Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Fusion Energy (10)
- (-) Materials (42)
- Advanced Manufacturing (14)
- Biology and Environment (40)
- Building Technologies (2)
- Clean Energy (120)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (12)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (2)
- Energy Sciences (1)
- Fusion and Fission (20)
- Isotopes (3)
- Materials for Computing (10)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (28)
- Neutron Science (17)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (27)
- Nuclear Systems Modeling, Simulation and Validation (1)
- Quantum information Science (7)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (77)
News Type
News Topics
- (-) 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (10)
- (-) Big Data (2)
- (-) Clean Water (3)
- (-) Computer Science (11)
- (-) Cybersecurity (1)
- (-) Energy Storage (13)
- (-) Exascale Computing (1)
- (-) Grid (2)
- (-) Machine Learning (2)
- (-) Nuclear Energy (18)
- (-) Quantum Science (1)
- Advanced Reactors (7)
- Artificial Intelligence (4)
- Bioenergy (3)
- Biomedical (4)
- Buildings (2)
- Chemical Sciences (11)
- Composites (6)
- Coronavirus (2)
- Critical Materials (5)
- Decarbonization (2)
- Environment (7)
- Frontier (1)
- Fusion (11)
- High-Performance Computing (1)
- Isotopes (8)
- Materials (31)
- Materials Science (36)
- Mathematics (1)
- Microscopy (12)
- Molten Salt (1)
- Nanotechnology (16)
- Neutron Science (13)
- Partnerships (3)
- Physics (13)
- Polymers (10)
- Quantum Computing (2)
- Security (1)
- Space Exploration (2)
- Summit (2)
- Sustainable Energy (6)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (2)
- Transportation (10)
Media Contacts
![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. A prime weight-loss candidate is the current collector, a component that often adds 10% to the weight of a battery cell without contributing energy.
![The sun sets behind the ORNL Visitor Center in this aerial photo from April 2023. Credit: Kase Clapp/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/sunset_visitor-center_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=jLImPT0R)
In fiscal year 2023 — Oct. 1–Sept. 30, 2023 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory was awarded more than $8 million in technology maturation funding through the Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund, or TCF.
![Photo collage with text that reads " A New era of discovery"](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/LRP%20Image_0.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=m-0J8hDE)
ORNL, a bastion of nuclear physics research for the past 80 years, is poised to strengthen its programs and service to the United States over the next decade if national recommendations of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, or NSAC, are enacted.
![ORNL researchers have developed a new pressing method, shown as blue circle on right, that produces a more uniform solid electrolyte than the traditionally processed material with more voids, shown as gray circle on left. The material can be integrated into a battery system, center, for improved stability and rate performance. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/Electrolyte.StoryTip_0.png?h=b6717701&itok=PIYcf5iS)
ORNL scientists found that a small tweak created big performance improvements in a type of solid-state battery, a technology considered vital to broader electric vehicle adoption.
![The Fuel Pellet Fueling Laboratory at ORNL is part of a suite of fusion energy R&D capabilities and provides test equipment and related diagnostics for carrying out experiments to develop pellet injectors for plasma fueling applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2021-P02876_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=8fqWlX5k)
ORNL will team up with six of eight companies that are advancing designs and research and development for fusion power plants with the mission to achieve a pilot-scale demonstration of fusion within a decade.
![Researchers captured atomic-level insights on the rare-earth mineral monazite to inform future design of flotation collector molecules, illustrated above, that can aid in the recovery of critical materials. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/float.jpg?h=60f9f39d&itok=i2CRqyBK)
Critical Materials Institute researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Arizona State University studied the mineral monazite, an important source of rare-earth elements, to enhance methods of recovering critical materials for energy, defense and manufacturing applications.
![A team of ORNL researchers used neutron diffraction experiments to study the 3D-printed ACMZ alloy and observed a phenomenon called “load shuffling” that could inform the design of stronger, better-performing lightweight materials for vehicles. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/loadShuffle01_0_0.png?h=9651c94c&itok=FIdoRoNe)
ORNL researchers have identified a mechanism in a 3D-printed alloy – termed “load shuffling” — that could enable the design of better-performing lightweight materials for vehicles.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory materials scientist Zhili Feng, left, looks on as senior technician Doug Kyle operates a welding robot inside a robotic welding cell. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/2022-P02510.png?h=73ad5f11&itok=fvydYheR)
The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense teamed up to create a series of weld filler materials that could dramatically improve high-strength steel repair in vehicles, bridges and pipelines.
![Researchers found that moderate levels of ash — sometimes found as spheres in biomass — do not significantly affect the mechanical properties of biocomposites made up of corn stover, switchgrass and PLA thermoplastic. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/sampleRecolor_v4_0.png?h=4d1c0665&itok=rRlgS-4C)
The presence of minerals called ash in plants makes little difference to the fitness of new naturally derived compound materials designed for additive manufacturing, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team found.
![When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/variation.jpg?h=bedff801&itok=9S6jmOVH)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.