Feature Articles

Kirstin Alberi is Director of the Materials Science Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Her research into semiconductor materials shows that scientists can use light as a tool while depositing materials as a vapor and controlling the substrate’s temperature.

Andrea Delgado, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is using quantum computing to help investigate the fundamental building blocks of the universe and to see whether there are particles yet to be found.

NASA scientists are using neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study moon rocks collected from the Apollo space missions. The samples are made of dust and rock fragments that combined and struck the moon's surface possibly billions of years ago. As plans to travel to Mars progress, insights into the rocks could reveal more about the formation of the solar system and where water might be found on the moon.

PNNL-developed catalytic process and catalyst to upgrade ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel wins American Chemical Society award.

Argonne National Laboratory draws on strengths of principal materials scientist Xuan Zhang to develop unique facilities and research capabilities.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are helping modernize power management and enhance reliability in an increasingly complex electric grid. As the United States transitions to cleaner energy and more U.S. consumers adopt electric vehicles, the grid is facing new power flow demands. ORNL researchers are tackling this challenge by creating a new architecture to modernize the grid from the bottom up, starting with consumers and expanding to the entire power distribution system. A cornerstone of this architecture is a new power electronics technology suite called a Smart Universal Power Electronics Regulator, or SUPER.

Scientists working on the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment are developing a vertical drift detector. The new technology may open doors to building large neutrino detectors at a lower cost and in a simpler manner.

The international DUNE collaboration is conducting final tests of the components for its first neutrino detector module, to be installed a mile underground in South Dakota. Preparations for ramping up the mass production of these components are underway.

A new nano-optical bioimaging technology in development at PNNL enables researchers to watch climate-bellwether microbes exchange metabolites and other essential signals.

Brenden Ortiz, a Wigner Distinguished Staff Fellow at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is helping design the next generation of quantum materials.