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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 »

2021 User Meeting Highlights

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) held its annual user meeting August 10–13, 2021, co-chaired by Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) members Alex Frano and Hope Michelsen. A benefit of the virtual platform was the increased number of people who could attend; almost 400 attendees on six different continents joined the plenary sessions. Read more »

September 2021 Message from the UEC

Johanna Nelson Weker, UEC chair, celebrates a successful User Meeting. She encourages the user community to get involved by submitting feedback or even joining the UEC. Keep an eye out for the call for new member nominations. Read more »

U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm Visits Berkeley Lab

In a visit to Berkeley Lab on August 20, Secretary Granholm and Congresswoman Barbara Lee met doctoral fellow Mikayla Barry at ALS Beamline 9.3.1. They also heard about extreme ultraviolet lithography and how protein crystallography enabled critical COVID research and Jennifer Doudna’s work on CRISPR. Read more »