The Division of Chemistry and the Division of Materials Research with support from the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities provides continuing support to ChemMatCARS, a national user facility for frontier research in chemistry and materials science employing synchrotron X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Various stations at ChemMatCARS serve a broad national and international community of scientists. Research activities address vital societal issues, including the development of new energy sources such as solar-to-hydrogen production, biomolecular materials inspired by biological processes, environmental remediation processes, and new materials and catalysts important for a wide range of industries. The facility serves as a training ground for researchers at all levels and carries out numerous activities to develop and diversify the future STEM workforce.
This user facility provides a unique high brilliance X-ray resource for the study of advanced small-molecule crystallography, liquid surface and interface scattering, and ultra-small to wide-angle scattering from bulk materials. Advanced instrumentation at ChemMatCARS enables forefront research of ordered and disordered solids, liquids and interfaces on the atomic, molecular and mesoscopic length scales over a range of time scales from nanoseconds to minutes. Users of ChemMatCARS take advantage of its unique capabilities to address a wide variety of scientific problems. Research topics include studies of interfacial chemistry important for environmental and life processes, biomolecular materials, metal-organic frameworks for gas adsorption and separation, inorganic materials for catalytic, electronic and magnetic applications, photo-responsive materials for switches, sensors, and energy production, directed assembly for tunable mesoscale structures, and new processes and materials for energy production and storage.
