The 15th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE 2026)

Abstract: Monitoring both temporal and spatial distributions of transitory electro-magnetic fields represents a challenge with frontier applications. High-power laser-matter interaction is just one of the examples in which such transient electro-magnetic fields are produced, and where such a field monitoring would be of a real interest in characterizing the interaction itself, an interaction otherwise relatively hard to monitor and control. Starting from some previously developed theoretical and experimental correlations between High-Power Laser-Matter interaction parameters and associated pulsed electromagnetic fields (EMP) parameters, here we present some results on magnetic field spatial and temporal measurements, for 2D areas of about 1 cm² and temporal duration of ms order. System calibration results were performed based on material theoretical parameter values as well as experimentally measured parameter values. Field measurement experimental values are compared with field theoretical calculations as well as other experimental results obtained with different ‘standard’ calibrated tools (e.g. Hall probe). Furthermore, based on Electro-Optical materials, similar results could be obtained for electric field spatial and temporal variations. Comparative results for such systems are presented and discussed, as well as perspectives of such measurement and monitoring techniques in relation with high-power laser-matter interactions characterization and diagnosis.

Keywords: Non-linear optic materials, transitory electro-magnetic field monitoring, laser-matter interactions.

Acknowledgments: We acknowledge funds from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization / Institute of Atomic Physics, through ELI-RO 30/2024, Eli-RO 30/2025 support of the National Interest Infrastructure facility IOSIN – CETAL at INFLPR and Program contract No. 39/2024, Romanian National Core Program LAPLAS VII contract No. 30N/2023.

Abstract: As a Laboratory dedicated to technological transfer in the field of laser welding and additive manufacturing, a significant interest is devoted to the quality control of produced parts. During the development of technologies, we usually monitor in situ the experiments via high-speed imaging and thermography. One of our purposes is to identify as fast as possible the defects, so that to be able to separate the conform parts from the deviant ones non-destructively. If there are no possible associations between features of the plasma plume during laser processing and the defects that appear during processing, X-ray imaging (radiography/tomography) is the selection of choice for non-destructive defects assessment.

The presentation will focus on examples of technologies that are developed for various companies in Romania, that take into consideration the non-destructive defects assessment and possible correlations between processing features and defects outcome in case of processing of metal matrix composites and metal alloys.

Correlations between metallographic analyses and area/intensity of the hot vapor in various locations of the samples help to automize the in-situ quality control of samples. Based on the characterization of the hot vapor, it has been found that the increase of the vapor area that exceeded a threshold value was a sign of pores formation within the weld seam.

In parallel, X-ray tomography allows for fast defects identification, thus reducing the necessity for metallographic preparation of samples and manual optical microscopical observations, thus reducing significantly the time for quality control in case of companies adopting our technologies.

Keywords: laser welding, high-speed imaging, porosity control, hot vapor, process optimization, X-ray imaging characterization

Abstract: Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are promising next-generation energy storage systems due to their high theoretical energy density, yet their practical application is hindered by sluggish sulfur redox kinetics, severe polysulfide shuttling, and interfacial instability. This talk presents a unified framework that advances from material design to fundamental reaction physics. We first show that intrinsic catalytic activity is governed by bulk electronic structure. Transition-metal doping in ZnSe tunes orbital hybridization and enables control of sulfur redox kinetics. This concept is extended through defect–dopant coupling in MoS₂, where inner-layer doping stabilizes vacancies and creates electronically active sites with enhanced charge transfer. We then demonstrate that catalytic performance is also limited by reaction pathway constraints. Dual-doped MnO₂ enables bidirectional catalysis, accelerating both Li₂S formation and decomposition. However, single-site systems face intrinsic trade-offs between adsorption and conversion. To overcome this, a dual-terminal binding strategy spatially decouples polysulfide trapping and catalytic conversion, enabling simultaneous shuttle suppression and fast kinetics. At the atomic level, diatomic catalysts introduce cooperative interactions between active sites, enabling coupled electronic and spin effects beyond single-site limitations. Finally, we identify the fundamental origin of the rate-limiting step. The Li₂S₂ → Li₂S conversion is governed by spin-state transitions rather than purely thermodynamic barriers. Machine learning further reveals that spin density strongly correlates with reaction energetics. This work establishes spin-dependent reaction pathways as a universal design principle for high-performance Li–S batteries.
Keywords: Lithium-sulfur batteries, Spin-state engineering, Electronic structure modulation, Electrocatalysis, Reaction kinetics

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR (File no. 0022/2023/RIB1), University of Macau (File no. MYRG-GRG2024-00166-IAPME and MYRG-GRG2025-00136-IAPME), the Science and Technology Innovation Committee of Shenzhen Municipality (SGCX20250526152800001), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation 2026A1515012355 and the High-Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC) of Information and Communication Technology Office (ICTO) at University of Macau.

Abstract: Nanoporous carbon textiles (NCTs) are very promising materials in many applications including wearable electronic devices, sensors or adsorbents, as they have a wide range of advantages including high conductivity, flexibility, and low cost [1]. Due to developed porous structure and surface chemistry they do not need to undergo aggressive exfoliation (such as a modified Hummers method used for graphene) or aggressive chemical activation (used for nonporous carbon fibers). NCTs can also be used to fabricate advanced nanocomposites, e.g. based on MOFs or recently reported by us carbon-sulfur nanocomposites [2]; cf. Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Schematic presentation of the sulfur insertion scheme

Abstract: To be updated