Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Clean Energy (88)
- Advanced Manufacturing (1)
- Biology and Environment (29)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (6)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (1)
- Energy Sciences (1)
- Fusion and Fission (8)
- Fusion Energy (7)
- Isotopes (2)
- Materials (95)
- Materials for Computing (14)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (8)
- Neutron Science (67)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (9)
- Nuclear Systems Modeling, Simulation and Validation (1)
- Quantum information Science (4)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (37)
News Type
News Topics
- (-) Advanced Reactors (3)
- (-) Climate Change (12)
- (-) Energy Storage (47)
- (-) Grid (24)
- (-) Mathematics (1)
- (-) Nanotechnology (6)
- (-) Neutron Science (7)
- (-) Physics (1)
- (-) Polymers (10)
- (-) Quantum Science (1)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (51)
- Artificial Intelligence (5)
- Big Data (2)
- Bioenergy (16)
- Biology (7)
- Biomedical (4)
- Biotechnology (3)
- Buildings (21)
- Chemical Sciences (11)
- Clean Water (5)
- Composites (14)
- Computer Science (18)
- Coronavirus (6)
- Critical Materials (8)
- Cybersecurity (3)
- Decarbonization (14)
- Environment (28)
- Exascale Computing (2)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Frontier (1)
- Fusion (1)
- High-Performance Computing (3)
- Hydropower (2)
- Isotopes (1)
- Machine Learning (6)
- Materials (29)
- Materials Science (20)
- Mercury (2)
- Microscopy (6)
- Molten Salt (1)
- National Security (4)
- Net Zero (2)
- Nuclear Energy (5)
- Partnerships (8)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (3)
- Simulation (2)
- Space Exploration (2)
- Statistics (1)
- Summit (2)
- Sustainable Energy (51)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
- Transportation (43)
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.
![ORNL researchers Lu Yu and Yaocai Bai examine vials that contain a chemical solution that causes the cobalt and lithium to separate from a spent battery, followed by a second stage when cobalt precipitates in the bottom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/2023-P12386_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CVJOHRVM)
Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries.
![An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, can be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere or by an electromagnetic generator in a vehicle or aircraft. Here’s the chain of reactions it could cause to harm electrical equipment on the ground. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/EMP_illust04_0.png?h=21cd0a81&itok=M9UNd-n0)
Researchers at ORNL have been leading a project to understand how a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, could threaten power plants.
![The OpeN-AM experimental platform, installed at the VULCAN instrument at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, features a robotic arm that prints layers of molten metal to create complex shapes. This allows scientists to study 3D printed welds microscopically. Credit: Jill Hemman, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/VULCAN_welding_1.png?h=68c90eda&itok=gvwAQCpN)
Using neutrons to see the additive manufacturing process at the atomic level, scientists have shown that they can measure strain in a material as it evolves and track how atoms move in response to stress.
![ORNL’s David Sholl is director of the new DOE Energy Earthshot Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions center to help decarbonize the industrial chemical industry. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2021-P04915.David_.Sholl_.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=qT7ZMJX2)
ORNL has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center, or EERC, focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.
![ORNL researcher Zhijia Du inserts a newly developed liquid electrolyte material into a battery pouch cell. The formulation extends the life of extreme-fast-charging batteries like those used in electric vehicles. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/du_0.jpg?h=d228da7b&itok=k918MIXQ)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are taking fast charging for electric vehicles, or EVs, to new extremes. A team of battery scientists recently developed a lithium-ion battery material that not only recharges 80% of its capacity in 10
![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.
![Radu Custelcean's sustainable chemistry for capturing carbon dioxide from air has been licensed to Holocene. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2023-P06089.png?h=82f92a78&itok=807v0WXR)
An innovative and sustainable chemistry developed at ORNL for capturing carbon dioxide has been licensed to Holocene, a Knoxville-based startup focused on designing and building plants that remove carbon dioxide
![Marm Dixit, a Weinberg Distinguished Staff Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was honored for his work on imaging techniques for solid state batteries. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-04/Marm.chair__0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=lKca1x8Z)
Marm Dixit, a Weinberg Distinguished Staff Fellow at ORNL has received the 2023 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award.
![This newly manufactured fixed guide vane of a hydropower turbine system was printed at the DOE Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-06/2018-P00570_0.png?h=82f92a78&itok=9y4_5upC)
A new report published by ORNL assessed how advanced manufacturing and materials, such as 3D printing and novel component coatings, could offer solutions to modernize the existing fleet and design new approaches to hydropower.