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Showing 8 results for Researcher: Lawrence {Larry} M. Anovitz

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    July 23, 2026

    1 MIN READ

    Water Distribution Controls Magnesium Oxide Reactivity

    Scientific Achievement: Phase-field modeling and mesoscale imaging reveal that surface wettability and temperature control whether water condenses as isolated droplets or uniform films on magnesium oxide (MgO), directly determining the texture of the resulting hydroxide precipitates.Significance and Impact: Understanding water-driven reaction mechanisms is critical for optimizing MgO's performance in energy applications, for example in microelectronics.DOI: 10.1039/d6ce00207b

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    August 29, 2025

    1 MIN READ

    Acidity of a Reactive Interface from Atomic-Scale Simulation

    Scientific Achievement: Atomic-scale simulations and experiments revealed the acidity of MgO surface sites and suggested their hydroxylation as the mechanism for Mg(OH)2 conversion.Significance and Impact: Results provide new understanding of reaction pathways in MgO to Mg(OH)2 conversion, a reaction that underpins multiple energy applications.DOI: 10.1039/D5TA03981A

  • ORNL Placeholder Image

    December 7, 2023

    4 MIN READ

    Time-tested magnesium oxide: Unveiling CO2 absorption dynamics

    Magnesium oxide is a promising material for capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and injecting it deep underground to limit the effects of climate change. ORNL scientists are exploring ways to overcome an obstacle to making the technology economical.

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    October 23, 2023

    1 MIN READ

    Armoring Impedes Direct Air Capture of CO2 by MgO

    Scientific Achievement: This work showed that the rate of CO2 uptake by MgO slows over time and is limited by CO2 diffusion through the reacted layer.Significance and Impact: MgO is a promising candidate material for direct air capture of CO2, but the rate of uptake and the controls on its reactivity are not known. The armoring effect shown here will need to be overcome to improve the economics of this inexpensive DAC method.DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04690

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    January 24, 2023

    1 MIN READ

    Designer molecules may help valuable minerals float

    Critical Materials Institute researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Arizona State University studied the mineral monazite, an important source of rare-earth elements, to enhance methods of recovering critical materials for energy, defense and manufacturing applications.

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    January 3, 2018

    1 MIN READ

    Fossil energy—Neutrons run deep

    To improve models for drilling, hydraulic fracturing and underground storage of carbon dioxide, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists used neutrons to understand how water flows through fractured rock.

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    April 29, 2016

    1 MIN READ

    Quantum Tunneling of Ultraconfined Water

    Scientific Achievement Found that, when confined in the ~ 5 Å wide channels in a beryl crystal, the water molecule undergoes quantum tunneling between six symmetrically equivalent positions around the c-axis in the structure. Significance and Impact First evidence of a new quantum tunneling...

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    April 22, 2016

    4 MIN READ

    ORNL researchers discover new state of water molecule

    Neutron scattering and computational modeling have revealed unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules under extreme confinement that is unmatched by any known gas, liquid or solid states. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at th...

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