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DOE OSTI2020

Achieving Balanced Crystallization Kinetics of Donor and Acceptor by Sequential-Blade Coated Double Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells

Sequential deposition has great potential to achieve high performance in organic solar cells due to the resulting well-controlled vertical phase separation. In this work, double bulk heterojunction organic solar cells are fabricated by sequential-blade cast in ambient conditions. Probed by the in situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and in situ UV–vis absorption measurements, the seq-blade system exhibits a different tendency from each of the binary films during the film formation process. Due to the extensive aggregation of FOIC, the binary PBDB-T:FOIC film displays a strong and large phase separation, resulting in low current density (J sc) and unsatisfactory power conversion efficiency. In the seq-blade cast system, the bottom layer PBDB-T:IT-M produces many crystal nuclei for the top layer PBDB-T:FOIC, so the PBDB-T molecules are able to crystallize easily and quickly. Balanced crystallization kinetics between polymer and small molecule and an ideal percolation network in the film are observed. In addition, the balanced crystallization kinetics are favorable toward realizing lower recombination loss through charge transport processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Synthesis of Na + -gated nanochannel membranes for the ammonia (NH 3 ) separation

Na + -gated nanochannel membranes were synthesized on α-Al 2 O 3 supports by secondary growth for ammonia (NH 3 ) separation from a mixture gas containing NH 3 , hydrogen (H 2 ) and nitrogen (N 2 ) at high temperature and pressure. Here, the effects of synthesis parameters (number of seeding steps, aging time, synthesis time, and Si/Al ratio) on membrane properties were investigated by characterization and gas permeation testing. Under the optimized condition (two-time seeding, 8 h aging time, 5 h synthesis time, and gel composition of 1.05 Al 2 O 3 : 5 SiO 2 : 50 Na 2 O: 100 H 2 O), the best membranes achieved NH 3 /H 2 and NH 3 /N 2 selectivities of 328 ± 60 and 1106 ± 207, respectively at 200 °C and 21 bar. Separation performance of the membrane was shown to be highly dependent on the permeances of N 2 and H 2 , which were greatly influenced by the membrane quality.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Integration of Nuclear Material Accounting Data and Process Monitoring Data for Improvement on Detection Probability in Safeguarding Electrochemical Processing Facilities (Final Technical Report)

The KAERI advanced spent fuel conditioning process (ACP) process is a critical component of the US- South Korean nuclear cooperation and the following “123 Agreement.” Its development has received considerable attention in both countries. The ACP is an electrochemical processing (pyroprocessing) that recycles over 96% of the used nuclear fuel (UNF). It is also intrinsically proliferation-resistant in theory. In normal operation, the U/TRU product is very hot radiologically. In addition, the Cm provides a high level of spontaneous neutrons, making the product unsuitable for weapon use. However, as pointed in some study, “the need for safeguards to protect against the diversion and misuse of separated plutonium applies essentially equally to all grades of plutonium.” As pointed by many studies, the well-established traditional Nuclear Material Accounting (NMA) approach cannot be directly applied to electrochemical processing because of the lack of an input accountability tank, the non-continuous material flow, and the unsatisfactory level of confidence in sampling methods. Therefore, nuclear safeguards remain a grand challenge in the developing of commercial electrochemical separations facilities, especially around the heart of such facilities, the electrorefiner (ER) systems. In contrast to NMA data, process monitoring (PM) data is normally an indirect measurement of the SNM and is acquired much more frequently. In a broad sense, PM includes monitoring by various types of equipment, e.g. radiation detectors, cameras, voltage, current sensors. Because it is already being collected by the operator, the additional cost to safeguards is low. It has long been believed that PM data can supplement NMA data and help improve safeguards, although the benefits are hard to quantify. The U.S. DOE’s Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technology (MPACT) campaign has made substantial investments into innovative PM sensor technology and predictive model development for real- or near real-time measurement and prediction of molten salt density and level, salt composition and actinide concentration especially Pu, the cell voltage, and the cell current to supplement traditional NMA. For aqueous-based reprocessing facilities, it is reported that PM, integrated with traditional NMA, have a high detection probability for specific diversions. For electrochemical reprocessing, preliminary studies have shown that PM data can support traditional NMA in various ways by providing a basis to estimate some of the in-processing nuclear material inventories. Despite early success, further studies on fusion of PM data and NMA data are still needed, which is the goal of this proposed work.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2024

