Speaker: Lin X. Chen, Northwestern
Program Description
Fundamental processes in solar energy conversion involve photon-matter interactions through light harvesting, excited state formation and subsequent conversion to electricity, heat and fuels. Natural photosynthetic systems have demonstrated principles and key factors in light to electricity/fuel conversion, while many synthetic systems for solar fuel generation are from optimized on structural, energetic and dynamic parameters. Intense X-ray pulses from synchrotrons and X-ray free electrons lasers coupled with ultrafast lasers open up new opportunities to reveal transient structural information as photochemical processes take place in photocatalysts, photosensitizers, and photovoltaic materials. Such studies combined with materials design with chemically modified structural factors can provide feedback for generating efficient, cost-saving, and durable materials. The results from these studies have significant impacts on our understanding of the coupling between the electron transfer and structural control parameters of participating partners in solar fuel and solar electricity generation.
Bio
Lin X. Chen is a Senior Chemist in Argonne National Laboratory and a Professor of Chemistry at Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University. Her research is currently focused on ultrafast transient molecular structural studies in solar energy conversion processes and structures-dynamics-efficiency correlations in organic photovoltaic materials using ultrafast laser and X-ray spectroscopies and X-ray structural characterization. She received her B.Sc. from Peking University and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. After her postdoctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley, she joined Argonne National Laboratory as a staff scientist. She is an AAAS Fellow and has won distinguished performance award at Argonne. Her group website is at http://chemgroups.northwestern.edu/chen_group/.
