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

Plastic-eating Enzyme Could Eliminate Billions of Tons of Landfill Waste: An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin can break down plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days. This discovery, which uses experimental results from studies at the APS, could help solve the environmental problem of what to do with the billions of tons of plastic waste piling up in landfills and polluting our natural lands and water.

Moving from the Deep Interior of Earth toward Volcano Prediction:  In order to predict volcanic eruptions, one must understand magma. A team of researchers used the unique facilities of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source to understand how magmas behave in volcanoes, findings that will allow scientists to potentially protect people around the world from unexpected volcanic eruptions.

A Promising Future-Generation Lithium-Ion Battery Cathode Material:  Challenges remain in adapting Li-ion technology for advanced applications because they all require significantly higher energy capacities. Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source investigated a promising alternative cathode material and pinpointed the causes of the differences in performance during charging and discharging. 

Future Catalytic Converters Could Give More Bang for Your Buck: The results of a study at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source concluded that establishing a new design to prevent formation of rhodium aluminate could help get the most out of catalytic converters and help inform better future catalytic converter designs.

It's All Geometry:  Studying How Li-Ion Batteries Shape Up: A team of researchers used the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source to probe battery materials at the nanoscale and discovered how the geometry of electrode particles could be the key to getting the most out of Li-ion batteries. 

Despite the fact that 10% to 40% of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever cases are fatal, there is little known about the mechanism that the body uses to counteract the virus or about the structure of the neutralizing antibodies involved in this process. Researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, and the French SOLEIL synchrotron provide new insights for protection against this contagious and often fatal virus.

Peeling Onions to Help Crops Withstand Drought and Disease: Researchers explored how calcium and boron play a beneficial role in strengthening plant cell walls, helping reduce the dehydration that comes with freezing and drought and increasing resistance to pathogens. As it turned out, the perfect plant to test the theory on was onions. The team analyzed onion samples and collected data at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source.

Pivotal Battery Discovery Could Impact Transportation and the Grid:  Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source have discovered a key reason for the performance degradation of the sodium-ion battery, a promising low-cost alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Probing How Proteins Pair Up Inside Cells:  Biologists using data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source drilled down into how proteins recognize and bind to one another, informing drug treatments for cancer.

Discovered: An Easier Way to Create “Flexible Diamonds”:  Diamond nanothreads could revolutionize our world—if they weren’t so difficult to make. A team of scientists using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source developed an original technique that predicts and guides the ordered creation of strong, yet flexible, diamond nanothreads, making it easier for scientists to synthesize the nanothreads—an important step toward applying the material to practical problems in the future.

Proteins of a Feather Come Together to Create Color:  Biologists would like to understand how and why birds are brightly colored. Some materials scientists look to nature to find better ways to recreate such colors. A study conducted using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source points to possible answers to both those questions and represents the first directly self-assembled single gyroid crystals known to science, potentially opening new photonic technologies.