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 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.

Illustration

In this illustration, the pairs of red spheres are escaping oxygen atoms and purple spheres are metal ions. This new understanding could lead to...

Illustration of oxygen atoms leaving a lithium-ion battery as lithium flows in alongside a battery whose energy is being sapped by this process
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The Horizon Prizes celebrate the most exciting, contemporary chemical science at the cutting edge of research and innovation.

ultrafast X-ray scattering
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Known as “pair-density waves,” it may be key to understanding how superconductivity can exist at relatively high temperatures.

Illustration depicting how two types of waves within superconducting materials intertwine to form a third type known as charge-density waves
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It’s an example of how surprising properties can spontaneously emerge in complex materials – a phenomenon scientists hope to harness for novel technologies.

Illustration of a 2D superconducting state emerging in a 3D superconductor
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The results have important implications for today’s TV and display screens and for future technologies where light takes the place of electrons and fluids.

Illustration of three quantum dot nanocrystals showing atomic-level changes when they are hit with laser light
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A better understanding of the failure process will help researchers design new materials that can better withstand intense events such as high-velocity impacts.

material failure
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Just as pressing a guitar string produces a higher pitch, sending laser light through a material can shift it to higher energies and higher...

High harmonic generation in a topological insulator.
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Stanford EM-X brings hundreds of researchers around the world together to discuss the latest methods and discoveries from electron microscopes.

Black and white electron microscope images of pollen.
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A promising lead halide perovskite is great at converting sunlight to electricity, but it breaks down at room temperature. Now scientists have discovered how...

Lead halide material being squeezed in a diamond anvil cell.
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A pioneer in clean energy technology at Stanford and SLAC, he is one of eight scientists and engineers honored by the U.S. Department of...

Photo of Stanford and SLAC Professor Yi Cui
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The surprising results offer a way to boost the activity and stability of catalysts for making hydrogen fuel from water.

Illustration showing a book with layers of atoms on its pages
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These fleeting disruptions, seen for the first time in lead hybrid perovskites, may help explain why these materials are exceptionally good at turning sunlight...

An illustration shows polarons as bubbles of distortion in a perovskite lattice