Chemical Imaging

Innovations in spectroscopy and microscopy have long been the major driving force behind numerous major scientific discoveries. Recent advancements in laser technologies, detectors, automation, 3D printing, big data and artificial intelligence, have led to new waves of innovations in chemical imaging for mapping of chemical composition in space and time. We have witnessed new experiments that reveal a mechanistic description of chemical processes that exhibit both dynamic and static heterogeneity, thereby addressing a major challenge in fundamental chemistry and materials engineering. The volume of data potentially accessible in hyperspectral chemical imaging provides both challenges and opportunities for compositional and functional analysis. This special issue is in resonance with the inaugural Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Chemical Imaging, which was originally planned for 2021 but has been postponed to 2023 (Chemical Imaging Conference GRC).

In this Special Issue, we wish to highlight the rapid experimental and theoretical advances of this burgeoning interdisciplinary field at the crossroads of chemistry, physics, materials, and biology, as well as to provide an account of its peculiar challenges and future prospects.

Guest Editors: Ning Fang, Bert Weckhuysen, Ji-Xin Cheng, Amber Krummel, and Katsumasa Fujita with JCP Editors Jennifer Ogilvie and Emily Weiss and JCP Editor-in-Chief Tim Lian