2018 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Chemist Car Wins DOE Funding for Computational Chemistry Center

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Wednesday, Sept. 19, that Roberto Car, Princeton’s Ralph W. *31 Dornte Professor in Chemistry and a professor with the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, was one of 10 researchers to win funding for computational chemistry.

Scientists Use Tiny Diamond Anvils to Put Squeeze on Materials

Scientists have turned tiny bits of diamond and super-hard specks into “molecular anvils” that squeeze and twist molecules until chemical bonds break and atoms exchange electrons.

Hatchet Enzyme, Enabler of Sickness and of Health, Exposed by Neutron Beams

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) get a pioneering glimpse inside elusive cell membranes exposes a major player in cell health but also in hepatitis C and in Alzheimer's.

New Research Yields Super-Strong Aluminum Alloy

A team of researchers that included Purdue postdoctoral research associate Sichuang Xue and doctoral student Qiang Li have demonstrated how to create a super-strong aluminum alloy that rivals the strength of stainless steel, an advance with potential industrial applications.

Beyond Silicon: Researchers Solve a Materials Mystery Key to Next-Generation Electronic Devices

Researchers from University of Wisconsin–Madison – as well as collaborators from Ohio State University, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Argonne National Laboratory, Sungkyunkwan University, and Pohang University of Science and Technology – have solved a materials mystery in oxide electronics materials.

Professor Creates New Materials for Gas Separations

In response to future energy challenges, chemical engineers at The University of Alabama are creating new materials to more efficiently separate gases related to energy processes.

Gene Improves Plant Growth and Conversion to Biofuels

A research team led by the University of Georgia has discovered that manipulation of the same gene in poplar trees and switchgrass produced plants that grow better and are more efficiently converted to biofuels.

Rapid Decompression Key to Making Low-Density Liquid Water

New work from Carnegie high-pressure geophysicists Chuanlong Lin, Jesse Smith, Stanislav Sinogeikin, and Guoyin Shen found evidence of the long-theorized, difficult-to-see low-density liquid phase of water.

Advances in Fabricating Nanocrystalline Diamonds to Study Materials Under Extreme Conditions

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers working with the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory manufactured nanocrystalline-diamond micro-anvils at a pressure nearly two times greater than that found at the center of the Earth.

Climate Change Game-Changer? USC Scientists Find More Efficient Way to Convert Methane into Useful Chemicals

USC scientists have unlocked a new, more efficient pathway for converting methane — a potent gas contributing to climate change — directly into basic chemicals for manufacturing plastics, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Research Team Publish Work on Solar Cell Film Phase Transitions

A Purdue University professor and a multi-institution team of researchers recently published a paper on solar cells in Nature Materials titled “Thermochromic halide perovskite solar cells,” which focuses on the team’s research of the structural-phase transition behaviors in mixed halide perovskite thin films.

Computational Astrophysics Team Uncloaks Magnetic Fields of Cosmic Events

Computational astrophysicists at the University of Chicago describe a new method for acquiring information on experiments using laser beams to reproduce cosmic conditions.