Chemical fuel tanks
In this Los Alamos National Laboratory graphic, ammonia borane would be used on-board the vehicle to run a fuel cell. Once hydrogen is released, the AB could then be regenerated and reused.A new method for hydrogen storage using materials known as chemical hydrides could make fuel-cell vehicles more economically viable.
The technique is currently being researched by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Alabama and the US Department of Energy’s Chemical Hydrogen Storage Center of Excellence. Read the full story here.
Technology strikes a chord with algal biofuels
Bryan Willson, co-founder of Solix Biofuels, Inc. pours algae into a pond at Solix’s Colorado facility. Solix photo.An award-winning Los Alamos National Laboratory sound-wave technology is helping Solix Biofuels, Inc. optimize production of algae-based fuel in a cost-effective, scalable, and environmentally benign fashion - paving the way to lowering the carbon footprint of biofuel production. Full story here.
Physicists shed light on mysterious battlefield injury
The computer simulation demonstrates interaction between a helmet and soldier's skull. LLNL image. A common battlefield brain injury could originate in the blast waves of nearby explosions, even though such waves cause relatively small accelerations of a soldier's body.
That is the conclusion of physicists [at Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories] who have used computer simulations to study the causes of traumatic brain injury. Full story here.
Illuminating molecules from within
In the proposed experiment x-ray photons eject the single electron from H2+. The yellow arrow represents the polar- ization axis of the x-ray beam and the blue arrow represents its propagation direction. Physics illustration.Much of our knowledge about molecular structure and reactivity is based on interpreting how molecules interact with light. In femtochemistry experiments, one usually exploits available knowledge about the way that molecular absorption spectra depend on the instantaneous molecular structure.
Lee Collins at Los Alamos National Laboratory and his collaborators describe what such an experiment would reveal in the case of the hydrogen molecular ion H2+, the "fruit fly" of intense field molecular physics research, which consists of two protons and one electron. Explore the research here.
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