Battery failure mechanisms and catalyst surface reactions will be probed using local structural techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy.  

Track 1: Students participating in this project will have the opportunity to synthesize new cathode and anode battery materials.  Electrochemical and initial structural characterization will be performed using battery cyclers, the powder X-ray diffractometer, the scanning electron microscope, and our X-ray emission spectroscopy system. 

Track 2: Students will learn synthesis methods of metal nanoparticles used for ethanol and formic acid oxidation in fuel cells.  Participants will use the same in-house characterization tools described above and will learn how to perform cyclic voltammetry experiments to characterize catalyst performance. 

Both tracks will perform XAS experiments at APS Sector 10 on those materials which are most promising.  Participants will be able to join any scheduled experiments as part of the team and will learn data analysis methods including machine learning analysis for large in situ data sets.