Lightsource research on SARS-CoV-2

Lightsource research on SARS-CoV-2

Coronaviruses are a family which includes the common cold, SARS, MERS and the current outbreak of the disease COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Several facilities of our collaboration have started research about SARS-CoV-2 virus or launched open calls for rapid access. This post will be updated regularly.

Publications on SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Access




Publications

Published articles

2021.12.09 Diamond Light Source (UK) article on their website: Trigger of rare blood clots with AstraZeneca and other COVID vaccines found by scientists

2021.11.06 APS at Argonne National Laboratory (USA) article on their website: Advanced Photon Source Helps Pfizer Create COVID-19 Antiviral Treatment

2021.11.04 ESRF (France) article on their website: EBS X-rays show lung vessels altered by COVID-19 (esrf.fr)

2021.08.11 BESSY II at HZB (Germany) article on their website: HZB coordinates European collaboration to develop active agents against Corona – Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) (helmholtz-berlin.de)

2021.08.10 Canadian Light Source article on their website: Developing antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19 infections

2021.07.06 European XFEL (Germany) article on their website: XFEL: Insights into coronavirus proteins using small angle X-ray scattering

2021.06.21 Diamond Light Source (UK) article on their website: X-ray fluorescence imaging at Diamond helps find a way to improve accuracy of Lateral Flow Tests

2021.06.17 Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO) article on their website: Research finds possible key to long term COVID-19 symptoms

2021.05.11 Swiss Light Source at PSI (Switzerland) article on their website: How remdesivir works against the coronavirus

2021.05.28 SLAC (CA / USA) article from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL): Structure-guided Nanobodies Block SARS-CoV-2 Infection | Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource

2021.05.21 ALS (USA) article on their website: Guiding Target Selection for COVID-19 Antibody Therapeutics

2021.05.21 ESRF (France) article on their website: Combatting COVID-19 with crystallography and cryo-EM (esrf.fr)

2021.05.18 ALS (USA) article on their website: How X-Rays Could Make Reliable, Rapid COVID-19 Tests a Reality | Berkeley Lab (lbl.gov)

2021.04.27 Canadian Light Source (Canada), video on their website Investigating the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 (lightsource.ca)

2021.04.22 Synchrotron Light Research Institute (Thailand), article on their website: SLRI Presented Innovations Against COVID-19 Outbreak to MHESI Minister on His Visit to a Field Hospital at SUT

2021.04.16 Diamond Light Source (UK) article on their website: Massive fragment screen points way to new SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors

2021.04.14 SLAC (CA / USA), article also with news about research at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL):Researchers search for clues to COVID-19 treatment with help from synchrotron X-rays

2021.04.07 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their website: First images of cells exposed to COVID-19 vaccine – – Diamond Light Source

2021.04.05 ALS (CA/USA) blog post on Berkeley Lab Biosciences website: New COVID-19 Antibody Supersite Discovered

2021.04.02 PETRA III at DESY (Germany), article and animation on their website DESY X-ray lightsource identifies promising candidate for COVID drugs

2021.03.26 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their website: New targets for antibodies in the fight against SARS-CoV-2

2021.02.23 Australian Light Source (ANSTO) Australia, article on their website: Progress on understanding what makes COVID-19 more infectious than SARS

2020.12.02 ESRF (France), article and video on their website: ESRF and UCL scientists awarded Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grant for human organ imaging project

2020.11.10 Diamond Light Source (UK), article and video on their website: From nought to sixty in six months… the unmasking of the virus behind COVID-19

2020.10.29 Canadian Light Source (Canada) video on their website: Studying how to damage the COVID-19 virus

2020.10.07 National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven Lab (NY / USA) article on their website: Steady Progress in the Battle Against COVID-19

2020.10.07 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their website: Structural Biology identifies new information to accelerate structure-based drug design against COVID-19

2020.10.06 MAX IV (Sweden), article on their website: Tackling SARS CoV-2 viral genome replication machinery using X-rays

2020.08.31 SLAC (CA / USA), article also with news about research at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL): SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Targeted for Vaccine

2020.08.27 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their website: Structural Biology reveals new target to neutralise COVID-19

2020.08.27 Canadian Light Source (Canada) video on their website: Developing more effective drugs

2020.08.25 Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO) (Australia) article on their website: More progress on understanding COVID-19

2020.08.24 DESY (Germany) article on their website: PETRA III provides new insights into COVID-19 lung tissue

2020.08.11 Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO) (Australia) article on their website: Unique immune system of the alpaca being used in COVID-19 research

2020.07.30 Swiss Light Source at PSI (Switzerland) article on their website: COVID-19 research: Anti-viral strategy with double effect

2020.07.29 National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven Lab (NY / USA) article on their website: Ready to join the fight against COVID-19.

2020.07.20 ALBA (Spain) article on their website: A research team from Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CIB-CSIC) uses synchrotron light to study the possible effect of an antitumoral drug of clinical use over the viral cycle of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. 

