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

Scientists have shown that small changes in composition can impact the function of cathodes in all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries. Their results, based on research conducted at the Advanced Photon Source, highlight the challenges of designing cathodes for such energy-dense batteries and provide important insights for future research.

Using the Advanced Photon Source, a team of scientists has uncovered the atomic and molecular mechanisms behind the COVID-19 virus’s capacity to recognize and cleave two human host proteins. Their findings may pave the way for developing small molecule drugs that target new, alternative pathways for combating the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Elesclomol, an experimental anticancer drug, could have potential to also treat copper-deficiency diseases, including Menkes disease. Although this copper-transporting compound has been shown to relieve copper deficiency in a variety of animal models, the mechanism by which it delivers copper to where it is needed inside cells has remained unknown.

While advances in diamond anvil cell technology open a new window into terapascal-range phenomena, accurately measuring such ultra-high pressures is difficult. A research team recently employed high-energy X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source to probe the interior environments of eight high-pressure diamond anvils. Based on their findings, the researchers determined that previous measurement techniques have sometimes overestimated diamond anvil pressures by up to 20 percent.

So-called cooperative behavior, in which molecules in a crystal change their structure in concert with one another, is common in biological molecules and metals. Such behavior, however, is rare in molecular crystals, and scientists don’t quite understand why. Now researchers using the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory have found they can induce cooperative behavior in an organic semiconductor and have developed an explanation for why it happens.

The Earth’s core is quite complex and mysterious, hidden 2,900 kilometers below the surface. The few methods we have to know what it’s like in the depths rely on measuring elastic waves from earthquakes as they travel through the planet, and analyzing the rocks produced by certain volcanoes that seem to reach all the way to the bottom of the rocky mantle where it meets the core.

Recent research by a team of investigators from the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Washington presents a more detailed description of the positional changes of the myosin proteins within the heart as they prepare for contraction, and demonstrates how the myosin's behavior directly affects the amount of force created during muscle contraction, revealing new focus points for medicines.

Treating COVID-19 by Inhibiting Viral Replication:  Research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source provides information about the mechanistic steps and molecular interactions that initiate viral replication, which can be used to inform antiviral therapeutic development for COVID-19, as well as other conditions for which that the protein MPro may be responsible.

Fine-Grained Differences in Polycrystalline Nickel-Rich Li-Ion Battery Cathodes:  A team of investigators used the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source to study a largely overlooked solution to the problem of thermal instability in Li-ion batteries, involving the precise tailoring of grain microstructure in cathode materials. 

Zigzagging Through Na_xIrO₃:  The future of computing is in quantum physics, which will enable computers to perform faster and far more complex calculations than are physically possible with our current silicon-based computers. Researchers employed high-brightness x-ray beams from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source to study the orbital and magnetic excitation spectra of one of the prime quantum spin liquid candidates.

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.