US Department of Energy

Collaboration Reviews Battery Recycling Process for Electric Vehicles

The US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has collaborated with the Faraday Institution in a newly released Nature review of challenges and opportunities associated with recycling lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles.

Machine Learning Algorithms Help Predict Traffic Headaches

Urban traffic roughly follows a periodic pattern associated with the typical "9 to 5" work schedule. However, when an accident happens, traffic patterns are disrupted. Designing accurate traffic flow models, for use during accidents, is a major challenge for traffic engineers, who must adapt to unforeseen traffic scenarios in real time.

Invention of Teeny-Tiny Organic Films Could Enable New Electronics

The first cell phone, released in 1983, was the size of a brick and weighed two-and-a-half pounds. The newest Apple Watch, released this fall, weighs 1.1 ounces.

Longer-Lasting Catalysts to Improve Fuel Cells

Materials scientists have made a major leap in understanding the long-term effectiveness of fuel cells by integrating experiments with computer simulation studies. The result reveals a new mechanism in understanding how fuel cell catalysts can be made more durable.

Shedding New Light on the Charging of Lithium-ion Batteries

Exposing cathodes to light decreases charge time by a factor of two in lithium-ion batteries. Researchers have reported a new mechanism to speed up the charging of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Simply exposing the cathode to a beam of concentrated light -- for example, the white light from a xenon lamp -- lowers the battery charging time by a remarkable factor of two or more. If commercialized, such technology could be a game changer for electric vehicles.

Encouraging The Broader Adoption of Additive Manufacturing

GE Additive has entered into a five-year cooperative research and development agreement with the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The agreement focuses on processes, materials and software to drive industrialization and encourage the broader adoption of additive manufacturing technology.

Scientists Pinpoint Cause of Dendrites, Whiskers in Lithium Batteries

Scientists have uncovered a root cause of the growth of needle-like structures--known as dendrites and whiskers--that plague lithium batteries, sometimes causing a short circuit, failure, or even a fire.

New electrolyte stops rapid decline of next-gen lithium battery

The lithium-ion battery is ubiquitous. Because of its versatility, this battery can be tailored to powering cell phones, laptops, power tools or electric vehicles. It is now the source of a multibillion-dollar enterprise annually that continues to grow each year.

Six degrees of nuclear separation

Scientists look to 3D printing to ease separation anxiety, which paves the way to recycle more nuclear material.

Pyrotek

Primarily a foundry, smelting and casting company, Pyrotek now produce graphite for Li-ion batteries.

Patrol boat created in 72 hours by 3D printer

The new 3D printer is designed to print objects as long as 100 feet by 22 feet wide by 10 feet high, and can print at 500 pounds per hour. The one-of-a-kind printer will support several ambitious initiatives, including development of biobased feedstocks using cellulose derived from wood resources, and rapid prototyping of civilian, defense and infrastructure applications.

New materials to help stop lithium-ion battery fires

From automobiles and planes to laptops and e-bikes, lithium-ion batteries have been blamed for causing fires in high-tech devices. Now scientists have come up with patented techniques that may cut down the risk from these popular batteries, which are found in everyday devices such as phones and tablets.

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.