George Sterbinsky is supercharging spectroscopy research at the Advanced Photon Source

Physicist George Sterbinsky researches the materials that make up our devices and technologies through his work as a beamline scientist. He has facilitated discovery at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility located at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, for more than a decade.

Sterbinsky has always been fascinated by how the world works at the smallest fundamental levels. When he was an undergraduate at Penn State University, Sterbinsky studied engineering science. This major allowed him to take engineering courses across different disciplines. A class on solid-state physics was particularly influential.

“I became very interested in semiconductor physics,” Sterbinsky said. ​“I wound up doing an undergraduate thesis on how well some semiconductor materials work in computer chips.”

He pursued this question further at Northwestern University, where he earned a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering. There, he grew samples of complex oxide materials. He brought them to the APS to study them using powerful synchrotron X-ray beams.

“The APS continues to impress me with what it enables us to do. I’m eager to see what more we can learn using the upgraded facility.” — George Sterbinsky, physicist at the APS

His first impression of the APS was one of awe.

“There I was, at this giant facility able to reveal how materials behave under extreme conditions,” he said. ​“It was surreal.”

In 2010, after completing his Ph.D., Sterbinsky became a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Synchrotron Methods Group, which operated several beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), another DOE Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. There, his research focused on examining materials using X‑ray absorption spectroscopy, a technique that reveals a sample’s structure and composition by measuring how it absorbs X-rays. He later worked at an NSLS beamline before taking a position at the APS in 2014.

“I started as an assistant physicist at the APS and now work as a physicist there,” he explained. ​“But people more often call me a ​‘beamline scientist’ since I work at the beamlines.”

As a beamline scientist, Sterbinsky supports the research teams who come to the APS to perform experiments across numerous scientific disciplines. He teaches them how the beamlines work, how to use the software and how to load samples. If they run into any issues, he helps them troubleshoot. When their data is collected, he helps them analyze and interpret it.

His collaborations applying spectroscopy to answer these varied scientific questions have resulted in publications in the areas of catalysis, energy storage and materials physics, to name a few. Recent examples appear in ChemSusChem, Advanced Functional Materials and Nature Communications.

“When an experiment is completed, and we understand more than we did before, and perhaps are left with new questions,” he said, ​“we feel the impact of what we do, and we’re reminded that it matters.”

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Sterbinsky also helps commission and upgrade beamline optics to improve the quality of data that can be collected. He is involved with keeping all four beamlines operated by the APS spectroscopy group equipped with the very best in synchrotron technology.

For example, during his time at the APS, he has made several improvements to beamline 9-BM. He upgraded the beamline’s focusing mirror and commissioned a new quick-scanning monochromator, a device that selects a narrow energy band from the broad-spectrum X-ray beam.

The quick-scanning monochromator makes possible in-situ X-ray absorption studies of materials, where atomic structure is examined while the material transforms due to exposure to gases or changes in temperature. For example, Sterbinsky and collaborators at Indiana University used it to characterize the atomic coordination of a single-atom catalyst as it evolves during hydrogenation. Their research appears in ChemSusChem, published by Chemistry Europe.

Sterbinsky also led a Laboratory-Directed Research and Development project to increase the spectrum of X-ray data that can be collected. This research is published in the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation. Beamline scientist Juanjuan Huang, then a postdoctoral researcher, helped Sterbinsky with this study.

Teamwork, a Core Value at Argonne, is central to his work.

Sterbinsky said, ​“Commissioning and re-enabling beamlines after upgrades requires coordinated, collaborative effort. I work closely with other members of the spectroscopy group, who are always there to offer support, share ideas and problem-solve.”

Despite his manifold responsibilities, Sterbinsky continues his own research at the APS. He primarily studies complex oxide and semiconductor materials. Recent findings were published in Physical Review Letters.

Sterbinsky is looking forward to discovering what new research is made possible at the APS.

“The APS continues to impress me with what it enables us to do,” he said. ​“I’m eager to see what more we can learn using the upgraded facility.”