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Media Contacts
![Susan Hubbard, left, deputy for science and technology at ORNL, and Vanessa Chan, director of the Office of Technology Transitions and chief commercialization officer for DOE, discuss the role of the national laboratory system in moving leading-edge technology to industry during a chat at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. Credit: Karen Dunlap/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/ces1.jpg?h=bade9d47&itok=Me9qsbIx)
Technology Transfer staff from Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory attended the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, in Las Vegas, Jan. 8–12.
![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.
![2023 Top Science Achievements at SNS & HFIR](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/23-G08001-SNS-Top-Story-Image-pcg.jpg?h=1f0bc3a8&itok=3_ZyuAAO)
The 2023 top science achievements from HFIR and SNS feature a broad range of materials research published in high impact journals such as Nature and Advanced Materials.
![Alexey Serov researches ways to improve hydrogen fuel cells and materials and the electrolysis process. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P14038.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=JCWAG0sI)
It would be a challenge for any scientist to match Alexey Serov’s rate of inventions related to green hydrogen fuel. But this researcher at ORNL has 84 patents with at least 35 more under review, so his electrifying pace is unlikely to slow down any time soon.
![ORNL scientist Zhijia Du, white coat, former ORNL scientist Jianlin Li, blue coat, and Ateios CEO Rajan Kumar inspect battery components during a pilot production run. Credit: Kurt Weiss/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/Kumar.2023-P12479.jpg?h=22d8bc0e&itok=SexbmLnB)
Ateios Systems licensed an ORNL technology for solvent-free battery component production using electron curing. Through Innovation Crossroads, Ateios continues to work with ORNL to enable readiness for production-quality battery components.
![Wire arc additive manufacturing allowed this robot arm at ORNL to transform metal wire into a complete steam turbine blade like those used in power plants. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P05157.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=LKO4fsAu)
Researchers at ORNL became the first to 3D-print large rotating steam turbine blades for generating energy in power plants.
![Karen White](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/karen-white.png?h=82115ee8&itok=oxhQuzGO)
Karen White, who works in ORNL’s Neutron Science Directorate, has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
![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.
![ORNL researchers found that a polyelectrolyte additive can improve the stability and performance of a salt hydrate PCM, enhancing the potential for use in heat pumps. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/HP_liquid_storytip02%5B97%5D_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=iGZRyRQC)
ORNL researchers demonstrated that an additive made from polymers and electrolytes improves the thermal performance and stability of salt hydrate phase change materials, or PCMs, a finding that could advance their integration into carbon-reducing heat pumps.
![Sarah Walters portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/CSJ_0837%20-%20R.jpg?h=a64773ff&itok=TGiNzHPR)
Walters is working with a team of geographers, linguists, economists, data scientists and software engineers to apply cultural knowledge and patterns to open-source data in an effort to document and report patterns of human movement through previously unstudied spaces.