The efficiency of solar cells depends on precise engineering of polymers that assemble into films 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Nanomaterials
Oct 5, 2015
0
107
Gamma-ray pulsars are remnants of explosions that end the lives of massive stars. They are highly-magnetized and rapidly rotating compact neutron stars. Like a cosmic lighthouse they emit gamma-ray photons in a characteristic ...
Astronomy
Aug 7, 2015
1
106
Groundbreaking work at two Department of Energy national laboratories has confirmed plutonium's magnetism, which scientists have long theorized but have never been able to experimentally observe. The advances that enabled ...
General Physics
Jul 10, 2015
2
4435
The importance of proteins is difficult to overstate; they play a critical role in countless biological processes. An enhanced understanding of their structure and function is essential to advancing the state of the art in ...
General Physics
Jun 17, 2015
1
964
Just as a delicate balance of ingredients determines the tastiness of a cookie or cake, the specific ratio of metals in an alloy determines desirable qualities of the new metal, such as improved strength or lightness.
Condensed Matter
Apr 14, 2015
0
37
Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are learning how the properties of water molecules on the surface of metal oxides can be used to better control these minerals and use them to make ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 14, 2015
0
25
Researchers carrying out experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source (APS) and Spallation Neutron Source have shed new light on how magnetic long-range order forms and remains stable despite the ...
General Physics
Oct 13, 2014
0
0
(Phys.org) —When Orlando Rios first started analyzing samples of carbon fibers made from a woody plant polymer known as lignin, he noticed something unusual. The material's microstructure—a mixture of perfectly spherical ...
General Physics
Sep 18, 2014
0
0
(Phys.org) —Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may get the lion's share of attention in climate change discussions, but the biggest repository of carbon is actually underfoot: soils store an estimated 2.5 trillion tons of ...
Environment
Mar 31, 2014
0
0
(Phys.org) —Photovoltaic spray paint could coat the windows and walls of the future if scientists are successful in developing low-cost, flexible solar cells based on organic polymers. Scientists at the Department of Energy's ...
General Physics
Mar 7, 2014
1
0
