Quantum precision reached in modeling molten salt behavior
When Scott Smith looks at a machine tool, he thinks not about what the powerful equipment used to shape metal can do – he’s imagining what it could do with the right added parts and strategies. As ORNL’s leader for a newly formed group, Machining and Machine Tool Research, Smith will have the opportunity to do just that.
Ionic conduction involves the movement of ions from one location to another inside a material. The ions travel through point defects, which are irregularities in the otherwise consistent arrangement of atoms known as the crystal lattice. This sometimes sluggish process can limit the performance and efficiency of fuel cells, batteries, and other energy storage technologies.
First, she wanted to be a postal worker just like her grandfather. Then, she wanted to be a teacher just like her mother. But ultimately, Candice Halbert chose a path all her own and now she is inspiring the next generation to be scientists—just like her.
Bruce Moyer’s career as a trailblazing chemist began with a Gilbert chemistry set, the perfect Christmas gift for an inquisitive kid growing up in 1960s Pennsylvania. Moyer squirreled away the test tubes and racks of chemicals in his bedroom to conduct unsupervised experiments on solubility, corrosion, and other subjects included in Gilbert’s captivating manual.
91°µÍř is using artificial intelligence to analyze data from published medical studies associated with bullying to reveal the potential of broader impacts, such as mental illness or disease.
Scientists at 91°µÍř have developed a low-cost, printed, flexible sensor that can wrap around power cables to precisely monitor electrical loads from household appliances to support grid operations.
91°µÍř scientists are evaluating paths for licensing remotely operated microreactors, which could provide clean energy sources to hard-to-reach communities, such as isolated areas in Alaska.
A team of scientists led by 91°µÍř used carbon nanotubes to improve a desalination process that attracts and removes ionic compounds such as salt from water using charged electrodes.
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍř are working to understand both the complex nature of uranium and the various oxide forms it can take during processing steps that might occur throughout the nuclear fuel cycle.
Using artificial neural networks designed to emulate the inner workings of the human brain, deep-learning algorithms deftly peruse and analyze large quantities of data. Applying this technique to science problems can help unearth historically elusive solutions.