Researchers quantified a strong, beneficial, and reversible (over hundreds of cycles) chemical reaction involving oxygen ions in the crystal lattice of battery electrode materials. The results open up new ways to explore how to pack more energy into batteries with electrodes made out of low-cost, common materials. Read more »
The Best Topological Conductor Yet: Spiraling Crystal Is the Key to Exotic Discovery
Researchers have discovered the strongest topological conductor yet, in the form of thin crystal samples that have a spiral-staircase structure. The realization of so-called topological materials—which exhibit exotic, defect-resistant properties and are expected to have applications in electronics, optics, quantum computing, and other fields—has opened up a new realm in materials discovery. Read more »
A Nanoscale View of Defect Effects on Band Structure
In the first comprehensive study at the ALS involving nanoARPES, researchers probed the electronic effects of defects in monolayer tungsten disulfide at the nanoscale. The extremely small scale of the measurements makes nanoARPES a great discovery tool that will be particularly useful for understanding new materials as they are invented. Read more »
Winter 2019 Shutdown Recap
A two-month scheduled shutdown of the ALS is nearly complete. It allowed significant progress on two new beamlines under construction, QERLIN and Gemini, and also saw the completion of a long-term project to upgrade the storage ring’s radio frequency (rf) system. The facility should return to user operations as scheduled on February 28. Read more »
Yu-Cheng Shao, Materials Science Postdoctoral Fellow
Yu-Cheng Shao first came to the ALS in 2013 as part of a collaboration with Tamkang University. He returned last year as an ALS collaborative postdoctoral fellow working on Beamline 8.0.1 with Yi-De Chuang. Read more »