In-situ ionothermal synthesis of nanoporous carbon/oxide composites: A new key to functional separators for stable lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with high energy density are promising for energy storage. However, conventional polypropylene-based separator cannot avoid polysulfides shuttling which impedes the practical application of LSBs. Herein, an in-situ ionothermal synthesis strategy that concurrently applies ionic liquid as the solvent, template and high-yield carbon source is proposed for the facile preparation of nanoporous carbon/oxide composite separator modifiers. The composites exhibit features of high polarity, self doping, oxygen vacancy, heteroatom doping, abundant defects and high electronic conductivity. Theoretical and experimental studies suggest that the composites can efficiently trap and convert polysulfides for high-performance LSBs. Indeed, in the composite-modified LSBs with next-generation roll-to-roll dry-processed high-loading sulfur cathodes, enhanced performance is achieved, revealing the effectiveness of the composites as functional materials towards separator modification. Therefore, the proposed strategy and its delivered nanoporous composites exhibit excellent versatility and practicality for high-performance LSBs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Multiphase Processing of the Water-Soluble and Insoluble Phases of Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol

Biomass burning is one of the most significant sources of organic aerosol in the atmosphere. Biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) has been observed to undergo liquid– liquid phase separation (LLPS) to give core–shell morphology with the hydrophobic phase encapsulating the hydrophilic phase, potentially impacting the evolution of light-absorbing components, i.e., brown carbon (BrC), through multiphase processes. Here, we demonstrate how multiphase processing differs between the watersoluble (i.e., hydrophilic) and insoluble (i.e., hydrophobic) phases of BBOA in terms of reactive uptake of ozone in a coated-wall flow tube. Effects of relative humidity (RH) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation were investigated. Experimental timeseries were used to inform simulations using multilayer kinetic modeling. Among non-irradiated thin films, the uptake coefficient was greatest for the water-soluble phase at 75% RH (3 × 10 –5 , corresponding to a diffusion coefficient of BrC, D BrC , of 3 × 10 –9 cm 2 s –1 ) and least for the same phase at 0% RH (1 × 10 –5 , corresponding to D BrC of 1 × 10 –10 cm 2 s –1 ). The uptake coefficient for the water-insoluble phase fell between these two (about 1.5 × 10 –5 ), regardless of RH, and the corresponding D BrC increased only slightly (8 × 10 –10 cm 2 s –1 at 0% RH to 9 × 10 –10 cm 2 s –1 at 75% RH). The uptake coefficients of both phases at 0% RH decreased significantly after UV irradiation, consistent with a transition from viscous liquid to solid and supported by qualitative microscopy observations. Modeling multiphase ozone oxidation of primary BrC components in the atmosphere demonstrated, first, that LLPS may extend the lifetime of water-soluble BBOA encapsulated by water-insoluble species by a factor of 1.5 at moderate to high RH and, also, that UV irradiation may extend the lifetime of both phases by more than a factor of 2.5.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2025

