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Cell ‘Fingerprinting’ Could Yield Long-Awaited Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnostic

A new application of infrared spectromicroscopy analyzes cells for signs of Alzheimer’s disease by measuring how the molecules in cells vibrate upon exposure to infrared light. The vibrational profile of each sample is so distinct and the difference between diseased and healthy cell samples is so visible that researchers liken the process to “cellular fingerprinting.” Read more »

Laser-Induced Cooperative Transition in Molecular Electronic Crystal

The cooperative tuning of a supramolecular electronic crystal enables access to a long-lived hidden conducting phase with a broad temperature range. Researchers demonstrate a dynamic and cooperative phase in K-TCNQ, with the control of pulsed electromagnetic excitation. A dedicated charge–spin–lattice decoupling is required to activate and subsequently stabilize the non-equilibrium phase. Read more »

Summer 2021 Shutdown

Last week the ALS returned to user operations after its summer shutdown. A lot of work was accomplished, including several large projects in the storage ring and maintenance and updates for the accelerator and beamlines. Read more »

Updates to On-Site Access Procedures and Vaccination Requirements

Berkeley Lab requires that all on-site facility users be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have an approved exception. Processing of access requests will take longer than usual, and we ask all users who plan to come on-site to provide their arrival date at LBNL via ALSHub at least 4-8 weeks before their arrival. Read more »

3D View Reveals Shadow Effect after Rapid Battery Charging

Using 3D x-ray microtomography, researchers measured the lithiation levels of particles in Li-ion battery electrodes during charging. At faster charging rates, lithium metal accumulated on the electrode surface and created a “shadow effect,” a region of poor lithiation in the electrode at some distance away from the lithium plating. Read more »

When Timing Isn’t Everything: Spontaneous Chemical Dynamics

Researchers combined aspects of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with correlation spectroscopy—a statistical method capable of detecting patterns in microscopic fluctuations across space and time. The new technique, called time-correlation XPS, allows researchers to monitor dynamics without the need for a timed trigger. Read more »

A Two-Dimensional Room-Temperature Magnet

Researchers have made the world’s thinnest (one atom thick) magnet that’s chemically stable under ambient conditions. The two-dimensional material, magnetically characterized at the ALS, could enable big advances in next-generation memory devices, computing, spintronics, and quantum physics. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Exquisitely Selective CO2 Reduction on Silver

Researchers electrochemically reduced CO2 to CO with nearly perfect selectivity over other products by adding an organic compound to the surface of a silver electrode. With theoretical analyses and ALS data, the work revealed the key role of the microenvironment in promoting the conversion of CO2, a greenhouse gas, into useful products. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Coulombically-stabilized oxygen hole polarons enable fully reversible oxygen redox

We investigate oxygen redox in layered Na2−xMn3O7, a positive electrode material with ordered Mn vacancies. Our results establish a complete picture of redox energetics by highlighting the role of coulombic interactions across several atomic distances and suggest avenues to stabilize highly oxidized oxygen for applications in energy storage and beyond. Read more »