Researchers from Yale University and ORNL collaborated on neutron scattering experiments to study hydrogen atom locations and their effects on iron in a compound similar to those commonly used in industrial catalysts.

2018-P07635 BL-6 user - Univ of Guelph-6004R_sm[2].jpg

Neutrons—Nanosize matters

A team of scientists, led by University of Guelph professor John Dutcher, are using neutrons at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source to unlock the secrets of natural nanoparticles that could be used to improve medicines.

exp_in_10_dry_tube.jpg

Reactors—Salty scenarios

Scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a corrosion test in a neutron radiation field to support the continued development of molten salt reactors.

A simulation of runaway electrons in the experimental tokamak at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility at General Atomics shows the particle orbits in the fusion plasma and the synchrotron radiation emission patterns. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory,

Nuclear—Little runaways

Fusion scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are studying the behavior of high-energy electrons when the plasma that generates nuclear fusion energy suddenly cools during a magnetic disruption. Fusion energy is created when hydrogen isotopes are heated to millions of degrees...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutrons to evaluate the behavior of ions adsorbed on the external surfaces onion-like carbon electrodes and determine the right balance of two liquid salts that yields optimal energy storage potential.

Neutrons—Balance of power

Energy storage could get a boost from new research of tailored liquid salt mixtures, the components of supercapacitors responsible for holding and releasing electrical energy. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Naresh Osti and his colleagues used neutrons at the lab’s Spallation Neutron ...