Bragg coherent diffraction imaging of single 20 nm Pt particles at the ID01-EBS beamline of ESRF.

Electronic or catalytic properties can be modified at the nanoscale level. Engineering efficient and specific nanomaterials requires the ability to study their complex structure-property relationships. Here, Bragg coherent diffraction imaging was used to measure the three-dimensional shape and strain of platinum nanoparticles with a diameter smaller than 30 nm, significantly smaller than any previous study.

Performance of the time-resolved ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering beamline with the Extremely Brilliant Source.

The new technical features and enhanced performance of the ID02 beamline with the Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) at the ESRF are described. The beamline enables static and kinetic investigations of a broad range of systems from ångström to micrometre size scales and down to the sub-millisecond time range by combining different small-angle X-ray scattering techniques in a single instrument. In addition, a nearly coherent beam obtained in the high-resolution mode allows multispeckle X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy measurements down to the microsecond range over the ultra-small- and small-angle regions.

Towards Real-Time Ion-Specific Structural Sensitivity in Nanoporous Carbon Electrodes Using In Situ Anomalous Small-Angle X-ray Scattering.

Current in situ techniques to study ion charge storage and electrical double-layer formation in nanoporous electrodes are either chemically sensitive to element-specific concentration changes or structurally sensitive to rearrangements of ions and solvent molecules; but rarely can they cover both. Here we introduce in situ anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) as a unique method to extract both real-time structural and ion-specific chemical information from one single experiment. Using a 1 M RbBr aqueous electrolyte and a hierarchical micro- and mesoporous carbon electrode, we identify different charging mechanisms for positive and negative applied potentials.

Internal Structure of Nanometer-Sized Droplets Prepared by Antisolvent Precipitation.

Antisolvent precipitation (AP) is a low-cost and less-invasive preparation alternative for organic nanoparticles compared to top-down methods such as high-pressure homogenization or milling. Here we report on particularly small organic nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by AP. It has been found for various materials that these NPs in their liquid state exhibit a significant degree of molecular order at their interface toward the dispersion medium including ubiquinones (coenzyme Q10), triglycerides (trimyristin, tripalmitin), and alkanes (tetracosane).

The Nanodiffraction beamline ID01/ESRF: a microscope for imaging strain and structure.

The ID01 beamline has been built to combine Bragg diffraction with imaging techniques to produce a strain and mosaicity microscope for materials in their native or operando state. A scanning probe with nano-focused beams, objective-lens-based full-field microscopy and coherent diffraction imaging provide a suite of tools which deliver micrometre to few nanometre spatial resolution combined with 10 strain and 10 tilt sensitivity. A detailed description of the beamline from source to sample is provided and serves as a reference for the user community.