Feature Articles
Typically, you think of bacteria when you see the mystery container in the back of the fridge, but microscopic organisms are able to combine energy-needing and energy-producing reactions in such a way that could, one day, lead to new forms of biofuels. See what we know…
How do you make better materials for nuclear reactors? What makes materials work well even after being irradiated? How can we make materials that last longer? See how a center, headquartered in Tennessee, is answering these questions...
Research Highlights
Cheaper and more effective perovskite solar panels don't like to work when it is hot and humid. Researchers at the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center helped the materials stand up to harsher conditions...
Tired of blinds and shades? Researchers at the Center for Excitonics took on the challenge of materials that get dark on bright days and turn clear on cloudy ones...
Borrowing lessons from Mother Nature's ability to use solar energy, scientists at the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center learned how a primitive microbe regulates the harmful effects of excess sunlight...
Making plastics isn’t as efficient as it could be. At the Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center, scientists found a material that could lead to a better options...
It’s the classic buddy movie. Two struggling bodies team up to do good. Scientists at Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis are brought together to metals and found...
If you’ve cleaned your junk drawer lately, you’ve probably thought about how to dispose of old batteries. Scientists at the Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage thought about that problem too...
Solar energy is often a use-or-lose proposition. The electricity produced isn’t stored. What if it could be packed into fuels? Scientists at the Center for Solar Fuels are working to create such fuels by learning how electrons move...
Editor's Note
When you’re fixing a special dinner for family and friends, the ingredients you get matter. A recent family dinner was derailed when the sample pack of appetizer cheese turned out to be three pungent cheeses. By pungent, I mean smelling like the inside of a teenager’s wet, muddy, running shoe after a half marathon. There was no way to turn the stinky cheese into family-friendly appetizers. Simply put, the materials weren’t up to the job, and I postponed the event.
I’m thinking of what I need for my next attempt as I’m writing because the problem is how I recently explained the materials challenge to a new employee. The right materials are vital. The wrong ones simply won’t take energy production, storage and use where we need it to be. In making fuels from sunshine, more efficient solar cells, longer lasting nuclear reactors, and much more, you need the right materials. And often, they don’t exist. Yet. This issue gives you insights into recent discoveries about designer materials, including basswood for disposable energy storage and microbes for creating electricity. See how the scientists at the Energy Frontier Research Centers, funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, are putting together the right ingredients, whether it is gold or basswood, to create something special.
Image courtesy of Scott Butner
Editorial Board and Writers
Editorial Board
- Daniel Colman, Center for Biological Electron Transfer and Catalysis
- Nicholas Gould, Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation
- Shannon McCullough, Center for Solar Fuels
- Ian McKendry, Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials
- Manuel Ortuño, Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center
- Rebecca Palmer, Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center
- Pyae Phyo, Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation
- Eva Zarkadoula, Energy Dissipation to Defect Evolution Energy Frontier Research Center
Writer
- Zhanyong Li, Inorganometallic Catalyst Design Center
Editor-in-Chief
- Kristin Manke, Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis
Disclaimer: The opinions in this newsletter are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views or position of the Department of Energy.