{"id":7656,"date":"2026-09-05T16:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/7656\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T16:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:40:10","slug":"7656","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/","title":{"rendered":"NextEnergy"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if a material’s history mattered more than its composition!
\nA joint publication by the ISCR-Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, the IMN, and the ILL \u2014the Institut Laue Langevin\u2014and the Catalysis and Solid-State Chemistry Unit (UCCS) has been honored by the French Society for Neutron Science (SFN) and the French Federation for Neutron Scattering (2FDN).<\/p>\n

Materials used for clean energy production are almost always designed to be stable. This study turns that logic on its head: by deliberately controlling how an oxide is reduced\u2014its \u201cactivation history\u201d\u2014the same starting material can be adapted for two completely different functions without changing its chemical composition. The authors call this \u201cactivation engineering.\u201d <\/p>\n

Using in situ neutron diffraction (D20, ILL), the authors analyze the behavior of a strontium-rich Ruddlesden\u2013Popper-type lamellar oxide with the composition Ln\u2080,\u2085Sr\u2081,\u2085Mn\u2080,\u2087Ni\u2080,\u2083O\u2084 (Ln = La or Pr):
\n– moderate reduction causes the exsolution of approximately 1 mass % of metallic nickel and yields an excellent fuel cell anode (a specific resistance of 0.74 \u03a9\u00b7cm\u00b2 at 700 \u00b0C, the best value ever reported for this family of oxides);
\n– More intense reduction leads to the exsolution of approximately 5% by mass of Ni and instead produces a robust catalyst for dry methane reforming, converting the greenhouse gases CH\u2084 and CO\u2082 into useful synthesis gas for more than 28 hours.<\/p>\n

By tracking oxygen\u2014which is difficult to see with X-rays\u2014in real time, neutrons turn this \u201cactivation engineering\u201d into a predictable design tool.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the authors:
\n– Mona Bahout, faculty member and researcher at ISCR
\n– Thi Thuy Duyen Nguyen, doctoral student at IMN
\n– Elodie Qu\u00e9nard, design engineer at ISCR
\n– Thomas Hansen, researcher at ILL
\n– Vincent Dorcet, CNRS research engineer at ISCR
\n– Marcia Araque Mar\u00edn, lecturer and researcher at UCCS
\n– Serge Paofai, design engineer at ISCR
\n– No\u00e9e Dumait, assistant engineer at ISCR
\n– Annie Le Gal La Salle<\/a>, CNRS research director at IMN, ST2E team<\/a>
\n– Olivier Joubert<\/a>, professor at the University of Nantes at the IMN, ST2E team<\/a><\/p>\n

Read about this highlight in the September 2026 issue of the SFN-2FDN newsletter:
\n– French<\/a>
\n– English<\/a><\/p>\n

You can view the article published in Next Energy on ScienceDirect.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if a material’s history mattered more than its composition! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-st2e"],"yoast_head":"\nNextEnergy - IMN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NextEnergy - IMN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What if a material’s history mattered more than its composition! [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IMN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fabienne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fabienne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"fabienne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b\"},\"headline\":\"NextEnergy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"ST2E\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/\",\"name\":\"NextEnergy - IMN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/7656\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Accueil\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NextEnergy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/\",\"name\":\"IMN\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b\",\"name\":\"fabienne\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\\\/en\\\/author\\\/fabienne\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NextEnergy - IMN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NextEnergy - IMN","og_description":"What if a material’s history mattered more than its composition! [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/","og_site_name":"IMN","article_published_time":"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"fabienne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"fabienne","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/"},"author":{"name":"fabienne","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b"},"headline":"NextEnergy","datePublished":"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/"},"wordCount":369,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg","articleSection":["Events","ST2E"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/","name":"NextEnergy - IMN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-05T14:18:59+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-29T14:40:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Image_NextEnergy_web.jpg","width":1000,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/7656\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Accueil","item":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NextEnergy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/","name":"IMN","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/#\/schema\/person\/a2e1665ad64f3f9cc610eb9479ccd54b","name":"fabienne","url":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/author\/fabienne\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7660,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7656\/revisions\/7660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnrs-imn.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}