2015 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Slip Sliding Away: Graphene and Diamonds Prove a Slippery Combination

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have found a way to use tiny diamonds and graphene to give friction the slip, creating a new material combination that demonstrates the rare phenomenon of “superlubricity.”

A Little Drop Will Do It: Tiny Grains of Lithium Can Dramatically Improve the Performance of Fusion Plasmas

Scientists from General Atomics and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have discovered a phenomenon that helps them to improve fusion plasmas, a finding that may quicken the development of fusion energy.

Land Management Practices to Become Important as Biofuels Use Grows

The handling of agricultural crop residues appears to have a large impact on soil's ability to retain carbon, making land management practices increasingly important, especially under a scenario where cellulosic materials become more heavily used as a feedstock for ethanol production, according to a recently published study led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

Energy Secretary Moniz Announces 2014 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award Winners

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz today announced nine exceptional U.S. scientists and engineers as recipients of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for their contributions in research and development that supports the Energy Department’s science, energy and national security missions.

Defects Can “Hulk-Up” Materials

In a study at Berkeley Lab, exposure to alpha-particle radiation has been shown to transform certain thermoelectric materials into far more powerful versions of themselves.

Shape-Shifting Plastic

A new plastic developed by ORNL and Washington State University can transform from its original shape through a series of temporary shapes and returns to its initial form. The shape-shifting process is controlled through changes in temperature.

Clouds' Role in Sunlight Stopping

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers used long-term observations to show that the sunlight stopping power of each type of typical tropical cloud and how frequently they occur must be accurately simulated in climate models.

Brookhaven Lab's Accelerator Test Facility Named a DOE Office of Science User Facility

New designation of Brookhaven National Laboratory's ATF coincides with major facility upgrades and expansions to accommodate the growing demand of users from industry and academia.

ORNL Demonstrates First Large-scale Graphene Composite Fabrication

One of the barriers to using graphene at a commercial scale could be overcome using a method demonstrated by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Land, Sea, and Air: ACAPEX Targets Atmospheric Rivers

In January 2015, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility launched the ARM Cloud Precipitation Experiment (ACAPEX), the largest study of its kind focused on capturing data from atmospheric rivers. After six weeks of gathering data from air and sea in California, scientists are back on dry land ready to examine their findings.

CLAIRE Brings Electron Microscopy to Soft Materials

Berkeley Lab researchers develop breakthrough technique for non-invasive nano-scale imaging.

Intense Lasers Cook up Complex, Self-Assembled Nanomaterials

Scientists at Brookhaven National Lab have developed a laser-based technique to execute nanoscale self-assembly with unprecedented ease and efficiency.