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Researchers at ORNL have developed an innovative new technique using carbon nanofibers to enhance binding in carbon fiber and other fiber-reinforced polymer composites – an advance likely to improve structural materials for automobiles, airplanes and other applications that require lightweight and strong materials. 

As demand for energy-intensive computing grows, researchers at ORNL have developed a new technique that lets scientists see how interfaces move in promising materials for computing and other applications. The method, now available to users at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at ORNL, could help design dramatically more energy-efficient technologies.

Working at nanoscale dimensions, billionths of a meter in size, a team of scientists led by ORNL revealed a new way to measure high-speed fluctuations in magnetic materials. Knowledge obtained by these new measurements could be used to advance technologies ranging from traditional computing to the emerging field of quantum computing. 

Neus Domingo Marimon, leader of the Functional Atomic Force Microscopy group at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences of ORNL, has been elevated to senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

ORNL’s annual workshop has become the premier forum for molten salt reactor, or MSR, collaboration and Â鶹ӰÒô, convening industry, academia and government experts to further advance MSR research and development. This year’s event attracted a record-breaking 365 participants from across the country, highlighting the momentum to bring MSRs online.

ORNL researchers created and tested two methods for transforming coal into the scarce mineral graphite, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles. 

Seven scientists affiliated with ORNL have been named Battelle Distinguished Inventors in recognition of being granted 14 or more United States patents. Since Battelle began managing ORNL in 2000, 104 ORNL researchers have reached this milestone.

Scientists at ORNL are studying the failure mechanisms of a new solid electrolyte battery to enhance long-term storage for renewable energy, aiming to make wind and solar power more reliable for the electric grid.

Researchers for the first time documented the specific chemistry dynamics and structure of high-temperature liquid uranium trichloride salt, a potential nuclear fuel source for next-generation reactors. 

To speed the arrival of the next-generation solid-state batteries that will power electric vehicles and other technologies, scientists led by ORNL advanced the development of flexible, durable sheets of electrolytes. They used a polymer to create a strong yet springy thin film that binds electrolytic particles and at least doubles energy storage.