Introduction: Neuromorphic Materials

The explosive growth in data collection and the need to process it efficiently, as well as the desire to automate increasingly complex tasks in transportation, medical care, manufacturing, security and many other fields have motivated a growing interest in neuromorphic computing. Unlike the binary, transistorbased ON/OFF logic gates and separate logic and memory functionalities employed in digital computing, neuromorphic computing is inspired by animal brains that use interconnected synapses and neurons to perform processing, storage and transmission of information at the same location, while only consuming ~20 W or less of power. Motivated by the brain’s efficiency, adaptability, self-learning and resiliency qualities, neuromorphic computing can be broadly defined as an approach to processing and storing information using hardware and algorithms inspired by models of biological neural systems. Present research in neuromorphic computing encompasses approaches that vary significantly in their degree of neuro-inspiration, from systems that only incorporate features such as asynchronous, event-driven operation or use crossbar arrays of non-volatile memory (NVM) elements to accelerate deep neural networks (DNNs), to designs that embrace the extreme parallelism, sparsity, reconfigurability, adaptability, complexity and stochasticity observed in nervous systems. The term ‘neuromorphic’ computing is often credited to Carver Mead, who in the 1980s investigated Si-based analog electronics to replicate functions of the animal retina. Earlier important advances in this field include the work of Frank Rosenblatt, who proposed the concept of the perceptron, Bernard Widrow, who used this concept to build one of the first analog neural networks, the Adaline and many other researchers (see ref. 6 for an historical perspective on neuromorphic computing). With the recent increase in the use of artificial intelligence and large language models, and rising concerns over the associated energy costs, interest in neuromorphic hardware has expanded rapidly. According to some estimates, driven largely by the drastic growth in the training use of artificial intelligence (AI) models using the current computing architectures, the energy cost of computing is projected to reach the energy supply worldwide by 2045. Furthermore, while this is not a realistic outcome, it means that, if more efficient computing technologies are not developed -- soon -- the world will soon become one where demand for energy and market constraints limit the continued increase of societal access to AI and cloud services from data centers. Data centers used for training and use of these models consume hundreds of terawatt hours of electricity, already past 4% of the US electricity demand.

Circuits↗

DOE OSTI2026

Jet charge with global event shapes: Probing quark flavor dynamics

We propose measuring the jet electric charge of jet regions, defined within the framework of global event shapes, as a probe of quark flavor dynamics within the nucleon and the hadronization process. In particular, we consider a measurement of the jet region charge while simultaneously keeping track of the energy flow throughout the event, as characterized by the global event shape. As a concrete example, we focus on the measurement of the (Q), the jet charge of the jet region (𝐽) defined within the framework of the 1-Jettiness global event shape (𝜏 1 ) for the Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) process, 𝑒 − +𝑝→𝑒 − +𝐽+𝑋, with unpolarized or longitudinally polarized protons. The 1-Jettiness distribution, binned according to jet charge, allows for enhanced quark flavor separation of the initial state unpolarized or polarized PDFs. On the other hand, the jet charge distribution binned by 1-Jettiness can serve as a probe of quark flavor dynamics in the final state hadronization process. We derive a factorization theorem for simultaneous measurements of 𝜏 1 and Q in the resummation region, 𝜏 1 ≪𝑃 𝐽 𝑇 , where 𝑃 𝐽 𝑇 denotes the transverse momentum of the jet region. The correlation between the jet region charge and the charge of the struck quark is expected to be the strongest in the resummation region. The factorization theorem contains a new universal , generalizing the standard jet function to include a jet charge measurement. Therefore these universal functions can be extracted from a global analysis of N-jettiness and thrust at 𝑒 + ⁢𝑒 − colliders. We provide simulation studies to demonstrate the sensitivity of the 1-Jettiness jet charge observable to quark flavor dynamics in nucleon structure and explore the possibility of probing the final state hadronization process. This observable is well-suited for applications with existing HERA data and the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC).

Mantry, Sonny [University of North Georgia, Dahlon↗

DOE OSTI2026

All-organic self-separating three-dimensionally nanoarchitected electrochemical energy storage devices

This work realizes a three-dimensionally (3D) nanoarchitected, all organic, "self-separating" lithium-ion electrochemical energy storage (EES) device that is cycled as a solid-state full cell. The device is enabled by a monolithic carbon anode with a co-continuous pore network, derived from the structure direction of resols by an ultra-large molar mass block copolymer (BCP), poly(styrene-block-2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (SA). Electropolymerization of a single-phase conductive and redox-active material, poly((2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxin-2-yl)methyl 9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracene-2-carboxylate) (PAQEDOT), into the pore space provides the cathode of the cell. The device is electronically contacted to the relevant electrode network enabled by the co-continuous nature of each electrode. Electrochemical processing via cycling against external lithium in an electrolyte generates a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) as a separator and lithiates the cell electrodes, after which the EES device is cycled in the solid state. While the full cell does not demonstrate high cyclability, the best full cell demonstrates a discharge capacity of 267 milliamp hours per gram (mAh/g). This work marks, to the best of knowledge of the authors, the first example of an all-organic materials derived 3D nanoarchitected EES device, as well as the first design of "self-separating" cell fabrication. Furthermore, generalization of the design to another co-continuous carbon form factor is demonstrated.

