Chemistry Departmental Seminar – Dr. Xiaofeng Guo

About the event

Speaker: Prof. Xiaofeng Guo, Department of Chemistry, Washington State University

Title: Thermodynamics of f-block condensed matters

Abstract: Lanthanide and actinide bearing condensed matters constitute an essential portion of nuclear technology, ceramic application, and critical metal geochemistry, which rely on our fundamental understanding and accurate description of electronic structures, chemical structures, thermodynamic properties. In our group, we use a set of thermodynamic techniques to achieve that understanding. Specifically, high temperature calorimetry was implemented to directly determine the enthalpy quantities, such as heats of phase transition, heats of reaction, mixing and formation. In the field of nuclear material research, this technique is very useful for studying thermal stability, phase diagrams, geochemical processes, material synthesis and chemical compatibility. To correlate the emerging thermodynamics, we investigate the chemical states and structural features by performing synchrotron X-ray techniques, resonant spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations, to reveal the structural and electronic origins. In this talk, I will present our recent achievements in studying thermodynamics of advanced nuclear fuels, f-block ceramic materials, and rare-earth minerals.