Science Brief - January 2025
ESRF - The European Synchrotron
The ESRF is an international research lab, where X-rays are used to unlock the secrets of matter.
Electronic order correlates with kagome superconductivity
Very weak diffraction of EBS X-rays has shown that stark high-pressure changes in the electronic order of a “kagome” metal correlate with a stabilization of superconductivity. The results challenge existing theories about the origin of the electronic order, and give hints about how superconductivity emerges in the novel material. The team was led by Jochen Geck and Matthieu Le Tacon .
Journal: Physical Review Letters
Room-temperature serial crystallography experiments achieved with microsecond pulsed beams
Scientists can now scan thousands of protein crystals at room temperature using X-ray microsecond pulses at the ESRF’s serial crystallography beamline, ID29. This capability is of utmost importance for time-resolved studies and drug discovery research at physiological conditions.
The beamline is run jointly with the EMBL Grenoble , as part of the long-standing collaboration that the ESRF and EMBL have set up on the EPN science campus in Grenoble. With Daniele de Sanctis and Shibom Basu .
Journal: Communications Chemistry
Scientists visualise crucial step in protein production in bacteria
Researchers led by Albert Weixlbaumer and Michael Webster have visualized for the first time how mRNA is delivered to the ribosome to begin production of proteins. They solved 9 of the structures using the ESRF’s cryo-EM.
Journal: Science
Breakthrough catalyst could accelerate the transition to greener fuels
Chemical scientists have developed a catalyst for converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide with nine times the performance of other catalysts. X-ray spectroscopy experiments at the ESRF have shed light on this high performance, which could enable industrial chemicals to be produced more economically and sustainably – notably synthetic fuels.
Journal: PNAS
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Thin ceramics make strong piezoelectrics
Scientists from India and Australia led by Rajeev Ranjan have shown how to boost the electro-mechanical response of piezoelectrics made from ceramics. Their work reveals that the thinness of the ceramics is key to bringing the performance in line with expensive single-crystal ferroelectrics.
Journal: Nature
New insights on high-voltage promising cathodes for Li-ion batteries
High-voltage cathodes are considered the future for Li-ion batteries. Now researchers led by the ESRF's Tobias Schulli and CEA's Marie-Ingrid Richard have discovered how single crystals degrade (or not) over time and use. The research is out now in Advanced Energy Materials.
Journal: Advanced Energy Materials
First results of the High-Power Laser Facility probe iron at the Earth's core conditions
Scientists have captured unprecedented detail of how iron behaves under extreme conditions approaching those of the core – advancing our understanding of planetary dynamics. These are the first experimental results from the new High-Power Laser Facility (HPLF) at the ESRF, led by Raffaella Torchio and Jean-Alexis Hernandez.
Journal: Physical Review Letters
New EU project to transform nuclear waste to raw materials
The EU’s €2.3 million project, 'MaLaR – Novel 2D-3D Materials for Lanthanide Recovery from Nuclear Waste', has officially started and will be carried out at the HZDR’s Rossendorf beamline at the ESRF, led by Kristina Kvashnina . This initiative brings together experts from Germany, France, Sweden, and Romania, with the goal of transforming nuclear waste into valuable raw materials for applications ranging from smartphone batteries to medical equipment such as MRI machines.
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