Acquisition of An In-Situ Electro-Chemical Cell for Multi-Modal Research and Education at UIC
Abstract
This DOD Research and Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions Equipment/Instrumentation grant seeks funding to acquire a novel in-situ liquid-cell electro-chemical sample holder for transmission electron and X-ray microscopy to significantly improve the electrochemistry research capabilities at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). This multi-modal holder will become part of the UIC RRC Electron Microscopy Core (EMC) facility and will be available to the over 200 annual RRC EMC users of the atomic-resolution aberration-corrected JEOL-ARM200CF and the JEOL-3010 transmission electron microscopes (TEM), as well as select endstations at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) Advanced Photon Source (APS). The goal of this proposal is to purchase a liquid-cell electrochemistry holder from Protochips, Inc., specifically the Poseidon Heating with Electrochemistry holder, which provides the ideal setup for correlative electron and X-ray analyses of liquid/solid interfaces at room and elevated temperatures using the UIC TEMs and the hard X-ray nanoprobe, housed at beamline 26-ID-C at the APS. This holder will have several unique features that are not available at any other laboratory in the United States. Specifically, the holder is designed to fit in the atomic-resolution TEMs at UIC providing unprecedented spatial and energy resolution during electro-chemical/catalytic cycling. The holder will also be designed to allow for heating the liquid samples up to 250 ¡C while performing in-situ electro-chemistry experiments, thus allowing, for the first time, to track the morphological changes in multi-valent battery cathodes at or near the atomic scale. Finally, the proposed holder will also be designed to fit at an APS end-station, such as the hard X-ray nanoprobe housed at beamline 26-ID-C, where X-ray imaging can be performed under operando and high-temperature conditions. Taking advantage of UICÕs close proximity to ANL (less than 25 miles), the holder can be transferred to UICÕs atomic-resolution TEMs without extracting the sample from the liquid environment after experiments are performed at the APS, enabling, therefore, truly unique, multi-modal characterization opportunities. Several co-PIs have existing research contracts with the various DOD Research and Engineering agencies, and the proposed instrument will further strengthen their research capabilities. It will further enable new research opportunities for UICÕs faculty members to apply for research and research education grants to the DOD agencies. The proposed instrumentation will also be incorporated in several undergraduate and graduate courses, summer institutes and undergraduate teaching experience in the Colleges of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Engineering and Dentistry. In addition to the novel and transformative research that will be enabled, this new holder (together with the world-class TEMs at UIC) will be used for several undergraduate teaching and STEM outreach programs, focused in increasing the inclusion and diversity to students in the STEM fields. The PIs will also have access to several Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) or Research Experience for Teachers (RET) funding programs allowing undergraduate students, especially from underrepresented groups and minorities, as well as local teachers to learn about state-of-the-art research about renewable energy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 25, 2021
- Source ID
- W911NF2110289
Entities
People
- Robert Klie
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of Illinois at Chicago