2020.07.15 ALS (USA) article on their website: Antibody from SARS Survivor Neutralizes SARS-CoV-2

2020.07.14 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their website: Engineered llama antibodies neutralise Covid-19 virus

2020.06.17 European XFEL (Germany) article on their website: Pulling Together: A collaborative research approach to study COVID-19

2020.06.15 European XFEL (Germany) article on their website: Open Science COVID19 analysis platform online

2020.06.09 APS at Argonne National Laboratory (USA) article on their website: Novel Coronavirus Research at the Advanced Photon Source

2020.05. Società Italiana di Fisica publishes an article about research done at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (Italy) and the Advanced Light Source (CA / USA): Accelerator facilities support COVID-19-related research

2020.05.27 Diamond Light Source (UK), new animation video demonstrating the work that has been done at Diamond’s XChem facilities.

2020.05.19 Advanced Light Source (CA / USA), article about their latest results: X-ray Experiments Zero in on COVID-19 Antibodies

2020.05.15 Swiss Light Source (Switzerland), article about their first MX results: First MX results of the priority COVID-19 call

2020.05.14 MAX VI (Sweden), article about their research: Tackling SARS CoV-2 viral genome replication machinery using X-rays

2020.05.14 CHESS (NY/USA), article: CHESS to restart in June for COVID-19 research

2020.05.14 the LEAPS initiative brings together many of our European members. The initative published this brochure: Research at LEAPS facilities fighting COVID-19

2020.05.12 Diamond Light Source (UK), article about their collaboration in a consortium: UK consortium launches COVID-19 Protein Portal to provide essential reagents for SARS-CoV-2 research

2020.05.11 Advanced Photon Source (IL/USA), article: Studying Elements from the SARS-CoV-2 Virus at the Bio-CAT Beamline

2020.05.07 European XFEL (Germany), article: European XFEL open for COVID-19 related research

2020.05.06 ESRF (France), article: World X-ray science facilities are contributing to overcoming COVID-19

2020.04.29. BESSY II at HZB (Germany), article: Corona research: Consortium of Berlin research and industry seeks active ingredients

2020.04.29. Swiss Light Source and SwissFEL at PSI (Switzerland), interview series on the PSI website: Research on Covid-19

2020.04.23. PETRA III at DESY (Germany), article: X-ray screening identifies potential candidates for corona drugs

2020.04.21. MAX IV (Sweden), article: BioMAX switches to remote operations in times of COVID-19

2020.04.16. SLAC (CA / USA), article also with news about research at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL): SLAC joins the global fight against COVID-19

2020.04.15 Berkeley National Lab (CA/ USA), article with a focus on the research at the Advanced Light Source (ALS):
Staff at Berkeley Lab’s X-Ray Facility Mobilize to Support COVID-19-Related Research

2020.04.07 Diamond Light Source (UK), article: Call for Chemists to contribute to the fight against COVID-19
Crowdfunding: COVID-19 Moonshot

2020.04.07. ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron (Victoria), article: Aiding the global research effort on COVID-19

2020.04.06. National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven Lab (NY / USA), article: Brookhaven Lab Mobilizes Resources in Fight Against COVID-19

2020.04.02. BESSY II at HZB (Germany), article: Corona research: Two days of measuring operation to find the right key

2020.03.31 Diamond Light Source (UK), article: Jointly with Exscientia and Scripps Research, Diamond aims to accelerate the search for drugs to treat COVID-19

2020.03.27 Argonne National Laboratory with the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and other facilities on-site (IL / USA), article: Argonne’s researchers and facilities playing a key role in the fight against COVID-19

2020.03.27 ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron (Victoria), article and video: Helping in the fight against COVID-19

2020.03.25 PETRA III at DESY (Germany), article: Research team will X-ray coronavirus proteins

2020.03.23 Diamond Light Source (UK) releases its first animation explaining: SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Single Crystal Crystallography

2020.03.25 CERN Courrier (Switzerland) article about synchrotron research on SARS-CoV-2, written by Tessa Charles (accelerator physicist at the University of Melbourne currently based at CERN, completed her PhD at the Australian Synchrotron): Synchrotrons on the coronavirus frontline

2020.03.19 BESSY II at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Germany), research publication: Coronavirus SARS-CoV2: BESSY II data accelerate drug development

2020.03.19 BESSY II at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Germany), technique explanation webpage: Protein crystallography at BESSY II: A mighty tool for the search of anti-viral agents

2020.03.16 Diamond Light Source (UK), article on their “Coronavirus Science” website: Main protease structure and XChem fragment screen

2020.03.12. Elettra Sincrotrone (Italy), article on their website: New project to fight the spread of Coronavirus has been approved

2020.03.05. Advanced Photon Source (IL / USA), article on their website: APS Coronavirus Research in the Media Spotlight

2020.03.05. Advanced Photon Source (IL / USA), research publication: “Crystal structure of Nsp15 endoribonuclease NendoU from SARS-CoV-2,” bioRXiv preprint  DOI: 10.1101/2020.03.02.968388, Article on their website (source: Northwestern University): New Coronavirus Protein Reveals Drug Target

