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

New Catalyst Meets Challenge of Cleaning Exhaust from Modern Engines

Researchers at Washington State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of New Mexico have created a catalyst capable of reducing pollutants at the lower temperatures expected in advanced engines.

Hafnia Dons a New Face: Materials Research Creates Potential for Improved Computer Chips and Transistors

A collaborative University of Kentucky-Texas A&M University team has found a way to achieve this highly sought tetragonal phase at 1100 degrees Fahrenheit — think much closer to room temperature and potential holy grail for the computing industry, along with countless other sectors and applications.

Scientists Discover Process for Transitioning Two-Layer Graphene into a Diamond-Hard Material on Impact

Scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center, CUNY, worked to theorize and test how two layers of graphene — each one-atom thick — could be made to transform into a diamond-like material upon impact at room temperature.

Scientists Discover New Method to Harness Energy

A Washington State University professor is part of a team that has unraveled the mechanism of a process that couples chemical reactions in a unique way that conserves energy and prevents loss.

Researchers Find New Way to Control Light with Electric Fields

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a technique that allows them to change the refractive index for visible light in some semiconductor materials by 60 percent – two orders of magnitude better than previous results.

Decomposing Leaves are a Surprising Source of Greenhouse Gases

Michigan State University scientists have pinpointed a new source of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that’s more potent than carbon dioxide, which could help refine nitrous oxide emission predictions as well as guide future agriculture and soil management practices.

Physicists Create 'Molecular Black Hole' Using Ultra-Intense X-ray Pulses

Kansas State University physicists capture how an iodine atom irradiated by an extremely intense X-ray beam loses dozens of electrons and, for a short time, turns into a "molecular black hole" that pulls in charge from its surroundings.

Engineers Create Plants that Glow

MIT Researchers have engineered a plant that can glow in the dark by embedding nanoparticles into the plant's leaves.

IU Grad Student Earns Department of Energy Award to Advance Research on High-Energy Physics

Jacob Christopher Zettlemoyer of the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics will pursue experimental research on high-energy physics with support from the grant at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Differences in Sea Spray Particle Chemistry Linked to Formation Processes of Drops by Bubbles in Breaking Waves

A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has identified for the first time what drives the observed differences in the chemical make-up of sea spray particles ejected from the ocean by breaking waves.

Researchers Discover Breakthrough Process for Directly Converting Methane to Methanol

The direct oxidation of methane—found in natural gas—into methanol at low temperatures has long been a holy grail. Now, researchers at Tufts have found a breakthrough way to accomplish the feat using a heterogeneous catalyst and cheap molecular oxygen.

First-of-its-Kind Mummy Study Reveals Clues to Girl’s Story

Researchers from Northwestern University brought a mummy to Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source for an all-day x-ray scattering experiment to probe the materials and objects, while leaving the mummy and her wrappings intact.