LECTURE: Nano composites and nano-heterostructures: the interplay of electronic structure with synchrotron spectroscopy.

 

T.K. Sham obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Western Ontario in 1975 with Professor G. Mike Bancroft, conducting Mössbauer research, and earlier a B.Sc. (honors, 1st class) in Chemistry from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.After a postdoctoral stay at Western, he joined the Chemistry Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island New York as a Research Associate with Dr. Morris L. Perlman and Dr. Richard E. Watson, conducting X-ray and materials research and building capabilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source, working up the ladder to the rank of Chemist. He is presently a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Materials and Synchrotron Radiation (2002-2023).T.K. Sham is a founding member of, and a beam team leader of three soft X-ray beamlines for the Canadian Light Source (CLS).

Professor, Dr. T.K. Sham conducts research in materials and the development and application of synchrotron radiation, especially probing the interplay of electronic structures, materials properties and performance in a given functionality using synchrotron techniques. Expertise include nanomaterials, bimetallic systems, surface and interface, photoemission, X-ray absorption, photon-in photon-out (X-ray emission, X-ray excited optical luminescence, resonant and non-resonant inelastic X-ray scattering) and X-ray microscopy. His recent endeavors include nanostructure phase transition and assembly of nanocomposites with desired functionalities, in situ/in operando studies of energy materials and devices (batteries, fuel cells, catalysis, solar cells and luminescence) using synchrotron techniques, X-ray excited optical luminescence from nanostructures in the energy and time domain, nanomaterials for drug delivery, micro-beam analysis of tissues, and cultural and heritage materials.In 2012, Professor T.K. Sham founded the Soochow University - Western University Centre for Synchrotron Radiation Research (SWC), a joint effort between Soochow University in China and Western University in Canada to promote international collaboration in research and education.