U.S. Department of Energy Research News

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Less is more: Novel cellulose structure requires fewer enzymes to process biomass to fuel
Improved methods for breaking down cellulose nanofibers are central to cost-effective biofuel production and the subject of new research from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Scientists are investigating the unique properties of crystalline cellulose nanofibers to develop novel chemical pretreatments and designer enzymes for biofuel production from cellulosic -- or non-food -- plant-derived biomass.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 19-Jun-2013

Astronomy & Astrophysics
Unusual supernova is doubly unusual for being perfectly normal
Type Ia supernovae are indispensable milestones for measuring the expansion of the universe. With definitive measures of Supernova 2011fe, the "Backyard Supernova" that thrilled amateur and professional astronomers alike in the summer of 2011, the Nearby Supernova Factory led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory demonstrates that this unusually close-by Type Ia is such a perfect example of its kind that future Type Ia's -- and models meant to explain their physics -- must be measured against it.

US Department of Energy Office of Science, Moore Foundation, CNRS/IN2P3, INSU, PNCG, TRR33/DFG

Public Release: 18-Jun-2013

Advanced Materials
Printing tiny batteries
Three-dimensional printing can now be used to print lithium-ion microbatteries the size of a grain of sand. The printed microbatteries could supply electricity to tiny devices in fields from medicine to communications, including many that have lingered on lab benches for lack of a battery small enough to fit the device, yet provide enough stored energy to power them.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 18-Jun-2013
US and Canadian researchers drive towards cheaper fuel cells for electric cars
A million electric cars could be on roads across North America before the end of the decade with the help of research by the United States Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Waterloo.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 12-Jun-2013

Journal of the American Chemical Society
Discovery of new material state counterintuitive to laws of physics
Dense materials made porous, doubling the number of nanotraps for use as water filters, chemical sensors, sequestration, hydrogen fuel cell storage, drug delivery, and catalysis.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 12-Jun-2013

Nature
Nano-thermometer enables first atomic-scale heat transfer measurements
In findings that could help overcome a major technological hurdle in the road toward smaller and more powerful electronics, an international research team involving University of Michigan engineering researchers, has shown the unique ways in which heat dissipates at the tiniest scales.

US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013
NREL teams with Navy, private industry to make jet fuel from switchgrass
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is partnering with Cobalt Technologies, U.S. Navy, and Show Me Energy Cooperative to demonstrate that jet fuel can be made economically and in large quantities from a renewable biomass feedstock such as switch grass.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013
NREL adds eyes, brains to occupancy detection
It's a gnawing frustration of modern office life. You're sitting quietly -- too quietly -- in an office or carrel, and suddenly the lights go off.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 11-Jun-2013

Nano Letters
'Popcorn' particle pathways promise better lithium-ion batteries
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have confirmed the particle-by-particle mechanism by which lithium ions move in and out of electrodes made of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, or LFP), findings that could lead to better performance in lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, medical equipment and aircraft. The research is reported in te journal Nano Letters, 2013, 13 (3), pp 866-872.

Public Release: 10-Jun-2013

Cell
Weapons testing data determines brain makes new neurons into adulthood
Using data derived from nuclear weapons testing of the 1950s and '60s, Lawrence Livermore scientists have found that a small portion of the human brain involved in memory makes new neurons well into adulthood.

Public Release: 10-Jun-2013

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Testing artificial photosynthesis
Berkeley Lab researchers, working at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, have developed the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems. This test-bed system has already been used to study schemes for photovoltaic electrolysis of water, and can be readily adapted to study proposed artificial photosynthesis and fuel cell technologies.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 10-Jun-2013

Nature Materials
Ames Laboratory scientists discover new family of quasicrystals
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered a new family of rare-earth quasicrystals using an algorithm they developed to help pinpoint them. Their research resulted in finding the only known magnetic rare earth icosahedral binary quasicrystals, now providing a "matched set" of magnetic quasicrystals and their closely related periodic cousins.

