LAUSR

The demand for developing new energy technologies continues to push characterization tools, including those based on electrons, x-rays and neutrons, to tackle the high level of complexity found in active materials for energy conversion processes. As pointed out in the recent DOE report, the frontiers of basic energy research require new generations of instrumentation to understand complex materials and chemical systems, energy systems in realistic working environments, and systems that are dynamic, far from equilibrium, and extremely heterogeneous [1]. Electrons, x-rays and neutrons offer unprecedented opportunities to interrogate structure and charge transfer functionalities in energy materials based on thermochemical, photochemical and electrochemical processes. To understand functionality, it is important to characterize these systems under real world conditions i.e. in situ and operando. Another key objective is developing a fundamental relationship between structure, composition, bonding and functionality across a wide range of different length scales. Electron, x-ray and neutron scattering approaches can all provide critical pieces of information which can be brought together to give a more complete picture. Multi-modal approaches, in which combinations of techniques can be applied to the same sample, are an aspirational goal which has only been realized in a very limited number of cases. Charge transfer and chemical processes may occur on time scales as short as a few femtoseconds, necessitating the development of ultrafast approaches.