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

Novel Methods of Synthesizing Quantum Dot Materials

MIT researchers are optimizing nanostructures for energy devices such as solar cells.

Chemists Follow Molecules Down ‘Nanowells,’ Track Catalytic Reactions in Nanoconfinement

Chemists at Iowa State University and Georgia State University have measured the effects of nanoconfinement in catalysis by tracking single molecules as they dive down “nanowells” and react with catalysts at the bottom.

The New Bioenergy Research Center: Building on Ten Years of Success

Building on the success of 10 years of investigation into the production of renewable fuels from plants, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, recently embarked on a new mission: to develop sustainable alternatives to transportation fuels and products currently derived from petroleum.

Brown Awarded $3.5M to Speed Up Atomic-scale Computer Simulations

With a new grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a Brown University-led research team will use machine learning to speed up atom-level simulations of chemical reactions and the properties of materials.

Tailoring Cancer Treatments to Individual Patients

Supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center help researchers design cancer models and predict treatments outcomes based on patient-specific conditions.

New Catalyst for Making Fuels from Shale Gas

Methane in shale gas can be turned into hydrocarbon fuels using an innovative platinum and copper alloy catalyst, according to new research led by UCL (University College London) and Tufts University.

Mapping Nanoscale Chemical Reactions Inside Batteries in 3-D

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new technique that lets them pinpoint the location of chemical reactions happening inside lithium-ion batteries in three dimensions at the nanoscale level.

2-Stage Gas Sensor Reports on Soil Dynamics

A gene “genie” developed by Rice University scientists grants researchers valuable data about microbes through puffs of gas from the soil.

IBBR Awarded DOE Grant to Investigate How to Protect an Emerging Biofuel Crop from Disease

The Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) has been awarded a $1.1M U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to elucidate the mechanism of rust pathogenesis in poplar in an effort to engineer durable resistance for this important, second generation biofuel crop.

UW and PNNL Team Up to Make the Materials of Tomorrow

With this eye toward the future, the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Washington announced the creation of the Northwest Institute for Materials Physics, Chemistry and Technology — or NW IMPACT — a joint research endeavor to power discoveries and advancements in materials that transform energy, telecommunications, medicine, information technology and other fields.

Reviewing Photosynthesis in Dynamic Conditions: PSI as the Protector

Scientists at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory shed light on how a protein complex, Photosystem I (PSI), plays important roles in protecting plants from excessive sunlight exposure and in helping them navigate old age.

New Exotic Phenomena Seen in Photonic Crystals

A team of researchers at MIT and elsewhere has found novel topological phenomena in a different class of systems — open systems, where energy or material can enter or be emitted, as opposed to closed systems with no such exchange with the outside.