PNNL

Two researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) participated in the Cluster Meeting 2023. Grant Johnson and Zdenek Dohnálek gave invited presentations and served as session chairs at the Prague-based meeting. Each discussed different aspects of cluster-related research occurring at PNNL.

The 2023 conference is the second Cluster Meeting, following the inaugural event in 2021. The conference focused on “catalysis, reactivity, characterization, imaging and modeling of primarily size-selected clusters, both free and supported.” The program featured invited lectures, hot topic talks, and submitted presentations and posters. Attendees included chemists, materials scientists, and physicists from across the globe.

Johnson presented on “Atomically precise clusters in advanced energy applications.” His invited hot topic lecture discussed work on using atomically precise clusters for energy storage, chemical separations, and quantum computing. These highly tunable supported clusters represent an exciting option for developing new routes to effectively separate complex mixtures, an ongoing and increasingly important challenge. Johnson also chaired a session of hot topic presentations.

Dohnálek presented on “Dynamics of single Rh atoms in Fe₃O₄(001) surfaces under reaction conditions.” He discussed how single-atom catalysts are activated under reaction conditions on an oxide surface. The invited hot topic lecture particularly focused on the need to understand these dynamic processes under active catalysis conditions, because the catalyst can change in the presence of adsorbed reactants or reaction intermediates. Dohnálek also chaired a session of invited lectures.

Clusters are promising materials with properties that may be tailored for a broad range of advanced energy-related applications. The participants presented cutting-edge research aimed at designing, preparing, and characterizing size-selected clusters using distinguishing instrumental capabilities at PNNL.