Chemists invent a more efficient way to extract lithium from mining sites, oil fields, used batteries

Success in optimizing the new process for extraction speed and efficiency could be a game-changer for the domestic lithium supply

19-Apr-2024 - Chemists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have invented a more efficient way to extract lithium from waste liquids leached from mining sites, oil fields and used batteries. They demonstrated that a common mineral can adsorb at least five times more lithium than can be ...

Bringing custom microbes to the business of recycling plastic

Two-step chemical and biological process approach turns mixed plastic waste into valuable new materials

26-Oct-2022 - Scientists working on a solution for plastic waste have developed a two-step chemical and biological process to break down and upcycle mixed plastics into valuable bioproducts. The project, which involves multiple institutions, draws on synthetic biology expertise at the Department of Energy’s ...

Found: The ‘holy grail of catalysis’

Turning methane into methanol under ambient conditions using light

06-Jul-2022 - An international team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester, has developed a fast and economical method of converting methane, or natural gas, into liquid methanol at ambient temperature and pressure. The method takes place under continuous flow over a photo-catalytic ...

Polymer discovery gives 3D-printed sand super strength

17-Nov-2021 - Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a novel polymer to bind and strengthen silica sand for binder jet additive manufacturing, a 3D-printing method used by industries for prototyping and part production. The printable polymer enables sand structures ...

Modeling uncovers an "atomic waltz" for atom manipulation

16-Aug-2021 - Researchers at the University of Vienna’s Faculty of Physics in collaboration with colleagues from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA have uncovered a non-destructive mechanism to manipulate donor impurities within silicon using focused electron irradiation. In this novel indirect ...

Tiny but mighty precipitates toughen a structural alloy

Scientists have found a way to simultaneously increase the strength and ductility of an alloy

13-Jul-2021 - Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have found a way to simultaneously increase the strength and ductility of an alloy by introducing tiny precipitates into its matrix and tuning their size and spacing. The ...

Carbon-loving materials designed to reduce industrial emissions

Novel fabrication method for affordable gas membranes

06-Jul-2020 - Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are advancing gas membrane materials to expand practical technology options for reducing industrial carbon emissions. Results published in Chem demonstrate a fabrication method for ...

Breakthrough in the synthesis of graphene nanoribbons

Graphene Nanoribbons might soon be much easier to produce

29-Jun-2020 - An international research team led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. has succeeded in producing this versatile material for the first time directly on the surface of semiconductors. Until now, this was ...

Graphene forms under microscope's eye

Scientists shrink laser-induced graphene for flexible electronics

14-Feb-2020 - You don't need a big laser to make laser-induced graphene (LIG). Scientists at Rice University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are using a very small visible beam to burn the foamy form of carbon into microscopic patterns. The labs ...

Neutrons optimize high efficiency catalyst for greener approach to biofuel synthesis

18-Dec-2019 - Researchers led by the University of Manchester have designed a catalyst that converts biomass into fuel sources with remarkably high efficiency and offers new possibilities for manufacturing advanced renewable materials. Neutron scattering experiments at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge ...