Georgia Institute of Technology

Ph.D. in Material Science & Engineering (2003), Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.
B.S. in Physics and Mathematics magna cum laude (1996), Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA

Dr. Faisal Alamgir joined the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in 2007.  He received his BA in physics and mathematics at Coe College and his Ph.D. in materials science and technology at Lehigh University.

His dissertation work was on the use of electron microscopy and various spectroscopies to study bulk metallic glasses in order to explain their high glass-forming ability from the bottom up.  The work also involved the development of electron microscopy based techniques for probing sub-nanoscale structure.  His dissertation and follow-up work has led to multiple publications including articles in Nature and PRL as well as an invited book chapter.

Following his doctorate, he held a postdoctoral position jointly between Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Hunter College of the City University of New York for two years where he did research on the development of synchrotron-based in-situ spectroscopies for the dynamic nanoscale study of secondary battery and fuel cell materials. He simultaneously held a position as adjunct professor at Hunter and taught undergraduate physics courses in that capacity.

In February 2006, he has begun working as a Visiting Scientist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) where he was one of three scientists in charge of a suite of synchrotron beamlines at BNL.   

Research Interests

• Materials for Energy Storage Conversion and Harvesting
  • Surface atomic, electronic, topographical structure
  • Core-shell structures
  • Photo/electro-catalysis: fuel cells, water splitting, H2 generation
  • Storage of electrochemical energy; Li-ion batteries
  • H2 separation 
  • Combinatorial approaches to material discovery for energy applications
  • Nano-textured materials for energy capture, conversion and storage
• Nanoscopy and nano-scale structure
  • development of synchrotron-like capabilities in transmission electron microscope (TEMs), to obtain atom-specific radial distribution functions
  • local atomic/electronic structure using synchrotron-based techniques

Relevant Accomplishments

• DOE Energy Frontier Research Center team member
• Delivered Plenary Lecture at the 59th Annual Denver X-ray Conference, Denver, Aug. 2010
• Awarded the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund grant
• Organized a symposium titled “Electrolytes for High Voltage Cathodes - Solids and Liquids”, 219th ECS Meeting, Montreal, Canada, May 2011.
• Organized workshop In Situ and Operando XAFS Experiments and Data Analysis, NSLS 2009
• Organized an NSF workshop: Applications of Synchrotron Techniques in Glass Research, BNL 2009
• Organized and co-chaired a team to developed the “XAFS Online Orientation” scholar training module (http://www.nsls.bnl.gov/users/access/training_modules.asp), 2009
• Creating Energy Options Award, GA Tech, 2007-2008
• Organized workshop XAFS Studies of Nanocatalysis and Chemical Transformations, NSLS ‘06

Invited Oral Presentations (past 5 years)

1. NEXAFS Analysis using Fingerprints, Deduction and Theory, XANES Short Course: Theory, Analysis, Applications, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, November, 2012.
   
2. Symposium on Electrochemical Atomic Layer Epitaxy and Quantum Confinement, at the ECS PRIME meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, October, 2012.
3. Recent Advance in Structural Characterization of Materials: Spectroscopic Methods, MS&T 2011, Colubus, OH, Oct 2011
4. Surface-to-bulk Structure Manipulation and the Metrology of Atomistic Processes in Energy Related Materials, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, July 2011
5. Symposium I: Glass Science, GOMD  May 2011, Savannah, GA
6. Advanced Topics in XAFS Data Modeling, Brookhaven National Lab, Oct. 2010
7. 59th Annual Denver X-ray Conference plenary lecture, Denver, Aug. 2010
8. Science of Electrochemically Active Materials, 8 lecture series, University of Bremen, Bremen, July 2010.
9. NSF sponsored US-Egypt advances Studies Institute, Cairo, Egypt, 2010.
10. Local Structure Changes in Energy Related Materials under Reaction Condition, University of Ottawa, Dec. 2009.
11. Species-specific Redox Reaction Studies in Li-ion Batteries using a Synchrotron Source, University of Georgia, Nov. 2009.
12. Examples of Real Systems in Catalysis, Electrochemistry and Battery Research, In situ and Operando XAFS Workshop, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2009.
13. Joint Photon Sciences Institute Workshop: Energy Storage Research Opportunities at the National Synchrotron Light Source, BNL, NY, 2009.
14. Future Directions for In-situ X-ray Scattering, 2009 NSLS-CFN Joint Users’ Meeting.
15. X-ray Absorption at the Near-edge and Its Applications - International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass (NSF center), NY, May 2009.
16. Atoms in motion – Colloquium at Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, GA 2008.
17. Tender’ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy, 2007 NSLS-CFN Joint Users’ Meeting.
18. Thin-film Batteries – IUMACRO-07, New York, 2007.
19. Physical and Computational Characterization of Nanostructured Electrocatalysts – ACS, San Francisco ’06.