Facility Covid-19 research pages

The Canadian Light Source (Canada) has created a specific page highlighting their COVID-19 research: COVID-19 research at the Canadian Light Source

BESSY II at HZB (Germany) has set up a page where it shows their contributions to the research on SARS-CoV-2 , see here

DESY (Germany) has launched a new page dedicated to Corona Research: https://www.desy.de/news/corona_research/index_eng.html

Diamond Light Source (UK) has created a specific website “Coronavirus Science” with platforms for various audiences: scientific community, general public and the media: https://www.diamond.ac.uk/covid-19.html

ELETTRA (Italy) has launched a new page dedicated to COVID-19 research: https://www.elettra.eu/science/covid-19-research-at-elettra.html

The Photon Division of PSI (Switzerland) have collated many information linked to their institute on coronavirus-relevant research (recent publications, rapid access…): https://www.psi.ch/en/psd/covid-19

ALBA (Spain) has set up a dedicated area on their website for information related to COVID-19 (rapid access, publications etc): https://www.albasynchrotron.es/en/covid-19-information/

The ALS (CA/USA) has created a page listing all COVID-19 related research: https://als.lbl.gov/tag/covid-19/




Rapid access

Scientists can apply for rapid access at following facilities (only member facilities of Lightsources.org are referenced, the most recent published (or updated) call is mentioned first).

  • The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) in NY / USA is offering a streamlined and expedited rapid access proposal process for groups that require beam time for structural biology projects directly related to COVID-19. The Center for Biomolecular Structure team is supporting remote macromolecular crystallography experiments at Beamlines 17-ID-1 (AMX) and 17-ID-2 (FMX) in this research area. To submit a macromolecular crystallography proposal for COVID-19 related research, use the following form:
    https://surveys.external.bnl.gov/n/RapidAccessProposal.aspx
  • The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory in IL / USA  user program is operational to support:

·         Research on SARS-CoV-2 or other COVID-19-related research that addresses the current pandemic.

·         Critical, proprietary pharmaceutical research.

·         Mail-in/remote access work for any research involving low-risk samples and most medium-risk samples (as defined on the APS ESAF form).

·         Limited in situ research (set-up with one person, and ability to carry out majority of experiment safely remotely)
https://www.aps.anl.gov/Users-Information/About-Proposals/Apply-for-Time

PETRA III at DESY in Germany offers also Fast Track Access for Corona-related research:
https://photon-science.desy.de/users_area/fast_track_access_for_covid_19/index_eng.html

Australian Synchrotron at ANSTO makes its macromolecular crystallography beamlines available to structural biologists in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: https://www.ansto.gov.au/user-access

North American DOE lightsource facilities have created a platform to enable COVID-19 research. There you can find ressources and points of contact to request priority access:
Structural Biology Resources at DOE Light Sources

Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy opens to remote acces following beamlines: XRD1, XRD2, SISSI-BIO and MCX thanks to an CERIC-ERIC initiative:
https://www.ceric-eric.eu/2020/03/10/covid-19-fast-track-access/
http://www.elettra.eu/userarea/user-area.html

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) at LBNL in California / USA has capabilities relevant to COVID-19 and researchers can apply through their RAPIDD mechanism:
https://als.lbl.gov/apply-for-beamtime/

ALBA Synchrotron in Spain offers a COVID-19 RAPID ACCESS on all beamlines:
https://www.albasynchrotron.es/en/en/users/call-information

SOLARIS Synchrotron in Poland gives acces to its Cryo Electron Microscope thanks to an CERIC-ERIC initiative: https://www.ceric-eric.eu/2020/03/10/covid-19-fast-track-access/

Swiss Light Source and Swiss FEL at PSI in Switzerland offer priority access to combating COVID-19:
https://www.psi.ch/en/sls/scientific-highlights/priority-access-call-for-work-on-combating-covid-19

Diamond Light Source in the United Kingdom opened also a call for rapid access:
https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Users.html

Image: Electron density at the active site of the SARS-CoV-2 protease, revealing a fragment bound
Credit: Diamond Light Source

Röntgen medal for Robert Feidenhans’l

Röntgen medal for Robert Feidenhans’l

The Danish physicist Robert Feidenhans’l has spent almost his entire career working in the field of X-ray synchrotron radiation and free-electron lasers and is regarded as a pioneer in the use of X-rays from synchrotron radiation facilities. He is a co-founder of surface crystallography and was the first person to succeed in precisely determining surface structures experimentally. Feidenhans’l is an outstanding researcher who always regarded science as a means of promoting international understanding and collaboration.

His research includes nanophysics, in particular research into nanowires and the development of X-ray techniques for analysing materials. He was also instrumental in the development of X-ray imaging methods for the three-dimensional characterisation of materials and biological tissue, and was involved in high-resolution micro X-ray tomography in medicine, for example to investigate the interaction between bones and implants.

Between 2017 and 2023, Feidenhans’l was Chairman of the Management Board of the European X-ray laser and responsible for the transition from construction into full user operation. The international research facility in Schenefeld near Hamburg is one of the most powerful X-ray lasers in the world.

