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Laboratory for Energy Applications for the Future

Summer students shine in desalination research

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an emerging class of water desalination technologies that use cyclic charging and discharging of electrodes to reduce or enrich the salinity of incoming water. The desalination characteristics of CDI are strongly influenced by the resistive components of the system. To better understand this process, a team of Lawrence Livermore National…

3D-printed aerogel electrodes boost energy storage

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and collaborators from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Sun Yat-Sen University have developed a new class of aerogel electrodes with a simultaneous boost in energy and power density. The research could be a boon for the energy storage industry. “This is the first example in which we were…

LLNL researchers turn to microbe beads to increase U.S. supply of rare earth metals

To help increase the U.S. supply of rare earth elements, a Critical Materials Institute team led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is using microbe beads to recover rare earth elements from consumer electronic waste. The team developed a scalable biosorbent material – a microbe-embedded polymer – by combining material science with microbiology. The research…

Size matters in ion selectivity and energy storage

While ions adsorbed on carbon electrodes can vary in size and shape, when it comes to selectivity and energy storage, size really does matter. In an effort to boost energy storage and water desalination technologies, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists found that capacitive performance and ion selectivity of porous carbons is controlled by a complex…

Lab team reports breakthrough in ultrafast, high-resolution nanoscale 3D printing

While 3D printing at the nanoscale — producing intricate features orders of magnitude smaller than the width of a human hair — has significant potential in industry and commercial applications, wide adoption has been impractical because of the slow speed and low throughput of the most widely used nanoprinting technique, two-photon lithography (TPL). But in the latest issue…

Use of nanopores could lead to cleaner water

Not all nanopores are created equal. For starters, their diameters vary between 1 and 10 nanometers (nm). The smallest of these nanopores, called Single Digit Nanopores (SDNs), have diameters of less than 10 nm and only recently have been used in experiments for precision transport measurements. A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and…

Freshening up contaminated water

Nitrate is a troublesome groundwater contaminant that is mainly caused by fertilizer runoff on farmlands. Many wells in agricultural regions exceed the EPA limit for nitrate in drinking water, and without an economical treatment option the water is unfit for potable use. But Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Stanford University researchers have developed a…

Enhancing fullerene–graphene nanocarbon networks for energy storage and harvesting

Lawrence Livermore researchers and collaborators at the University of Texas at El Paso have developed a concept that allows the integration of the characteristic properties of fullerene in 3D graphene networks. In the study, the team optimized the interaction between 3D graphene networks and fullerenes, specifically in the context of stability and charge transfer in an…

Nanowire arrays could improve solar cells

Transparent electrodes are a critical component of solar cells and electronic displays. To collect electricity in a solar cell or inject electricity for a display, you need a conductive contact, like a metal, but you also need to be able to let light in (for solar cells) or out (for displays). Metal is opaque, so the current techniques use metal oxides, most often indium…

Lab wins six tech commercialization grants

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have posted another standout year securing major grants through the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). During the program’s first two years, in 2016 and 2017, Lab researchers received only two of the larger cooperative development grants – one each year. In 2018, they garnered…

Co-Optima identifies six new blendstocks for improved fuel economy, vehicle performance

Three years after embarking upon a rigorous evaluation of a pool of more than 400 candidates, researchers with the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative have identified six blendstocks from two chemical families that exhibit the greatest potential to dramatically increase efficiency when combined with petroleum-based fuels in boosted (or…

Art with a purpose: LLNL and startup company imagine the future of indoor carbon capture

Whether you’re busy at work or lounging around at home, indoor air quality probably isn’t anywhere on the list of things on your mind. But numerous studies have shown that the buildup of carbon dioxide in environments such as office buildings, schools and homes can lead to increased health issues and a decrease in productivity, decision-making and cognitive performance. A…

Additive manufacturing paper makes waves

An article entitled “Additive Manufacturing of Complex Micro-Architected Graphene Aerogels” (doi: 10.1039/c8mh00668g) is featured among the most popular articles published by Materials Horizons in 2018. Materials Horizons is positioned as “the new home for rapid reports of exceptional significance on innovative materials.” The paper describes the fabrication of architected…

Better magnets from SmCo5 nanoparticles

A paper by Livermore researchers, in partnership with researchers at Brown University, has been designated a “hot paper” by the journal Angewandte Chemie. In this article, the authors describe a new technique to synthesize samarium-based nanomagnets and align them in a magnetic field to improve their performance. These show the highest saturation magnetization to date for…

Probing silver nanocrystal superlattices

Typically, superlattices—faceted crystals composed of nanocrystal building blocks—have been made using slow evaporative techniques that often take days to weeks to form highly crystalline solids. This process is difficult to control, which has made it hard to systematically tune film properties and has hindered quantitative study of the assembly process. To overcome these…

Next-generation graphene supercapacitors

Understanding and controlling the electrical response at a complex electrode–electrolyte interface is key to the development of next-generation supercapacitors and other electrochemical devices. While it is largely acknowledged that the capacitive performance of these devices is governed by both the quantum capacitance of the electrode and the electric double layer…

Research team achieves record performance for 3D-printed graphene aerogel supercapacitors

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) have created 3D-printed supercapacitor electrodes capable of achieving record-breaking performance and overcoming conventional tradeoffs for supercapacitors in the process. In a paper published Oct. 18 by the online journal Joule, the joint research team…

Nanocrystals arrange to improve electronics

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are working to make better electronic devices by delving into the way nanocrystals are arranged inside of them. Nanocrystals are promising building blocks for new and improved electronic devices, due to their size-tunable properties and ability to integrate into devices at low-cost. While the structure of…

Hierarchical 3D printing of nanoporous gold could 'revolutionize' electrochemical reactor design

Nanoporous metals are superior catalysts for chemical reactions due to their large surface area and high electrical conductivity, making them perfect candidates for applications such as electrochemical reactors, sensors and actuators. In a study published today in the journal Science Advances, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, along with their…

LLNL and Virginia Tech researchers achieve more complex 3D-printed graphene aerogel

Graphene aerogel is lighter than air but as strong as steel, and it’s already proven useful in aerospace, energy storage and insulation. While there have been recent advances in 3D printing of the novel material, achieving complex structures has been elusive, hampering the unique material’s full potential. To date, 3D printing of graphene aerogel has been done using direct…