Research - DOE Materials Research Clusters
DOE\BES supports four interdisciplinary, multi-investigator research clusters in the FSMRL:
DOE Clusters
Quantum Materials at the Nanoscale
Our specific aims are to explore, understand, and control the nanoscale structure of quantum materials whose behavior is dominated by strong interparticle correlations and competing energy scales. Nanoscale features may arise spontaneously via interactions or by quantum confinement via nanofabrication, and may be responsible for the superlative and highly tunable electronic, magnetic, and optical properties characteristic of complex materials.
Programming Function via Soft Materials
Our specific aims are to understand and exploit the fundamental interactions of soft materials with energy in diverse forms - including light, thermochemical gradients, and mechanical fields - to create structures with spatially and temporally varied shapes, physical properties, and functionalities. By programming complex behaviors in materials, we will enable new approaches for harnessing energy and transforming the structure and properties of soft and hybrid materials over multiple length scales.
Scattering Studies of Interfacial Dynamics
We seek advances in understanding of ultrafast energy transport and phase transformation at interfaces and advances in experimental methods used to quantitatively probe these processes. The outcomes of
our research will impact scholarship in the science of materials and the science of ultrafast phenomena in materials but will also have broader impacts on the ability to, for example, synthesize new nanostructured and other highly-nonequilibrium materials, predict microstructural changes produced by radiation damage, and control the transport of electronic and vibrational energy in materials.
Photocatalytic Materials Synthesis
Our specific aims are to synthesize, explore, and control nanoscale layered and oxide materials for photocatalysis of water splitting and catalytic transformation of environmentally adverse agents. Our materials-centric approach will find applications to catalytic reactions relevant to more efficient production of usable fuels, to more environmentally friendly processes, and to remediation of existing contamination. The photocatalytic reactions of interest are the photochemical and photoelectrochemical splitting of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen - processes that use the energy input of the sun to generate storable forms of environmentally benign energy. The nanomaterials upon which this group will focus include nanostructured oxides, layered materials and semiconducting quantum dot oxides - materials we will fabricate with appropriate dimensions, and morphologies to control functional reactivities in conjunction with electronic properties tuned to the solar spectrum and designed to be efficient photocatalysts for water splitting.