Brookhaven National Laboratory

Redox Buffering and Corrosion in Molten Chloride Salts Dictated by Chlorobasicity

Abstract This study establishes an in situ synchrotron approach to directly link molten-salt chemistry, redox-buffer speciation, and alloy corrosion in chloride melts. Using a first-of-its-kind corrosion cell coupled to simultaneous X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray f...

Impact of plasma conditioning-state evolution on Cl2/Ar plasma-assisted Si atomic layer etching

Plasma-assisted atomic layer etching (ALE) requires tightly controlled plasma conditions to achieve reproducible self-limiting material removal; however, the temporal stability of conditioned plasma environments and their influence on etching behavior remain insufficiently unders...

MOF-Supported Pt-Alloy Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in PEM Fuel Cells: Design, Performance, and Future Directions

Abstract Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising energy conversion technologies for transportation, portable power, and stationary energy applications because of their high efficiency and low emissions. However, the widespread commercialization of PEMFCs remain...

Broadband Near-Field Imaging of Strong Polariton Coupling in Graphene/CrI3 Heterostructures

Abstract Interfacial charge transfer in van der Waals heterostructures provides a powerful, contact-free mechanism to activate two-dimensional plasmons. Chromium iodide (CrI3), a layered ferromagnetic insulator, induces significant doping in adjacent graphene, yet its nanoscale p...

Machine Learning on Heterogeneous, Edge, and Quantum Hardware for Particle Physics

The next generation of particle physics experiments will face an era of challenges in data acquisition, due to unprecedented data rates and volumes along with extreme environments and operational constraints. Harnessing these data for scientific discovery demands real-time infere...

Volatile eutectics to tailor crystallization for perovskite optoelectronics

Improvements to the radiative efficiency of halide perovskite thin films are necessary to approach fundamental solar cell performance limits. We tailored perovskite crystallization by leveraging the eutectic interaction between zinc bromide and methylammonium chloride additives....

Local Structure and Dynamics of Three-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks

Abstract Resolving and controlling the local dynamical properties of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) remains a central challenge, particularly when assembled from large, flexible building units. Here, we combine synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function (PDF) analyses with...

Structural and Rheological Signatures of the Salt-in-Solvent to Solvent-in-Salt Transition in a Fluorinated Ester Electrolyte

Abstract Experimental measurements and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations study the structural and rheological properties of a model fluorinated ester electrolyte, methyl 3,3,3-trifluoropropionate (MTFP) with LiFSI, over a wide concentration range (0.1–2.3 mol/kg). MD simulation...

Scalable, Simple, and Versatile Encapsulation of 2D Materials and Devices

Abstract Air-sensitive 2D materials present fundamental challenges for device integration. Encapsulation is required to preserve intrinsic properties, yet conventional strategies require complicated fabrication workflows and fail with thicker flakes. We demonstrate that electron-...

Design principle for mitigating moisture-induced degradation in 2D halide perovskites

We establish a conceptual framework which explains and mitigates moisture-induced degradation in 2D perovskites. Degradation proceeds along defined pathways across the spacer cation iodide (A′I or A′I2)-PbI2-H2O ternary phase diagram as moisture intercalates into the perovskite....

Web of non-invertible dualities for (2+1) dimensional models with subsystem symmetries

We extend non-invertible duality concepts familiar from one-dimensional systems to two spatial dimensions by constructing a web of non-invertible dualities for lattice models with subsystem symmetries. Focusing on \mathbb{Z}_2×\mathbb{Z}_2 ℤ 2 × ℤ 2 subsystem symmetry on the squa...

The stripe state at 1/8 Ba doping hosts optimal superconductivity in La-214 cuprates under low in-plane stress

Abstract The cuprate system La 2− x Ba x CuO 4 (LBCO) exhibits a pronounced sensitivity to in-plane uniaxial stress, particularly near the 1/8 doping anomaly, where stripe order strongly suppresses bulk superconductivity. While previous studies have focused on compositions close...

Sliding Disassembly of van der Waals Heterostructures

Abstract Many recent advances in our understanding of two-dimensional electron systems stem from van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. The assembly process relies on the weak bonding across interfaces between layered vdW compounds, making it possible to construct exceptionally cl...

Timeless Histories: Quantum Measurement and the Maximum Entropy Principle

The quantum measurement problem, i.e., the apparent conflict between unitary quantum evolution and non-unitary, stochastic wave-function collapse, remains unresolved a century after the formulation of quantum mechanics. We first review the standard picture, from the Copenhagen pr...

Cloud-type-dependent mixed-phase cloud climatology from CloudSat/CALIPSO measurements

Mixed-phase clouds play a critical role in Earth's radiation budget but remain a major source of uncertainty in climate models. Existing satellite climatologies mostly describe mixed-phase clouds in aggregate, without separating cloud types that differ in dynamics, vertical struc...

Illuminating the Lifecycle of Functional Materials Through Multimodal Synchrotron X-Ray Characterization: From Synthesis to Operation and Degradation

Driven by the global demand toward sustainable energy systems, the green transformation of energy materials has become a central focus in modern material science across the global economy [1–5]. Th...

MOF-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Carbon-Supported Ordered Intermetallic PtNiCo Nanoparticles for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) have gained attention as promising catalyst supports due to their tunable structures, high surface areas, and excellent thermal stability. In this work, ZIF-67, a cobalt-based MOF, is employed as a precursor to synthesize a nitrogen-doped...

Evaluation of Flux- and Depletion-Based Methodologies for Tritium Breeding Ratio Prediction: Limitations of Current 7 Li Nuclear Data Processing

Tritium breeding ratio (TBR) is a key performance metric for fusion reactor blankets. This work compares flux-based and depletion-based methodologies for TBR prediction. The flux-based methodology calculates tritium production directly from neutron flux tallies and tritium-produc...

Sparse X-ray spectro-tomography for high-sensitivity three-dimensional chemical imaging at the nanoscale

Abstract Achieving three-dimensional (3D) chemical imaging with scanning x-ray microscopy is often hindered by the prohibitively long acquisition time. In this work, we develop a method that drastically reduces the data requirement by two orders of magnitude, thereby significantl...

TMD factorization in diffractive heavy quark production in photon-nucleus collisions

A bstract Using the Colour Glass Condensate effective theory, we study the diffractive production of a massive quark-antiquark pair accompanied by a gluon in coherent photon-nucleus collisions at high energy. This partonic configuration provides the leading twist contribution to...