Matthew Suchomel is a chargé de recherche at the ICMCB laboratory of the CNRS. His research is based on topics of fundamental solid-state chemistry, frequently approached via non-conventional synthetic routes. This work often focuses on structure-property connections using laboratory and synchrotron-based X-ray scattering methods. He obtained his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a postdoctoral position in the chemistry group of Prof. Rosseinsky at the University of Liverpool.  Subsequently, before joining the CNRS, he was a synchrotron staff scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory, responsible for the powder diffraction beamline (11-BM) of the Advanced Photon Source. He has a fellow of the ICDD and as co-authored more than 80 publications with 4000 citations.

Advanced X-ray scattering methods to guide fundamental structure-property explorations in inorganic chemistry

The exploration of new materials and fundamental studies of their structure-property connections are essential in technological innovation. This talk will highlight how advanced X-ray scattering methods can be used to provide unique insight for both tasks; in particular concerning the investigation of inorganic oxides by unconventional solid-state processing routes which can expand accessible phase spaces in order to access metastable compositions and structures.  Examples of this approach using both laboratory and synchrotron-based X-ray methods will be presented.  Though the use of total X-ray scattering (PDF) type measurements, both short and average long-range structural order details can be examined. This powerful technique, until recently only practically performed at large scale user facilities, is now a quotidian laboratory-based tool (with the appropriate tools and expertise).  Its effectiveness to help understand property changes driven by structural polymorphism in metal-oxide materials obtained via supercritical and/or low temperature synthesis routes will be discussed. Despite new advances in lab-based tools, synchrotron X-ray scattering remains an extremely valuable structural probe, in particular for in-situ and operando measurements.  Recent examples, as applied to inorganic oxide materials for electrochemical energy storage, both from the point of view of non-conventional synthesis and operando cycling performance, will also be presented.