University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

New Design Produces True Lithium-Air Battery

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at Argonne National Laboratory have designed a new lithium-air battery that works in a natural air environment and still functioned after a record-breaking 750 charge/discharge cycles.

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Probe Hydrogen Bonds Using New Technique

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy to probe the hydrogen bonds that modulate the chemical reactivity of enzymes, catalysts and biomimetic complexes. The technique could lead to the development of better catalysts for use in a wide range of fields.

Chemists Awarded $3.6 Million to Study Quantum Computing

A group of Northwestern University chemists and engineers have been been awarded $3.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to support their work of creating better qubits, the smallest unit of a quantum computer.

New Options for Breast Cancer Drug Development Found in Estrogen Receptors

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have uncovered a previously uncharacterized, bridge-like structure within the human estrogen receptor that could serve as a valuable new drug target.

A New Path to Solving a Longstanding Fusion Challenge

A class exercise at MIT, aided by industry researchers, has led to an innovative solution to one of the longstanding challenges facing the development of practical fusion power plants: how to get rid of excess heat that would cause structural damage to the plant.

Physics Graduate Student Takes Her Thesis Research to a Department of Energy National Lab

For 12 months, Ashlyn Burch, a University of Alabama at Birmingham physics student will work at Sandia National Laboratory, high in the semi-arid Western city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, supported by a U.S. Department of Energy Science Graduate Student Research award.

New, Highly Stable Catalyst May Help Turn Water Into Fuel

In the journal Angewandte Chemie, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report on an electrocatalytic material made from mixing metal compounds with substance called perchloric acid.

Chemical Engineering Alumna Receives Federal Early Career Award

Elizabeth J. Biddinger, an Ohio University chemical and biomolecular engineering alumna, has received one of 84 early career awards from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Graphene Layered with Magnetic Materials Could Drive Ultrathin Spintronics

Tiny swirling textures in the magnetic fields within layered materials could be a key to replacing disk drives and flash memory in computing devices. Physicists at UC Davis and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are exploring how these patterns form in materials layered with graphene, an ultrathin form of carbon.

UAF, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Ink Collaborative Agreement

The University of Alaska Fairbanks and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have signed a five-year collaborative agreement to advance research on hydropower generation, marine renewable energy and underwater technology development.

Rutgers-led Research Could Lead to More Efficient Electronics

A Rutgers-led team of physicists has demonstrated a way to conduct electricity between transistors without energy loss, opening the door to low-power electronics and, potentially, quantum computing that would be far faster than today’s computers.

Stanford Researchers Find Groundwater Pumping Can Increase Arsenic Levels in Irrigation and Drinking Water

Pumping an aquifer to the last drop squeezes out more than water. A Stanford study finds it can also unlock dangerous arsenic from buried clays – and reveals how sinking land can provide an early warning and measure of contamination.