Center for Alkaline-Based Energy Solutions (CABES)

Director

Héctor Abruna

Lead Institution

Cornell University

Class

2018-2026

Mission

To advance the scientific understanding of the fundamental factors governing electrocatalysis and electrochemical energy conversion in alkaline media.

Partner Institutions

Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
LANL
NREL
Penn State
Univ of Pennsylvania
UT El Paso
UW Madison
Yale

Quick Facts

Single Slide Overview
Technical Summary
https://cabes.cornell.edu/

BES Staff Contact

Viviane Schwartz

Grand Challenges Addressed

Transformative Opportunities Addressed

Mastering Hierarchical Architectures and Beyond-Equilibrium Matter

Trans. Opp. #1

Understanding the Critical Roles of Heterogeneity, Interfaces, and Disorder

Trans. Opp. #2

Revolutionary Advances in Models, Mathematics, Algorithms, Data, and Computing

Trans. Opp. #4

Exploiting Transformative Advances in Imaging Capabilities across Multiple Scales

Trans. Opp. #5

BES Reports Addressed

Highlights

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A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.

Infrared laser light (red beam) illuminates the surface of ZrSiSe and mixes with electron oscillations enabled by an atomic force microscope (silver cone), propagating light as ray-like structures that guide the light through the interior (blue zig-zag).

What If Metals Could Conduct Light?

In the unusual world of quantum materials, metals can guide light in their interiors instead of merely reflecting it.