Flexible Circuits Made with Silk and Graphene on the Horizon
After thousands of years as a highly valuable commodity, silk continues to surprise. Now it may help usher in a whole new direction for microelectronics and computing.PNNL researchers report in the journal Science Advances that they have achieved a uniform two-dimensional layer of silk protein fragments, or “fibroins,” on graphene, a carbon-based material useful for its excellent electrical conductivity. Read more about silk and graphene on PNNL’s website
Research Vessel Resilience Charts Course to the Future of Marine Research
Officials gathered at the PNNL-Sequim campus to dedicate the Department of Energy’s first hybrid-electric research vessel, RV Resilience. The event marks the start of a new era of marine energy research at PNNL-Sequim, part of DOE’s Office of Science national laboratory system and RV Resilience’s new home port. Speakers at the dedication included U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, Washington State Rep. Steve Tharinger and representatives from DOE and PNNL. Read more about RV Resilience on PNNL’s website
PNNL Takes Its Radiation Expertise to Space
An experiment designed to answer questions about the radiation environment for manned space missions launched from Kennedy Space Center on September 10. For the five-day mission, experiments from PNNL and several other institutions will circle the Earth 435 miles above—nearly twice as high as the International Space Station. Before settling in at that altitude, Polaris Dawn will reach 870 miles, the highest that any person has been since NASA’s Apollo program several decades ago. Read more about the mission on PNNL’s website
Transmission and Renewables Would Reduce Carbon Emissions, Generation Costs in Western United States
A new report from PNNL shows that if all the high-voltage transmission currently under construction and in advanced stages of permitting is built by 2030 in the Western United States, this would enable the construction of new renewable energy projects. By 2030, carbon dioxide emissions in the Western United States would drop by 73 percent compared to 2005. Energy generation costs would also decrease 32 percent by 2030. Read more about the report on PNNL’s website
Staff Highlights & More
Peng, Cornwell and Couvillion
DOE selected PNNL’s Gavin Cornwell, Sneha Couvillion and Bo Peng to receive 2024 Early Career Research Program awards. The three researchers work in fields that represent major areas of focus for PNNL: Earth science, biology and chemistry. The award provides five years of continuous funding to recipient scientists in disciplines across the DOE Office of Science research programs. Read more about the awards on PNNL’s website
Rosso
Kevin Rosso, a chemist at PNNL, has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Rosso joins 53scientists named in the 2024 class who will be honored in December at the 2024 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in Washington, DC. Read more about Rosso’s election on PNNL’s website
Bylaska
PNNL was selected to receive funding for a computational materials science project under the Basic Energy Sciences program. The project, called “Navigating the Design Space of Heterostructures: Advancing Functionality of Modeling for Two-Dimensional Materials and Transition Metal Oxides,” will be led by theoretical physical chemist Eric Bylaska. Read more about the materials science award on PNNL’s website
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