Scholarly Accomplishments

A. Published Book

1. F.M. Alamgir (corresponding author), H. Jain, D.B. Williams, R.B. Schwarz , Sub-nanoscale Structural Origins of the Stability of Pd-Ni-P Model Bulk Metallic Glass, The Science of Complex Alloy Phases, P. Turchi and T. Massalski, editors, TMS, Warrensdale, PA, 2005.

B. Relevant Publications (*corresponding author)

1. J.D. Greenlee, C.F. Petersburg, W. Daly, F.M. Alamgir, and W.A. Doolittle, In-situ investigation of the channel conductance of a Li_1-xCoO2 (0 < x < 0.5)- ionic-electronic transistor, accepted in Appl. Phys. Lett., May 2013.
2. R.E. Rettew, S. Cheng, M. Sauerbrey, T. Manz, D. Sholl, C. Jaye, D. Fischer, and F.M. Alamgir*, Near Surface Phase Transition of Solute Derived Pt Monolayers for Catalytic Applications, accepted in Topics in Catalysis, April 2013.
3. C.F. Petersburg,  Z. Li ,  N.A. Chernova ,  M.S. Whittingham and F.M. Alamgir*, Oxygen and transition metal involvement in the charge compensation mechanism of LiNi_1/3Ni_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ cathodes, J. Mat. Chem. 22, (2012) 19993-20000.
4. J.D. Greenlee , C.F. Petersburg, W.L. Calley, C. Jaye, D.A. Fischer, F.M. Alamgir*, and W. Alan Doolittle, In-situ oxygen X-ray absorption spectroscopy investigation of the resistance modulation mechanism in LiNbO₂ memristors,  Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 182106 (2012), DOI: 10.1063/1.4709422
5. M. Liu, M.E. Lynch, K. Blinn, F.M. Alamgir, YM. Choi, Rational SOFC Material Design: New Advances and Tools, Materials Today 14, 11, (2011) 534-546.
6. M-K Song, S. Park, FM Alamgir, J. Cho, M. Liu, Nanostructured electrodes for lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries: the latest  developments, challenges, and perspectives, Materials Science and Engineering: R: Report 22 (2011) p.203-252.
7. S. Cheng, R.E. Rettew, M. Sauerbrey, and F.M. Alamgir*, Architecture-Dependent Surface Chemistry for Pt Monolayers on Carbon-Supported Au, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 3, 10, (2011) pp 3948–3956.
8. R.E. Rettew, A. Meyer, S.D. Senanayake, T.-L. Chen, C. Petersburg, J.I. Flege, J. Falta and F.M. Alamgir*, Interactions of oxygen and ethylene with submonolayer Ag films supported on Ni(111), Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, (2011) 11034-11044.
9. Z. Li, N. Chernova, M. Roppolo, S. Upreti, C. Petersburg, F. Alamgir, S. Whittingham, Comparative Study of the Capacity and Rate Capability of LiNiyMnyCo1–2yO2 (y50.5, 0.45, 0.4, 0.33), J. Electrochem. Soc. 158, (2011) A516-A522.
10. R.E. Rettew, N.K. Allam, and F.M. Alamgir*, Interface Architecture Determined Electrocatalytic Activity of Pt on Vertically Oriented TiO2 Nanotubes, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 3, 2, (2011) 147–151.
11. A. Meyer, J. I. Flege, R. E. Rettew, S. D. Senanayake, Th. Schmidt, F.M. Alamgir, and J. Falta, Ultrathin silver films on Ni(111), Phys. Rev. B 82, (2010) 085424.
12. NK Allam, F Alamgir, MA El-Sayed, Enhanced photoassisted water electrolysis using vertically oriented anodically fabricated ti-nb-zr-o mixed oxide nanotube arrays, ACS NANO 4, (2010) 5819-26.
13. C.F. Petersburg, R.C. Daniel, C. Jaye, D.A. Fischer and F.M. Alamgir*, Soft X-ray characterization technique for Li batteries under operating conditions, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 16, (2009) 610-615.
14. R.E. Rettew, J.W. Guthrie, and F.M. Alamgir*, Layer-by-Layer Pt Growth on Polycrystalline Au: Surface-Limited Redox Replacement of Overpotentially Deposited Ni Monolayers, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 156, 11, (2009) D513-D516.
15. H. Idriss, M. Scott, J. Llorca, S.C. Chan, W. Chiu, P-Y Sheng, A. Yee, M.A. Blackford, S.J. Pas, A.J. Hill, F.M. Alamgir, R. Rettew, C. Petersburg, S.D. Senanayake, M.A. Barteau, A Phenomenological Study of the Metal–Oxide Interface: The Role of Catalysis in Hydrogen Production from Renewable Resources, ChemSusChem 1, (2008) 905 – 910.
16. J. Ziegelbauer, T. S. Olson, S. Pylypenko, F. Alamgir, C. Jaye, P. Atanassov and S. Mukerjee, Direct Spectroscopic Observation of the Structural Origin of Peroxide Generation from Co -Based Pyrolyzed Porphyrins for ORR Applications, J. Phys. Chem. C 112, 24, (2008) 8839-8849.
17. N. Leifer, A. Colon, K. Martocci, F.M. Alamgir, T. Reddy, E. Takeuchi, S. Greenbaum, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopic Studies of Lithium Insertion in Silver Vanadium Oxide Cathodes, J. Electrochem. Soc. 154, 6 (2007) A500-A506.
18. J.V. Sluytman, W.West, J. Whitacre, F.M. Alamgir, S. Greenbaum, Cycle-induced Degradation of LiCoO2 Thin-Film Cathodes at Elevated Temperature, Electrochimica Acta 51, (2006) 3001–3007.
19. F.M. Alamgir*, E. Strauss, M. denBoer, S. Greenbaum, J.F. Whitacre, C.-C. Kao, S. Neih, LiCoO2 thin-film batteries: Structural changes and charge compensation, J. Electrochem. Soc. 152, 5, (2005) 845-849.
20. H.W Sheng, W.K. Luo, F.M. Alamgir, J.M. Bai, E. Ma, Atomic packing and short-to-medium-range order in metallic glasses, Nature 439, no. 7075, (2006) 419-425.
21. W.K. Luo, H.W. Sheng, F. Alamgir, J.M. Bai, J.H. He and E. Ma, Icosahedral short-Range order in an Amorphous Alloy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 14, (2004)145502-1 – 1445502-4.
22. F. Ronci, P.E. Stallworth, F. Alamgir, T. Schiros, J. Van Sluytman, G. Xiaodong, P. Reale, S. Greenbaum, M. denBoer, B. Scrosati, Lithium-7 nuclear magnetic resonance and Ti K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopic investigation of electrochemical Li insertion in Li_{4/3 + x}Ti_5/3O₄, J. of Power Sources 5370, (2003) 1-6.
23. F.M. Alamgir*, H. Jain, D.B. Williams, R.B. Schwarz, The structure of a metallic glass system using EXELFS and EXAFS as complementary probes, Micron 34, Issue 8 , (2003)  433-439.
24. F.M. Alamgir*, Y. Ito, H. Jain, D.B.Williams, Philosophical Magazine Letters 81, 3, (2001) 213-222.
25. F.M. Alamgir*, H. Jain, R.B. Schwarz, O. Jin, D.B. Williams, Electronic properties of Pd-based bulk metallic glasses: J. of Non-Cryst. Sol. 274, 1-3, (2000) 289-293.
26. F. M. Alamgir*, H. Jain, A.C. Miller, D. B.Williams, and R.B. Schwarz, XPS analysis of bulk metallic glasses: Phil. Mag. B 79, (1999) 239-247.

