2016 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Innovations with Potential to Benefit Society on Display at Celebrate Princeton Invention

A nanoscale sensor for environmental monitoring and an implantable medical device to restore brain function after a stroke were two of the research projects with the potential to benefit society that were on display at Celebrate Princeton Invention last week.

The Light Stuff: A Brand-New Way to Produce Electron Spin Currents

Scientists led by Mingzhong Wu, professor of physics in CSU’s College of Natural Sciences, are the first to demonstrate using non-polarized light to produce what’s called a spin voltage – a unit of power produced from the quantum spinning of an individual electron.

Raju Venugopalan Awarded Prestigious Humboldt Research Award

Raju Venugopalan, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University and a senior physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been awarded a Humboldt Research Award for his remarkable achievements in theoretical nuclear physics.

Split-Second Imaging Sheds Light on Biology’s Grand Questions

In a groundbreaking experiment with the world’s fastest camera, a team of physicists – led by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee – documented the fundamental processes of a chemical reaction unfolding in real time.

Evidence Shows Galactic Center's Gamma Rays Unlikely to Originate From Dark Matter

Bursts of gamma rays from the center of our galaxy are not likely to be signals of dark matter but rather other astrophysical phenomena such as fast-rotating stars called millisecond pulsars, according to two new studies, one from a team based at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and another based in the Netherlands.

Physics, Photosynthesis and Solar Cells

A University of California, Riverside assistant professor has combined photosynthesis and physics to make a key discovery that could lead to highly efficient, green solar cells.

A Noble Calling: Ruthenium Nanoframes Open the Doors to Better Catalysts

Using a two-part process, a team of chemists, led by Xiaohu Xia from Michigan Technological University, has found a way to turn ruthenium into a nanoframe, a promising metal catalyst.

Novel Silicon Etching Technique Crafts 3D Gradient Refractive Index Micro-Optics

Working with colleagues at Stanford and The Dow Chemical Company, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a novel approach for fabricating three-dimensional micro-optics through the shape-defined formation of porous silicon (PSi), with broad impacts in integrated optoelectronics, imaging, and photovoltaics.

Flat Boron is a Superconductor

Rice University scientists have determined that two-dimensional boron is a natural low-temperature superconductor. In fact, it may be the only 2-D material with such potential.

Hybrid Approach Predicts and Confirms Structure of Complex Metal Nanoparticles

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Toledo report on an X-ray-determined structure that authenticates the a priori prediction, and in conjunction with first-principles theoretical analysis, supports the underlying forecasting methodology.

Hydrogen Peroxide Extends its Reach

A group of researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States has developed a method of producing hydrogen peroxide on demand through a simple, one-step process.

Will Cars of the Future Run on Waste?

Researchers at UCLA have engineered a bacterial system that uses material from renewable sources such as agricultural waste, municipal waste, plant matter, cellulosic matter and even carbon dioxide to create the next generation of advanced biofuels.