Department of Energy's Office of Science

Public Release: 10-Jun-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Unfrozen mystery: H2O reveals a new secret
Using revolutionary new techniques, a team led by Carnegie's Malcolm Guthrie has made a striking discovery about how ice behaves under pressure, changing ideas that date back almost 50 years. Their findings could alter our understanding of how the water molecule responds to conditions found deep within planets and could have implications for energy science.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 5-Jun-2013

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
New all-solid sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion technology
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium-sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics.

Public Release: 5-Jun-2013

Nature Communications
Resistivity switch is window to role of magnetism in iron-based superconductors
Physicists at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have discovered surprising changes in electrical resistivity in iron-based superconductors. The findings offer further evidence that magnetism and superconductivity are closely related in this class of novel superconductors.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 5-Jun-2013

Journal of Physical Chemistry A
Life on Earth shockingly comes from out of this world
Early Earth was not very hospitable when it came to jump starting life. In fact, new research shows that life on Earth may have come from out of this world.

Public Release: 5-Jun-2013

Nature Communications
Increased NMR/MRI sensitivity through hyperpolarization of nuclei in diamond
Berkeley Lab researchers have demonstrated the first magnetically-controlled nearly complete hyperpolarization of the spins of carbon-13 nuclei located near synthetic defects in diamond crystals. This spin hyperpolarization, which can be carried out with refrigerator-style magnets at room temperature, enhances NMR/MRI sensitivity by many orders of magnitude.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 4-Jun-2013
Early career award supports physicist's quest for a top quark partner
A Kansas State University physicist has received the prestigious Department of Energy Early Career Research Award for his collaborative research involving the Large Hadron Collider.

US Department of Energy

Public Release: 4-Jun-2013

Journal of the American Ceramic Society
Roman seawater concrete holds the secret to cutting carbon emissions
At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source, scientists analyzed samples from a Roman breakwater submerged in the Bay of Naples for over two millennia, revealing the secrets of crystal chemistry that allow Roman seawater concrete to resist chemical attack and wave action for centuries. Materials and processes for manufacturing extraordinarily durable Roman maritime concrete released much less carbon than most modern concrete, presenting important opportunities for better quality and reduction of atmospheric carbon.

KAUST, Harvard/Loeb Classical Lib Foundation, US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 4-Jun-2013

Nature Communications
Stanford scientists create novel silicon electrodes that improve lithium-ion batteries
Stanford University scientists have dramatically improved the performance of lithium-ion batteries by creating novel electrodes made of silicon and conducting polymer hydrogel, a spongy material similar to that used in contact lenses and other household products. The scientists developed a new technique for producing low-cost, silicon-based batteries with potential applications for a wide range of electrical devices.

Stanford University/Precourt Institute for Energy, US Department of Energy/SLAC

Public Release: 3-Jun-2013

Physical Review Letters
Dense hydrogen in a new light
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. The way it responds under extreme pressures and temperatures is crucial to our understanding of matter and the nature of hydrogen-rich planets. New work from Carnegie scientists using intense infrared radiation shines new light on this fundamental material at extreme pressures and reveals the details of a surprising new form of solid hydrogen.

National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 3-Jun-2013
June 2013 story tips
The following are story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for June 2013.

Public Release: 2-Jun-2013

Nature Materials
Printing innovations provide 10-fold improvement in organic electronics
SLAC and Stanford researchers have developed a new, printing process for organic thin-film electronics that results in films of strikingly higher quality.

US Department of Energy Office of Science

Public Release: 30-May-2013

Nature Geoscience
Water-rock reaction may provide enough hydrogen 'food' to sustain life in ocean's crust or on Mars
A chemical reaction between iron-containing minerals and water may produce enough hydrogen "food" to sustain microbial communities living in pores and cracks within the enormous volume of rock below the ocean floor and parts of the continents, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

David and Lucille Packard Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 30-May-2013
Sandia, SRI International sign pact to advance hydrogen and natural gas research for transportation
Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International, an independent research and innovation center, will join forces to explore, test and evaluate a broad range of hydrogen and natural gas fuel systems and components for transportation applications under a new agreement. The five-year memorandum of understanding is the first agreement in Sandia's new Center for Infrastructure Research and Innovation, an alternative fuel research and innovation facility.