1.1: Core Disciplines
Advance the core disciplines of the basic energy sciences, producing transformational breakthroughs in materials sciences,
chemistry, geosciences, energy biosciences, and engineering.
Other Information:
The Office of Science will advance leading-edge research programs in the natural sciences, emphasizing fundamental research
in materials sciences, chemistry, geosciences, and aspects of biosciences encompassed by the DOE missions, and it will provide
world-class, peer-reviewed research results that are responsive to our Nation’s energy security needs as well as the needs
of the broad scientific community. As part of a thorough program of fundamental research, the Office of Science will implement
a comprehensive plan based on the findings and recommendations of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee workshop, Basic
Research Needs to Assure a Secure Energy Future. For example, new materials will be developed that impact solid-state lighting,
smart windows, vehicular transportation, thermoelectric conversion, hydrogen storage, electrical storage, and improved fuel
cells, leading to significant increases in efficiency. In addition, new catalysts will be designed that exert exquisite control
over chemical reactions so as to specify the reaction products and the rates at which they form. The ability to simulate accurately
the behavior of a system under many different conditions can enhance the effectiveness of experimental investigation and can
even replace experiments in cases where they are too difficult or too expensive. There are a large number of areas of research
in the natural sciences where simulation could have an enormous impact. Our ability to simulate has lagged behind what we
can see experimentally, mostly due to major bottlenecks in the application of theory and computation in modeling the behavior
of single atoms and molecules within a larger, more complex system. To help realize this strategy, the synchrotron radiation
light sources, electron-beam microcharacterization centers, and neutron scattering facilities will help reveal the atomic
details of metals and alloys; glasses and ceramics; semiconductors and superconductors; polymers and biomaterials; proteins
and enzymes; catalysts, sieves, and filters; and materials under extremes of temperature, pressure, strain, and stress. Using
these powerful probes of science, we will be able to design new materials, atom-by-atom, and observe their creation as they
unfold. Once the province of specialists, mostly physicists, these facilities are now used by thousands of researchers annually
from all disciplines. Our strategy includes the following emphases: • Using the foundation of programs in materials sciences,
chemistry, geosciences, energy biosciences, and engineering, create new options for the production, storage, distribution,
and conservation of energy with basic research in areas such as hydrogen, nano-designed materials, nuclear fuel cycles and
actinide chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, novel membrane assemblies, and innovative energy conversion pathways. • Remove
simulation bottlenecks in order to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, for example, bridge electronic-throughmacroscopic
length and time scales; simulate opto-magnetoelectronic properties of materials; understand chemical reactivity in solutions,
solids, and turbulent flows; and explore a systems approach to molecular recognition, self-assembly, and chemical reactivity.
• Complete construction of the Spallation Neutron Source, which will be the world’s most intense pulsed neutron source, and
which will enable the study of materials that were previously not accessible to study. It is scheduled for commissioning in
2006. • Design and construct the revolutionary x-ray light source called the LCLS to provide laser-like radiation in the x-ray
region of the spectrum that is 10 billion times greater in peak power and peak brightness than any existing source. The high
brilliance of the ultra-short pulses from the LCLS might make it possible to obtain the structure of a single molecule using
only one pulse of light, a vast improvement over current methods. • Explore new concepts in electron microscopy that will
allow previously unimaginable studies of materials structure, chemistry, and the effect of external forces on materials during
deposition, reaction, and deformation at the subnanometer level.
Indicator(s):
|
