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ORNL researcher David Cullen has been named a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America for significant contributions to microscopy. His work advances electron microscopy techniques that reveal materials and catalysts at the nanoscale, helping speed progress in energy-related and other technology research.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have uncovered a path to design superionic polymer electrolytes for solid-state batteries and other energy applications that could help ensure a future of abundant and reliable energy for the United States. The scientists demonstrated that by carefully controlling the chemical composition of a lithium salt-based polymer, they could create a material that enables superfast transport of ions in batteries and many other energy storage and conversion technologies.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a method to convert a commonly discarded hydrocarbon polymer into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. The team has applied for a patent for the discovery, which treats polyethylene — the stuff of white cutting boards and shopping bags — with aluminum chloride-containing molten salts that serve as both solvent and catalyst. The results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Yongtao Liu is building AI-driven “closed-loop” nanomaterials experiments that can plan measurements, interpret results in real time and choose the next step — accelerating discovery without removing human judgment. His focus is not just speed but trustworthy autonomy: systems must be interpretable, resilient to instrument artifacts and designed to avoid “false novelty,” where noise masquerades as new physics. Drawing on work such as novelty detection in conductive AFM studies of halide perovskites — linking local microstructure to unusual hysteresis behavior — Liu emphasizes that autonomous labs also demand better methods to validate and understand the massive data they produce. He is developing practical tools like AEcroscopy to standardize automated microscopy workflows and a Gated Active Learning Framework to prevent models from confidently learning from out-of-assumption data, while also pushing cross-facility autonomy that links fast measurements with slower synthesis. Ultimately, Liu envisions AI that helps scientists reason and explore vast experimental spaces — freeing researchers from repetitive tasks so they can focus on asking sharper questions.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will share their discoveries and innovations at DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit in San Diego, California, April 7-9. ARPA-E funds high-risk, high-impact energy technologies that can be quickly and meaningfully advanced to catalyze bleeding-edge energy research.