Jinsong Wu wins the 2016 M&M Professional Technical Staff Award

EVANSTON, Ill.—Out of over 300 applicants, NUANCE Center’s EPIC Facility TEM manager Jinsong Wu was chosen as one of the few to win the 2016 M&M Professional Technical Staff Award for his paper, “Atomic Resolution in-situ TEM Studies of Lithium Electrochemistry in Co3O4-Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposite.”

EPIC Facility postdoctoral researcher Qianqian Li, NUANCE Center director Vinayak Dravid, materials science and engineering graduate student Zhenpeng Yao and materials science and engineering professor Chris Wolverton co-authored the paper.

In his paper, Wu, 45, discusses how he used an electric biasing holder to create a half-cell battery within the in-situ TEM and then observed the charging and discharging mechanisms behind lithium-ion batteries. Such observations could have significant implications.

“If we know how the electrode is working at high resolution, it can provide us more clues to develop new materials,” said Wu, Northwestern University research assistant professor. "We can try to develop better electrodes for high-capacity batteries.”

The M&M 2016 meeting is the largest conference dedicated to the science and application of microscopy and microanalysis. As part of his award, Wu received complimentary registration to the meeting in Columbus, Ohio, and up to $1,000 in support to defray expenses in attending.

Wu looks forward to learning the most recent advances in the field of electron microscopy and meeting other researchers and postdoctoral fellows from all over the world.

“For me, this is a big encouragement and recognition,” Wu said. “This means that the work at NUANCE Center’s EPIC Facility has been recognized by our peers. I feel happy and humbled to have received this award.”