FOS: Physical sciences↗

DOE OSTI2020

Acid Exfoliation of Imine‐linked Covalent Organic Frameworks Enables Solution Processing into Crystalline Thin Films

Abstract Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are highly modular porous crystalline polymers that are of interest for applications such as charge‐storage devices, nanofiltration membranes, and optoelectronic devices. COFs are typically synthesized as microcrystalline powders, which limits their performance in these applications, and their limited solubility precludes large‐scale processing into more useful morphologies and devices. We report a general, scalable method to exfoliate two‐dimensional imine‐linked COF powders by temporarily protonating their linkages. The resulting suspensions were cast into continuous crystalline COF films up to 10 cm in diameter, with thicknesses ranging from 50 nm to 20 μm depending on the suspension composition, concentration, and casting protocol. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the film fabrication process proceeds through a partial depolymerization/repolymerization mechanism, providing mechanically robust films that can be easily separated from their substrates.

Burke, David W.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Decoding Antenna Behavior in Metal—Organic Frameworks

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) define a solid-state platform for developing artificial photosystems. Efficient anisotropic exciton migrations in these frameworks entail “antenna behavior” that can power up the distal interior reaction centers (RC), driving charge separation between donor-acceptor pairs. Reminiscent of the natural light-harvesting complex, such processes can achieve high quantum yield by exploiting the vast interior surface of the porous crystallites. It is important to understand the optimum positioning of the RC site relative to the anisotropic exciton migration path within these frameworks. The efficiency of such antenna behavior is probed here through Stern–Volmer (SV) type analysis with a series of node-anchored redox quenchers, ferrocene-carboxylate, ferrocene acetate, and dinitrobenzoate. Decoding various intrinsic processes, this work constructs a revised SV formalism in solid assembly that hosts ultrafast anisotropic exciton migration to account for the intrinsic exciton hopping rate from the extrinsic electron transfer rate, and the dimension of effective quenching. In conclusion, this transformative understanding can be applied to other relevant solid-state assemblies.

Saha, Bapan [Southern Illinois University, Carbond↗

DOE OSTI2020

In-situ Observations of Directed Energy Deposition Additive Manufacturing Using High-Speed X-ray Imaging

In laser-based directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing, interactions among the laser beam, particle flow, and melt pool influence the properties of the solidified final part. Two separate DED systems, one with high powder flow rates to represent industrial-scale DED processing and the other with low powder flow rates for individual particle tracking, were synchronized with the high-speed imaging setup at the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne National Laboratory. In-situ x-ray imaging of the DED process using both systems highlighted the influence of powder flow rates. Increased powder flow rates resulted in less laser absorption into the melt pool, leading to a transition from a keyhole mode to a melt pool without a keyhole but with surface fluctuations due to powder flow. Increased velocities of particles during powder flow resulted in a decrease in particle melting times and a greater propensity for porosity formation. Altogether, better understanding of the interactions that occur during various scales of the DED process will enable flexibility, control, and new materials development in DED-based additive manufacturing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Matrimid substrates with bicontinuous surface and macrovoids in the bulk: A nearly ideal substrate for composite membranes in CO 2 capture