During his career, he has held numerous positions in science management. For example, he was Chairman of the Danish National Committee for Crystallography (1998-2007), Chairman of the Council of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) (2006-2010), Chairmen of the European XFEL Council (2010-2014), Member of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) (since 2015), Chairman of the Board of MAX IV (since January 2023), member of the Board of Trustees of the Joachim Herz Foundation (since January 2023) and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, USA (since 2024).

Read more on XFEL website

Image: The German Röntgen Museum honours Robert for his work on X-ray imaging methods.

Credit: European XFEL

Synchrotron light helps study the past, prevent corrosion in future

Synchrotron light helps study the past, prevent corrosion in future

Techniques developed by researchers from Western University for creating images of old, badly tarnished photographs could also be used to study other historic artifacts and fossils and prevent corrosion on modern materials.  

Professor T.K. Sham and colleagues recently confirmed that a new synchrotron imaging technique they developed is just as effective for retrieving corroded daguerreotypes (the earliest form of photographs) as a technique they first reported on back in 2018, and can also be used no matter how badly damaged the image surface is from natural corrosion or cleaning attempts. The new research, which used beamlines at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), is published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage.

“This technique can be used widely in all walks of science, from looking at tissues to materials science,” said Sham. “For example, you could determine whether or how a metal may be corrosion-resistant, or in the case of an already corroded material you can learn what the product of that corrosion is and its distribution on the surface, and then you can work back and think about how to prevent that corrosion from happening.” 

Sham said many applications are possible because synchrotron X-ray is very tunable, which means it can pick out any element and find out what its chemical surrounding is and where it is placed in the sample, even imaging it layer by layer. 

When it comes to the conservation of antiques, Sham’s research could be a game changer too, especially for studying artifacts or fossils that have severe surface deterioration.  

As part of his new research, he uncovered images of a lady and a gentleman fashionably dressed in mid 1850s garments, and one of a baby peacefully wrapped in covers. All of these daguerreotypes, belonging to private collectors and the National Gallery of Canada, were badly damaged — slow deterioration mixed with cleaning attempts may have caused the tarnish. 

He proved that this synchrotron technique is always effective as long as the image particles underneath the tarnish remain intact, a discovery advancing his 2018 study in Scientific Reports. This research was done using the VESPERS and the SXRMB beamlines at the CLS and at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.

Read more on CLS website

First electrons circulation in the new APS storage ring

First electrons circulation in the new APS storage ring

Electrons have made their way around the new Advanced Photon Source (APS) storage ring for the first time, a major milestone in the process of bringing the newly upgraded APS into operation. 

On April 13, 2024, members of the Accelerator Systems Division (ASD) injected an electron bunch into the new storage ring and confirmed that it traveled the full circumference. Electron bunches injected on April 14, 2024 have now circulated more than a dozen times. This is not only a first, but an important step for the new machine, as the smallest obstruction, misalignment or power supply oscillation (for example) can affect the trajectory of an electron beam. With such a low-emittance beam, even miniscule changes such as these would be detrimental.

Read more on APS website

Image: Plot from the APS accelerator logs signifying first turns of electrons in the new storage ring.

Protecting drinking water on prairies from emerging pollutant

Protecting drinking water on prairies from emerging pollutant

With the help of the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), researchers from the University of Guelph (UofG) have learned more about an emerging pollutant that is prevalent in groundwater across the Prairies.

“Sulfolane is commonly used to treat sour gas, and there are large contaminant plumes across Canada, specifically in Alberta,” says Erica Pensini, Associate Professor at University of Guelph’s School of Engineering. “We’ve been looking at how sulfolane migrates in groundwater, analyzing the risks to potable waters, such as wells, or other ecological bodies of water.”

Pensini is particularly interested in how naturally occurring sulfates (salts) impact the movement of sulfolane in water and its ability to mix thoroughly with water.

“Sulfolane plumes travel faster with fewer sulfates, so we’re trying to clarify migration in the context of what can we do to tackle this contamination,” says Pensini. “How much time do we have? Where is it going? Which well should we protect?”

Sulfolane has recently been linked to fertility issues in cattle and has been found in their milk.

“We’re also partnering up with hydrogeologists and eco-toxicologists to explore other aspects that we’re not directly exploring in our lab,” says Pensini.

Read more on CLS website

Commissioning of new APS storage ring begins

Commissioning of new APS storage ring begins

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) Upgrade project officially moved into a new phase today, as commissioning of the new storage ring began.

The start of commissioning follows a successful Accelerator Readiness Review (ARR) conducted from March 25-28, and the subsequent approval from the DOE Argonne Site Office. It marks a major milestone in the upgrade project and a big step toward bringing the rejuvenated APS facility to life. 

The upgrade of the APS has been in the planning stages for a decade. Over the past year, the team has removed the original storage ring and assembled not just the 200 modules of the new one, but literally thousands of associated components and systems in its place, followed by a thorough test and checkout of the new systems. The new electron storage ring has been designed to generate X-ray beams that will be up to 500 times brighter than those of the original APS.

