SLAC topics

Energy sciences RSS feed

One of the most urgent challenges of our time is discovering how to generate the energy and products we need sustainably, without compromising the well-being of future generations by depleting limited resources or accelerating climate change. SLAC pursues this goal on many levels.

Studies of atomic-level processes

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Scientists have used X-rays to observe exactly how silver electrical contacts form during manufacturing of solar modules.

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Wrapping silicon anode particles in custom-fit graphene cages could solve two major obstacles to using silicon in high-capacity lithium ion batteries.

Illustration of silicon particles with and without graphene cages
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SLAC and Stanford scientists discovered that a single layer of tiny diamonds increases an electron gun’s emission 13,000 fold. Potential applications include electron microscopes...

Nick Melosh holds a model of a diamondoid
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Researchers at SLAC have found a simple new way to study very delicate biological samples – like proteins at work in photosynthesis and components...

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SLAC, Stanford scientists discover that bombarding and stretching a catalyst opens holes on its surface and makes it much more reactive. Potential applications include...

Illustration of a catalyst being bombarded with argon atoms to create holes where chemical reactions can take place.
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A team led by SLAC scientists combined powerful magnetic pulses with some of the brightest X-rays on the planet to discover a surprising 3-D...

Image - In this artistic rendering, a magnetic pulse (right) and X-ray laser light (left) converge on a superconductor material to study the behavior of its electrons. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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A process developed by Stanford and SLAC scientists has potential for scaling up to manufacture clear, flexible electrodes for solar cells, displays and other...

Stanford and SLAC postdoctoral researcher Sean Andrews with solution shearing instrument
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Understanding Motions of Thin Layers May Help Design Solar Cells, Electronics and Catalysts of the Future

a three-atom-thick layer of a promising material as it wrinkles in response to a laser pulse
News Feature

In a first-of-its-kind experiment, scientists got a textbook-worthy result that may change the way matter is probed at X-ray free-electron lasers.

The Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser at SLAC
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A researcher interviewed SLAC and Stanford administrators, scientists and Nobel laureates and sifted through archival materials to better understand the drivers for change in...

Image - Olof Hallonsten
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In separate studies, researchers at Stanford and the University of Wisconsin-Madison report advances on chemical reactions essential to fuel-cell technology.

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Results from SIMES theorists pave the way for experiments that create and control new forms of matter with light.

Depiction of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern to form graphene