Application of neutron scattering to biological and hydrogen storage materials
Yun Liu,
NCNR, NIST
This talk covers two high profile topics of research significantly impacted
by the use of neutron scattering.
The first one is aimed at understanding the interactions between colloidal
particles, especially biological colloids, in aqueous solutions. The progress
and requirements to understanding biological systems requires studying their
structure and dynamics both as a single molecule and in a collective, where
the effective potential is the key. Although the effective potential
between colloidal particles in solutions has been studied for many
decades, novel materials and new computational and experimental techniques
make it possible to understand this issue more comprehensively. In this
talk, I will present how to apply small angle scattering techniques to
extract the effective potentials between colloidal particles through
the calculation of the inter-particle structure factor. Examples of
applications in dendrimer solutions, micellar systems, protein
solutions will be discussed.
The second topic is aimed at understanding the properties of hydrogen molecules
adsorbed in novel storage materials. Hydrogen storage and fuel cell are key
enabling technologies for a future hydrogen economy. Especially, the hydrogen
storage aspect poses the biggest challenge to current materials and
technologies. The fundamental understanding of the hydrogen
adsorption properties is one of the keys to pave the way to a
breakthrough. In this talk, I will present our studies of
hydrogen adsorption properties in several novel metal-organic
frameworks (MOFs). Beside the normal adsorption sites mainly
attributed to Van der Waals attractions, we show the first
definitive evidence of a direct binding of hydrogen molecules
to unsaturated metal atoms in several MOFs, which is the key
to the enhanced hydrogen adsorption enthalpy in these materials.
The binding properties of hydrogen to different metal sites
within different MOFs are also discussed.
Back to Seminar Home Page
Last modified 05-February-2007 by website owner: NCNR (attn: )
