Defining the role that energy plays in acquiring and accessing water will be significant to understand its importance to regions, industries, communities, and the environment. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working at the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), led a first-of-its-kind study to fill a knowledge gap in global energy for water. They quantified its use…

Ever worry that your cell phone will fade when you need it most? Or that the same thing will happen when driving your electric car? Lightweight lithium-sulfur batteries could be the answer, holding two times the energy of those on store shelves, but they often fade and won’t hold a charge for long. Through the…

Nobody wants a laptop computer that stops working when a cloud passes by. Storing sunlight as fuel that can be later used to drive fuel cells requires new materials. Scientists demonstrated such a material. They combined two oxides on the atomic scale. The interface between the oxide materials, one containing strontium and titanium (SrTiO3) and…

Revolutionary new electronic devices, such as those required for next-generation computers, require new and novel material systems. Scientists at the University of Minnesota and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory showed that combining two oxide materials in one particular orientation gives rise to a densely packed sheet of highly mobile electrons. The sheet is created when bound…

Tiny electrical wires protrude from some bacteria and contribute to rock and dirt formation. Researchers studying the protein that makes up one such wire have determined the protein’s structure. The finding is important to such diverse fields as producing energy, recycling Earth’s carbon and miniaturizing computers. “This is the first atomic resolution structure of this…