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Will 2-D tin be the next super material?

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A single layer of tin atoms could be the world's first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate, according to a team of theoretical physicists led by researchers from the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Stanford University

Holistic cell design leads to high-performance, long cycle-life Li/S battery

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated in the laboratory a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of lithium-ion batteries, and that lasts for more than 1,500 cycles of charge-discharge with minimal decay of the battery's capacity. This is the longest cycle life reported so far for any lithium-sulfur battery.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, University of California

A superconductor-surrogate earns its stripes

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Understanding superconductivity -- whereby certain materials can conduct electricity without any loss of energy -- has proved to be one of the most persistent problems in modern physics. Now scientists at Berkeley Lab have teased out another important tangle from this giant ball of string, bringing us a significant step closer to understanding how high-temperature superconductors work their magic.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Scientists invent self-healing battery electrode

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have made the first battery electrode that heals itself, opening a new and potentially commercially viable path for making the next generation of lithium ion batteries for electric cars, cell phones and other devices. The secret is a stretchy polymer that coats the electrode, binds it together and spontaneously heals tiny cracks that develop during battery operation, said the team from Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Journal: Nature Chemistry
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

Overcoming brittleness: New insights into bulk metallic glass

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a bulk metallic glass based on palladium that's as strong as the best composite bulk metallic glasses and comparable to steel, aluminum and titanium.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

DOE awards $25.4 million for 'extreme scale' supercomputer interconnect design

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Research and development contracts of $25.4 million have been given to five leading companies in high-performance computing to accelerate the development of next-generation supercomputers. Under DOE's new DesignForward initiative, AMD, Cray, IBM, Intel Federal and NVIDIA will work to advance extreme-scale, on the path to exascale, computing technology that is vital to national security, scientific research, energy security and the nation's economic competitiveness.

Funder: Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration

Lignin-feasting microbe holds promise for biofuels

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute have identified a rain forest microbe that feasts on the lignin in plant leaf litter, making it a potential ally for the cost-effective production of advanced biofuels.

Journal: Frontiers in Microbiology
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

Taking a new look at carbon nanotubes

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Two of the biggest challenges in carbon nanotube research have been met with the development by Berkeley Lab researchers of a technique that can be used to identify the structure of an individual carbon nanotube and characterize its electronic and optical properties in a functional device.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science, National Science Foundation

Livermore researchers find tie between global precipitation and global warming

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists shows that observed changes in global (ocean and land) precipitation are directly affected by human activities and cannot be explained by natural variability alone.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Lawrence Livermore researchers unveil carbon nanotube jungles to better detect molecules

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed a new method of using nanotubes to detect molecules at extremely low concentrations enabling trace detection of biological threats, explosives and drugs.

Journal: Advanced Materials