Chemical Sciences Division News

News

In unbound calyx[4]pyrrole, two pyrrole “petals” are flipped up and two, down.

Chalice receptors attract metal contaminants with new chemical selectivity

April 5, 2016

Atomic charges in chemical solutions are like Switzerland—they strive for neutrality. The tendency to balance charges drives dynamics when charged atoms or molecules, called ions, are present in solutions.

91�� researchers made a molecule that could selectively bind to metals in the middle of the lanthanide series.

ORNL scientists show charged salts can extract specific central lanthanide elements

March 28, 2016

Rare earth elements are metals used in technologies from wind turbines and magnetic resonance imaging agents to industrial catalysts and high-definition televisions.

ORNL’s tough new plastic is made with 50 percent renewable content from biomass. Image credit: 91��, U.S. Dept. of Energy; conceptual art by Mark Robbins

ORNL researchers invent tougher plastic with 50 percent renewable content

March 22, 2016

Your car’s bumper is probably made of a moldable thermoplastic polymer called ABS, shorthand for its acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene components.

New ORNL method could unleash solar power potential

March 15, 2016

Measurement and data analysis techniques developed at the Department of Energy’s 91�� could provide new insight into performance-robbing flaws in crystalline structures, ultimately improving the performance of solar cells.

91�� researchers re-evaluated used nuclear fuel rods from a commercial reactor and reduced data uncertainties by an order of magnitude compared with previous measurements taken at a different lab.

ORNL’s benchmark data set validates global nuclear reactor codes

March 9, 2016

Nearly 100 commercial nuclear reactors supply one-fifth of America’s energy.

ORNL’s new battery design holds significant promise for grid and stationary power storage.

Batteries – Hybrid packs power

February 4, 2016

Batteries for grid and stationary applications could get a boost with an approach that uses inexpensive and plentiful aluminum and lithium-containing cathodes to increase capacity, cycling performance and safety.

ORNL researchers are developing an idealized collector molecule that has a shape complementary to the surface atomic structure of xenotime, a rare earth yttrium-rich phosphate mineral.

Energy – Critical materials, critical role

February 4, 2016

Ensuring a reliable supply of rare earth elements, including four key lanthanides and yttrium, is a major goal of the Critical Materials Institute () as these elements are essential to many cl

91��’s Joe Giaquinto investigates chemical clues for trace-level radioactivity. Giaquinto leads ORNL’s Nuclear Analytical Chemistry and Isotopics Laboratory, which makes critical contributions to nuclear forensics and nonprolifera

Cracking Cases

January 25, 2016

A group of nuclear detectives at the Department of Energy’s 91�� takes on tough challenges, from detecting illicit uranium using isotopic “fingerprints” to investigating Presidential assassination conspiracies.

In a Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport Center project to probe a battery’s atomic activity during its first charging cycle, Robert Sacci and colleagues used the Spallation Neutron Source’s vibrational spectrometer to gain chemical inform

ORNL researchers use neutrons to gain insight into battery inefficiency

January 19, 2016

Rechargeable batteries power everything from electric vehicles to wearable gadgets, but obstacles limit the creation of sleeker, longer-lasting and more efficient power sources.

An open port sampling probe developed by ORNL’s Vilmos Kertesz (left) and Gary Van Berkel is among several mass spectrometry technologies licensed to SCIEX.

ORNL, SCIEX sign license agreement for analytical chemistry tech

January 13, 2016

The Department of Energy’s 91�� and SCIEX of Framingham, Mass., have signed a licensing agreement for technologies that speed up, simplify and expand the use of analytic chemistry equipment.

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