US Department of Energy

Succinity

Succinity, formed as a joint venture between BASF and Corbion, produces biobased succinic acid.

Ammonia for fuel cells

Fuel cells are pollution-free power sources that convert chemical energy to electricity with high efficiency and zero emissions. Fuel cell cars, trucks, and buses would allow people to travel long distances with convenient refueling and less of a carbon footprint.

Printed sensors detect what's in your sweat

Needle pricks not your thing? A team of scientists is developing wearable skin sensors that can detect what's in your sweat.

Heat-free tech for flexible electronics

The latest application of undercooled metal technology features liquid metal (in this case Field's metal, an alloy of bismuth, indium and tin) trapped below its melting point in polished, oxide shells, creating particles about 10 millionths of a meter across.

Electric car research boosted by cobalt-free battery

The elimination of cobalt -- an expensive chemical component currently required to power our smartphones and laptops -- from lithium-ion batteries has been the goal of Texas Engineer Arumugam Manthiram for much of his career.

Thin, silver nanowires may hold key to flexible and safe touchscreens

An unexpected ability of cells to bend metal determines the safety of silver nanowires — highly conductive nanomaterials a thousand times thinner than a human hair that are being used in next-generation touchscreens for smartphones and consumer electronics, a team of scientists has found.

New laws of attraction: Scientists print magnetic liquid droplets

Scientists have made a new material that is both liquid and magnetic, opening the door to a new area of science in magnetic soft matter. Their findings could lead to a revolutionary class of printable liquid devices for a variety of applications from artificial cells that deliver targeted cancer therapies to flexible liquid robots that can change their shape to adapt to their surroundings.

Tiny supersonic jet injection for nanoscale additive manufacturing

By energizing precursor molecules using a tiny, high-energy supersonic jet of inert gas, researchers have dramatically accelerated the fabrication of nanometer scale structures. The rapid additive manufacturing technique also allows them to produce structures with high aspect ratios. Now, a theory developed to describe the technique could lead to new applications for additive nanomanufacturing and new nanoscale materials.

Lead batteries poised to support electric vehicle charging stations

Plans to introduce lead battery-supported electric vehicle charging stations have moved a step closer thanks to funding through a competitive grant awarded by the U.S. state of Missouri, made possible by funds from the U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program.

$5.5 million to apply machine learning to geothermal exploration

The US Department of Energy announced up to $5.5 million for 10 new projects to apply machine learning techniques to geothermal exploration and production. Machine learning - the use of advanced algorithms to identify patterns in and make inferences from data - could assist in finding and developing new geothermal resources.

Deep learning to assess suicide risks

Researchers are applying deep learning and analytics to electronic health record data to help the Veterans Administration address a host of medical and psychological challenges affecting many of the nation's 700,000 military veterans.