Researchers visit from The University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany

We were pleased to host Dr. Oleg Prymak and PhD student Kateryna Loza, members of Dr. Matthias Epple’s Inorganic Chemistry group in Essen. Dr. Epple’s group specializes in biomaterials, biomineralization, and in-vitro/in-vivo testing. The collaboration is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD-PPP), designed to help catalyze scientific exchange between the US and Germany.… Read More Researchers visit from The University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany

April 17, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

Soham Banerjee awarded The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

Soham, first year grad student working in the group was selected as a 2014 NDSEG Fellow, funded by the Department of Defense. NDSEG Fellowships last for three years and pay for full tuition, mandatory fees, and a monthly stipend. His proposal focused on using ctPDF to investigate mesoscale heterogeneities in complex materials. Congrats Soham!

April 17, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

Professor Billinge elected Fellow of the Neutron Scattering Society of America

Professor Billinge was honored with fellowship in the Neutron Scattering Society of America. He will receive the honor at the 2014 American Conference on Neutron Scattering (ACNS) in Knoxville Tennessee in June 2014. Fellowship may only be conferred on 0.5% of the NSSA membership in any given year. The award was highlighted in an article… Read More Professor Billinge elected Fellow of the Neutron Scattering Society of America

March 29, 2014October 18, 2014 mwterban

PDF reveals structure of miracle perovskite in novel solar cells

For solar electricity to be economically competitive with fossil fuel based electricity, the cost of fabricating and installing solar cells needs to be much lower. Solution processed solar cells can potentially achieve this with a drastically lower fabrication cost but their low performance has so far limited their success. Recently, solar cells based on methylammonium… Read More PDF reveals structure of miracle perovskite in novel solar cells

March 27, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

Complex modelling paper selected as cover for Journal of Applied Crystallography

Figure 1 of a recent group paper published in Journal of Applied Crystallography (http://journals.iucr.org/j/issues/2014/02/00/issconts.html) has been selected by the journal’s Editors as the cover art for the April 2014 issue. The paper from Farrow et.al, pioneered a complex modelling approach to study the stuy the structure of CdS nanoparticles by incorporating both small angle X-ray… Read More Complex modelling paper selected as cover for Journal of Applied Crystallography

March 25, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

PDF unveils the structure of important 2D nanocrystalline MXene materials

MXenes are emerging 2-D materials that are extremingly promising for applications in electronic and energy storage devices (Science 341, 1502, 2013; Nat. Commun. 4, 1716, 2013). However, due to their nanomaterial nature, it has proven impossible to solve their structures by means of traditional x-ray crystallography. Atomic pair distribution function technique (PDF), on the other… Read More PDF unveils the structure of important 2D nanocrystalline MXene materials

March 11, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

Cobalt catalyst work highlighted in “Tribology & Lubrication Technology”!

The work on the cobalt oxide catalysts was recently highlighted in a news article in the magazine Tribology & Lubrication Technology, the professional society of tribology and lubrication engineers. Click here to read the article (found on pp. 3-4).

March 1, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

PDF makes important contribution to understanding of solar-driven catalytic hydrolysis

It will take state-of-art nanoparticle catalysts to harness sunlight to split water, a holy grail of energy research, into hydrogen and oxygen, green fuels with the potential to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for energy. Due to the catalysts’ nanostructured nature, their structures are unknown, which poses a great challenge for understanding their function. Recently, Billinge… Read More PDF makes important contribution to understanding of solar-driven catalytic hydrolysis

January 26, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

2014: The International Year of Crystallography

To acknowledge a century of crucial contributions to science, UNESCO has declared 2014 the International Year of Crystallography, and the International Union of Crystallography is leading the world in a celebration of the remarkable scientific discoveries that have been enabled by crystallography. This year marks the centennial of the Nobel Prize awarded to Max von… Read More 2014: The International Year of Crystallography

January 23, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

IUCr launches comprehensive open-access journal at start of International Year of Crystallography

To kick off the International Year of Crystallography 2014 in celebrating achievements of the field, the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) has released its new comprehensive journal in structural science, IUCrJ. More information on the journal and the seven papers and two scientific commentaries of the first issue can be found at: link to journal

January 2, 2014October 13, 2014 mwterban

The Billinge Group: Columbia University

Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics