University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Wirth Receives Top DOE Honor, Credits UT-ORNL Partnership

The US Department of Energy has named Brian Wirth, a joint UT College of Engineering and Oak Ridge National Laboratory appointee, an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award winner for 2014.

Oregon State Spinoff Aims to Improve Residential Solar Panel Affordability

Solar power has been around for decades, but the high cost of solar panels has kept them out of reach for most homeowners. That could change thanks to technology developed at Oregon State University that’s being commercialized by Corvallis-based startup Beet Inc.

Linking Superconductivity and Structure

New research from a team including Carnegie’s Elissaios Stavrou, Xiao-Jia Chen, and Alexander Goncharov hones in on the structural changes underlying superconductivity in iron arsenide compounds—those containing iron and arsenic.

Physicists Advance Understanding of Electrical Vortices in Certain Materials

Computational physicists at the University of Arkansas have developed a novel method that accurately reveals how electrical vortices affect electronic properties of materials that are used in a wide range of applications, including cell phones and military sonar.

Move Over Arabidopsis, There’s a New Model Plant in Town

As farmers spend billions of dollars spreading nitrogen on their fields this spring, researchers at the University of Missouri are working toward less reliance on the fertilizer.

Researchers Synthesize Magnetic Nanoparticles That Could Offer Alternative to Rare Earth Magnets

A team of scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University has synthesized a powerful new magnetic material that could reduce the dependence of the United States and other nations on rare earth elements produced by China.

Physics of Heavy Ion Induced Damage in Nanotwinned Metals Revealed by Researchers at Texas A&M University

A group of researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University led by Dr. Xinghang Zhang has investigated defect dynamics in heavy ion (Krypton) irradiated nanotwinned Ag and revealed twin boundary-defect clusters interactions via in situ radiation.

Novel Crumpling Method Takes Flat Graphene From 2D to 3D

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a unique single-step process to achieve three-dimensional (3D) texturing of graphene and graphite.

Engineering the Smallest Crack in the World

A new procedure developed by nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego will enable researchers to fabricate smaller, faster, and more powerful nanoscale devices ─ and do so with molecular control and precision.

UCLA Researchers Develop Lower-Cost, More Efficient Nanostructure for Fuel Cells

A team led by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed nanostructures made from a compound of three metals that increases the efficiency and durability of fuel cells while lowering the cost to produce them.

Boston College Chemist: Nano-Coatings Stabilize Carbon for Lithium-Air Batteries

Associate Professor of Chemistry Dunwei Wang has been developing materials that might one day enable the manufacture of new batteries capable of meeting power demands within the size and cost constraints of car makers and other industries.

Coming to a Monitor Near You: A Defect-Free, Molecule-Thick Film

An emerging class of atomically thin materials known as monolayer semiconductors has generated a great deal of buzz in the world of materials science.