Argonne National Laboratory (DOE)
Krypton-81 isotope can help map underground waterways
September 21, 2011 9:44 am | News | CommentsCataloging underground waterways, some of which extend for thousands of miles, has always been difficult—but scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, with colleagues from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the International Atomic Energy Agency, are mapping them with some unusual equipment: lasers and a rare isotope.
Powering wind energy with superconductivity
September 20, 2011 8:41 am | News | CommentsArgonne National Laboratory is working with Florida-based Advanced Magnet Lab on a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored project to develop the first fully superconducting direct-drive generator for large wind turbines, with the goal of significantly reducing the cost of wind energy.
A new way to go from nanoparticles to supraparticles
September 19, 2011 5:40 am | News | CommentsControlling the behavior of nanoparticles can be just as difficult trying to wrangle a group of teenagers. However, a new study involving Argonne National Laboratory has given scientists insight into how tweaking a nanoparticle’s attractive electronic qualities can lead to the creation of ordered uniform "supraparticles."
Argonne patents technology that increases safety of Li-ion batteries
September 16, 2011 4:25 am | News | CommentsScientists at Argonne National Laboratory have patented a new, extremely stable, 4-V redox shuttle molecule that provides overcharge protection for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries containing lithium-iron-phosphate-based cathodes across hundreds of charging cycles.
Decoding the proteins behind drug-resistant superbugs
September 15, 2011 8:30 am | News | CommentsPenicillin and its descendants once ruled supreme over bacteria. Then the bugs got stronger, and hospitals have reported bacterial infections so virulent that even powerful antibiotics held in reserve for these cases don't work. To create the next line of defense against the most drug-resistant pathogens, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and Texas A&M University have decoded the structure of a protein that confers drug resistance against our best antibiotics.
New materials engineering labs see early success
September 13, 2011 9:28 am | by Angela Hardin | News | CommentsAfter only a few months of work, a small group of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has successfully scaled up the production of a new molecule that protects advanced lithium-ion batteries from thermal overcharge.
Nanoscientists invent better etching technique
August 19, 2011 5:19 am | News | CommentsArgonne nanoscientists have invented a better etching technique that combines new tricks with an old technology. The scientists say the technique has the potential to revolutionize how patterns are transferred onto different materials, paving a new approach for the next generation of energy, electronics, and memory technologies.
Chemical detection, from a distance
August 14, 2011 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (PAS) System for Remote Detection of Explosives and Chemicals, from Argonne National Laboratory, remotely detects chemicals and explosives using both PAS and open-field acoustic resonator techniques.
Rocks at heart of renewable methane
August 14, 2011 8:00 pm | Award WinnersArgonne National Laboratory and Eurisko Scientific LLC have introduced an Enhanced Renewable Methane Production System for anaerobic digesters that improves methane quality and sequesters carbon dioxide, improving on efficiencies of current technologies.
Ceramic film enables hot capacitors
August 14, 2011 8:00 pm | Award WinnersEngineers at Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new type of composite ceramic film capacitor that addresses the thermal limitations of materials currently used in electric vehicles, allowing far higher operating temperatures and volumetric efficiency.
Scientists design self-assembled microrobots
August 9, 2011 5:22 am | by Louise Lerner | News | CommentsPhysicists at the Argonne National Laboratory have coaxed microrobots to do their bidding. The robots, just half a millimeter wide, are composed of microparticles. Confined between two liquids, they assemble themselves into star shapes when an alternating magnetic field is applied.
Scientists to assemble Kbase to aid U.S. biofuel, environment efforts
July 18, 2011 9:40 am | News | CommentsA multi-institutional team has been awarded government funding to create out of many separate streams of biological information a single, integrated cyber-"knowledgebase" (called Kbase) focused specifically on two fundamentally important forms of life.
Diagnosing advanced batteries for a longer life
July 14, 2011 5:31 am | News | CommentsImagine a battery that truly does keep on going and going—and not for just a few years, but close to decades. At Argonne National Laboratory, materials scientist Daniel Abraham works to do just that for lithium-ion batteries.
