Andrej Singer | Cornell Engineering

Biography

Andrej Singer received his Ph.D. degree (2012) in Physics from the University of Hamburg, Germany in the lab of Prof. Edgar Weckert and Prof. Ivan Vartanyants, following a Physics diploma from the University of Muenster, Germany. He studied the properties of new x-ray sources, particularly their ability to generate interference patterns, similar to lasers in optics. He then worked as a Postdoc in the lab of Prof. Oleg Shpyrko at the University of California San Diego. He joined the faculty of the department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell in 2017.

Research Interests

Our group uses state-of-the-art x-ray characterization to see inside complex nanomaterials during operation and harness the mesoscale phenomena for advanced functionality. Specifically, we are interested in understanding the fundamental interactions leading to increased electrocatalytic activity and durability of catalysts. We also apply x-ray imaging resonant and non-resonant diffraction to study ion intercalation and ion transport in materials for energy storage. Finally, we induce novel states in quantum materials and interrogate their properties with x-rays at free-electron lasers.

Advanced Materials
Nanotechnology

Teaching Interests

Structure of materials, mechanical properties, advanced x-ray characterization, and kinetics of materials

Select Publications

Anita Verma, Denis Golež, Oleg Yu. Gorobtsov, Kelson Kaj, Ryan Russell, Jeffrey Z Kaaret, Erik Lamb, Guru Khalsa, Hari P. Nair, Yifei Sun, Ryan Bouck, Nathaniel Schreiber, Jacob P. Ruf, Varun Ramaprasad, Yuya Kubota, Tadashi Togashi, Vladimir A. Stoica, Hari Padmanabhan, John W. Freeland, Nicole A. Benedek, Oleg Shpyrko, John W. Harter, Richard D. Averitt, Darrell G. Schlom, Kyle M. Shen, Andrew J. Millis, and Andrej Singer, “Picosecond volume expansion drives a later-time insulator–metal transition in a nano-textured Mott insulator” Nat. Phys. (2024).
Ziming Shao, Noah Schnitzer, Jacob Ruf, Oleg Y. Gorobtsov, Cheng Dai, Berit H Goodge, Tiannan Yang, Hari Nair, Vlad A. Stoica, John W Freeland, Jacob Ruff, Long-Qing Chen, Darrell G. Schlom, Kyle M. Shen, Lena F. Kourkoutis, and Andrej Singer, “Real-space imaging of polar and elastic nano-textures in thin films via inversion of diffraction data” PNAS 120, e2303312120 (2023).
J. J. Huang, D. Weinstock, H. Hirsh, R. Bouck, M. Zhang, O. Yu. Gorobtsov, M. Okamura, R. Harder, W. Cha, J. P. C. Ruff, Y. S. Meng, and A. Singer, “Disorder Dynamics in Battery Nanoparticles During Phase Transitions Revealed by Operando Single-Particle Diffraction”Advanced Energy Materials, 12, 2103521 (2022).
D. Weinstock, H. S. Hirsh, O. Yu Gorobtsov, M. Zhang, J. Huang, R. Bouck, J. P. C. Ruff, Y. S. Meng, A. Singer, “Structure-selective operando x-ray spectroscopy”ACS Energy Letters 7, 261-266 (2021).
Yifei Sun, Oleg Yu Gorobstov, Linqin Mu, Daniel Weinstock, Ryan Bouck, Wonsuk Cha, Nikolaos Bouklas, Feng Lin, and Andrej Singer, “X-ray nanoimaging of crystal defects in single grains of solid-state electrolyte AlxLi7-3xLa3Zr2O12”Nano letters 21, 4570–4576 (2021).