Riverine iron survives salty exit to sea

Iron organic complexes in Sweden’s boreal rivers significantly contribute to increased iron concentration in open marine waters, X-ray spectroscopy data shows. A Lund University study in Biogeosciences characterizes the role of salinity for iron-loading in estuarine zones, a factor which underpins intensifying seasonal algal blooms in the Baltic Sea.

Modelling electrochemical potential for better Li-batteries

To understand the electrochemical potential of lithium-ion batteries, it’s important to decipher the chemical processes at electrode interfaces occurring during device activity. Using HIPPIE beamline, a research group investigated and modelled the influence of electrochemical potential differences in operando in these batteries.

Nano solutions for future supercomputers: resolving the von-Neumann bottleneck

Researchers from Lund University benefitted from MAX IV laboratory to find solutions to the long-standing technological challenge: the von-Neumann bottleneck. After nearly year-long research during the pandemic, they successfully integrated the processor and memory onto a single vertical nanowire in a 3D configuration while showcasing in-memory computing with a minimal footprint.

Salts of the Earth aid understanding of Martian salt chemistry

How does one learn more about the characteristics of the Martian atmospheric chemistry and climate system while seated 56 million plus kilometres away? Using MAX IV’s HIPPIE beamline, an international research group studied the surface solvation of salts from Earth’s Qaidam Basin, which bear close resemblance to Martian salts and how these influence the respective planet’s surface. The work also establishes the feasibility of the APXPS technique for future studies with Martian salts.

4th generation X-ray brilliance and nanoscale microscopy reveal clearest crystalline form

To capture extraordinary nanoscale details in crystallography takes the powerful coherent flux of a 4th generation light source. Recent work in Light: Science & Applications by an international research team has revealed 3D images of a complex crystalline star structure using Bragg ptychography and new advanced analysis tools at MAX IV’s NanoMAX beamline. The results demonstrate the possibility of unprecedented data quality beyond experimental limitations from new synchrotron sources.

HALOS – A unique collaboration in Life Science

A new EU project in the program area Öresund-Kattegatt-Skagerak (ÖKS) has been approved. The Hanseatic League of Science (HALOS) will build a unique collaboration between Hamburg and South-West Scandinavia, bring together the four unique research facilities MAX IV, ESS, DESY and European XFEL, and create a centre for integrated, world-leading Life Science innovation and research.

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.

The role of synthesis gas in tomorrow’s sustainable fuels

In a new publication in Nature Communications, a team from the Dutch company Syngaschem BV and the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research elucidates for the first time some aspects of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, used for converting synthesis gas into synthetic fuels. Analysis performed at the HIPPIE beamline at MAX IV was instrumental to achieving these results.

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.