Peter Metz, a Ph.D. candidate from Alfred University in New York who has been working with Spallation Neutron Source Instrument Scientists Kate Page and Joerg Neuefeind, has been selected to receive the 2015 Jerome B. Cohen award. The Cohen award, which recognizes outstanding student achievements in the broad field of X-ray analysis, will be presented by the International Centre for Diffraction Data at the 2015 Denver X-ray Conference in August.
Metz has been at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since March 2015 under the DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program. His research focuses on total scattering analyses on crystalline materials with pronounced elements of disorder such as stacking faults. The scattered signal of this material therefore deviates subtly from that of its ideal crystalline analog. Rather than discard this information as background, total scattering analyses use careful data collection and sophisticated modeling techniques to gain atomistic insight into defect behavior. This insight is particularly relevant to the development of novel nanoscaled catalysts and electrochemical electrode materials for energy applications. Metz's graduate research advisor is Prof. Scott Misture of Alfred University.
“My background is in ceramic engineering,” said Metz. “I’m interested in materials for alternative energy, and scattering studies – both neutron and X-ray – are a great way to study those materials. These techniques offer the opportunity to discern both mesoscale features, like stacking disorder, and the local structure of the nanosheets, paving the way for detailed mechanistic structure-property investigations in these complex nanoscale materials.”
Metz is grateful for this award and the exposure it brings. “It’s a great chance to be recognized and make connections within what is a fairly small community,” he said. He will return to Alfred University this month and plans on completing his dissertation in preparation for graduation in Spring 2016.
The results of Metz’s work at ORNL, including both neutron scattering data collected on NOMAD, SNS beam line 1B, and X-ray scattering data collected at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, have been submitted to Advances in X-ray Analysis: “X-ray and neutron total scattering analysis of Hy∙(Bi0.2Ca0.55Sr0.25)(Ag0.25Na0.75)Nb3O10∙xH2O perovskite nanosheet booklets with stacking disorder.”
