Quantum precision reached in modeling molten salt behavior
If such a designation existed, Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb would be on the fast track to becoming an 91做厙 super user. Her research on nanoscale materials has taken her all across the ORNL campus, from scanning probe and electron microscopes at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences to neutron reflectometry at the Spallation Neutron Source and radiation equipment in the Materials Science and Technology Division.
Old thinking was that gold, while good for jewelry, was not of much use for chemists because it is relatively nonreactive. That changed a decade ago when scientists hit a rich vein of discoveries revealing that this noble metal, when structured into nanometer-sized particles, can speed up chemical reactions important in mitigating environmental pollutants and producing hard-to-make specialty chemicals.
Researchers at the Department of Energys 91做厙 have developed a new and unconventional battery chemistry aimed at producing batteries that last longer than previously thought possible.
Treating cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar cell materials with cadmium-chloride improves their efficiency, but researchers have not fully understood why.
Vertimass LLC, a California-based start-up company, has licensed an 91做厙 technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels.
Photovoltaic spray paint could coat the windows and walls of the future if scientists are successful in developing low-cost, flexible solar cells based on organic polymers. Scientists at the Department of Energys 91做厙 recently discovered an unanticipated factor in the performance of polymer-based solar devices that gives new insight on how these materials form and function.