About Us

The development of materials for energy conversion and storage is one of the most pressing challenges in our attempts at solving the energy problem. Neutrons are a unique probe to characterise the structure, kinetics and dynamics of materials over many length and time scales.

JCNS-3 uses and develps a wide range of neutron and complementary X-ray methods to analyse complex energy technology systems in situ and operando. The institute is currently in the process of being established and future fields of research include, for example:

• Mapping of light elements such as hydrogen and lithium, including their dynamics and diffusion - in fuel cells, hydrogen storage systems and batteries.

• Research into the (magnetic) structure, defects and dynamics of nanostructured interfaces in energy materials on all relevant length scales from angstroms to centimetres.

• Imaging methods such as tomography and diffraction on larger components and devices as well as on integrated systems, non-destructive under real operating conditions.

• Identification of chemical molecules and reaction mechanisms in catalytic reactions by analysing vibration modes, as well as excitations of materials for energy conversion as a basis for increasing their efficiency.

Depending on the project, research includes the development of sample environments for energy materials, the construction and/or further development of neutron instruments, as well as collaboration with the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK), the Ernst Ruska-Centre (ER-C) for transmission electron microscopy, the Julich Supercomputing Centre and the Neutron-SimLab.

The head of the JCNS-3 institute, Prof Zobel, also holds the Chair of Crystallography at RWTH Aachen University.