Paul Fenter


Paul Fenter is a senior physicist and group leader for interfacial processes at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. He is also the director of the , a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center, where he oversees research to understand interfacial reactivity and complex reaction pathways in lithium-ion battery systems.

Education and early career

Fenter holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of science degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He did his postdoctoral studies at Princeton University then joined Argonne in 1997 as a physicist. Fenter has led the since 2000 and was promoted to senior physicist in 2007. Fenter became director of the Center for Electrochemical Energy Science in 2014. While under his leadership, CEES contributed several new insights on interfacial systems, and was recognized by the DOE for making a pivotal discovery in battery technology. Fenter is also an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Career

As the director of CEES, Fenter leads a multi-institutional research program that studies the chemical reactions that limit the lifetime and safety of lithium ion batteries. This includes studies of the interface between electrodes and the electrolytes, and approaches to stabilize the electrode-electrolyte interface. CEES also explores novel “beyond lithium ion insertion” chemistries that can lead to substantial increases in the energy storage capacity of LIBs.
Fenter specializes in developing and using X-ray-based techniques to understand the structure and reactivity at liquid-solid interfaces, including mineral-water interfaces and potential-controlled electrode-electrolyte interfaces. For his contributions, Fenter was awarded the 2012 Bertram E. Warren Diffraction Physics Award from the American Crystallographic Association and The University of Chicago’s Board of Governors Distinguished Performance Award in 2018. He was also named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2008 and is a member of the American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society, and Geochemical Society.

Research

Enhancing X-rays methods for interfacial studies

Much of Fenter’s career has focused on developing ways to extend the capabilities of X-ray scattering, spectroscopy, and microscopy techniques for analyzing interfacial processes. One example is the demonstration of “model-independent imaging” as a conceptual approach for visualizing the distribution of an element near interfaces through the use of phase-sensitive measurements. Through his research Fenter has helped extend what this technique is capable of measuring and applied it to studies of mineral-water dynamics. He also invented a novel X-ray microscope that can image sub-nanometer high interfacial topography and dissolution dynamics.

Understanding mineral interactions with water

Fenter uses these X-ray based approaches to understand what happens at the liquid-solid interfaces found in natural systems and batteries.  In natural systems, the interactions between water, dissolved ions, and minerals are fundamental to many chemical processes, like ion exchange and environmental transport. Fenter has leveraged X-ray approaches to uncover new details about the structure of water at the interface, and the arrangement of ions at charged mineral-water interfaces, known as the “electrical double layer”.

Honors