Read more on APS website

How pulsed charging enhances the service time of batteries

How pulsed charging enhances the service time of batteries

An improved charging protocol might help lithium-ion batteries to last much longer. Charging with a high-frequency pulsed current reduces ageing effects, an international team demonstrated. The study was led by Philipp Adelhelm (HZB and Humboldt University) in collaboration with teams from the Technical University of Berlin and Aalborg University in Denmark. Experiments at the X-ray source BESSY II were particularly revealing.

Lithium-ion batteries are powerful, and they are used everywhere, from electric vehicles to electronic devices. However, their capacity gradually decreases over the course of hundreds of charging cycles. The best commercial lithium-ion batteries with electrodes made of so-called NMC532 (molecular formula: LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2) and graphite have a service life of up to eight years. Batteries are usually charged with a constant current flow. But is this really the most favourable method? A new study by Prof Philipp Adelhelm’s group at HZB and Humboldt-University Berlin answers this question clearly with no. The study in the journal Advanced Energy Materials analyses the effect of the charging protocol on the service time of the battery.

Part of the battery tests were carried out at Aalborg University. The batteries were either charged conventionally with constant current (CC) or with a new charging protocol with pulsed current (PC). Post-mortem analyses revealed clear differences after several charging cycles: In the CC samples, the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) at the anode was significantly thicker, which impaired the capacity. The team also found more cracks in the structure of the NMC532 and graphite electrodes, which also contributed to the loss of capacity. In contrast, PC-charging led to a thinner SEI interface and fewer structural changes in the electrode materials.

HZB researcher Dr Yaolin Xu then led the investigation into the lithium-ion cells at Humboldt University and BESSY II with operando Raman spectroscopy and dilatometry as well as X-ray absorption spectroscopy to analyse what happens during charging with different protocols. Supplementary experiments were carried out at the PETRA III synchrotron. “The pulsed current charging promotes the homogeneous distribution of the lithium ions in the graphite and thus reduces the mechanical stress and cracking of the graphite particles. This improves the structural stability of the graphite anode,” he concludes. The pulsed charging also suppresses the structural changes of NMC532 cathode materials with less Ni-O bond length variation.

Read more on HZB website

Image: The illustration shows the ageing processes in NMC/graphite lithium-ion batteries during conventional charging (top image) and during charging with pulsed current (bottom image). Pulsed charging leads to significantly fewer cracks in the graphite and NMC particles. Also, the interface between the solid electrode and the liquid electrolyte (SEI) is thinner and has a different composition.

Credit: HZB/10.1002/aenm.202400190

Ultrafast dynamics in a molecular photoswitch

Ultrafast dynamics in a molecular photoswitch

Molecules that undergo photoinduced isomerization reactions and are capable of storing the absorbed light as chemical energy, releasing it as thermal energy on demand, are referred to as molecular solar thermal energy storage (MOST) or solar thermal fuels (STF).  An ideal model system for such technologically important applications is the photoswitchable pair of isomers quadricyclane (QC, a highly strained multicyclic hydrocarbon), and its lower-energy isomer norbornadiene (NBD). The isomers, shown in Figure 1, interconvert upon photoabsorption in the deep ultraviolet (UV) range. An experiment performed at FERMI sheds new light on the mechanism of the reverse interconversion, QC → NBD, which is of both fundamental photochemical interest and practical importance since it represents the undesired UV-induced photoreversion process in MOST systems based on the QC/NBD pair.

Using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (TRPES) with extreme ultraviolet (XUV) probe pulses at the Low Density Matter end-station of the seeded FEL FERMI, along with non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations, an international collaboration led by Prof. Daniel Rolles and Dr. Kurtis D. Borne from Kansas State University, Prof. Adam Kirrander from the University of Oxford, and Prof. Caterina Vozzi from Politecnico di Milano succeeded in tracking the two competing pathways by which electronically excited quadricyclane molecules relax to the electronic ground state.

Read more on Elettra website

Image: Schematic of the QC ⇄ NBD interconversion.

Fuel Cells: Oxidation processes of phosphoric acid

Fuel Cells: Oxidation processes of phosphoric acid

Hydrogen fuel cells convert chemical energy from hydrogen into electrical energy through separate reactions of hydrogen fuels and oxidizing agents (oxygen). Among hydrogen fuel cells, high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) are attractive for micro-stationary electricity sources. One disadvantage of these HT-PEMFCs is that the phosphoric acid (H3PO4) proton conductor leaches out of the H3PO4-doped polybenzimidazole membrane and poisons the platinum catalyst. Recent studies show further complications during the operation of the HT-PEMFC, where some of H3PO4 might be reduced to H3PO3, which may further poison the platinum catalysts, leading to a significant loss of performance.

An earlier study by Prof. Dr Marcus Bär’s team showed that opposite processes also take place at the interface between Pt and aqueous H3PO3 and that the interactions between the platinum catalyst and the H3PO3/H3PO4 are very complex: while H3PO3 can lead to poisoning of the platinum catalyst, at the same time platinum might catalyzes the oxidation of H3PO3 back to H3PO4.

