Dr. Raül Garcia Diez received poster award at the international synchrotron conference SRI 2018
Raül Garcia Diez is awarded the poster prize. © SRI 2018
HZB researcher introduces unique operando characterization by soft X-ray spectroscopy
The HZB physicist Raül Garcia Diez has been awarded a poster prize at the international conference "Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation 2018" (SRI 2018) in Taiwan. He presented how the HZB team intends to observe the reactions in electrocatalysts under "operando" conditions with soft X-rays from BESSY II.
“Operando" analysis is of vital importance for investigating catalytic processes in materials and getting insights into the chemical reaction. This enables researchers to understand the mechanisms that limit the performance and stability of electrocatalyst materials. However, "operando" characterization techniques for catalysts and liquid environments - especially for soft X-ray applications - have to been pushed beyond the current limits first.
"Operando" investigations in a wide energy range
Dr. Raül Garcia Diez is part of Dr.-Ing. Marcus Bär's young investigator research group, which is developing this experimental setup in the EMIL laboratory. This includes a compact X-ray spectrometer (HiTS: "High transmission soft x-ray emission spectrometer") and a flow-cell suited for electrochemistry. The X-ray optics designed for the HiTS spectrometer enable material investigations over an extremely wide energy range (from 50 to 2,000 eV).
"Our design sets new standards in the field of soft X-ray spectroscopy. I am happy that I could report at the conference about the progress made in developing the EMIL infrastructure for “operando” measurements. The poster award is a recognition of our work," says Raül Garcia Diez.
The International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation takes place every three years. With approximately 800 participants, it is the largest conference in this field; almost all synchrotron facilities in the world were represented at this year's conference with talks and posters.
- Lithium-sulphur pouch cells investigated at BESSY IIA team from HZB and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (IWS) in Dresden has gained new insights into lithium-sulphur pouch cells at the BAMline of BESSY II. Supplemented by analyses in the HZB imaging laboratory and further measurements, a new picture emerges of processes that limit the performance and lifespan of this industrially relevant battery type. The study has been published in the prestigious journal Advanced Energy Materials.
- Largest magnetic anisotropy of a molecule measured at BESSY IIAt the Berlin synchrotron radiation source BESSY II, the largest magnetic anisotropy of a single molecule ever measured experimentally has been determined. The larger this anisotropy is, the better a molecule is suited as a molecular nanomagnet. Such nanomagnets have a wide range of potential applications, for example, in energy-efficient data storage. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Kohlenforschung (MPI KOFO), the Joint Lab EPR4Energy of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin were involved in the study.
- Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Synchrotron Radiation Innovation AwardThis year, the Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Freundeskreis des HZB e. V.) awarded the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize to Dr. Dieter Skroblin of the Technische Universität Berlin for his outstanding doctoral thesis. The European Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation went to Dr. Manfred Faubel from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen and Dr. Bernd Winter from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. The award ceremony took place at this year's HZB user meeting.