Multimodal imaging shows strain can drive chemistry in a photovoltaic material

27-Sep-2018 - A unique combination of imaging tools and atomic-level simulations has allowed a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to solve a longstanding debate about the properties of a promising material that can harvest energy from light. The researchers used multimodal ...

Electron beam microscope directly writes nanoscale features in liquid with metal ink

13-Sep-2016 - Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are the first to harness a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to directly write tiny patterns in metallic "ink," forming features in liquid that are finer than half the width of a human hair. The automated ...

New electron microscope method detects atomic-scale magnetism

27-Jun-2016 - Scientists can now detect magnetic behavior at the atomic level with a new electron microscopy technique developed by a team from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Uppsala University, Sweden. The researchers took a counterintuitive approach by taking advantage of ...

Microwave microscopy of ferroelectric domains

08-Jun-2016 - Research led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory explored building blocks of future electronics — ferroelectric materials in which topological defects called domain walls can be created by an electric field and detected by an alternating current. The study led by Alexander Tselev, Sergei Kalinin and ...

Exploring nanoscale objects and processes with microwave microscopy

23-Mar-2016 - When lots of energy hits an atom, it can knock off electrons, making the atom extremely chemically reactive and initiating further destruction. That's why radiation is so dangerous. It's also why high-resolution imaging techniques that use energetic electron beams and X-rays can alter, even ...

Microscopy captures real-time view of evolving fuel cell catalysts

23-Nov-2015 - Atomic-level imaging of catalysts by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help manufacturers lower the cost and improve the performance of emission-free fuel cell technologies. Fuel cells rely on costly platinum catalysts to enable the reactions that ...

New electron microscopy method sculpts 3-D structures at atomic level

11-Nov-2015 - Electron microscopy researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a unique way to build 3-D structures with finely controlled shapes as small as one to two billionths of a meter. The ORNL study demonstrates how scanning transmission electron microscopes, ...

Device combines power of mass spectrometry, microscopy

10-Nov-2015 - A tool that provides world-class microscopy and spatially resolved chemical analysis shows considerable promise for advancing a number of areas of study, including chemical science, pharmaceutical development and disease progression. The hybrid optical microscope/mass spectrometry-based imaging ...

Researcher uses vibrations to identify materials' composition

Hybrid photonic-nanomechanical force microscopy (HPFM) brings greater spatial resolution

12-Aug-2015 - A researcher at the University of Central Florida has developed a new method for identifying materials' unique chemical "fingerprints" and mapping their chemical properties at a much higher spatial resolution than ever before. It's a discovery that could have promising implications for fields as ...

ORNL microscopy inspires flexoelectric theory behind 'material on the brink'

17-Apr-2012 - Electron microscopy, conducted as part of the Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) User Program at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has led to a new theory to explain intriguing properties in a material with potential applications in capacitors and actuators. A research team ...