Plutonium tricks cells by 'pretending' to be iron
July 11, 2011 5:23 am | News | CommentsPlutonium gets taken up by our cells much as iron does, even though there's far less of it to go around. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University have identified a new biological pathway by which plutonium finds its way into mammalian cells. The researchers learned that, to get into cells, plutonium acts like a "Trojan horse," duping a special membrane protein that is typically responsible for taking up iron.
Using sound to mount microcrystals for X-ray diffraction
July 7, 2011 4:56 am | News | CommentsBrookhaven National Laboratory researchers are using high-frequency sound waves in conjunction with extremely bright X-rays to get a look at the atomic structures of the complex biological molecules that make our bodies work.
Argonne electrifies energy storage research
June 30, 2011 4:18 am | News | CommentsA multidisciplinary team of researchers at Argonne National Laboratory is working to develop advanced energy storage technologies to aid the growth of a nascent U.S. battery manufacturing industry, help transition the U.S. automotive fleet to one dominated by plug-in hybrid and electric passenger vehicles, and enable greater use of renewable energy technologies.
Putting the 'fuel' in biofuels
May 26, 2011 5:07 am | News | CommentsRecent discussions of methods by which biomass—grasses, trees, and other vegetation—could be turned into fuel makes a lot of sense in theory. Plant matter is composed of energy-intensive carbohydrates, but even now scientists still don't have the perfect solution for converting plant sugars into combustible fuels.
Nanoparticles help scientists harvest light with solar fuels
May 19, 2011 7:58 am | News | CommentsThe humble alga, hated by boaters and pool owners, may someday help provide us with the raw machinery to power our appliances. A group of scientists at Argonne National Laboratory, led by chemist Lisa Utschig, has linked platinum nanoparticles with algae proteins, commandeering photosynthesis to produce hydrogen instead. The system produces hydrogen at a rate five times greater than the previous record-setting method.
New isotope found for climatological dating
May 12, 2011 4:53 am | News | CommentsRadioactive dating is used to determine everything from the age of dinosaur fossils to Native American arrowheads. A new technique recently developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory may give researchers another tool for radioactive dating that could be of particular use in studying the history of climate change.
Combining gas and diesel engines could yield best of both worlds
May 5, 2011 4:37 am | News | CommentsIt may be hard to believe, but the beloved gasoline engine that powers more than 200 million cars across America every day didn't get its status because it's the most efficient engine. Diesel engines can be more than twice as efficient, but they spew soot and pollutants into the air. Could researchers at Argonne National Laboratory engineer a union between the two—combining the best of both?
Products from Government-sponsored Research
April 8, 2011 7:19 am | by Rita C. Peters | Articles | CommentsArgonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.) has recently commercialized its lithium-rich composite cathode technology for lithium-ion batteries with licenses to GM, Envia, Toda Kogyo, LG Chem, and BASF.
Research Insights
April 8, 2011 6:08 am | by Rita C. Peters | Articles | CommentsGovernment lab executives comment on pressing topics.
CARIBU facility opens to study rare nuclei
April 1, 2011 6:20 am | News | CommentsLast week, a stream of highly unusual ions shot through a tiny nozzle at 76 million miles per hour—and CARIBU, a facility designed to study special nuclei normally only created in stars, officially opened for business.
Biologists find new chink in staph's armor
March 25, 2011 5:50 am | News | CommentsThe battle against deadly staph infections is closer to victory as Illinois researchers have uncovered secrets of how the bacterium protects itself from human immune attacks, which could lead to more effective anti-staph therapies.
Researchers find enhanced magnetization in bismuth ferrite films
March 21, 2011 4:40 am | News | CommentsBerkeley Lab researchers have enhanced the spontaneous magnetization in a special form of multiferroic bismuth ferrite. What’s more, they can turn this magnetization “on/off” through the application of an external electric field, an ability for the advancement of spintronic technology.
