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Energy Sciences

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-Jul-2025 20:10 ET (2-Jul-2025 00:10 GMT/UTC)

Material stimulated by light pulses could be leap toward more energy-efficient supercomputing

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In an Argonne-led project, researchers used X-ray microscopy to discover a ferroelectric material that tailors its response to controlled ultrafast external stimuli, such as light pulses. The material might be applicable to energy-efficient microelectronics.

Journal: Advanced Materials

New technique could unlock potential of quantum materials

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has devised a unique method to observe changes in materials at the atomic level. The technique opens new avenues for understanding and developing advanced materials for quantum computing and electronics.

Journal: Science Advances

Quantum research paves the way toward efficient, ultra-high-density optical memory storage

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago have proposed a new optical memory technology using rare-earth elements and quantum defects for energy-efficient, high-density data storage.

Journal: Physical Review Research

Argonne researchers crack a key problem with sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and grid energy storage

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New method for cathode preparation prevents the particle cracking that caused performance decline with cycling of sodium-ion batteries, which offer a cheaper, more abundant alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Manganese cathodes could boost lithium-ion batteries

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Manganese is earth-abundant and cheap. A new process could help make it a contender to replace nickel and cobalt in batteries.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology

Replacing hype about artificial intelligence with accurate measurements of success

DOE/Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Nature Machine Intelligence notes that journal articles reporting how well machine learning models solve certain kinds of equations are often overly optimistic. The researchers suggest two rules for reporting results and systemic changes to encourage clarity and accuracy in reporting.

Journal: Nature Machine Intelligence
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, DOE/US Department of Energy

Innovative electrolytes could transform steelmaking and beyond

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists are pioneering a new approach to designing electrolytes for more energy-efficient and less carbon-intensive electrochemical processes. They hope to improve electrolyte performance in applications such as iron production for steel.

Journal: Chem

Flexible circuits made with silk and graphene on the horizon

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ultra-thin layers of silk deposited on graphene in perfect alignment represent a key advance for the control needed in microelectronics and advanced neural network development.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Magnifying deep space through the “carousel lens”

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A newly discovered cluster-scale strong gravitational lens, with a rare alignment of seven background lensed galaxies, provides a unique opportunity to study cosmology.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal

Constriction junction, do you function?

DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have shown that a type of qubit whose architecture is more amenable to mass production can perform comparably to qubits currently dominating the field. With a series of mathematical analyses, the scientists have provided a roadmap for simpler qubit fabrication that enables robust and reliable manufacturing of these quantum computer building blocks.

Journal: Physical Review A

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