Science Highlights

Using a polymer to make a strong yet springy thin film, scientists led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are speeding the arrival of next-generation solid-state batteries. This effort advances the development of electric vehicle power enabled by flexible, durable sheets of solid-state electrolytes.

When light shines on a semiconductor, it excites the electrons, leaving behind a “hole.” Electrons and these holes attract each other to form excitons, which can interact with other unpaired charges to alter the shape, direction, and/or frequency of a beam of light in the semiconductor. Researchers demonstrated that this response is unprecedently strong in a two-dimensional device made of three atomic layers of the semiconductor tungsten di-selenide.

A recent study shows that the superconducting edge currents in the topological material molybdenum telluride (MoTe2) can sustain large changes in the “glue” that keeps the superconducting electrons paired. To sustain these changes, the bulk and the edge of MoTe2 must behave differently. This surprise finding will help researchers create and control anyons and aid in the development of future energy-efficient electronics.

A newly developed process transforms large, irregular chunks of metal elements into uniform spherical particles that act like tiny ball bearings rolling past one another. This allows solid metals to be handled like a liquid. This process, the AMAZEMET rePowder® ultrasonic metal atomization process, works equally well for most metallic elements and their alloys.

Scientists have developed a way to detect tiny amounts of hard-to-detect explosives more than eight feet away.

Transforming carbon monoxide into an energy dense liquid fuel is hard to accomplish in a single step, so researchers instead use multi-step reactions. Recently, scientists improved this multi-step process by using recyclable organic reductants. They also identified two key intermediates in the transformation of carbon monoxide to methanol. These advances provide for a domino-style cascade of reactions for generating fuel.

Shale has complex chemical and physical characteristics that make fluid flow through rock extremely complex and difficult to both measure and model. Researchers are now building new tools to examine, characterize, and simulate shale, especially shale cap rock. This work aids efforts at geological carbon storage, the storage of alternative fuels, and the extraction of oil and gas.

Scientists face challenges in their understanding of nuclei. For instance, they have not connected the description of the size of nuclei with the theory of the strong nuclear force, and it is not clear if theories of atomic nuclei can provide a reliable description of nuclear matter. In this research, scientists precisely measured the radii of stable and unstable silicon isotopes to help answer these questions.