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News

Light drives the migration of charge carriers (electrons and holes) at the juncture between semiconductors with mismatched crystal lattices. These heterostructures hold promise for advancing optoelectronics and exploring new physics.

‘Odd couple’ monolayer semiconductors align to advance optoelectronics

April 15, 2016

Epitaxy, or growing crystalline film layers that are templated by a crystalline substrate, is a mainstay of manufacturing transistors and semiconductors.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists combined imaging techniques to measure crystallization kinetics of perovskite films following exposure to a mixed halide vapor.

ORNL tracks how halogen atoms compete to grow ‘winning’ perovskites

April 6, 2016

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a potential path to further improve solar cell efficiency by understanding the competition among halogen atoms during the synthesis of sunlight-absorbing crystals.

In unbound calyx[4]pyrrole, two pyrrole “petals” are flipped up and two, down.

Chalice receptors attract metal contaminants with new chemical selectivity

April 5, 2016

Atomic charges in chemical solutions are like Switzerland—they strive for neutrality. The tendency to balance charges drives dynamics when charged atoms or molecules, called ions, are present in solutions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers made a molecule that could selectively bind to metals in the middle of the lanthanide series.

ORNL scientists show charged salts can extract specific central lanthanide elements

March 28, 2016

Rare earth elements are metals used in technologies from wind turbines and magnetic resonance imaging agents to industrial catalysts and high-definition televisions.

ORNL’s tough new plastic is made with 50 percent renewable content from biomass. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; conceptual art by Mark Robbins

ORNL researchers invent tougher plastic with 50 percent renewable content

March 22, 2016

Your car’s bumper is probably made of a moldable thermoplastic polymer called ABS, shorthand for its acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene components.

ORNL–NIST team explores nanoscale objects and processes with microwave microscopy

March 21, 2016

When lots of energy hits an atom, it can knock off electrons, making the atom extremely chemically reactive and initiating further destruction. That’s why radiation is so dangerous.

Replacement for silicon devices looms big with ORNL discovery

March 17, 2016

Two-dimensional electronic devices could inch closer to their ultimate promise of low power, high efficiency and mechanical flexibility with a processing technique developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers re-evaluated used nuclear fuel rods from a commercial reactor and reduced data uncertainties by an order of magnitude compared with previous measurements taken at a different lab.

ORNL’s benchmark data set validates global nuclear reactor codes

March 9, 2016

Nearly 100 commercial nuclear reactors supply one-fifth of America’s energy.

ORNL’s Jim Keiser and Mike Stephens (on stepladder) prepare to install samples in a Keiser rig, a furnace for exposing materials to corrosive gases, crushing pressures and calamitous heat. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy;

‘Keiser rigs’ stress materials to the max to improve products for power, propulsion

March 8, 2016

The global marketplace demands constant improvements in performance and efficiency of aircraft engines, power turbines and other modern mainstays of energy technology.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Joe Giaquinto investigates chemical clues for trace-level radioactivity. Giaquinto leads ORNL’s Nuclear Analytical Chemistry and Isotopics Laboratory, which makes critical contributions to nuclear forensics and nonprolifera

Cracking Cases

January 25, 2016

A group of nuclear detectives at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory takes on tough challenges, from detecting illicit uranium using isotopic “fingerprints” to investigating Presidential assassination conspiracies.