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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.

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Two of the most urgent challenges of our time – clean energy and sustainability – require investigation at the atomic level.

Aerial image of workers installing solar panels on a home.
News Feature

A machine learning algorithm automatically extracts information to speed up – and extend – the study of materials with X-ray pulse pairs.

A pattern of red and yellow dots surrounded by a ring of blue dots on a black background.
News Feature
For decades, materials scientists have focused on materials that are relatively balanced and unchanging – but not Yijing Huang, a postdoctoral scholar at the...
Yijing Huang at Stanford University
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
The ultra-bright X-ray laser pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory can be used to strip electrons away from...
Illustration of X-ray laser pulses stripping electrons away from atoms
Press Release
A new study has found that “diamond rain,” a long-hypothesized exotic type of precipitation on ice giant planets, could be more common than previously...
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.