The Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Asylum Research, the technology leader in scanning probe/atomic force microscopy (SPM/AFM), are co-organizing the International Workshop for Scanning Probe Microscopy for Energy Applications, to be held at ORNL September 15-17, 2010.
This workshop of invited and contributed talks will cover the recent advances in characterization of energy-relevant materials systems using SPM/AFM techniques, as well as the state of the art in energy dissipation and transformation measurements by SPM/AFM. The three-day meeting will also include a poster session, as well as an equipment lab and hands-on tutorials for demonstration of recently developed dynamic and multi-spectral SPM/AFM modes on Asylum's Cypher™ and MFP-3D™ SPM/AFMs. The keynote talk will be on "Local Probing of Carrier Dynamics in Polymer Photovoltaic Materials" by David Ginger of the University of Washington.
Detailed information on the agenda, presentations, and registration can be found at here.
Major topics to be covered include:
- Mapping of carrier dynamics and photoinduced behavior of photovoltaic materials
- Ionic and electronic transport in fuel cells and Li-ion batteries
- Energy harvesting by piezoelectric and ferroelectric systems,
- Novel advances in functional probes – microwave, thermal, and conductive
- Imaging energy transformations and dissipation by multimodal and Band Excitation SPM/AFM
"Energy generation, storage, and conversion systems are an integral component of emerging green technologies, including solar power, automotive, and storage components of solar and wind energy economics. The microscopic mechanisms underpinning solar cell, battery and fuel cell operations in the nanometer to micron range are currently not well understood. This workshop is designed to bring together leading scientists in these energy applications of SPM/AFM to share their research and spur additional work to advance the field, said Roger Proksch, President of Asylum Research.Added Sergei Kalinin of ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, "Ultimately, our goal is to build a network of materials scientists centered on the applications of SPM for energy problems and to promote rapid dissemination of theoretical knowledge, experimental protocols, and novel technique development in this rapidly growing area. This workshop is a major first step toward our goals."