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

Catalyst Advance Could Lead to Economical Fuel Cells

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new way to make low-cost, single-atom catalysts for fuel cells — an advance that could make important clean energy technology more economically viable.

Scientists Find New Methods to Control Bacterial Factories for Biotech Aims

The Kerfeld lab at Michigan State University announces two new methods for manipulating bacterial factories for biotech aims: one is to screen and extract the factories, the other is to predictably insert custom enzymes in them.

Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation Funding Renewed

The Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation (CLSF), an Energy Frontiers Research Center (EFRC) established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2009 and led by Penn State scientists, has once again had its funding renewed by the DOE for an additional four years.

Researchers Make First-Ever 6D Measurement of Accelerator Beam

A team of researchers led by UT physics professor Sarah Cousineau has made the first-ever 6D measurement of an accelerator beam, an achievement that has eluded scientists for decades.

Warming Alters Predator-prey Interactions in the Arctic

Under warming conditions, Arctic wolf spiders’ tastes in prey might be changing, according to new research by biologist Amanda Koltz in Arts & Sciences — initiating a new cascade of food web interactions that could potentially alleviate some impacts of global warming.

Researchers Boost Performance Quality of Perovskites

Scientists at the University of Washington report that a prototype semiconductor thin-film has performed even better than today’s best solar cell materials at emitting light.

ANSER - Research and Development in Solar Fuels and Electricity

Energy is high as members of the Argonne Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center (ANSER) celebrate nine years of research and development this month. The collaboration between leaders from chemistry, materials science, and related disciplines has set the stage for a bright future built on achievement in education, collaboration, and discovery.

U.S. Department of Energy Awards $10.75 Million to Establish Energy Frontier Research Center at Case Western Reserve University

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Case Western Reserve University $10.75 million over four years to establish a research center to explore “Breakthrough Electrolytes for Energy Storage” — with the intent of identifying new battery chemistries with the potential to provide large, long-lasting energy storage solutions for buildings or the power grid.

Electron Microscope Detector Achieves Record Resolution

A group led by applied and engineering physics professor David Muller has achieved a record for electron microscopy resolution, using a device developed at Cornell by professor Sol Gruner.

Physicist Rachel Yohay Receives Department of Energy Early-career Award Worth $750,000

Working to solve the dark matter mystery is the goal of high-energy physicist Rachel Yohay. Yohay, an assistant professor in Florida State University’s Department of Physics, will now have some help in that endeavor from the U.S. Department of Energy, whose Office of Science just awarded her one of 84 Early Career Research Program awards given out this year. The five-year award, valued at $750,000, will cover her summer salary and research expenses.

New Study Reveals Proton Hydration Structures are Asymmetric

A team of researchers at the University of Chicago used broadband 2D IR spectroscopy to reveal proton behavior when acids like HCl dissociate in water. Although general chemistry textbooks typically teach that the proton associates with water as a hydronium ion H3O+, they discovered that the proton is strongly bound between two water molecules and that the structures are predominantly asymmetrical.

DOE Funding Will Help Researchers Create New Quantum States of Matter

Andrej Singer, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and David Croll Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow, will lead a three-year project funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science that will attempt to create new quantum states of matter.