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Field widens for environments, microbes that produce toxic form of mercury

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Thawing permafrost and contaminated sediment in marine coastal areas pose some of the greatest risks for the production of highly toxic methylmercury.

Journal: Science Advances

Laser spectroscopy of ultrathin semiconductor reveals rise of 'trion' quasiparticles

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used ultrafast laser spectroscopy at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences to demystify the dynamics of the negative trions. They explored the behavior of the charged quasiparticle in a two-dimensional semiconductor that is an excellent absorber of sunlight. Their insights, published in the journal Physical Review B, may prove important for advancing technologies for solar energy and quantum computing.

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oct. 2015

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This tip sheet includes: High octane rating makes ethanol attractive; ORNL has potential solution to congestion, collisions; ORNL using advanced methods to discover new materials; ORNL hosting molten salt reactor workshop; and Virginia Tech using ORNL computing resources for energy exploration

ORNL researchers find 'greener' way to assemble materials for solar applications

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The efficiency of solar cells depends on precise engineering of polymers that assemble into films 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. Today, formation of that polymer assembly requires solvents that can harm the environment, but scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a 'greener' way to control the assembly of photovoltaic polymers in water using a surfactant -- a detergent-like molecule -- as a template.

Journal: Nanoscale
Funder: US Department of Energy's Office of Science

ORNL microscopy finds evidence of high-temperature superconductivity in single layer

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Electron microscopy at is pointing researchers closer to the development of ultra-thin materials that transfer electrons with no resistance at relatively high temperatures.

New York cybersecurity company licenses ORNL's Data Diode

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Business Announcement

Lock Data Solutions has licensed a technology from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed to protect a company's data from internal and external threats

Titan helps unpuzzle decades-old plutonium perplexities

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

First produced in 1940, plutonium is one of the most electronically complicated elements on Earth -- and because of its complexities, scientists have been struggling to prove the existence of its magnetic properties ever since. Finally, that struggle is over, thanks to a timely combination of theory, algorithm and code developments, neutrons experiments, and Titan -- the second-most-powerful supercomputer in the world.

Building champions: National Science Bowl offseason

DOE/Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Five-time National Science Bowl champion Mira Loma HS keeps an intense -- and pizza fueled -- training regimen through the summer and fall.

ORNL demonstrates road to supercapacitors for scrap tires

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Some of the 300 million tires discarded each year in the United States alone could be used in supercapacitors for vehicles and the electric grid using a technology developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Drexel University.

Journal: ChemSusChem

ORNL integrated energy demo connects 3-D printed building, vehicle

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research demonstration unveiled today at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory combines clean energy technologies into a 3-D printed building and vehicle to showcase a new approach to energy use, storage and consumption.