Perovskite thin films have many attractive properties for use in photovoltaics, but their assembly into practical devices has led to trade-offs between efficiency and stability. The addition of surfactant-type molecules with hydrophobic chains helped produce perovskite solar cells that are both efficient and stable. Read more »
The Bottleneck Step of a Complex Catalytic Reaction
The rate-limiting step in catalysis involving oxygen uptake was identified through analysis of the reaction pathways and observations performed under operating conditions. The work lays the foundation for improving the efficiency of energy conversion and storage devices such as fuel cells, catalytic reactors, and batteries. Read more »
Porous Electrolyte Frameworks for All-Solid-State Batteries
With the help of microtomography at the ALS, researchers developed a method to produce a porous electrolyte framework that they used to construct a working all-solid-state battery. Such batteries potentially offer a higher energy density, longer cycle life, and better inherent safety than state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. Read more »
Seeing ‘Under the Hood’ in Batteries
To push battery performance, researchers want to learn how the individual ingredients of battery materials behave beneath the surface. But many techniques only scratch the surface of what’s at work inside batteries. A high-sensitivity x-ray technique is attracting a growing group of scientists because it provides a deeper, more precise dive into battery chemistry. Read more »
The Inside‐Outs of Metal Hydride Dehydrogenation: Imaging the Phase Evolution of the Li‐N‐H Hydrogen Storage System
Hydrogen absorption and release in lithium amide involves chemical and structural change. Scanning transmission x‐ray microscopy visualizes this phase evolution inside particles, showing a core‐shell architecture, with the more hydrogenated species as the shell for hydrogenation and, more surprisingly, for dehydrogenation as well. Read more »
Full Energy Range Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering of O2 and CO2: Direct Comparison with Oxygen Redox State in Batteries
The evolving oxygen state plays key roles in the performance and stability of high-energy batteries involving oxygen redox reactions. Comparison of the mRIXS profiles of four different oxygen states reveals that oxygen redox states in batteries have distinct widths and positions along the excitation energy. Read more »
How a New Electrocatalyst Enables Ultrafast Reactions
With key data from the ALS, researchers discovered how a new, low-cost electrocatalyst enables an important oxygen reaction to proceed at an ultrafast rate. The work provides rational guidance for the development of better electrocatalysts for applications such as hydrogen-fuel production and long-range batteries for electric vehicles. Read more »
Water Improves Material’s Ability to Capture CO2
With the help of the ALS, researchers from UC Berkeley and ExxonMobil fine-tuned a material to capture CO2 in the presence of water. The parties have applied for a patent on the material, which was developed for use on the relatively humid flue gases emitted by certain natural gas power plants, a cleaner-burning alternative to coal. Read more » 
Probing the Evolution of Photovoltaic Films during the Spin-Coating Process
A new, in-beamline spin-coating platform enabled researchers to probe the structure of a promising photovoltaic material in the crucial early stages of processing. The results demonstrate the power of multimodal in situ techniques as promising tools for optimizing synthesis parameters and, thus, device performance. Read more »
New Catalyst Resists Destructive Carbon Buildup in Electrodes
Key challenges in the transition to sustainable energy can be met by converting CO2 to CO through the use of solid oxide electrolysis cells. But because these can suffer from carbon deposition at the electrodes, researchers have now identified and tested a new, cerium oxide–based catalyst that is more resistant to carbon buildup. Read more »
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