Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences (SIMES)
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In brief: Probing battery hotspots for safer energy storage
A laser technique lets researchers see how potentially dangerous growths form in batteries.
A new lens on materials under extreme conditions allows researchers to watch shock waves travel through silicon
Researchers used a unique approach to learn more about what happens to silicon under intense pressure.
A new way to watch atoms move in a single atomic sheet
X-ray laser snapshots give scientists a new tool for probing trillionths-of-a-second atomic motions in 2-D materials
First direct view of an electron’s short, speedy trip across a border
Watching electrons sprint between atomically thin layers of material will shed light on the fundamental workings of semiconductors, solar cells and other key technologies.
Untangling a strange phenomenon that both helps and hurts lithium-ion battery performance
New research offers the first complete picture of why a promising approach of stuffing more lithium into battery cathodes leads to their failure. A better understanding of this phenomenon could be the key to smaller phone batteries and electric cars that drive farther between charges.
SLAC/Stanford team discovers new way of switching exotic properties on and off in topological material
Ultrafast manipulation of material properties with light could stimulate the development of novel electronics, including quantum computers.
Theoretical physicist Shoucheng Zhang dies at 55
The SIMES researcher was a rare theorist who concerned himself with the implications of his abstract ideas about new quantum states of matter on experiments and future technologies.
In materials hit with light, individual atoms and vibrations take disorderly paths
Revealed for the first time by a new X-ray laser technique, their surprisingly unruly response has profound implications for designing and controlling materials.
Scientists make first detailed measurements of key factors related to high-temperature superconductivity
Two studies led by SLAC and Stanford capture electron “sound waves” and identify a positive feedback loop that may boost superconducting temperatures .
X-rays uncover a hidden property that leads to failure in a lithium-ion battery material
Experiments at SLAC and Berkeley Lab uproot long-held assumptions and will inform future battery design.
