2019 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Creating a Roadmap for 2D Materials

An invited article in the December online edition of the journal 2D Materials provides a roadmap for the synthesis of electronic-grade two-dimensional materials for future electronic and sensing applications. Led by Penn State, with contributions from five additional universities and national laboratories, the roadmap addresses the grand challenges in 2D materials with useful electronic or photonic properties, and the outlook for U.S. advances in the field.

IU Study Predicts How Air Pollutants from U.S. Forest Soils Will Increase with Climate Change

A study from Indiana University has found that trees influence whether soil can remove or emit gases that cause smog, acid rain and respiratory problems.

Study of Quark Speeds Finds a Solution for a 35-year Physics Mystery

MIT physicists now have an answer to a question in nuclear physics that has puzzled scientists for three decades: Why do quarks move more slowly inside larger atoms?

Periodic Table Still Influencing Today’s Research

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table, and the principles that drove Dmitri Mendeleev to construct his table are still influencing today’s research advances. In a special issue of Science, which celebrates this sesquicentennial anniversary, a Michigan State University scientist highlights some of the current research around the globe driven by Mendeleev’s influence.

Study of Quark Speeds Finds a Solution for a 35-year Physics Mystery

MIT physicists now have an answer to a question in nuclear physics that has puzzled scientists for three decades: Why do quarks move more slowly inside larger atoms?

Fossil Fuel Combustion Is the Main Contributor to Black Carbon Around the Arctic, International Study Finds

An international team conducted the study at sites in Russia, Canada, Sweden and Norway, with Baylor University researchers contributing measurements for Alaska.

Superconductors, the Future of Low-cost Energy, Focus of Newly Awarded Grant

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Physics was awarded $635,964 from the United States Department of Energy to continue research into improving the control and efficiency of energy production, storage and use by connecting theoretical and experimental physics of superconductor materials to find more proficient ways to transport energy.

The Secret Life of Batteries

Koffi Pierre Yao, a new assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware, is uncovering novel insights about what happens inside the batteries that power our smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles.

Read more about The Secret Life of Batteries

Cornell Researchers Quantify Photocurrent Loss in Particle Interface

A group led by Peng Chen, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell, has, for the first time, quantified the current loss that occurs in particle-to-particle interfaces in solar panels, which could inform future designs.

Researchers Flood Boundaries of Chemistry

With new funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers at UC San Diego are collecting data on the properties of materials, like water, apply it to machine learning, optimize the material through modifications based on simulations and then synthesize an ideal material that could be used, for example, to extract water from the atmosphere.

Researchers Create Ultra-lightweight Ceramic Material That Can Better Withstand Extreme Temperatures

UCLA researchers and collaborators at eight other research institutions have created an extremely light, very durable ceramic aerogel. The material could be used for applications like insulating spacecraft because it can withstand the intense heat and severe temperature changes that space missions endure.

From Iowa Farm to UI Physics Faculty

Jan Nachtman, the associate professor in the University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy has become a leading figure in her field, is working with scientists at the world’s largest particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, to search for clues to how the universe was created.