Researchers at ORNL and the University of Maine have designed and 3D-printed a single-piece, recyclable natural-material floor panel tested to be strong enough to replace construction materials like steel.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists ingeniously created a sustainable, soft material by combining rubber with woody reinforcements and incorporating “smart” linkages between the components that unlock on demand.
ORNL scientists develop a sample holder that tumbles powdered photochemical materials within a neutron beamline — exposing more of the material to light for increased photo-activation and better photochemistry data capture.
Researchers set a new benchmark for future experiments making materials in space rather than for space. They discovered that many kinds of glass have similar atomic structure and arrangements and can successfully be made in space. Scientists from nine institutions in government, academia and industry participated in this 5-year study.
ORNL researchers have teamed up with other national labs to develop a free platform called Open Energy Data Initiative Solar Systems Integration Data and Modeling to better analyze the behavior of electric grids incorporating many solar projects.
Simulations performed on the Summit supercomputer at ORNL are cutting through that time and expense by helping researchers digitally customize the ideal alloy.
ORNL researchers modeled how hurricane cloud cover would affect solar energy generation as a storm followed 10 possible trajectories over the Caribbean and Southern U.S.
An international team using neutrons set the first benchmark (one nanosecond) for a polymer-electrolyte and lithium-salt mixture. Findings could produce safer, more powerful lithium batteries.
Shift Thermal, a member of Innovation Crossroads’ first cohort of fellows, is commercializing advanced ice thermal energy storage for HVAC, shifting the cooling process to be more sustainable, cost-effective and resilient. Shift Thermal wants to enable a lower-cost, more-efficient thermal energy storage method to provide long-duration resilient cooling when the electric grid is down.
ORNL researchers are working to make EV charging more resilient by developing algorithms to deal with both internal and external triggers of charger failure. This will help charging stations remain available to traveling EV drivers, reducing range anxiety.