![White car (Porsche Taycan) with the hood popped is inside the building with an american flag on the wall.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-06/2024-P09317.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=m6sQhZRq)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Isotopes (23)
- (-) Neutron Science (31)
- Advanced Manufacturing (2)
- Biology and Environment (45)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (66)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (5)
- Fusion and Fission (12)
- Fusion Energy (1)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Materials (86)
- Materials Characterization (1)
- Materials for Computing (12)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- National Security (29)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (13)
- Quantum information Science (4)
- Supercomputing (87)
News Type
News Topics
- (-) Computer Science (13)
- (-) Cybersecurity (1)
- (-) Decarbonization (2)
- (-) Isotopes (21)
- (-) Materials Science (21)
- (-) Microscopy (2)
- (-) Space Exploration (4)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (6)
- Artificial Intelligence (5)
- Big Data (2)
- Bioenergy (5)
- Biology (5)
- Biomedical (13)
- Biotechnology (1)
- Chemical Sciences (1)
- Clean Water (2)
- Climate Change (2)
- Composites (1)
- Coronavirus (8)
- Energy Storage (4)
- Environment (7)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Frontier (1)
- Fusion (1)
- High-Performance Computing (2)
- Machine Learning (3)
- Materials (14)
- Mathematics (1)
- Nanotechnology (8)
- National Security (3)
- Neutron Science (73)
- Nuclear Energy (5)
- Physics (8)
- Polymers (1)
- Quantum Computing (1)
- Quantum Science (5)
- Security (2)
- Summit (6)
- Sustainable Energy (2)
- Transportation (3)
Media Contacts
![SNS researchers](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-11/2019-P15103_1.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=OoO429Iv)
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have new experimental evidence and a predictive theory that solves a long-standing materials science mystery: why certain crystalline materials shrink when heated.
![The illustrations show how the correlation between lattice distortion and proton binding energy in a material affects proton conduction in different environments. Mitigating this interaction could help researchers improve the ionic conductivity of solid materials.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-05/Figure_Rosenthal_5-1-19_0.png?h=73c01546&itok=-tjVhDfm)
Ionic conduction involves the movement of ions from one location to another inside a material. The ions travel through point defects, which are irregularities in the otherwise consistent arrangement of atoms known as the crystal lattice. This sometimes sluggish process can limit the performance and efficiency of fuel cells, batteries, and other energy storage technologies.
![Vanadium atoms (blue) have unusually large thermal vibrations that stabilize the metallic state of a vanadium dioxide crystal. Red depicts oxygen atoms.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-06/82289_web.jpg?h=05d1a54d&itok=_5hHRzzR)
For more than 50 years, scientists have debated what turns particular oxide insulators, in which electrons barely move, into metals, in which electrons flow freely.