Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Arrays of nanoribbons of lead zirconate titanate (gold, bottom) on a sheet of flexible polymer (brown) produce current pulses during each heartbeat.

Power from the Heart

Advances in materials processing enable harvesting of energy from heartbeats.

A series of x-ray scattering images are taken at ultrafast time intervals with an x-ray laser after excitation with an infra-red source that energizes the vibrational modes of a Germanium crystal.

X-ray Laser Used to Produce Movies of Atomic-scale Motion

Stroboscopic x-ray pulses scatter from a vibrating crystal and reveal how energy moves.

Nanobionic Leaf: DNA-coated carbon nanotubes (top) incorporated inside chloroplasts in the leaves of living plants (middle) boost plant photosynthesis.

Nanobionics Supercharge Photosynthesis

Carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanoparticles enhance photosynthetic activity and stability.

An anti-Brownian single-molecule microfluidic trap is used to observe individual light-harvesting antenna complexes in solution.

Shining Light on the Fleeting Interactions of Single Molecules

New technique allows scientists to observe the dynamic structural changes of single biomolecules in solution.

Breaking Down the Mechanisms of Biomass Deconstruction

Study reveals insights into plant structural changes during bioenergy pretreatments.

Scanning electron microscope image of 2D arrays of channels created in a silicon sheet taking advantage of novel interface interactions with the soft substrate.

Chemistry and Strain Allow New Microfabrication

Discovery of a new bonding mechanism has enabled the facile fabrication of arrays of semiconductor microstructures.

The one-armed antibody, onartuzumab (pink) binds to the receptor tyrosine kinase, MET (green and blue) found on the surface of cells preventing the binding of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) (red) disrupting the development and growth of tumors.

Biomolecular Structure Studies Advance an Antibody Approach to Cancer Therapy

Crystal structures obtained at the Advanced Light Source helped inform Genentech about the binding mechanism of a unique antibody that targets multiple cancer types.

Copper (Cu) nanorods grown using physical vapor deposition.

Downsizing Has Its Rewards

New Theory has Guided Experiments for Making the Smallest Possible Metal Rods Useful as Air-tight Sealants.

Front view of metal organic framework (MOF-74), showing the almost perfectly one-dimensional chains of transition metal magnets (green sections of structure).

When Metal Organic Frameworks Turn into One-Dimensional Magnets

Simulations and experiments reveal one-dimensional nano-size magnets are formed in a common porous material.

Laser induced photodetachment is used to turn a stable F¯(H2O) molecule into FH2O to study the “half reaction” processes experimentally and theoretically.

A View from the Middle for Chemical Reactions

Studying the photodetachment of a stable anion provides an experimental-theoretical benchmark of the chemical dynamics.

AFM micrograph of the muscovite (001) basal plane showing PuO2 nanoparticles after overnight exposure to 2 mM Pu(III) in 100 mM NaCl at pH 2.6 (image range: 200 nm×200 nm).

Surface-Mediated Formation of Plutonium Nanoparticles

Researchers observe metal-trapping on mineral surfaces.

A fragment of the crystal structure of the new ice is shown where the oxygen atoms are blue and the molecular hydrogen atoms pink.

Inside Ice Under High Pressure

New insights from neutron diffraction reveal changes to atomic structure.