Five Argonne projects receive R&D 100 Awards
Three additional projects named finalists in race for the “Oscars of Innovation”
Five innovative projects developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory were recognized with 2025 R&D 100 Awards, with three additional projects recognized as finalists. Often referred to as the “Oscars of Innovation,” the R&D 100 Awards honor the most exceptional new technologies and processes developed worldwide in the past two years.
“We are proud to celebrate the ingenuity and dedication of our teams whose work continues to inspire the scientific community and drive progress,” Argonne Director Paul Kearns said. “Their achievements reflect Argonne’s enduring legacy of excellence and our mission to deliver impactful research for the nation.”
With this latest honor, Argonne builds on its decades-long tradition of R&D 100 success, including 156 winners since the competition began in 1963. Past winners also include Fortune 500 companies, other DOE national laboratories, academic institutions and small companies, reaffirming Argonne’s role at the forefront of transformative science and technology.
Argonne’s winners are:
Griffin: A Reactor Physics Tool for Multiphysics Modeling and Simulation of Advanced Nuclear Reactors (submitted with Idaho National Laboratory)
Griffin is a software tool, jointly developed by Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories, that helps scientists model the behavior of nuclear reactors. Griffin predicts reactor performance by simulating how neutrons and gamma rays move, how power from neutron and gamma reactions varies, and how fuel changes over time. This approach enhances both the safety and economic efficiency of reactors. Due to its great modeling flexibility, scientists have used Griffin to study and design a wide range of nuclear reactors, including gas-cooled reactors, molten-salt reactors, fast reactors, experimental reactors and microreactors. Griffin also supports licensing for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and can be used for NASA space missions. (Argonne development team: Chang-ho Lee, Hansol Park, Shikhar Kumar and Seoyoon Jeon; in collaboration with Javier Ortensi at Idaho National Laboratory)
High Temperature Hydride Moderator Containment
The Advanced Moderator Module (AMM) is a new containment technology for nuclear reactors. It uses hydride metals like yttrium hydride (YH2) to control neutron movement inside a compact reactor core. Advanced coatings limit hydrogen leakage at high temperatures, which improves safety and efficiency. This design allows reactors to hold more fuel and run longer between refueling. AMM could reduce costs and make it easier to build and operate nuclear reactors, especially microreactors. (Argonne development team: Abdellatif Yacout, Sumit Bhattacharya, Yinbin Miao, Nicolas Stauff and Taek Kim)
OpenMC: A Simulation Toolkit for Next-Generation Nuclear Design
OpenMC is free software that helps scientists model how neutrons and photons move inside nuclear reactors. It can run on anything from a laptop to the world’s largest supercomputers. The program uses fast C++ code and connects easily with Python, making it simple to set up and control. OpenMC can automatically test different reactor designs, use machine learning to improve results and show data in real time. (Argonne development team: Paul Romano, Patrick Shriwise, John Tramm and Amanda Lund; in collaboration with Benoit Forget and Ethan Peterson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
P-OMEGA-Solar: Prognostics for Operation and Maintenance of Energy Grid Assets – Solar
Special recognition went to P-OMEGA-Solar, which won the Bronze award in the Market Disruptor category. P-OMEGA-Solar is a tool for managing and maintaining groups of solar inverters (DC-to-AC converters). It analyzes sensor data from industrial equipment to predict when failures might occur. By scheduling repairs only when needed, it lowers maintenance costs, extends the life of inverters and improves how spare parts are used. P-OMEGA-Solar does not require extra sensors or expensive setup and performs better than other products available. (Argonne development team: Feng Qiu and Shijia Zhao; in collaboration with Murat Yildirim, Wayne State University, and Zhaoyu Wang, Iowa State University)
Ultra-Stable and Low-Cost Dual-Gradient Cathode for High-Performance All-Electric Vehicles
Argonne developed a new lithium-ion battery material with two gradients — one in structure and one in concentration. This design increases energy density by 25% and makes batteries last three times longer. It also lowers material costs. The improved material is safer and more stable than current batteries. It works well in electric cars, hybrid vehicles, smart grids and consumer electronics. (Argonne development team: Khalil Amine, Tongchao Liu and Rachid Amine)
Argonne’s finalists are:
Cathode Upcycling to Increase the Energy Density of Directly Recycled Cathode Materials
Argonne’s upcycling process improves recycled lithium-ion battery cathode powder, so it stores more energy than when new. The method lets scientists adjust the material’s makeup to fit changing needs in energy storage. It also makes recycling more profitable and helps meet market demand for better batteries. (Argonne development team: Eva Allen, Albert Lipson, Jessica Macholz, Michael Caple, Beihai Ma, Mansi Porwal, Nighat Chowdhury, Qiang Dai and Matthew Nisbet)
Defect-Free LiNiO2 and Derivatives as High-Performance Lithium-Ion Cathodes
Lithium‑ion battery cathodes with more than 90% nickel are appealing for electric vehicles due to high energy density. But complex, intrinsic particle instabilities — structural changes that occur during use — have delayed practical, large-scale commercialization. This approach stabilizes these nickel-rich materials by governing synthesis-structure-property relationships — the connections among processing, atomic architecture and performance. This design and process control enables a new generation of durable, high-performance cathodes for next‑generation batteries. (Argonne development team: Jason Croy, Eungje Lee and Jihyeon Gim; in collaboration with Jinhyup Han, Kyungpook National University, Republic of Korea)
RADXtract: Extracting Root-Cause Failure Mechanisms of Semiconductor Devices in Extreme Environments
RADXtract is a unique tool that helps engineers find and study failures in advanced semiconductor devices. It uses fast neutron testing and machine learning to collect real-time data, locate problems and measure failure rates. Machine learning analyzes the data to improve predictions about how devices handle radiation and work in tough environments, especially for power electronics. (Argonne development team: Moinuddin Ahmed, John Hryn and Christopher Stankus; in collaboration with Jacob Leach and Heather Splawn of Kyma Technologies)
The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s mission is to advance nuclear power to meet the nation’s energy, environmental and national security needs. For more information, visit the Office of Nuclear Energy website.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.