In order to investigate the oxidation behaviour of aqueous H3PO3 under conditions close to HT-PEMFCs working conditions, Bär’s team has now analysed the chemical processes using an in-housed designed heatable electrochemical cell compatible for in situ tender X-ray studies at the OÆSE end-station recently set up in the Energy Materials In-situ Laboratory Berlin (EMIL). They used intense X-ray light in the tender X-ray energy range (2 keV – 5 keV), which is provided by the EMIL beamline at the X-ray source BESSY II. In this energy range, X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) at the P K-edge is used to monitor oxidation processes from H3PO3 to H3PO4.

“We have thus uncovered different processes for this oxidation reaction, including platinum-catalysed chemical oxidation, electrochemical oxidation under positive potential bias at the platinum electrode, and heat-promoted oxidation. These in situ spectroscopic results are also confirmed by ion-exchange chromatography and in situ electrochemical characterisations,” explains Enggar Wibowo, first author of the study and a PhD candidate in Bär’s team. “Remarkably, all of these oxidation pathways involve reactions with water, which shows that the humidity inside the fuel cell has a significant influence on these processes.”

Read more on HZB website

Image: The illustration shows four different oxidation pathways (1-4) of aqueous phosphoric acid (H3PO3), which could be elucidated by XANES at BESSY II. All these reactions depend on the humidity present.

Credit: HZB

MAX IV: Record year for research

MAX IV: Record year for research

MAX IV is making significant societal contributions in terms of record-high scientific productivity. In 2023, the number of publications increased by 51% compared to the previous year, and the number of unique users increased by 31%. Moreover, the number of proposals submitted in the most recent Open Call was higher than ever.

The data from 2023 indicates a rapidly growing interest to conduct research at MAX IV.

The latest Open Call, which closed in March 2024, received an all-time high of 459 proposals from national and international researchers who applied to use MAX IV this autumn.

The total number of proposals submitted in the 2023 Open Calls (717) was 14% higher than in 2022. 

These statistics are published in the MAX IV Annual Report 2023, which is now released.

Read more on the MAX IV website

Image: The main MAX IV building

Credit: Johan Persson

The fascinating future of metal tellurate materials

The fascinating future of metal tellurate materials

Scientists have determined the structure of a new material with potential to be used in solar energy, batteries, and splitting water to produce hydrogen.

The physical properties and crystal structures of most tellurate materials were only discovered during the last two decades, but they have tantalizing properties. For example, they respond to light in a way very similar to current solar materials.

“This could be one material for all applications,” says University of Oulu scientist Dr. Harishchandra Singh. “But they are new and very little is known in the literature. We are am trying to explore all its unexplored and hidden properties.”

Identifying the structure of new materials is often the first step to unlocking their potential for applications. The international team, led by Matthias Weil (Vienna University of Technology) and Dr. Singh, successfully created a single crystal of a metal tellurate compound, making it possible to precisely define its structure with better accuracy than ever before.

The pair used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to understand how the material works under real world conditions. A longtime user of the facility, Singh knew that the Brockhouse beamline could help confirm the structural details they had uncovered.

Read more on CLS website

Leading UK Science facilities announce new five-year collaboration

Leading UK Science facilities announce new five-year collaboration

A new five-year agreement to facilitate collaboration between two leading UK Science institutions has been announced.

Diamond Light Source, the UK’s synchrotron light source and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) aim to bring the two organisations closer together to allow students to learn about each other’s science portfolio. This agreement will drive a closer collaboration through the formation of a Steering Committee that will help shape curriculum content to meet students’ needs.

Commenting on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Chief Scientist at NPL, DR JT Janssen;

Our goal is to combine our expertise and facilities to accomplish momentous scientific impact.  We want to develop common specialised knowledge and increase the effective use of our facilities; as well as increasing cooperation and mutual support among our students and staff.

In addition to joint meetings, networking and training, the MoU will facilitate the identification of collaborative research and skills development opportunities of mutual or individual interest through a dedicated Steering Committee with representatives from both organisations.

Prof. Gianluigi Botton, Chief Executive Officer at Diamond Light Source adds;

This agreement is going to create great opportunities for new science and for both organisations’ scientists and students.  A key objective is to facilitate collaboration around student engagement activities, including using our respective expertise to accomplish valuable scientific training for each other’s student cohorts

Read more on Diamond website

Image: From L to R: (Front Row) CEOs Dr Peter Thompson (NPL) and Prof. Gianluigi Botton (Diamond), and (Second Row) Dr Richard Burguete Postgraduate Institute Director (NPL), Dr JT Janssen, Chief Scientist (NPL), Isabelle Boscaro-Clark, Head of Impact, Communications and Engagement (Diamond), Dr Adrian Mancuso, Physical Sciences Director (Diamond), and Prof. Sir Dave Stuart FRS, Life Sciences Director (Diamond)

Users of ALBA create the most porous zeolite to date

Users of ALBA create the most porous zeolite to date

A team from the Materials Science Institute of Madrid -CSIC) leads an international research that synthetized a zeolite with extra-large pores by expanding and connecting silica chains. This material has applications in water and gas decontamination and catalysis. Experiments carried out at the MSPD beamline of the ALBA Synchrotron had a key role in determining the structure of the zeolite.

