How to Flow Ultrathin Water Layers - A Liquid Flatjet for X-Ray Spectroscopy
Liquid flatjet system, showing the two nozzles from which two impinging single jets form a liquid water sheet with a thickness of 1 - 2 μm. © MBI
A collaboration between scientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) have now demonstrated the successful implementation of a liquid flatjet with a thickness in the μm range, allowing for XAS transmission measurements in the soft-x-ray regime. This paves the way for novel steady-state and time-resolved experiments.
A collaboration between scientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) have now demonstrated the successful implementation of a liquid flatjet with a thickness in the μm range, allowing for XAS transmission measurements in the soft-x-ray regime. This paves the way for novel steady-state and time-resolved experiments.
Here a phenomenon well known in the field of fluid dynamics has been applied: by obliquely colliding two identical laminar jets, the liquid expands radially, generating a sheet in the form of a leaf, bounded by a thicker rim, orthogonal to the plane of the impinging jets.
The novel aspect here is that a liquid water flatjet has been demonstrated with thicknesses in the few micrometer range, stable for tens to hundreds of minutes, fully operational under vacuum conditions (‹10-3mbar). For the first time, soft x-ray absorption spectra of a liquid sample could be measured in transmission without any membrane. The x-ray measurements were performed at the soft x-ray synchrotron facility BESSYII of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. This technological breakthrough opens up new frontiers in steady-state and time-resolved soft-x-ray spectroscopy of solution phase systems.
Read the full text at MBI.
Original publication: Structural Dynamics 2, 054301 (2015): A liquid flatjet system for solution phase soft-x-ray spectroscopy
Maria Ekimova, Wilson Quevedo, Manfred Faubel, Philippe Wernet, Erik T.J. Nibbering
- Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025At the 27th BESSY@HZB User Meeting, the Friends of HZB honoured the dissertation of Dr Enggar Pramanto Wibowo (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg). The Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 went to Prof. Tim Salditt (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Professors Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (both, University Hospital of RWTH Aachen University).
- Synchrotron radiation sources: toolboxes for quantum technologiesSynchrotron radiation sources generate highly brilliant light pulses, ranging from infrared to hard X-rays, which can be used to gain deep insights into complex materials. An international team has now published an overview on synchrotron methods for the further development of quantum materials and technologies in the journal Advanced Functional Materials: Using concrete examples, they show how these unique tools can help to unlock the potential of quantum technologies such as quantum computing, overcome production barriers and pave the way for future breakthroughs.
- Peat as a sustainable precursor for fuel cell catalyst materialsIron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts have the potential to replace the more expensive platinum catalysts currently used in fuel cells. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and universities in Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia. At BESSY II, the team observed the formation of complex microstructures within various samples. They then analysed which structural parameters were particularly important for fostering the preferred electrochemical reactions. The raw material for such catalysts is well decomposed peat.