Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful tool for chemical analysis and, in the form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), an indispensable technique for medical diagnosis. But its uses have been limited by the need for strong magnetic fields and big, expensive, superconducting magnets. Now Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have demonstrated that they can do NMR in a zero magnetic field without using any magnets at all.

Berkeley Lab researchers have designed a new composite material for hydrogen storage consisting of nanoparticles of magnesium metal sprinkled through a polymer related to Plexiglas that rapidly absorbs and releases hydrogen at modest temperatures without oxidizing the metal after cycling. This achievement is a major breakthrough in materials design for hydrogen storage, batteries and fuel cells.

Watching the components of a fuel cell work together under heat and pressure is a challenge, because the best technique, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), can only be used in a vacuum—until now, that is. A working solid oxide electrochemical device operating at 750 degrees Celsius has been studied in detail for the first time by scientists working at the Advanced Light Source, using a new ambient pressure XPS system invented at Berkeley Lab.

Berkeley Lab researchers are finding that the best route forward to the hydrogen highway could be via the nano road. Their studies show that highly dense vertical arrays of nanowires made from silicon cores coated with titanium oxide shells are promising for the production of hydrogen through solar water splitting.