Oct 2022
Photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) is perhaps the most direct probe of electronic structure available to the experimental scientist, as well as an invaluable tool for elucidating bulk and surface chemical composition. This talk will explain how a variety of different photoemission techniques can be used today to understand a wide range of phenomenon in oxide energy materials. This will range from standard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) and high-pressure photoelectron spectroscopy (HPXPS), as well as highlights of some very recent work on angle-resolved PES (ARPES). HPXPS is rapidly developing as a tool to understand how surfaces behave “at pressure” as the majority of photoemission performed over the last 40 years uses ultra-high vacuum conditions (10-10 mbar). I will use recent examples of how combination of different PES techniques can fundamentally change our understanding of the physics and chemistry of well-known systems, from catalysts, batteries, transparent conducting oxides and fuel cell materials. I will also highlight how fundamental research can translate to opportunities for innovation in unexpected ways.
David Payne is Professor of Materials Chemistry in the Department of Materials, Imperial College London. He received his MChem degree from Cardiff University in 2004, and his DPhil degree from the University of Oxford, based in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory in 2008. He was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church and the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford from 2007 until joining the Department of Materials, Imperial College London as a Lecturer in 2011. He was also awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in the same year. To date he has published over 110 papers primarily in materials for energy applications. He has utilised photoelectron spectroscopy (and other techniques) to discover fundamental new electronic properties in a wide range of oxide materials with. He established the Advanced Photoelectron Spectroscopy Laboratory at Imperial College where both conventional high-resolution ultra-high vacuum x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is performed alongside cutting-edge high-pressure photoelectron spectroscopy. In 2021 he founded, along with former group members, a spin-out company – Solveteq Ltd – which specialises in developing new, green technologies for lead-acid battery recycling. In 2019 he also became Director of Research Complex at Harwell, a UK Government national facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. He leads an institution of around 300 researchers working across the physical and life sciences.