ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Steel pipes rust and eventually fail. To preempt disasters, oil companies and others have created computer models to predict when replacement is needed. But if the models themselves go wrong, they can be modified only through experience, a costly problem if detection comes too late. Now, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the […]
Category Archives: Chemistry
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Deconstructing deleterious soot
February 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — In most situations, breaking things apart isn’t the best way to solve a problem. However, sometimes the opposite is true if you’re trying to characterize complex chemical compounds. That’s what Sandia National Laboratories scientists Nils Hansen and Scott Skeen did to definitively identify pollution-causing soot precursors in a flame. The researchers discovered […]
Sandia microneedles technique may mean quicker diagnoses of major illnesses
January 2, 2019 – 12:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When people are in the early stages of an undiagnosed disease, immediate tests that lead to treatment are the best first steps. But a blood draw — usually performed by a medical professional armed with an uncomfortably large needle — might not be quickest, least painful or most effective method, according to […]
Large supercrystals promise superior sensors
August 1, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using an artful combination of nanotechnology and basic chemistry, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have encouraged gold nanoparticles to self-assemble into unusually large supercrystals that could significantly improve the detection sensitivity for chemicals in explosives or drugs. “Our supercrystals have more sensing capability than regular spectroscopy instruments currently in use, just like a […]
A splash of detergent makes catalytic compounds more powerful
May 30, 2018 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Researcher David Rosenberg examines images of a white powder under a powerful scanning electron microscope. Up close, the powder looks like coarse gravel, a heap of similar but irregular chunks. Then he looks at a second image — the same material produced by colleague Hongyou Fan instead of purchased from a catalog […]
New chemical mechanisms identified on road to cleaner, more efficient combustion
March 8, 2018 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have identified key chemical mechanisms for the first time that add to the fundamental knowledge of combustion chemistry and might lead to cleaner combustion in engines. Sandia researcher Nils Hansen and former postdoctoral appointee Kai Moshammer focused on low-temperature oxidation of hydrocarbons and other alternative fuels. They identified […]
Reducing power plants’ freshwater consumption with Sandia’s new silica filter
October 18, 2017 – 8:25 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Power plants draw more freshwater than any other consumer in the United States, accounting for more than 50 percent of the nation’s freshwater use at about 500 billion gallons daily. To help save this water, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new silica filter for power plant cooling waters that […]
The destructive effects of supercooled liquid water on airplane safety and climate models
November 3, 2016 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Supercooled water sounds smooth enough to be served at espresso bars, but instead it hangs out in Earth’s atmosphere, unpredictably freezing on airplane wings and hampering the simulations of climate theorists. To learn more about this unusual state of matter, Sandia National Laboratories atmospheric scientist Darielle Dexheimer and colleagues have organized an expedition to fly huge tethered balloons in […]
Cleaning concrete contaminated with chemicals
September 19, 2016 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In March 1995, members of a Japanese cult released the deadly nerve agent sarin into the Tokyo subway system, killing a dozen people and injuring a thousand more. This leads to the question: What if a U.S. transportation hub was contaminated with a chemical agent? The hub might be shut down for […]
Sandia researcher Melissa Teague awarded Presidential Early Career Award
June 15, 2016 – 5:00 am
PECASE is highest US honor for early-stage researchers ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories materials engineer Melissa Teague has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), the highest honor the U.S. government bestows on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. Teague was recognized for […]
Ingenious method enables sharper flat-panel displays at lower energy costs
April 26, 2016 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A perpetual quest of manufacturers and viewers is for ever-brighter colors and better images for flat-panel displays built from less expensive materials that also use less electricity. An intriguing method discovered by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Alec Talin and collaborators at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology at the National Institute […]
Biological tools create nerve-like polymer network
August 24, 2015 – 5:00 am
Crowdsurfing motor proteins create possible prosthetic interface ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using a succession of biological mechanisms, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have created linkages of polymer nanotubes that resemble the structure of a nerve, with many out-thrust filaments poised to gather or send electrical impulses. “This is the first demonstration of naturally occurring proteins assembling chemically […]
Optical diagnostics researcher at Sandia wins DOE Early Career award
May 15, 2015 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Christopher Kliewer has won a $2.5 million, five-year Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science for his fundamental science proposal to develop new optical diagnostic tools to study interfacial combustion interactions that are major sources of pollution and vehicle inefficiency. Kliewer’s […]
Phonons, arise!
April 22, 2015 – 5:00 am
Small electric voltage alters conductivity in key materials ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Modern research has found no simple, inexpensive way to alter a material’s thermal conductivity at room temperature. That lack of control has made it hard to create new classes of devices that use phonons — the agents of thermal conductivity — rather than electrons […]
The quest for efficiency in thermoelectric nanowires
February 2, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Efficiency is big in the tiny world of thermoelectric nanowires. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories say better materials and manufacturing techniques for the nanowires could allow carmakers to harvest power from the heat wasted by exhaust systems or lead to more efficient devices to cool computer chips. Sandia researchers published a paper, […]