A team from the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC) leads an international research that has succeeded in creating the world’s most porous zeolite. The study, published yesterday in the journal Nature, opens up new avenues for water and gas decontamination and “demonstrates that it is possible to make more porous materials that are stable,” says Miguel Camblor, researcher at the ICMM-CSIC and lead author of the study.

Zeolites are microporous crystalline silicates. These are materials with applications in decontamination, catalysis, gas adsorption, and cation exchange. For decades, obtaining stable zeolites with greater porosity and, therefore, capacity for absorption and processing of large molecules, has been an important scientific goal. However, this is not a simple challenge: “until recently, it challenged our synthetic capacity,” indicates Camblor.

The team already developed in recent years two zeolites with “extra-large” pores in the three spatial directions that also exhibited high stability. On this occasion, they have created a stable aluminosilicate zeolite with extra-large pores open through rings of more than 12 tetrahedra, capable of processing even larger molecules.

“The structure of this zeolite presents unprecedented characteristics and demonstrates that with different methods, things that were believed impossible can be found, such as this world record in porosity,” highlights Camblor, who indicates that they have already used the zeolite for the absorption of volatile organic compounds.

To determine the structure of the zeolite, the research team has combined electron diffraction techniques and powder X-ray diffraction, the latter available at the MSPD beamline of the ALBA Synchrotron. The X-rays produced at the ALBA’s accelerator provided crucial information on the position of the atoms in the zeolite structure.

Read more on the ALBA website

Image: Structure of the zeolite called ZEO-5

Credit: Nature

The Long Read: The AI revolution

The Long Read: The AI revolution

For what was once a purely technical subject, machine learning has hardly been out of the news. Beginning in late 2022, the world has had to come to terms with the impact of a number of groundbreaking, generative artificial-intelligence (AI) models – notably the ChatGPT chatbot by the US company OpenAI, and text-to-image systems such as Midjourney, developed by the US company of the same name. Everyday conversations cannot avoid the debate over whether we are living amid a fantastic new industrial revolution – or the end of civilisation as we know it.

All this popular controversy can detract from a quieter – but no less important – machine-learning evolution taking place in the scientific realm. Arguably this began in the 1990s, with greater computing power and the development of so-called neural networks, which attempt to mimic the wiring of the brain, and which helped to popularise AI as an overarching term for machines that ape human thinking. The real acceleration, however, has taken place in the past decade or so, thanks to the storage and processing of “big data”, and experiments with layered neural networks – what has come to be called deep learning.

Of this revolution, synchrotron users – who are among the world’s largest producers of scientific data – stand to be great beneficiaries. Machine learning has the potential to streamline experiments, reduce data volumes, speed up data analysis and obtain results that would otherwise be beyond human insight. “We’ve been amazed in many ways by the results we could produce,” says Linus Pithan, a materials and data scientist based at the German synchrotron DESY, who ran an autonomous crystal-growth experiment at the ESRF’s ID10 beamline with colleagues last year. “The quality of the online data analysis was astonishing.”

Formerly a member of the ESRF’s Beamline Control Unit where he helped develop the new BLISS beamline control system, Pithan is well placed to test the potential of machine learning in synchrotron science. The flexibility of BLISS was necessary for him and his colleagues to integrate their own deep-learning algorithm, which they had trained beforehand to reconstruct scattering-length density (SLD) profiles from the X-ray reflectivity of molecular thin films. Unlike the forwards operation – calculating a reflectivity curve from an SLD profile – this inverse problem can be painfully tedious to solve even for an experienced analyst: the data are inherently ambiguous, because they do not include the phase of the scattered X-rays. Indeed, it is a demanding task for a machine too, which is why at the beamline Pithan’s group made use of an online service known as VISA to harness the ESRF’s central computer system.

The success of the automation was immediately apparent (Figure 1). From the reflectivity measurements, the deep-learning algorithm could output SLD profiles and thin-film properties such as layer thickness and surface roughness in real time, and thereby stop in-situ molecular beam deposition at any desired sample thickness between 80 Å and 640 Å, with an average accuracy of 2 Å [1]. “The machine-learning model was able to ‘predict’ results within milliseconds,” says Pithan. “In a way, we transferred the time that is traditionally needed for the manual fitting process to the point before the actual experiment where we trained the model. So by the time of the experiment, were able to get results instantaneously.”