Scalable fabrication of thin-film composite (TFC) membrane for post-combustion carbon capture is often limited by the availability of high-performance nanoporous substrate. Ideally, the substrate should allow for fast gas transport at the selective layer/substrate interface as well as in the bulk of the substrate. In this study, highly permeable Matrimid substrates were prepared via vapor- and nonsolvent-induced phase separations. The phase separation mechanism of the Matrimid®/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone casting solution was modulated by the addition of LiCl to control the solution thermodynamic stability, and nanoporous Matrimid substrates were formed with a bicontinuous surface and macrovoids in the bulk. This hierarchically optimized structure resulted in a CO 2 permeance of 2.60 × 10 5 GPU (1 GPU = 1 × 10 –6 cm 3 (STP) cm –2 s –1 cmHg –1 = 3.349 × 10 –10 mol m –2 s –1 Pa –1 ), which was ca. 11 times more permeable than a benchmark polyethersulfone substrate with cellular pores. The benefit of using this new substrate was demonstrated by coating a 170-nm amine-containing polymer to form a TFC facilitated transport membrane. The membrane exhibited a CO 2 permeance of 932 GPU at 57°C, which was 72 GPU higher than the counterpart coated on the benchmark substrate. Meanwhile, the CO 2 /N 2 selectivity was remained at 158. This permeance improvement could be well explained by the resistance-in-series model, where the improved permeance was attributed to the reductions in substrate and lateral diffusion mass transfer resistances. The upper bound (UB) analysis indicates that the Matrimid substrate is nearly ideal for the state-of-the-art polymers for CO 2 /N 2 separation. Here, the substrate improvement could also reduce the parasitic energy associated with the membrane process due to the reduced membrane cost and flue gas compression requirement.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Identification and Online Updating of Dynamic Models for Demand Response of an Industrial Air Separation Unit

Demand-response operation of air separation units requires frequent changes in production rate(s), and scheduling calculations must explicitly consider process dynamics to ensure feasibility of the solutions. To this end, scale-bridging models (SBMs) approximate the scheduling-relevant dynamics of a process and its controller in a low-order representation. In contrast to previous works that have employed nonlinear SBMs, this paper proposes linear SBMs, developed using time-series analysis, to facilitate online scheduling computations. Using a year-long industrial dataset, we nd that compact linear SBMs are suitable approximations over typical scheduling horizons, but that their accuracies are unpredictable over time. We introduce a strategy for online updating of the SBMs, based on Kalman ltering schemes for online parameter estimation. The approach greatly improves the accuracy of SBM predictions and will enable the use of linear SBM-based demand-response scheduling in the future.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2024

Assessing microbial systems and process configurations for improved ethanol production from sugary stovers by integrating soluble sugars and holocellulose

Here, this study evaluated microbial systems and technological approaches to configure the whole slurry co-fermentation process for ethanol biosynthesis from a novel stover system rich in sugars. Two approaches, namely separate and simultaneous hydrolysis and co-fermentation (SHCF and SSCF, respectively), were investigated using Escherichia coli monoculture and E. coli-yeast coculture. The SSCF with E. coli monoculture produced 32.75 g/L ethanol, representing only 44.87% yield, which left 65.13 g/L of total sugars unconverted and exhibited limited xylose consumption. Subsequently, a coculture-based SHCF significantly enhanced sugar consumption, leading to increase in ethanol yield and concentration to 66.94% and 48.86 g/L, respectively. Nevertheless, xylose utilization remained minimal due to the preference for glucose and the inhibitory effects of certain compounds. Thereafter, modification of the medium composition by supplementing betaine and sodium metabisulfite improved ethanol production to 53.18 g/L by reducing the toxic effects of inhibitors. Finally, a dual-phase SSCF (DP-SSCF) was explored by allowing the consumption of sugars from the pretreated slurry in the first phase, followed by concurrent cellulose hydrolysis and utilization of the resulting glucose in the second phase. This strategy increased ethanol titer to 63.14 g/L, with 84.3% yield and 0.88 g/L/h productivity.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Inhibition of asphaltene aggregation using deep eutectic solvents: COSMO-RS calculations and experimental validation

