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Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
When carbon crystallizes: molecular simulations reveal why graphite outshines diamond
There’s a reason why engagement rings are more expensive than wooden pencils. Diamond and graphite are both made of crystallized carbon, but diamond is much rarer. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers including Margaret Berrens at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) created molecular dynamics simulations to explain what material forms when…
Carbon nanotube ‘smart windows’ offer energy savings
Half of the sun's radiant energy falls outside of the visible spectrum. On a cold day, this extra infrared light provides additional warmth to residential and commercial buildings. On a warm day, it leads to unwanted heating that must be dealt with through energy-intensive climate control methods such as air-conditioning. Visibly transparent “smart windows” that can…
2025 LLNL summer programs inspire the next generation of innovators
This summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) hosted science education programs that provided students with hands-on experience related to several LLNL research themes. The science education offerings for this summer included three standout programs: the Manufacturing Workshop, STEM with Phones and the Biotech Summer Experience. The Manufacturing Workshop The…
LLNL team develops new material that bends, bounces and absorbs energy on demand
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and their collaborators have created a new class of programmable soft materials that can absorb impacts like never before, while also changing shape when heated. The research — which includes collaborators from Harvard University, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Sandia National Laboratories and…
LLNL demonstrates new model that explains plutonium’s peculiar behavior
Normally, materials expand when heated. Higher temperatures cause atoms to vibrate, bounce around and take up a larger volume. However, for one specific phase of plutonium — called delta-plutonium — the opposite inexplicably occurs: it shrinks above room temperature. As part of its national security mission, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) aims to predict the…
Self-driving lab to automate the discovery of novel alloys
Pure metals like aluminum or titanium don’t always have the desired material properties — strength, hardness, ductility or corrosion resistance — for a given application. For this reason, researchers seek out novel alloy solutions, mixing a primary metal element with a series of other elements to create a material with tailored properties for uses in aerospace, defense,…
Computational trick enables better understanding of exotic state of matter
It can be found inside gas giants such as Jupiter and is briefly created during meteorite impacts or in laser fusion experiments: warm dense matter. This exotic state of matter combines features of solid, liquid and gaseous phases. Until now, simulating warm dense matter accurately has been considered a major challenge. An international team led by researchers from the…
LLNL team tackles support structure bottlenecks with dual-wavelength 3D printing
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have developed a novel 3D printing technique that uses light to build complex structures, then cleanly dissolves the support material, expanding possibilities in multi-material additive manufacturing (AM). In 3D printing, traditional supports often add time, waste and risk to the process, especially when printing…
Johanna Schwartz and collaborators selected for Scialog award
The Scialog: Automating Chemical Laboratories initiative has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist Johanna Schwartz $60,000 to pursue automated design of next-generation membranes for fuel cells. The award comes as one of seven collaborative projects funded by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), the Arnold and Mabel Beckman…
Big Ideas Lab podcast examines collaborative manufacturing at Polymer Enclave
The latest episode of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Big Ideas Lab podcast explores how engineers and scientists are reducing the time it takes to design and deliver critical components for the U.S. nuclear deterrent — by rethinking how design and manufacturing teams work together. Listen here on Spotify or Apple. The episode features LLNL’s Polymer…
A hot topic: How temperature fuels energy loss in fuel cells
By splitting water molecules, fuel cells can turn electricity into hydrogen fuel. Running in the opposite direction, they consume hydrogen fuel to cleanly power multiple sectors. Typically, heat is a key ingredient for achieving high energy conversion efficiencies that can beat out combustion-based engines. But like a dripping pipe, fuel cells can leak efficiency. In a new…
Depositing dots on corrugated chips improves photodetector capabilities
Near-infrared photodetectors are used in biomedical sensing and defense and security technologies. For enhanced performance and integrated, compact imaging systems, the photodetectors must be able to detect multiple wavelengths of light at once on a single chip. Quantum dots — tiny crystals made of semiconducting material — could present a path forward because different…
LLNL intern shapes the understanding of ceramics
Doctoral student Natalie Yaw came to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as a summer intern. But when her time at the Laboratory ended, her work did not. She took the lead to write a paper based on her findings, and the result was published in Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. As a Department of Energy Nuclear Energy University Program fellow, Yaw chose to intern at…
LLNL’s Aleksandr Noy named 2025 Materials Research Society fellow
Aleksandr Noy, a senior research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has been named a 2025 fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS). The fellowship recognizes sustained contributions and dedication to the advancement of materials research and is a lifetime recognition of distinction in the field. The committee recognized Noy for his “seminal…
Big Ideas Lab podcast examines how machinists forge the future at LLNL
At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), precision is more than a technical requirement — it's a craft, an art form and the heart of groundbreaking scientific discovery. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, explore the fascinating world of machinists, the unsung heroes who transform raw materials into vital components for fusion research, national…
LLNL and collaborators unleash a colorful future of responsive materials
In a leap forward for materials science, a multi-institutional team of researchers has developed a pioneering method of 3D printing cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs), enabling complex, color-changing responsive materials and paving the way for novel applications like smart textiles and advanced robotics. Using a cutting-edge method known as Coaxial Direct Ink…
Order to disorder: a closer look at icy surfaces
Much like a tongue freezes to a frigid metal pole, ice can cause speed up the adsorption, or stickiness, of molecules. An icy surface can also cause molecules to degrade in the presence of light, releasing trace gases. Before researchers can measure these reactions and incorporate their impacts in global atmospheric models, researchers first need to understand the…
Breaking down corrosion to predict failure and design stronger materials
You’ve seen the movie scene: dilapidated skyscrapers, collapsed bridges, and empty, shell-like cars in a post-apocalyptic city. While Hollywood imagines fictional causes for this decay, in reality, the culprit is far more mundane: corrosion. Corrosion costs trillions of dollars globally, with up to three percent of the U.S. GDP spent on failing materials. New research from…
LLNL researchers explore future of responsive 3D-architected materials
In the evolving fields of materials science and 3D printing, engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are exploring novel ways to create materials and structures that adapt and respond to their environments. A recent study featured on the cover of Science, conducted in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and Princeton…
LLNL researchers quantify metal strength uncertainty in high-explosives models
For the first time, a team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) quantified and rigorously studied the effect of metal strength on accurately modeling coupled metal/high explosive (HE) experiments, shedding light on an elusive variable in an important model for national security and defense applications. The team used a Bayesian approach to…
