Oak Ridge Today

ORNL finding goes beyond surface of oxide films

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Oxide Figure

This figure shows the spectroscopic measurement (current as a function of voltage) and this as a function of temperature. (Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry)

Better batteries, catalysts, electronic information storage and processing devices are among potential benefits of an unexpected discovery made by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists using samples isolated from the atmosphere.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy lab learned that key surface properties of complex oxide films are unaffected by reduced levels of oxygen during fabrication—an unanticipated finding with possible implications for the design of functional complex oxides used in a variety of consumer products, said Zheng Gai, a member of DOE’s Center for Nanoscale Materials Sciences at ORNL.

The findings are detailed in a paper published in Nanoscale. [Read more…]

ASTM International cites ORNL’s Sokolov

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Mikhail Sokolov

Mikhail Sokolov

Mikhail Sokolov of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the Award of Merit from the American Society for Testing and Materials International. The award includes the honorary title of fellow and is ASTM’s highest organizational recognition for individual offerings to standards activities.

Sokolov was honored for his contributions to successful symposia on nuclear technology and applications and for his work on transition range fracture toughness standards. [Read more…]

ORNL researcher wins DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells R&D Award

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Karren More

Karren More

Karren L. More, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the 2013 DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program R&D Award in recognition of her leadership of ORNL’s project on microstructural characterization of fuel cell materials and for her role as a subcontractor on multiple DOE-funded fuel cell research and development projects.

More’s experience with a variety of electron microscopy techniques has enabled unprecedented levels of characterization of a variety of materials used in catalysts, supports, ionomers, gas diffusion layers, and membranes. She has collaborated on numerous fuel cell durability and aging studies with other DOE national laboratories and leading manufacturers such as 3M, General Motors, Ballard, AFCC, Nissan, Nuvera, and UTC.

More works in the Materials Science and Technology Division.

ORNL researcher to receive Honor Medal of Aurel Stodola

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Hua-Tay Lin

Hua-Tay Lin

Hua-Tay Lin, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been selected to receive the 2013 Honor Medal of Aurel Stodola by the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Lin is being recognized for his research activities and significant contributions in sciences on high-temperature mechanical behavior of ceramics and composites.

Lin works in ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division.

Two ORNL researchers, two joint faculty receive DOE early career awards

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DOE Early Career Awards

Pictured from top left, clockwise, are Valentino Cooper, Gaute Hagen, Matthias Schindler, and Jason Hayward. They are 2013 awardees in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. (Submitted photo)

Materials science and physics research led by early career Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists received a boost this week from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Program.

The program, now in its fourth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during crucial early career years when many scientists do their most formative work. This year’s 61 awardees were selected from a pool of 770 university- and national laboratory-based applicants.

“This highly competitive program is a well-deserved recognition for early-career scientists who are launching their own research programs,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said. “We are delighted that four of this year’s awards are going to researchers associated with ORNL.” [Read more…]

ORNL’s Reeves wins microscopy society’s outstanding technologist award

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Shawn Reeves

Shawn Reeves

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Shawn Reeves has been awarded the 2013 Outstanding Technologist Award in Physical Sciences from the Microscopy Society of America.

She is a member of the microscopy group in ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division.

Reeves, a Lenoir City resident, will receive the award during the plenary session of the Microscopy and Microanalysis Annual Meeting in Indianapolis this summer.

ORNL recipe for oxide interface perfection opens path to novel materials

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By tweaking the formula for growing oxide thin films, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved virtual perfection at the interface of two insulator materials.

This finding, published in the journal Advanced Materials, could have significant ramifications for creation of novel materials with applications in energy and information technologies, leading to more efficient solar cells, batteries, solid oxide fuel cells, faster transistors, and more powerful capacitors.

[Read more…]

‘Strain tuning’ reveals promise in nanoscale manufacturing

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Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have reported progress in fabricating advanced materials at the nanoscale. The spontaneous self-assembly of nanostructures composed of multiple elements paves the way toward materials that could improve a range of energy-efficient technologies and data storage devices.

ORNL Materials Science and Technology Division researcher Amit Goyal led the effort, combining theoretical and experimental studies to understand and control the self-assembly of insulating barium zirconium oxide nanodots and nanorods within barium-copper-oxide superconducting films.

[Read more…]