Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)

X-rays uncover a hidden property that leads to failure in a lithium-ion battery material

Over the past three decades, lithium-ion batteries, rechargeable batteries that move lithium ions back and forth to charge and discharge, have enabled smaller devices that juice up faster and last longer. Now, X-ray experiments at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laborat ... more

Artificial intelligence accelerates discovery of metallic glass

If you combine two or three metals together, you will get an alloy that usually looks and acts like a metal, with its atoms arranged in rigid geometric patterns. But once in a while, under just the right conditions, you get something entirely new: a futuristic alloy called metallic glass. T ... more

Watching 'artificial atoms' assemble into perfect lattices

Some of the world's tiniest crystals are known as "artificial atoms" because they can organize themselves into structures that look like molecules, including "superlattices" that are potential building blocks for novel materials. Now scientists from the Department of Energy's SLAC National ... more