Materials for Energy and Sustainable Development Group

The Group also determines and disseminates key data needed to establish the relationships between structure, functional properties, and performance of inorganic and hybrid materials and devices. The Group's activities are carried out in three project areas: Combinatorial Measurement Methods, Nanocalorimetry, and Thermoelectric Measurements and Standards.

News and Updates

First-Ever Reference Material for Measuring Conversion of Heat to Electrical Energy at High Temps

May 27, 2021

Standard Reference Material (SRM) 3452 enables, for the first time, instrument validation and interlaboratory data comparison to support the research

An illustration for AI shows a silhouette of a human head containing icons for computer networks.

NIST AI System Discovers New Material

November 24, 2020

When the words “artificial intelligence” (AI) come to mind, your first thoughts may be of super-smart computers, or robots that perform tasks without needing

MRS Bulletin Material Matters

July 14, 2017

The MGI [Materials Genome Initiative] is going to change the way materials science is done. In the next 10-to-20 years, we’ll be doing materials discovery and

X-rays from Copper Source Set New Gold Standard for Measuring Industrial Materials

May 12, 2017

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have produced and precisely measured a spectrum of X-rays using a new, state-of-the-art

Projects and Programs

A digital object is composed of Data, Metadata, Protocols & Operations, and Persistent Identifiers.

Facilitating the Adoption of the FAIR Digital Object Framework in Material Science

With increasing use of data-driven methodologies, concerns around data discovery, data access, and data interoperability have come to the forefront. Communities

Autonomous Materials Science

We use autonomous experimentation (the merger of automated synthesis, characterization, AI-driven decision-making) to elucidate the role of composition

Electronic Structure and Dynamics in Quantum Materials

Electronic structure information obtained with photoemission-based measurements provides a keystone in understanding emerging quantum materials, and the unique

Assessing the Internal Structure and Composition of Climatically-Relevant Atmospheric Particles

Atmospheric particles with long atmospheric lifetimes affect Earth's radiative balance. These particles typically consist of multiple chemical species. The

Publications

Metal-Insulator transition in Doped Barium Plumbate

September 16, 2021

Author(s)

Andreza M. Eufrasio, Ian L. Pegg, Nikolaus Deems, Biprodas Dutta, Winnie Wong-Ng, Qingzhen Huang

Solid solutions in the Ba(Pb1−xSrx)O3−z system were prepared by aliovalent substitution of Pb4+ by Sr2+ ions to investigate the effect of cation stoichiometry

Crystal Structure, Sorption Property and Electronic Structure of the Flexible MOF, (Ni-4,4'azopyridine)[Ni(CN)4]

August 16, 2021

Author(s)

Winnie Wong-Ng, Gregory T. McCandless, Jeffrey T. Culp, Matthew Lawson, Yu-Sheng Chen, Daniel Siderius, Lan Li

The flexible metal organic framework (MOF) compound, Ni(L)[Ni(CN)4], (L = 4,4'azopyridine (C10N4H8), nicknamed AzoPyr) is a 3D porous material that adopts the

Aggressively optimizing validation statistics can degrade interpretability of data-driven materials models

August 3, 2021

Author(s)

Jason Hattrick-Simpers, Brian DeCost, Howard Joress, Nils Persson, Katherine Lei

One of the key factors in enabling trust in artificial intelligence within the materials science community is the interpretability (or explainability) of the

Structural and Thermoelectric Properties of Pb4In2.6Bi3.4Se13

July 2, 2021

Author(s)

Winnie Wong-Ng, J Guo, Yonggao Yan, James A. Kaduk

Quaternary selenide, Pb4In2.6Bi3.4Se13 (x = 2.4 member of the Pb4(InxBi6-xSe13 solid solution), was synthesized by a solid-state technique, and its structure

Tools and Instruments

The Divergent Beam Diffractometer Laboratory

The Divergent Beam Diffractometer is the primary instrument at NIST used to certify powder SRMs for their X-ray diffraction properties. It is a custom-built

Picture of PBD set up for wavelength measurement

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer (PBD) Laboratory

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer laboratory is a highly-controlled space (0.01 degree C stability) containing a set of absolutely calibrated stacked goniometer

High-throughput Scanning Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Reflectometer

This tool is for high-throughput measurement of the near-infrared spectroscopic reflectance of thin film combinatorial library samples at temperatures ranging

Apparatus for the Measurement of High Temperature Thermoelectric Transport Properties

The Seebeck coefficient is a physical parameter routinely measured to identify the potential thermoelectric performance of a material. However, researchers

Awards

Aaron Gilad Kusne Named APS Fellow

For pioneering work on applications of machine learning for automated delineation of materials phase diagrams, and for the development of

2020 - Bronze Medal Award---Aaron Gilad Kusne

For creating CAMEO, a groundbreaking autonomous AI system that accelerates the measurement, discovery and optimization of advanced materials.

2020 - Silver Medal Award---Douglas Bennett, John Mates, Galen O'Neil, Daniel Schmidt, Daniel Swetz, Joel Ullom, Leila Vale, James Cline, Lawrence Hudson, Marcus Mendenhall

For enabling rapid and accurate X-ray analysis of materials and higher nuclear security through sensor breakthroughs and the world’s best reference data.

Winnie Wong-Ng Inducted into Hall of Distinction

Established in 2004, the Hall of Distinction celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to science, business, academia

Materials for Energy and Sustainable Development Group

News and Updates

First-Ever Reference Material for Measuring Conversion of Heat to Electrical Energy at High Temps

NIST AI System Discovers New Material

MRS Bulletin Material Matters

X-rays from Copper Source Set New Gold Standard for Measuring Industrial Materials

Projects and Programs

Facilitating the Adoption of the FAIR Digital Object Framework in Material Science

Autonomous Materials Science

Electronic Structure and Dynamics in Quantum Materials

Assessing the Internal Structure and Composition of Climatically-Relevant Atmospheric Particles

Publications

Metal-Insulator transition in Doped Barium Plumbate

Crystal Structure, Sorption Property and Electronic Structure of the Flexible MOF, (Ni-4,4'azopyridine)[Ni(CN)4]

Aggressively optimizing validation statistics can degrade interpretability of data-driven materials models

Structural and Thermoelectric Properties of Pb4In2.6Bi3.4Se13

Tools and Instruments

The Divergent Beam Diffractometer Laboratory

The Parallel Beam Diffractometer (PBD) Laboratory

High-throughput Scanning Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Reflectometer

Apparatus for the Measurement of High Temperature Thermoelectric Transport Properties

Awards

Aaron Gilad Kusne Named APS Fellow

2020 - Bronze Medal Award---Aaron Gilad Kusne

2020 - Silver Medal Award---Douglas Bennett, John Mates, Galen O'Neil, Daniel Schmidt, Daniel Swetz, Joel Ullom, Leila Vale, James Cline, Lawrence Hudson, Marcus Mendenhall

Winnie Wong-Ng Inducted into Hall of Distinction

Contacts

Group Leader