(AGENPARL) – ven 15 novembre 2024 A weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews
items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for
the content in the links below.
….. LLNL Report, Nov. 15, 2024
Corn stover are the stalks, leaves and husks leftover after corn is
harvested. When rotting on the ground, it releases the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide — but it could be made into biofuel. (Photo courtesy of the Idaho
National Laboratory Bioenergy Program)
… Cornering the market on biofuels
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/corn-stover-could-be-key-to-a-more-climate-friendly-fuel-in-indiana
In Indiana, corn is king. But ethanol isn’t as climate-friendly as biofuels
made from things like grasses, wood and algae. Corn stover — the stalks,
leaves and husks leftover after harvest — could present a new opportunity
for farmers.
Corn requires more fossil fuels to grow — like fertilizer and tractor fuel
— than other types of biomass. But it’s more economical for farmers, who
can sell that corn for both ethanol and cattle feed.
Jennifer Pett-Ridge studies how to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She authored Indiana’s Roads
to Removal report. She said almost every agricultural crop has leftover
material that could become biomass.
“About half of that gets incorporated into the soil — and we want to keep
doing that — but about half of it literally kind of rots on the surface,”
Pett-Ridge said.
Those rotting crops release carbon dioxide. Instead, this waste could be used
to generate energy and make other products.
Read More
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/corn-stover-could-be-key-to-a-more-climate-friendly-fuel-in-indiana
From left, Marcus Worsley, Longsheng Feng and Tae Wook Heo have created a new
electrode that that will help increase storage capacity.(Photo: Blaise
Dorous/LLNL)
… All charged up
The architectural design of electrodes offers new opportunities for
next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices (EESDs) by increasing
surface area, thickness and storage capacity.
But conventional thick electrodes increase ion diffusion length and cause
larger ion-concentration gradients, limiting reaction kinetics, including
storage capacity.
To overcome these challenges, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)
scientists and collaborators at the University of California, Santa Cruz
3D-printed a new and compact device configuration with two interpenetrated,
individually addressable electrodes, allowing precise control over the
geometric features and interactions between the electrodes.
“The device with interpenetrated electrodes outperformed the traditional
separate electrode configuration, enhancing both volumetric energy density
and capacity retention rate,” said LLNL postdoc Longsheng Feng.
Read More
Korean Institute of Science and Technology President Seok?Jin Yoon and LLNL
Deputy Director Pat Falcone signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to
collaborate on basic science and technology in the renewable energy, climate
science, data science and characterizations arenas. (Photo:  Randy
Wong/LLNL)
… Strengthening global partnerships
http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=43370
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) is working to enhance
its global research competitiveness by expanding strategic collaborations
with leading international research institutions and increasing joint
international research efforts. Strengthening its partnerships with key
countries such as the United States, Japan, Europe and India, KIST is
solidifying its position as a representative research institution in Korea.
KIST has strengthened its research capabilities in advanced technology fields
such as solid-state batteries, computational science, hydrogen, catalysis and
climate and environmental studies through strategic collaborations with
institutions such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Penn
State University and the RIKEN Institute in Japan. By expanding its global
research network, KIST ranked 6th among the “Top 25 Most Innovative
Research Institutions” selected by Reuters in 2016, further raising its
stature as a leading research institute.
KIST’s global research collaboration is also expanding into Europe and
India. The KIST European Research Institute is participating in major
European programs such as Horizon Europe, while the Korea-India Cooperation
Center is collaborating with India’s leading research institutions on ICT
convergence research. These partnerships are crucial in establishing KIST as
a global leader in science and technology.
Read More http://www.koreapost.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=43370
When silicone resins are 3D printed via direct ink writing on top of
sensitive electronic components, such as a circuit board, they offer unique
mechanical and electrical protections. The printed structure can also act as
a cushion, which is illustrated by striking the circuit board with a hammer.
(Graphic: Ryan Goldsberry and Adam Connell/LLNL)
… Packing a punch
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-11-3d-solutions-shield-electronics-electrostatic.html
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is a significant concern in the
chemical and electronics industries. In electronics, ESD often causes
integrated circuit failures due to rapid voltage and current discharges from
charged objects, such as human fingers or tools.
With the help of 3D printing techniques, researchers at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) are “packaging” electronics with printable
elastomeric silicone foams to provide both mechanical and electrical
protection of sensitive components. Without suitable protection, substantial
equipment and component failures may occur, leading to increased costs and
potential workplace injuries.
3D printing is a rapidly growing manufacturing method that enables the
production of cellular foams with customizable pore architectures to achieve
compressive mechanical properties that can be tailored to minimize permanent
deformation by evenly distributing stress throughout the printed
architecture.
In addition to precise control of print architecture, 3D printing is amenable
to custom resins that can be tuned to precisely control the material’s
intrinsic properties (properties that do not change based on the amount of
material present).
Read More
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-11-3d-solutions-shield-electronics-electrostatic.html
Using atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy,
researchers found that in the presence of iron, the grain boundary of
titanium undergoes a phase transition, forming “cages” or “clusters”
at the grain boundary (the gold region at the center of the image). (Image
courtesy of Tim Frolov/LLNL)
… Iron meet titanium
The interfaces between individual crystals in a material, known as grain
boundaries (GBs), play a critical role in dictating the strength, durability
and overall performance of a material. For this reason, GB phase transitions
— abrupt changes at a material’s interface resulting in distinct structures
and properties — are becoming increasingly recognized as a new frontier in
materials science.
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Ruhr
University Bochum and other international collaborators have provided the
first demonstration of how iron atoms, when introduced into titanium, undergo
a GB transition. In the study, the researchers observed that the iron atoms
segregate (concentrate) to form quasicrystalline-like structures (those with
patterns that are ordered but not periodic) at the interface.
“This segregated alloy structure is nothing like we have seen before; the
icosahedral [having 20 faces, 12 vertices and 30 edges] units cluster
together at the interface forming agglomerates of different sizes and shapes
depending on the amount of iron,” said Timofey Frolov, the LLNL scientist
who led the modeling part of the study.
Read More
——————————————————————————
Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://www.llnl.gov
provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security
challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National
Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
— Unsubscribe from this newsletter :