Advancing Energy Materials by In Situ Atomic Scale Methods

Despite significant advancements in materials design for renewable energy devices, the fundamental understanding of the underlying processes in many materials remains limited, particularly in complex, inhomogeneous systems and interfaces. In such cases, in situ studies with high spatial and energy resolution are essential for uncovering new insights into excitation, dissipation, and conversion processes. Recent progress in in situ atomic scale methods has greatly enhanced the understanding of energy materials. Here, key advances are reviewed, including in situ, environmental and ultra-fast transmission electron microscopy, scanning probe techniques, single-photon-resolved infrared spectroscopy, velocity-resolved molecular kinetics, and in situ grazing-incidence X-ray spectroscopy. These techniques enable the study of energy conversion with spatial resolution from nanometers down to individual atoms, energy resolution down to meV, and single-quantum detection. Especially they enable access to processes that involve multiple degrees of freedom, strong coupling, or spatial inhomogeneities. They have driven a qualitative leap in the fundamental understanding of energy conversion processes, opening new avenues for improving existing materials and designing novel clean and efficient energy materials in photovoltaics, friction, and surface chemistry and (photo-)electrochemistry.

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https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aenm.202404280