In honor of our new President-elect Barack Obama, I've decided to post a photograph of his lovely home state Hawaii at sunrise! Enjoy.

BNL NSLS X7B Beamtime - Oct/Nov 2008

I will post this picture as an ode to Wen. Our former labmate who has completed his Postdoctoral position at Brookhaven National Laboratory(BNL.gov) wasn't there this time for our experimenting at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) @ beamline X7B (XRD). We will miss our host as he has gone back to his native land to work with the Shanghai Synchrotron that is being completed over in China.

(Pictured from left to right - Brian Hult, Chris Allen, Dr. Wen Wen, and Dr. Jonathan Hanson [BNL Chemistry Staff and NSLS X7B Host])

Our research group is currently testing newly synthesized cathode materials for use in Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) applications. Pictured to the left is our pair of Arbin Battery Cyclers as they are setup on our research excursion to the NSLS.

To the left you will see how we position our in-situ LIB cells such that we can collect x-ray diffraction data from the cells at different states of charge (SOC). The incident x-ray beam is coming from the left to right in this picture, the beam comes out of a guide (tube) below the red LED towards the upper center of the picture.

To the left you will see the circular black body, which is the XRD detector for the beamline. The incident beam will hit the sample and diffract the x-rays at discrete angles which correlate to the planes within the crystal lattices of the sample and will be absorbed by the element in detector which will later be scanned (similar to a traditional photographic plate) and then converted to a typical abs. vs. 2 theta angle XRD spectra by integrating the image.

Stay TUNED for more!

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Cheers,
Brian

Hot like lava

Ever wonder what it's like to walk around an active lava flow? Its hot!

An American Election

It is the 5th of November and we are all waking to a new reality. For some of us who are new citizen's this was an amazing awakening almost as if suddenly a new door had opened with hope for the future. A course correction which till yesterday was clouded in fear and ciniscism. Most of us were in doubt of our own ability to transcent color for reason and hope. Folks what a ride this has been. I have never been so involved in politics and as of now feel rewarded. I am not alone, spontaneous show of joy in several major cities including my favorite place, Time Sq., NY had never been seen here. This is a completely game changing event. I hope the new leadership which will come in is able to meet the expectations of all. I wish us well and hope we can keep our smiles for a few days more.

Fun after ECS meeting

After a week of intense science we took in the view of Honolulu from high atop the Diamondhead Crater!