The ESRF has been anticipating a rise in machine learning for many years. It forms part of the data strategy, and is one of the reasons for the ESRF’s engagement in various European projects that support the trend: PaNOSC, which is a cloud service to host publicly funded photon and neutron research data; DAPHNE, which aims to make photon and neutron data accord to “FAIR” (reusable) principles; and most recently OSCARS, which promotes European open science. Vincent Favre-Nicolin, the head of the ESRF algorithms and scientific data analysis group, is wary of claiming that machine learning is always a “magical” solution, and points out the toll it can take on computing resources. “But for some areas it makes a real difference,” he says.

Read more on ESRF website

Image: Painstaking manual segmentation of ESRF tomographic data reveals the vasculature of a human kidney for the Human Organ Atlas project. It also provides valuable training data for deep-learning algorithms that will be able to do the same job much faster 

Findings pave way for longer-lasting solid-state batteries

Findings pave way for longer-lasting solid-state batteries

Lithium-ion batteries contain flammable materials that could pose a safety risk under certain conditions. Dr. Yaser Abu-Lebdeh is one of the researchers using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to develop a safer alternative: solid-state batteries.

Solid-state batteries replace the flammable liquid electrolyte in conventional batteries with a solid ceramic-based material to pass charge through the battery.

“These oxide-based ceramics or ceramic oxides, are intrinsically safe, meaning they’re not volatile, they’re not flammable,” says Dr. Abu-Lebdeh, a team leader with the National Research Council of Canada’s battery materials innovation team.

The batteries have another major advantage: they enable the use of lithium metal and hence are able to hold a great deal of charge in a small space, making them powerful energy storage devices.

As with any new technology, there have been hiccups in the development.

“We’ve run into a problem where the batteries lose their capacity very quickly, meaning they die out very, very quickly,” says Dr. Abu-Lebdeh.

Standard lab techniques couldn’t pinpoint what was causing the early failure, so Dr. Abu-Lebdeh turned to his longtime collaborators at the CLS. Using synchrotron light — which is particularly well suited for studying batteries — they were able to identify the root causes of the battery’s premature failure: a combination of tiny structural changes and chemical changes happening in two different parts of the battery.

Dr. Abu-Lebdeh says the new insights will help them improve the mix of solid and liquid parts and how these batteries are put together. They published the results in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Read more on CLS website

Shedding Light on Sea Creatures’ Secrets

Shedding Light on Sea Creatures’ Secrets

A nanoscale look at how shells and coral form revealed a mineral that, until now, had never been seen in living organisms – and indicates that biomineralization is more complex than we imagined.

Exactly how does coral make its skeleton, a sea urchin grow a spine, or an abalone form the mother-of-pearl in its shell? A new study at the Advanced Light Source at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) revealed that this process of biomineralization, which sea creatures use to lock carbon away in their bodies, is more complex and diverse than previously thought.

Researchers studied the edges of samples from coral, sea urchin, and mollusks, where temporary building blocks known as “mineral precursors” start to form the new shell or skeleton. There, they found a surprise: Corals and mollusks produced a mineral precursor that had never been observed before in living organisms, and had only recently been created synthetically.

They also found variety in the types of building blocks present. Scientists expected to see “amorphous” precursors, minerals that lack a repeating atomic structure. They did – but they also found “crystalline” precursors, minerals that are more structured and orderly. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Read more on the ALS website

Credit: LazingBee/iStock

 SLS 2.0 upgrade 

 SLS 2.0 upgrade 

“The philosophy of the SLS has always been to explore novel techniques and use cutting-edge hardware, which has resulted in breakthroughs in areas such as imaging, X-ray spectroscopies, macro-molecular crystallography and detector technologies,” write Phil Willmott and Hans Braun in an article about the SLS 2.0 upgrade in Synchrotron Radiation News this month.

This philosophy of innovation underpins the comprehensive upgrade of the storage ring and X-ray sources of the Swiss Light Source SLS, which is currently underway. 

Better behaved electrons mean brighter X-ray light

The storage ring is the part of the facility where electrons zip around close to the speed of light, generating X-ray light as they go round the bends. The main parameter used to describe the quality of the X-ray light produced is brilliance, which effectively indicates how bright, compact, and well collimated the light is. 

For a more mathematical definition, brilliance is defined as the photon flux divided by the emittance – a parameter that describes how collimated the electron beam is and its cross-section in the storage ring. To maximise brilliance, the electron emittance should be as low as possible. 

This is the principle of a diffraction limited storage ring (DLSR): reducing electron emittance to the point that it is as small or smaller than that of the X-ray photons. The emittance of the X-ray photons is governed by fundamental diffraction phenomena. The performance of the synchrotron is thus limited by diffraction and no longer by the properties of the electron beam. 

The primary way in which this is achieved for SLS 2.0 is with an innovative arrangement of magnets for bending and focusing the electrons. By using more, smaller magnets, these smooth out the curves of the electrons round the storage ring, while keeping them close together. 

The new SLS 2.0 storage ring will allow the electron emittance to drop by a factor of thirty-five. With innovative new undulators enabling additional so-called radiation damping, the drop in electron emittance should exceed a factor of forty.

Read more on PSI website

Image: Work to install the new storage ring is already underway at the SLS. (Image: Paul Scherrer Institute

Credit: Markus Fischer