NANOPATTERNING OF HIGHLY ORIENTED PYROLYTIC GRAPHITE (HOPG) AT LOWER TEMPERATURES

An international research team has demonstrated the oxidation effect of HOPG at room temperature by the deposition of an ultra-thin layer of cobalt monoxide (CoO). The formation of carbon defects reveals a weakening of the C-C sigma bonds, facilitating the carbon gasification reaction catalyzed by CoO at lower temperatures than using typical metallic nanoparticles. This fact opens the door to a more comprehensible and efficient graphite and graphene nanopatterning for multiple applications. The results were obtained using in-situ NAP-XPS measurements at the NAPP endstation of the CIRCE beamline in the ALBA Synchrotron.

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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW ENZYME FOR THE RECYCLING OF PET PLASTIC WASTE INTO NEW BOTTLES

French researchers jointly published an article that made the cover of the scientific journal Nature: engineered PET-depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles. The development of this novel enzyme places this technology at the forefront of efforts to better protect our oceans and planet against plastic pollution. Some of the experiments were carried out at the XALOC beamline in the ALBA Synchrotron.

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OLIGOMERIC MATERIALS TO ENHANCE WATER SPLITTING

A new oligomeric, hybrid molecular material behaves as a rugged and powerful molecular electro-anode for the water oxidation reaction achieving unprecedented current densities in the whole range of pH, but especially at neutral pH. The catalyst is adsorbed to the graphitic surface via a novel aromatic C-H-π interactions – an anchoring strategy that has never been described for molecular catalysts up to now and that can be extended to other catalytic reactions. The study, led by researchers from the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia with the collaboration of NCD-SWEET beamline scientists, has been published in Nature Chemistry.

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CATERINA BISCARI STAYS ON AS CHAIR OF LEAPS

The Director of ALBA has been Chair of LEAPS during 2020 and she will continue in 2021 working with renewed enthusiasm for the League of European Accelerator based-Photon Sources.

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HPCNow! HELPS ALBA IMPROVE DATA STORAGE PERFORMANCE WITH EXCELERO’S NVMESH®

In early testing, NVMesh speeds access to beamline microscopy data on GPU servers, bringing greater storage efficiency, agility, and ROI.

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