News

ORNL scientists are working on a project to engineer and develop a cryogenic ion trap apparatus to simulate quantum spin liquids, a key research area in materials science and neutron scattering studies.

Scientists at ORNL completed a study of how well vegetation survived extreme heat events in both urban and rural communities across the country in recent years. The analysis informs pathways for climate mitigation, including ways to reduce the effect of urban heat islands.

Groundwater withdrawals are expected to peak in about one-third of the world’s basins by 2050, potentially triggering significant trade and agriculture shifts, a new analysis finds. 

Researchers simulated a key quantum state at one of the largest scales reported, with support from the Quantum Computing User Program, or QCUP, at 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.

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. 

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing national leadership in a new collaboration among five national laboratories to accelerate U.S. production of clean hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers.  

To capitalize on AI and researcher strengths, scientists developed a human-AI collaboration recommender system for improved experimentation performance. 

Chelsea Chen, a polymer physicist at ORNL, is studying ion transport in solid electrolytes that could help electric vehicle battery charges last longer.

EPB and ORNL marked 10 years of collaboration with the announcement of the new Collaborative for Energy Resilience and Quantum Science. The new joint research effort will focus on utilizing Chattanooga’s highly advanced and integrated energy and communications infrastructure to develop technologies and best practices for enhancing the resilience and security of the national power grid while accelerating the commercialization of quantum technologies.