C. Conference Proceedings

1. The effect of platinum oxide growth on platinum stability in PEMFCs, ECS Transactions 50 (2), 2012, 1369-1376.
2. Synthesis and Characterization of Monolayer Bimetallic Surfaces: A Synchrotron NEXAFS and XPS Study. ECS Transactions Vol. 19, 27, 2009, 97-106.
3. X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of sub-nanoscale strain in thin-film Li-ion battery cathodes, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 822, ( 2004) S2.3.1.
4. Defect Analysis of CuInS2 for photovoltaic applications using Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 763, ( 2003) B1.2.1.
5. Measured and calculated electronic structure of Ni0.4Pd0.4P0.2 and Cu0.4Pd0.4P0.2, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 754 (2003).
6. EXAFS and EXELFS study of the structure of Pd-Ni-P Bulk Metallic glasses: MRS Proc. Vol. 644, (2001) L2.4.1-6.
7. Analysis of the structure of bulk metallic glasses using EXELFS: Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 5, supplement 2, (1999) 138.
8. Optimizing the metalloid content in bulk metallic glasses: MRS Proc. 580, (2000) 277.
9. Local structural probes around high-Z elements in a solid: EXAFS vs. EXELFS: National Synschrotron Light Source Science Highlights, 2001.
10. EXELFS as a tool for investigating the local structure of bulk glass-forming metallic alloys: Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 5, supplement 2, (2000) p. 194.
11. A local probe into the atomic structure of metallic glasses using EELS: MRS Proc. 554, 15 (1999).
12. EXELFS of metallic glasses: MRS Proc. 554, (1999) 31.