The Advanced Photon Source
a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility

Revealing the Source of Unusually High Strength in Sintered Aluminum: A team of researchers set out to determine the factors behind the unusually high strength of certain sintered metals. Their insights, gleaned from experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, improve the overall understanding of fine grain-sized metals and should ultimately enable improved control of their properties.

Making Plastics Production More Energy Efficient: Researchers have demonstrated a new approach to chemical catalysis that results in high propylene yields using less energy. The findings, based in part on research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, could support more energy-efficient production processes for many plastics.

Testing the Mettle of Lithium Metal Batteries:  Lithium-based batteries need improvement. Researchers used the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source to gather information which could lead to a new generation of much better batteries made of lithium metal.

“Colloidal Gels,” Ubiquitous in Everyday Products, Divulge Their Secrets:  Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source have developed a new method for determining the structure and behavior of a class of soft materials known as weak colloidal gels, opening doors to advances in such areas as drug delivery, food production, water purification, cosmetics, building materials, and nuclear waste disposal.

A Rare Mineral from Rocks Found in Mollusk Teeth:  Researchers using data obtained at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source have, for the first time, discovered a rare mineral hidden inside the teeth of a chiton, a large mollusk found along rocky coastlines, and used the mineral to develop inks for 3-D printing of bioinspired composites.

(Solar) Power to the Perovskites:  Solar power generates a growing slice of the world’s electricity, and industry is always on the hunt for better solar technology. Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source now have a basis for rationally designing manufacturing techniques for high-quality commercial lead iodide perovskite solar cells.

Using Strain to Control an Iron-Based, High-Temperature Superconductor:  Experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source demonstrated the capability to dramatically promote or suppress superconductivity by applying small amounts of strain, an important advance in the effort to harness superconductivity for use in a wide variety of applications.

Determining How Antibodies Target the Virus That Causes COVID-19:  Studying the naturally occurring human antibodies created in response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, helped researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source develop new therapies that can prevent and treat COVID-19 infections.

A Strain-Induced Charge Carrier-Type Crossover in a Complex Oxide:  Epitaxial thin films of lanthanum cobaltite under tensile strain are ferromagnetic, whereas the bulk material is not. No clear understanding of this surprising phenomenon has yet emerged. Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source exposed a previously undetected link between magnetism and electronic transport in thin films of this material.

Deep Water on Neptune and Uranus May Be Magnesium-Rich:  We have considerable knowledge about rocky planets in our solar system, but less about the icy water-rich planets Neptune and Uranus. Scientists recreated the temperature and pressure of the interiors of those planets at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source and gained a greater understanding of the chemistry of their deep water layers as well as clues to the composition of oceans on water-rich exoplanets outside our solar system.

First Detailed Look at a Crucial Enzyme Advances Cancer Research:  In order to develop more effective drugs against a range of cancers, researchers have been investigating the molecular structure of many disease-linked enzymes in the body. An intriguing case in point is Taspase1. Researchers used the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source to reveal the structure of Taspase1 as never before.