Department Microstructure and Residual Stress Analysis

Catalysis materials

MXenes are very promising materials for catalysis. We analyse their composition and structure and observe with operando X-ray tomoscopy and diffraction the conversion proceses with dedicated in-situ cells. Further, to increase the active surface and step to a more commercial system we structure the active material in a cellular configuration by directionally solidifying (freeze casting) slurries of Ti₃C₂T_x and MoCT_x MXene flakes (with and out functionalized sites, e.g. MoS₂, for targeted applications), and imaging the dynamics of particle self-assembly and structure formation in situ by X-ray tomoscopy. We wish to determine the mechanisms of the formation of performance-defining features. Our goal is to bridge both fundamental science and technological knowledge gaps for freeze-cast MXene-based electrodes for electrochemical based technologies. By X-ray tomoscopy and X-ray diffraction, we image and investigate in situ slurry composition, processing parameters, solvent crystal growth, interdendritic and convectional flows to determine how these define the electrodes’ hierarchical material architecture.