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A new study from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory explains the mechanism behind a technology that converts bio-based ethanol into hydrocarbon blend-stocks for use as fossil fuel alternatives.

An international team led by Gaute Hagen of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used America's most powerful supercomputer, Titan, to compute the neutron distribution and related observables of calcium-48, an isotope with an atomic nucleus consisting of 20 protons and 28 neutrons. Computing the nucleus from first principles revealed that the difference between the radii of neutron and proton distributions (called the 'neutron skin') is considerably smaller than previously thought.

Designing alloys to withstand extreme environments is a fundamental challenge for materials scientists. Energy from radiation can create imperfections in alloys, so researchers in an Energy Frontier Research Center led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are investigating ways to design structural materials that develop fewer, smaller flaws under irradiation. The key is exploiting the complexity present when alloys are made with equal amounts of up to four different metallic elements.

RJ Lee Group has signed an agreement to license an invention developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory that converts waste rubber into a valuable energy storage material.

Catalysts that power chemical reactions to produce the nylon used in clothing, cookware, machinery and electronics could get a lift with a new formulation that saves time, energy and natural resources.

Engines, laptops and power plants generate waste heat. Thermoelectric materials, which convert temperature gradients to electricity and vice versa, can recover some of that heat and improve energy efficiency. A team of scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored the fundamental physics of the world's best thermoelectric material -- tin selenide -- using neutron scattering and computer simulations. Their work may aid energy sustainability and design of materials that convert heat into electricity.

Advances in ultrathin films have made solar panels and semiconductor devices more efficient and less costly, and researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory say they've found a way to manufacture the films more easily, too.

A team led by ETH Zurich's Mathieu Luisier used the Titan supercomputer to improve size and speed of nanoelectronics models.

A team led by Brown's George Karniadakis is using the Titan supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility to simulate hundreds of millions of red blood cells in an attempt to develop better drug delivery methods and predictors to fight against tumor formation and sickle cell anemia.