Asphaltene precipitation/deposition adversely affects various oil and gas processes, such as oil recovery, transportation, and petroleum processing. The resulting increase in viscosity of crude oil decreases distillate yields creating unstable phase separation. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have recently gained interest as inhibitors of asphaltene aggregation. The goal of the present study is to derive the mechanism of inhibition of petroleum asphaltene aggregation by a novel screening of DESs. An archipelago-based chemical structure of asphaltene was adopted for performing quantum chemical calculations. The structure was used in the conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) model to screen potential DESs for asphaltene precipitation. It was found that DESs containing thymol were the most promising of the 153 DES combinations screened. The COSMO-RS predictions were validated experimentally using solubility data of asphaltene in DESs. Among the studied DESs, thymol-diphenyl ether provided the highest solubility for asphaltene, which was further validated using the experimental and the COSMO-RS predicted data. In addition, to characterize the structural interactions between asphaltene and DESs, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements were performed. It was found that strong interaction between asphaltene and the DESs is responsible for the higher asphaltene dispersion. Finally, the present approach opens pathways to rationally design and understand the impact of structural variation of DESs based on their interactions with asphaltene.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2020

Ion Mobility Spectrometry with High Ion Utilization Efficiency Using Traveling Wave-Based Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations

Ion packets introduced from gates, ion funnel traps, and other conventional ion injection mechanisms produce ion pulse widths typically around a few microseconds or less for ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)-based separations on the order of 100 milliseconds. When such ion injection techniques are coupled with ultralong path length traveling wave (TW)-based IMS separations (i.e., on the order of seconds) using structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIMs), typically very low ion utilization efficiency is achieved for continuous ion sources [e.g., electrospray ionization (ESI)]. Even with the ability to trap and accumulate much larger populations of ions than being conventionally feasible over longer time periods in SLIM devices, the subsequent long separations lead to overall low ion utilization. In this study, we report the use of a highly flexible SLIM arrangement, enabling concurrent ion accumulation and separation and achieving near-complete ion utilization with ESI. We characterize the ion accumulation process in SLIM, demonstrate >98% ion utilization, and show both increased signal intensities and measurement throughput. This approach is envisioned to have broad utility to applications, for example, involving the fast detection of trace chemical species.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Do Ionic Liquids Slow Down in Stages?

High impact recent articles have reported on the existence of a liquid–liquid (L–L) phase transition as a function of both pressure and temperature in ionic liquids (ILs) containing the popular trihexyltetradecylphosphonium cation (P 666,14 + ), sometimes referred to as the “universal liquifier”. The work presented here reports on the structural-dynamic pathway from liquid to glass of the most well-studied IL comprising the P 666,14 + cation. We present experimental and computational evidence that, on cooling, the path from the room-temperature liquid to the glass state is one of separate structural-dynamic changes. The first stage involves the slowdown of the charge network, while the apolar subcomponent is fully mobile. A second, separate stage entails the slowdown of the apolar domain. Whereas it is possible that these processes may be related to the liquid–liquid and glass transitions, more research is needed to establish this conclusively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Correlative image learning of chemo-mechanics in phase-transforming solids

We report constitutive laws underlie most physical processes in nature. However, learning such equations in heterogeneous solids (for example, due to phase separation) is challenging. One such relationship is between composition and eigenstrain, which governs the chemo-mechanical expansion in solids. Here we developed a generalizable, physically constrained image-learning framework to algorithmically learn the chemo-mechanical constitutive law at the nanoscale from correlative four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray spectro-ptychography images. We demonstrated this approach on Li X FePO 4 , a technologically relevant battery positive electrode material. We uncovered the functional form of the composition–eigenstrain relation in this two-phase binary solid across the entire composition range (0 ≤ X ≤ 1), including inside the thermodynamically unstable miscibility gap. The learned relation directly validates Vegard’s law of linear response at the nanoscale. Our physics-constrained data-driven approach directly visualizes the residual strain field (by removing the compositional and coherency strain), which is otherwise impossible to quantify. Heterogeneities in the residual strain arise from misfit dislocations and were independently verified by X-ray diffraction line profile analysis. Our work provides the means to simultaneously quantify chemical expansion, coherency strain and dislocations in battery electrodes, which has implications on rate capabilities and lifetime. Broadly, this work also highlights the potential of integrating correlative microscopy and image learning for extracting material properties and physics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