The formation of superlattices is a fascinating mesoscale phenomenon governed by the interplay of a range of thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Long-time collaborators Detlef Smilgies, CHESS, and Tobias Hanrath, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, have recently summarized the role of time-resolved X-ray scattering techniques in combination with in-situ sample environments to gain unique insights into the relevant processes.
The Abruña group has over 20 years of experience in the in-situ and operando investigation of electrochemical interfaces using synchrotron radiation and Katie has spent countless hours here at the beamlines during her graduate studies.
What kind of research do you do?
My graduate research focused on the charge storage mechanisms of new lithium-ion battery electrode materials. If we have a better understanding of how molecules and nanostructures store charge, we can use that understanding to guide the design of materials and systems with better performance.
Pressure cryocooling, originally developed by Chae Un Kim and Sol Gruner (1) and now supported as a resource by MacCHESS, has seen most use as a means of reducing the damage caused to macromolecular crystals when they are cooled to 100 K.
The team is comprised of CHESS staff, graduate students, and visiting undergraduates from the REU and SRCCS programs and is open to all players, regardless of skill or experience. It serves as a great excuse to get some exercise and fresh air, also allowing staff and students to develop community and interact outside of the lab environment.
This summer down, the ERL has been moved from the CHESS East area out to the CESR L0E area and a mini-loop is in progress of being built.
Facility Engineer, Richard Gallagher, has offered tours of the area should you be interested in learning more, and for more information about the program please go to http://www.classe.cornell.edu/Research/ERL/ErlResearch.html.
Their results have just appeared in the ACS journal Langmuir and were highlighted as ACS Editors' choice [1]. Ex-situ films were characterized with transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the University of Texas. In-situ grazing-incidence small-angle scattering (GISAXS) data were collected at CHESS D-line. For the latter experiments the sample temperature could be controlled between room temperature and 250°C with a heating block.
Lifting up the bottle to her face she peers through the lens and squints to help her eyes focus on the far side of the bottle decorated with green seaweed-like grass. “This is what it would look like if you were a fish looking at seaweed underwater!” she proclaims as she hands off her self-made fish goggles to another girl working at the same table.
In addition to working with staff scientists to understand complex phenomena and contribute to the growing body of knowledge surrounding x-ray science, these students are working with outreach staff to deliver educational programming to area youth. The young age of these researchers, coupled with their enthusiasm for and familiarity with scientific inquiry, makes them exceptional promoters of their field.
Among them was Naomi Gendler, a senior at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. In a few minutes, Gendler summarized her project, “Analysis of Methods to Excite Head-Tail Motion of Bunches within the Cornell Electron Storage Ring.” Her research could help improve the stability of electron beams in particle accelerators.
The advent of third generation light sources that produce bright X-rays allow scientists to carry out experiments at speeds orders of magnitude faster than was previously possible. This workshop focused on how advances in X-ray detector development have chartered new unexplored avenues into biological sciences, making it possible, for example, to follow enzymatic reactions in real-time as they occur at near atomic resolution.