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Shantonio Birch, founder of ThermoVerse is pictured here

ThermoVerse and Expanding Frontiers have made strides in energy innovation by securing wins in Phase 2 of the Department of Energy’s American-Made Lab MATCH Prize, a competition designed to accelerate commercialization of national laboratory technologies.

Graphic of Jordan Cannon

Jordan Cannon is CEO of Circular Biosciences, a Cohort 2024 Innovation Crossroads company, a startup dedicated to accelerating bioplastic degradation for more widespread use, easier disposal and reduced environmental impact. 

Dan Lee at the Startup Day pitch competition

Entrepreneurs, city leaders and community members gathered Oct. 1 at the Mill and Mine in downtown Knoxville for Startup Day 2024, the flagship event of Innov865 Week. Innov865 highlights the efforts of the Innov865 Alliance to develop, support and promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the Knoxville region. 

Illustration of a hydrogen atom.

Scientists at ORNL used neutrons to end a decades-long debate about an enzyme cancer uses.

Katy Bradford

Katy Bradford is on a mission to revolutionize the construction industry and is the founder of Cassette Construction, a company in the newest cohort of Innovation Crossroads, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program node at ORNL. As an Innovation Crossroads fellow, Bradford and her company will receive technical, financial and networking support to successfully advance the company’s products to the marketplace. 

Conceptual art shown here depicts a ligand adapting to its environment.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s 91 have found a chemical “chameleon” that could improve the process used to purify rare-earth metals used in clean energy, medical and national security applications.

ORNL scientists used molecular dynamics simulations, exascale computing, lab testing and analysis to accelerate the development of an energy-saving method to produce nanocellulosic fibers.

A team led by scientists at ORNL identified and demonstrated a method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%, using simulations on the lab’s supercomputers and follow-on analysis.

Bryan Maldonado

As a mechanical engineer in building envelope materials research at ORNL, Bryan Maldonado sees opportunities to apply his scientific expertise virtually everywhere he goes, from coast to coast. As an expert in understanding how complex systems operate, he’s using machine learning methods to control the process and ultimately optimize performance. 

Illustration of oscillating UCI3 bonds

Researchers for the first time documented the specific chemistry dynamics and structure of high-temperature liquid uranium trichloride salt, a potential nuclear fuel source for next-generation reactors. 

solid-state electrolyte to double as energy storage in a car

To speed the arrival of the next-generation solid-state batteries that will power electric vehicles and other technologies, scientists led by ORNL advanced the development of flexible, durable sheets of electrolytes. They used a polymer to create a strong yet springy thin film that binds electrolytic particles and at least doubles energy storage.