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Red tube holds a cluster of green and purple dots (hundreds of dots) while a long white line runs across the image, giving the appearance of waves.

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory team revealed how chemical species form in a highly reactive molten salt mixture of aluminum chloride and potassium chloride by unraveling vibrational signatures and observing ion exchanges. 

Four thermometers are pictured across the top of the image with an image of a city in the bottom left, with a color block version of that city in the bottom right.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed free data sets to estimate how much energy any building in the contiguous U.S. will use in 2100. These data sets provide planners a way to anticipate future energy needs as the climate changes.

Two green oak leaves with other matter in two circles above them. To the right, a yellow blob. To the left, a brown material inside a bowl.

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.

woman in blue blazer, glasses and short hair smiles for a portrait.

Lætitia H. Delmau, a distinguished researcher and radiochemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the 2024 Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award. 

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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.

Blue background with three rectangles. The first and third silver rectangles are showing the inside metal part of a fridge with small alternating horizontal rectangles going down the side in darker grey/silver.

A technology developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory works to keep food refrigerated with phase change materials, or PCMs, while reducing carbon emissions by 30%.

Chapman recognized for work as peer reviewer

Joseph Chapman, a research scientist in quantum communications at ORNL, was given the Physical Review Applied Reviewer Excellence 2024 award for his work as a peer reviewer for the journal Physical Review Applied.

David Pointer

ORNL has named W. David Pointer, director of the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division in ORNL’s Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. As director, Pointer will lead a world-class team of ORNL research professionals focused on addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by current and future nuclear energy systems. 

Rigoberto Advincula has been elected to the to the AIMBE College of Fellows. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Rigoberto “Gobet” Advincula, a scientist with joint appointments at ORNL and the University of Tennessee, has been named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

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. Credit: Phoenix Pleasant/ORNL

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.