Paul Fenter
Physicist and Group Leader for Interfacial Processes

Environmental Research Division Argonne National Laboratory 9700 South Cass Ave. Argonne, IL 60439 Ph: (630) 252-7053 Fax: (630) 252-7415 E-mail

EDUCATION

Ph.D. (Physics) University of Pennsylvania, 1990
(Prof. Torgny Gustafsson, thesis advisor)

B.S. (Physics) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Magna cum Laude), 1984
(Prof. Toh-Ming Lu, thesis advisor)

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, Geochemical Society

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Atomic and molecular scale phenomena at solid-liquid interfaces, surfaces and other complex interfaces, with an emphasis on in-situ measurements. Specific areas of interest include:

• structure of mineral-water interfaces
• adsorption/association of ions at charged interfaces (electrical double-layer structure)
• structure and growth of organic thin-film structures
• real-time studies of mineral growth and dissolution

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES

A powerful set of synchrotron-based X-ray tools are used to achieve these goals making use of the unique characteristics of the Advanced Photon Source. These include high-resolution X-ray scattering (X-ray reflectivity, grazing incidence X-ray scattering), X-ray standing waves, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Extension of these approaches to accommodate the structural/chemical complexities of the mineral-water interface have led to the development of:

• X-ray standing wave imaging for the direct imaging of ion site distributions
• Resonant anomalous X-ray reflectivity to simultaneously probe the coupled geometric and spectroscopic structures of the mineral-water interface.

The development of additional elemental, spectroscopic, and phase sensitivities for these techniques is underway.

Full Publication List