On 1 January 2024, Prof. Mirijam Zobel was appointed Director of the JCNS-3 "Neutron Analytics for Energy Research" division of the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
The development of materials for energy conversion and storage is one of the most important challenges for solving the energy problem. Neutrons are a unique probe to characterise the structure, kinetics and dynamics of materials over many length and time scales.
"The field of energy materials illustrates the enormous importance of modern scattering methods and therefore also of modern crystallography and solid-state chemistry," says Prof Zobel, who also heads the Institute of Crystallography at RWTH Aachen University.
JCNS-3 utilises and develops a wide range of neutron methods to investigate complex energy technology systems in situ and operando, for example:
- Mapping of light elements, such as hydrogen and lithium, including their dynamics and diffusion in fuel cells, hydrogen storage systems and batteries
- Research into the (magnetic) structure, defects and dynamics of nanostructured interfaces in energy materials on all relevant length scales from angstroms to centimetres.
- Imaging methods such as tomography and diffraction on larger components and devices as well as on integrated systems, non-destructive under real operating conditions.
- Identification of chemical molecules and reaction mechanisms in catalytic reactions by analysing vibration modes, as well as excitations of materials for energy conversion as a basis for increasing their efficiency.
Prof. Zobel lectures on the crystallographic principles for this research at RWTH Aachen University in both Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes.
