Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a new, organic cathode material for lithium batteries. With sulfur at its core, the material is more energy-dense, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly than traditional cathode materials in lithium batteries. The research was published in Advanced Energy Materials on April 10, 2019. Optimizing cathode materials […]
Reflecting Antiferromagnetic Arrangements
A team led by Rutgers University and including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has demonstrated an x-ray imaging technique that could enable the development of smaller, faster, and more robust electronics. Described in a paper published on Nov. 27 in Nature Communications, the technique addresses a primary limitation in the emerging research […]
Detecting Light in a Different Dimension
Scientists from the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory—have dramatically improved the response of graphene to light through self-assembling wire-like nanostructures that conduct electricity. The improvement could pave the way for the development of graphene-based detectors that can quickly sense light at very low […]
Writing Code for a More Skilled and Diverse STEM Workforce
The ability to program computers is crucial to almost all modern scientific experiments, which often involve extremely complex calculations and massive amounts of data. However, scientists typically have not been formally trained in science-specific programming to develop customized computational modeling and data analysis tools for advancing their research. Computer science is not always part of […]
Atomic Flaws Create Surprising, High-Efficiency UV LED Materials
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) traditionally demand atomic perfection to optimize efficiency. On the nanoscale, where structures span just billionths of a meter, defects should be avoided at all costs—until now. A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University has discovered that subtle imperfections can dramatically increase […]
Surprising Discovery Could Lead To Better Batteries
New Devices To Control X-Rays Are Less Expensive, Faster To Make
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a less expensive and more efficient way of controlling x-ray beams used to study the intricate details of batteries, solar cells, proteins and all manner of materials. The new beam-shaping devices, invented by Brookhaven mechanical engineer Sushil Sharma, can be made from […]
Strange Electrons Break The Crystal Symmetry Of High-Temperature Superconductors
The perfect performance of superconductors could revolutionize everything from grid-scale power infrastructure to consumer electronics, if only they could be coerced into operating above frigid temperatures. Even so-called high-temperature superconductors (HTS) must be chilled to hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Now, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yale […]
New Technique Reveals Powerful, ‘Patchy’ Approach To Nanoparticle Synthesis
Patches of chain-like molecules placed across nanoscale particles can radically transform the optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of particle-based materials. Understanding why depends critically on the three-dimensional features of these “polymer nano-patches” — which are tantalizingly difficult to reveal at a scale spanning just billionths of a meter. Now, scientists have used cutting-edge electron tomography […]
Scientists Uncover Origin of High-Temperature Superconductivity in Copper-Oxide Compound
Since the 1986 discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in copper-oxide compounds called cuprates, scientists have been trying to understand how these materials can conduct electricity without resistance at temperatures hundreds of degrees above the ultra-chilled temperatures required by conventional superconductors. Finding the mechanism behind this exotic behavior may pave the way for engineering materials that become […]