A team of researchers led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has developed a simple method that could turn ordinary semiconducting materials into quantum machines – superthin devices marked by extraordinary electronic behavior. Such an advancement could help to revolutionize a number of industries aiming for energy-efficient electronic systems – […]
Berkeley Lab Takes a Quantum Leap in Microelectronics
Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientist in the Materials Sciences Division, leads a major Lab research initiative called “Beyond Moore’s Law,” which aims to develop next-generation microelectronics and computing architectures. Moore’s Law – which holds that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years and has […]
Machine Learning to Help Optimize Traffic and Reduce Pollution
Applying artificial intelligence to self-driving cars to smooth traffic, reduce fuel consumption, and improve air quality predictions may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have launched two research projects to do just that. In collaboration with UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab scientists […]
A Solar Cell That Does Double Duty for Renewable Energy
In the quest for abundant, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, scientists have sought to harvest the sun’s energy through “water splitting,” an artificial photosynthesis technique that uses sunlight to generate hydrogen fuel from water. But water-splitting devices have yet to live up to their potential because there still isn’t a design for materials with the […]
Researcher Discusses IceCube Neutrino Sensor Array
Dozens of scientists and engineers across multiple divisions at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) played a role in the design, development, and deployment of the IceCube neutrino sensor array at the South Pole. They pioneered the ice-embedded digital optical modules (DOMs) and circuitry that are IceCube’s key enabling technologies. Berkeley […]
New Discovery Could Improve Organic Solar Cell Performance
While there is a growing market for organic solar cells—they contain materials that are cheaper, more abundant, and more environmentally friendly than those used in typical solar panels – they also tend to be less efficient in converting sunlight to electricity than conventional solar cells. Now, scientists who are members of the Center for Computational […]
Scientists Discover Material Ideal For Smart Photovoltaic Windows
Smart windows that are transparent when it’s dark or cool but automatically darken when the sun is too bright are increasingly popular energy-saving devices. But imagine that when the window is darkened, it simultaneously produces electricity. Such a material – a photovoltaic glass that is also reversibly thermochromic – is a green technology researchers have […]
Scientists Discover Material Ideal for Smart Photovoltaic Windows
New Studies On Disordered Cathodes May Provide Much-Needed Jolt To Lithium Batteries
Today’s lithium-ion battery was invented so long ago, there are not many more efficiencies to wring out of it. Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) report major progress in cathodes made with so-called “disordered” materials, a promising new type of lithium battery. In a pair of papers published […]
A Semiconductor That Can Beat The Heat
A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) discovered these exotic traits in a class of materials known as halide perovskites, which are also considered promising candidates for next-generation solar panels, nanoscale lasers, electronic cooling, and electronic displays. These interrelated thermal and electrical (or “thermoelectric”) properties were found in nanoscale wires […]