ORNL has the nation’s most comprehensive materials research program and is a world leader in research that supports the development of advanced materials for energy generation, storage, and use. We have core strengths in three main areas: materials synthesis, characterization, and theory. In other words, we discover and make new materials, we study their structure, dynamics and functionality, and we use computation to understand and predict how they will behave in various applications.
From its beginnings in World War II’s Manhattan Project, ORNL has had a distinctive materials science program. Today, materials science research benefits from ORNL’s integration of basic and applied research programs and strong ties among computational science, chemical science, nuclear science and technology, neutron science, engineering, and national security. This broad approach to research is allowing ORNL to develop a variety of new materials for energy applications and transfer these new materials to industry. For example, an understanding of how defects form at the atomic level allows creation of improved materials that approach their theoretical strength, such as radiation-resistant steels for next-generation nuclear reactors and lightweight materials for energy-efficient transportation. In electrical energy storage, we are studying how chemical processes occur at the interface of electrodes and electrolytes and using supercomputers to predict how battery systems will perform. We develop “soft” materials, including polymers and carbon-based materials, used as membranes for batteries, fuel cells, and carbon capture, solar cells, and as precursors for the carbon fiber used in lighter cars and planes. We’ve also discovered ways to improve materials processing, using photon, microwave and magnetic field-assisted processing to increase the performance of new materials while reducing processing costs. These advances have resulted in a broad portfolio of ORNL materials and technologies in the nuclear, automotive, and structural materials industry.
ORNL researchers are improving analytical tools used to characterize the structure and function of advanced materials, including electron microscopy, scanning probes, chemical imaging, and a variety of neutron scattering capabilities. Many of these capabilities are available through DOE user programs at ORNL, including the two neutron user facilities (the Spallation Neutron Source and the High Flux Isotope Reactor), the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, and our microscopy user facility (the Shared Research Equipment User Facility—which will be incorporated in the CNMS later this year). Complementing our experimental research is one of the nation’s largest collections of materials theorists who take full advantage of ORNL’s leadership computational facility to understand and design new materials, as well as processes that occur at materials interfaces. Together, these research capabilities in materials synthesis, characterization, and theory contribute to our leadership in basic and applied materials science that ultimately will lead to new technologies for meeting tomorrow’s energy needs.
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Latest News
ORNL microscopy directly images problematic lithium dendrites in batteries
March 06, 2015 — OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 6, 2015—Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have captured the first real-time nanoscale images of lithium dendrite structures known to degrade lithium-ion batteries. The ORNL team’s electron microscopy could help researchers address long-standing issues related to battery performance and safety.
ORNL researchers tune friction in ionic solids at the nanoscale
January 27, 2015 — OAK RIDGE, Tenn. Jan 27, 2015 – Friction impacts motion, hence the need to control friction forces.
American Physical Society honors three from ORNL
January 14, 2015 — OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2015 – Three researchers from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been honored with fellowships from the American Physical Society. Bobby Sumpter, Randy Fishman and Thomas Papenbrock were each recognized for their exceptional contributions to the physical sciences.
Recent Research Highlights
True structure of pnictide 122 superconductors revealed
April 13, 2015 — High-resolution microscopy revealed an unexpected room-temperature crystal structure of the ‘122’ Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 superconductors, with domains similar to those in ferroelectrics but with nanometer size.
New model predicts formation of stable high-entropy alloys
April 09, 2015 — Researchers devised a model that can predict which combinations of 5 or more elements will form new “high-entropy alloys.” This work, which utilizes values obtained from data mining of high-throughput calculations of binary compounds, requires no experimental or empirically derived input and advances capabilities for “materials by design.
Atomic-Scale Observations Aid Mesoscale Catalyst Design
April 08, 2015 — Two phases of Mo-V-O–based oxides, M1 and M2, are promising catalysts for direct conversion of propane to acrylonitrile and are believed to act synergistically. Researchers engineered the mesoscale structure of M1- and M2-phase oxides to amplify these effects, greatly improving selectivity for propane ammoxidation.