CAREER: Structure-Property Relation Studies in Functional Metal-Oxide Thin Films and Photon Effects

可再生能源技术被认为是我们未来能源的重要组成部分。特别是氧化物材料可能在实现清洁能源（如固体氧化物燃料电池）方面发挥重要作用；以及水裂解制氢。该项目旨在探索利用光激发技术合成能源材料的新方法。这种方法通过独特地改变氧掺入的热力学和动力学，在原子尺度上实现了固体近表面区域的成分控制。合成具有原子精度设计功能特性的先进陶瓷材料的能力对推进能源技术具有重要意义。该研究还将使学生在可再生能源材料前沿领域的教育成为可能。金属氧化物陶瓷薄膜的一个突出问题是近表面点缺陷和成分调制在决定功能特性中的作用。缺陷会影响静电电位，也会影响载流子传导的性质。该基金旨在研究如何利用光激发作为一种新方法来控制超薄氧化膜的组成和结构。它还将研究光激发下影响氧并入氧化物的基本机制。这些问题将通过旨在区分化学效应和光电效应的实验方法的结合来探讨。使用具有代表性的氧化物材料，研究将了解如何合成具有可控表面组成和结构的氧化物陶瓷，从而影响从离子传导到相变的功能特性。这笔拨款将进一步使研究生和本科生的教育和实践研究经验，在材料科学和可再生能源前沿领域的最先进的仪器对社会很重要。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTIONRenewable energy technologies are slated to be an important part of our future energy sources. Oxide materials in particular may play an important role in enabling clean energy sources such as solid oxide fuel cells; and hydrogen production by water splitting. The project seeks to explore novel approaches to synthesize energy materials utilizing the technique of photo-excitation. This approach enables compositional control in near-surface regions in solids at atomic scale by uniquely modifying the thermodynamics and kinetics of oxygen incorporation. The ability to synthesize advanced ceramic materials whose functional properties can be designed with atomic precision will be of importance to advancing energy technologies. The research will also enable education of students in frontier areas of renewable energy materials.TECHNICAL DETAILSAn outstanding question in metal-oxide ceramic thin films is the role of near-surface point defects and compositional modulations in determining functional properties. Defects can affect electrostatic potentials as well as influence the nature of carrier conduction. The grant aims to investigate how photo-excitation can be used as a novel approach to control composition and structure of ultra-thin oxide films. It will also examine the elementary mechanisms affecting oxygen incorporation into oxides under photo-excitation. These issues will be explored by a combination of experimental approaches that aim to distinguish chemical from photo-electric effects. Using representative oxide materials, research will be carried out to understand how one may synthesize oxide ceramics with controllable surface composition and structure, which in turn affects functional properties ranging from ionic conduction to phase transitions. The grant will further enable graduate and undergraduate student education and hands-on research experience in state-of-the-art instrumentation in frontier areas of materials science and renewable energy that are important to society.