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Materials science RSS feed

 SLAC develops materials to improve the performance of batteries, fuel cells and other energy technologies and set the stage for technologies of the future.

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Energy sciences

In materials hit with light, individual atoms and vibrations take disorderly paths.

News Feature

Encapsulating precious-metal catalysts in a web-like alumina framework could reduce the amount needed in catalytic converters – and our dependency on these scarce metals.

A web of red material encapsulates blue polyhedrons.
Illustration

Studies of atomic-level processes that drain battery life and efficiency help improve battery performance. 

Studies of atomic-level processes that drain battery life and efficiency help improve battery performance.
Illustration
Perovskites’ unusual response to light could explain the high efficiency of these next-generation solar cell materials.
Perovskites’ unusual response to light could explain the high efficiency of these next-generation solar cell materials.
Illustration

Scientists use a series of magnets to transform an electron bunch into a narrow current spike which then produces a very intense attosecond X-ray...

XLEAP illustration
Illustration

The ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step...

Nilsson science cover
Illustration

Ultra-bright X-ray laser pulses can be used to strip electrons away from atoms, creating ions with strong charges.

Illustration of X-ray laser pulses stripping electrons away from atoms
Press Release

Studying a material that even more closely resembles the composition of ice giants, researchers found that oxygen boosts the formation of diamond rain.

Diamond rain formation
News Feature

Spiraling laser light reveals how topological insulators lose their ability to conduct electric current on their surfaces.

Against a black background, thin, glowing red wires at top impinge on the hexagonal surface of a translucent mass. Small white dots travel along the edges of the surface in two directions. Within the mass, two orange cones meet at their tips.
News Feature

Waves of magnetic excitation sweep through this exciting new material whether it’s in superconducting mode or not – another possible clue to how unconventional...

A brightly colored top is seen spinning between two layers of gray, purple and red spheres representing atoms in a nickel oxide superconductor.
Illustration

A muon, center, spins like a top within the atomic lattice of a thin film of superconducting nickelate.

A brightly colored top is seen spinning between two layers of gray, purple and red spheres representing atoms in a nickel oxide superconductor.  The top represents a fundamental particle called a muon.
News Feature

Researchers discover they contain a phase of quantum matter, known as charge density waves, that’s common in other unconventional superconductors. In other ways, though...

Artist's illustration shows quantum states called superconductivity and charge density waves atop an atomic lattice of balls and sticks
SLAC Science Explained

Molecular movie-making is both an art and a science; the results let us watch how nature works on the smallest scales.

Molecular movie filmstrip.