The Material Science Powder Diffraction beamline of the ALBA synchrotron : 8 years already

General ILL Seminar
Organised by College 5A

Tuesday, 25 February 2020 at 11:00
Seminar room (no 163), ILL 4

Dr. François Fauth
CELLS - ALBA - Experiments Division - Barcelona - Spain

Abstract

The ALBA-CELLS synchrotron is a Spanish national large scale facility located in the Barcelona area. Machine and beamline commissioning started end 2010 and mid 2011, respectively.  The Material Science Powder Diffraction beamline BL04-MSPD is presently the only beamline dedicated  to synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXRPD) exclusively [1]. The BL04-MSPD beamline operates in the 8-50keV energy range and consists in two experimental stations :  a standard powder diffraction (PD) based station and a High Pressure - Micro Diffraction (HP-MD) station. The former one is  dedicated to high angular resolution and high throughput powder diffraction using either the angular scanning based Multi Analyzer Detection (MAD) setup or the  position sensitive solid state  detector MYTHEN, respectively.  The HP-MD station delivers a small beam (focus spot of 25 microns) in high energy range (20-50 keV) and together with its 2D detector is well suited for powder diffraction at high pressures using Diamond Anvil Cells (DAC)  or for mesh mapping based micro diffraction techniques.
During the talk I will present an overview of last 8 years of scientific activities performed on the beamline. Certainly the most fruitful  and impacting research program concerns study on energy related materials in general and more specifically on rechargeable battery electrode materials. Indeed, owing to its PSD detector and proper infrastructures (ad hoc electrochemical cells, access to Ar Glove Box),  the BL04-MSPD beamline specialized and went recognized for  In Situ Powder Diffraction on Operando batteries. Some typical example of High Pressure data collection in DAC  will be presented, as well as Micro Diffraction experiments in the Cultural Heritage field. High angular resolution data collection using MAD is well complementary with Neutron Powder Diffraction techniques, in particular when the exact magnetic structure might only be determined based on a ground knowledge of the crystal structure as determined by SXRPD (some examples of ILL and ALBA complementarity will be given). Finally, few words will be dedicated on the Proprietary Research activity  proposed on BL04-MSPD.

[1] Fauth et al Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2015) 130: 160 (DOI 10.1140/epjp/i2015-15160-y)

Oscar Fabelo

College 5A Secretary

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