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Materials Science
Mimicking nature’s biological membrane channels
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of Washington (UW) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have successfully designed and tested de novo (from the beginning) synthetic protein channels that mimic the natural precision of biological membrane pores. Their research, appearing on the front cover of the January 2025 issue…
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…
Sizing up the ever-elusive neutrino
About 100 trillion neutrinos are passing through your body at this very second. The particles are the second most abundant form of matter in the universe (behind light), but they interact very, very rarely. That property makes them ideal objects for studying the fundamentals of quantum mechanics; however, it also complicates measurements. For example, neutrinos were…
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…
Four LLNL teams to attend Energy I-Corps Cohort 20
In a record setting year for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), four teams of LLNL researchers will attend the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy I-Corps (EIC) Cohort 20 this spring. The EIC is a key initiative of the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions, and facilitated at LLNL by Hannah Farquar from the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO). Established…
New program aims to fast-track energetic materials education for researchers
More than 80 physicists, chemists, material scientists and engineers participated in a new educational program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) during 2024, developed and delivered by the Lab’s energetic materials experts. As hiring at LLNL accelerated in recent years, Lab leaders recognized the growing need to provide specialized training for newer members…
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…
Identifying material properties for more efficient solid-state batteries
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a novel, integrated modeling approach to identify and improve key interface and microstructural features in complex materials typically used for advanced batteries. The work helped unravel the relationship between material microstructure and key properties and better predict how those properties…
LLNL creates world’s brightest X-ray source with NIF and novel metal foams
By combining the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser and ultra-light metal foams, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have produced the brightest X-ray source to date — about twice as bright as previous solid metal versions. These ultra-bright high-energy X-rays can be used to image and study extremely dense matter, like the plasmas created…
LLNL’s computationally designed alloys capture best paper of the year award
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have been recognized with the Journal of Alloys and Compounds’ 2024 best paper award for their publication, “Microstructural, phase, and thermophysical stability of CrMoNbV refractory multi-principal element alloys.” The paper examines alloys that have the potential to operate at high temperatures, a feature that…
Nanobubble formation observed during water electrolysis
Water electrolysis is a critical technology for producing hydrogen and is expected to play an important role in decarbonizing the global economy. With the manufacturing capacity of hydrogen expected to increase to approximately 130 gigawatts a year by 2030 (just one gigawatt equals 100 million LED bulbs), water electrolysis must perform at peak efficiency. As water…
Big Ideas Podcast tackles the road to carbon removal
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has released a new episode of the Big Ideas Lab Podcast, focusing on the critical efforts being made to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The episode provides insights into how 68 researchers nationwide came up with a comprehensive analysis of the capacity and costs for carbon dioxide removal at a county level…
Ramping up the scale of climate and energy technology
One of the biggest challenges implementing energy and climate technologies is actually scaling it up to deploy it. While scale-up has largely been the domain of industrial R&D teams, advances in modelling and experimental techniques increasingly allow early-stage researchers like those at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to contribute to the process. In a…
Predicting atomic structures proves useful in energy and sustainability
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new approach that combines generative artificial intelligence (AI) and first-principles simulations to predict three-dimensional (3D) atomic structures of highly complex materials. This research highlights LLNL’s efforts in advancing machine learning for materials science research and supporting…
Fast-curing silicone ink opens new doors in 3D printing
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a new method to 3D print sturdy silicone structures that are bigger, taller, thinner and more porous than ever before. The team’s two-part “fast cure” silicone-based ink for direct ink writing mixes just before printing and sets quickly at room temperature, allowing for longer print times,…
Malik Wagih’s global exploration of material defects
Malik Wagih is a 2024 Lawrence Fellow in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate’s Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he studies defects in metals. His journey to materials science research at Livermore has taken him across the country and the world. Wagih is originally from Cairo, Egypt, where he enjoyed playing soccer…
Measuring in-situ ablation depth in aluminum
When laser energy is deposited in a target material, numerous complex processes take place at length and time scales that are too small to visually observe. To study and ultimately fine-tune such processes, researchers look to computer modeling. However, these simulations rely on accurate equation of state (EOS) models to describe the thermodynamic properties — such as…
LLNL researchers explore next-gen 3D printing to harness fusion energy
When Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) achieved fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in December 2022, the world’s attention turned to the prospect of how that breakthrough experiment — designed to secure the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile — might also pave the way for virtually limitless, safe and carbon-free fusion energy. Advanced 3D…
3D-printed electrode is all charged up
The architectural design of electrodes offers new opportunities for next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices (EESDs) by increasing surface area, thickness and storage capacity. But conventional thick electrodes increase ion diffusion length and cause larger ion-concentration gradients, limiting reaction kinetics, including storage capacity. To overcome these…
3D-printed solutions for electronics protection
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is a significant concern in the chemical and electronics industries. In electronics, ESD often causes integrated circuit failures due to rapid voltage and current discharges from charged objects, such as human fingers or tools. With the help of 3D printing techniques, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are …
