Researchers at MAX IV measured echoes produced by silicon crystals using the coherent X-ray based technique, tele-ptychography, at NanoMAX imaging beamline. Their findings reveal that strain can be used to tune the time delay of echoes, an important step for tailoring ultrafast X-ray optics.
Method to map catalyst structure and local gas environment simultaneously enables depiction of transitional surface structures
One of the key challenges in catalysis research is to understand how catalysts’ structure and function relate to each other. Regardless of the type of catalyst in question, structure and function are dynamic with a strong dependence on the localized reaction conditions such as temperature, pressure, and gas composition just above the catalyst surface. Now, researchers developed a new event-averaging-based method employing time-resolved ambient pressure photoelectron spectroscopy to map catalyst structure and local gas environment simultaneously while reaction conditions change rapidly.
Identifying chemical content to increase the usefulness of solid waste ashes
Fortum Waste Solutions, Sysav, Eon, Stena and NOAH, in collaboration with Researchers from RISE and Chalmers, used beamline Balder to identify chemical species of copper and zinc in ashes that remain after burning solid waste. Not all forms of the metals in ashes pose the same risk to the environment. Therefore, more detailed knowledge can increase the possible uses of the ashes.
Honeycomb borophene: myth or reality?
Scientists examined whether honeycomb boron can function as a structural analogue 2D material to graphene. Employing core-level X-ray spectroscopies, scanning tunneling microscopy, and DFT calculations, they analyzed the structure and electronic properties of honeycomb boron after its reaction with aluminum. They found that although it resembles graphene in electronic structure to some extent, it fails to form a quasi-freestanding monolayer on aluminum. This lack of a freestanding state is a clear difference from the behavior of graphene or monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on lattice-mismatched metal surfaces.
Designing a Model Catalyst for Large-Scale Biofuel Production
The future of efficient biofuel production is within reach. With measurements from MAX IV’s SPECIES beamline, a group from Lund University and RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden, has successfully developed a model catalyst that, once tuned, holds the potential to significantly improve the treatment process for the large-scale manufacture of viable biofuels from lignin. Lignin is a plant polymer only secondary in abundance to cellulose in nature.
Local Bonding Environment in 2D Transition Metal Carbides Investigated by Balder Users
The chemical bonding in 2-dimensional (2D) MXene material Ti3C2Tx and its precursor Ti3AlC2 was studied at beamline Balder. The relatively newly discovered MXene materials have potential applications from batteries to electronics. A team from Linköping performed the first experiment at Balder in 2019, and the results are now published in Physical Review Research.
Structures of several clinically relevant NUDT15 variants are discovered – paving the way for better cancer treatments
Recent research by a group of researchers from Sweden, the US, and the UK successfully developed a specific NUDT15 inhibitor, TH7755, that helped the group to obtain structures of clinically relevant NUDT15 variants: Arg139Cys, Arg139His, Val18Ile, and V18_V19insGlyVal. These insights allow further understandings of the structural basis of thiopurine intolerance in patients carrying these NUDT15
First Users at Balder Beamline Seek to Illuminate MXenes
In operation since September, Balder beamline has taken its first users to investigate MXenes, a class of nano-crystalline 2D-layered transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides. Researchers aim to learn more about their fascinating characteristics and how to exploit their material properties for new technologies.