From the Director
Dear CHESS Community,
 
I am delighted to share with you an exciting research project performed in part at the PIPOXS beamline and that has just been published and appears in the journal Nature. This paper characterizes the structural dynamics of copper nanoparticles as they convert carbon dioxide and water into renewable fuels and chemicals.
 
This research is generating new insights that will help advance the next generation of solar fuels.

I am also delighted to announce that CHESS was awarded funding from NSF’s Convergence Accelerator to support translational research using x-ray and hyperspectral imaging capabilities at CHESS to create predictive mining insights.

This project reimagines our approach to identifying and extracting mineral resources for critical technologies, such as batteries, semiconductors, and next-generation building materials from non-traditional sources such as mine tailings and landfills.

This research makes extensive use of the techniques and technologies that will be explored at the PALSA conference in July.

The PALSA conference provides a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and collaborate with agricultural researchers from around the world, and we are thrilled to be hosting it. Please learn more and consider registering for this international event.

Thank you for being a part of the CHESS community, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.
 
Joel Brock, Director, CHESS (email Joel)
How a Record-Breaking Copper Catalyst Converts CO2 Into Liquid Fuels

Researchers at Berkeley Lab, collaborating with CHESS scientists at the PIPOXS beamline, have made the first real-time movies of copper nanoparticles as they evolve to convert carbon dioxide and water into renewable fuels and chemicals. Their new insights could help advance the next generation of solar fuels.
PALSA

Registration is now open for PALSA 2023, an international, in-person/hybrid conference this July 12-14th to showcase and discuss applications of synchrotron radiation to the study of plants, soils, climate, food and nutrition, agriculture, and other related topics. Abstracts for contributed talks and posters should be submitted by March 1st.

Early registration is now open (Save $100 if you register before March 15th)

Visit palsa.chess.cornell.edu for further information including confirmed speakers and venue information.
Cornell-led Team Selected for National Science Foundation's Convergence Accelerator

The project, dubbed AUGER (Accelerating Use of Geologically-driven Engineering & Reclamation), was awarded $739K of funding from NSF’s Convergence Accelerator to support translational research combining x-ray and hyperspectral imaging capabilities at CHESS with remote sensing techniques to link macroscale data with microscale mineral properties to create predictive mining insights.
Using real-time data analysis to conduct next-generation synchrotron fatigue studies

A new paper appearing in the International Journal of Fatigue reports the first implementation of a real-time data analysis method for ff-HEDM, which can extract meaningful microscopic information as measurements are collected.
Issue No. 104 2023.2.17