The newly funded projects bring together researchers from across a number of Argonne’s programmatic divisions, and they include two of the laboratory’s scientific user facilities. The projects are as follows:
Integrated Imaging to Understand and Advance Photocatalysis
Lead Investigator: J. Guest (Nanoscience and Technology)
M.K. Chan, Y. Liu, I. McNulty and T. Rajh (Nanoscience and Technology): Z. Cai (X-Ray Sciences): and Y. Kang (Materials Science)
This project will explore photocatalytic CO2 reduction processes on TiO2 and Cu2O using in situ X-ray and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies, in addition to ex situ ultrafast optical studies using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A cross-platform gas-flow/optical excitation holder and multimodal data analysis software will be developed to enable analysis of the exact same sample region. The same underlying atomistic model will be used to simulate experimental data from all imaging modalities, thus further enhancing the project’s integrated approach.
Framework for Integrating Multimodal Imaging of Materials for Energy Storage
Lead Investigator: D. Gursoy (X-Ray Science)
X. Xiao (X-Ray Sciences), L. Trahey (Chemical Sciences and Engineering), and C. Phatak (Materials Science )
The project will use a combination of X-ray and electron tomography to explore the behavior of battery materials in three dimensions (3D). X-ray tomography will be used to follow changes to structure and chemistry during in situ cycling, and electron tomography will be used to map charge density and electric potential distributions under bias. Together, they will provide high-resolution structure at interfaces in 3D. New computational imaging tools will be developed that will enable integration of the complex multimodal tomography data sets at different length scales, using fast analysis and phase retrieval. Additionally, an in situ cell for operando battery studies and a microscope facility at Sector 34 of Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source will allow for new nanoscale studies using a combination of techniques.
Integrated Imaging, Modeling and Analysis of Ultrafast Energy Transport in Nanomaterials
Lead Investigator: T. Peterka (Mathematics and Computer Science)
N. Ferrier, S. Leyffer and T.S. Munson (Mathematics and Computer Science); R.J. Harder and H. Wen (X-Ray Sciences); and S. Sankaranaryanan (Nanoscience and Technology)
The proposed research will provide a unified approach to predict, image and analyze energy transport via phonons. Molecular dynamics simulations of lattice dynamics will be compared with the 3D output of coherent diffractive imaging of the same phenomena. New data analysis and visualization techniques will be developed that are equipped to deal with high-speed, high volume 4D data from both models and experiments. This proposal links novel imaging modalities with new methods for image analysis, and with simulations to integrate modeling and experiment.