Video of the seminar by Elzbieta Pach: “Synchrotron Radiation as a Key Enabler for Understanding Ultrafast Transient Liquid-Assisted Growth”
ICMAB Researcher and SUMAN tenured scientist Elzbieta Pach gave this seminar. You can watch the video at ICMAB YouTube channel!
Abstract
Understanding ultrafast, non-equilibrium materials processes requires experimental tools capable of probing structural and chemical transformations with high temporal resolution and sensitivity. Synchrotron radiation facilities provide unique capabilities – including high brilliance, tunable energy, time-resolved measurements, and advanced in situ and operando environments – that are essential for unveiling the mechanisms of emerging rapid-growth techniques.
A prominent example is the Transient Liquid-Assisted Growth (TLAG) process for REBCO superconducting films, developed at the SUMAN group of the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). TLAG enables growth rates up to 100 times faster than conventional chemical solution deposition methods, positioning it as a highly promising route for scalable production of coated conductors for energy and fusion applications. However, this process is intrinsically non-equilibrium and kinetically driven, involving rapid phase transformations mediated by transient liquid formation. Controlling such a process requires direct, real-time access to its reaction pathway.
Within The Energy Transition Joint Laboratory between ICMAB-CSIC and the ALBA Synchrotron, we have established a correlative multi-technique approach to investigate TLAG in-situ. By combining synchrotron-based in-situ X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and in-situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), we can correlate crystallographic phase evolution with oxidation-state dynamics during ultrafast film growth. The high photon flux and time resolution of synchrotron radiation are crucial for capturing transient intermediate states that would remain inaccessible with conventional laboratory techniques.
In this seminar, I will discuss how synchrotron radiation acts as a key enabler for decoding ultrafast reaction mechanisms, using TLAG of REBCO films as a case study. I will highlight how the close integration between materials synthesis and advanced synchrotron characterization allows us not only to understand, but ultimately to control, complex non-equilibrium growth processes.
Short bio
Elzbieta Pach is a Tenured Scientist at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC). Since 2021, she has been a member of the SUMAN group, where she advances the understanding of ultrafast in situ growth of superconducting thin films using synchrotron-based in-situ X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) at the ALBA Synchrotron, within The Energy Transition Joint Laboratory.
During her postdoctoral research, she was awarded both the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación and Juan de la Cierva Formación fellowships. She obtained her PhD in Materials Science in 2017 from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Initial Training Network RADDEL. Her doctoral research focused on targeted delivery of radioactivity using carbon nanocapsules, with particular emphasis on advanced materials characterization by electron microscopy at the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2).
During her predoctoral research (2010-2012), she worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, contributing to projects on in-situ near-ambient-pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) of catalytic reactions on metallic nanoparticles at the Advanced Light Source.
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