Australian Synchrotron – Page 2

The performance of materials in extreme environments

2021/05/122021/06/03

Key Points

Understanding how materials will perform in extreme environments is crucial to the development of new energy technologies, Australia’s defence capabilities and space exploration
ANSTO are leaders in the characterisation of materials from the atomistic to macroscopic scales. This is needed to fully understand performance and service life in extreme environments
ANSTO has world-leading infrastructure and materials research expertise to characterise materials for extreme environments

ANSTO researchers investigate how materials behave in extreme environments, providing information that is vital to support the development of our industries.

Extreme environments include situations where materials are exposed to a combination of different conditions, including high temperature, radiation, corrosion and mechanical load.

Read more on the ANSTO website

image: A/Prof Ondrej Muransky describes the capabilities at ANSTO to research materials that operate in extreme environments, such as nuclear reactors

Building knowledge of changes in uranium chemistry

2021/03/192021/03/25

ANSTO’s considerable expertise in characterising uranium-containing compounds has contributed to a new systematic investigation of the origins of atomic structural distortions in a family of actinide compounds.

These compounds are known as rutile-related mixed metal ternary (three-part) uranium oxides. Rutile refers to mineral compounds composed primarily of titanium dioxide.

In research published in Inorganic Chemistry, a large team of researchers used both neutron and synchrotron radiation and theoretical calculations to establish systematically precise and accurate crystal structures and uranium oxidation states in the rutile-related mixed metal ternary uranium oxide systems.

Read more on the ANSTO website

Image: Dr Zhaoming Zhang, Principal Research Scientist, Nuclear Fuel Cycle, ANSTO

Credit: ANSTO

Understanding what makes COVID-19 more infectious than SARS

2021/02/232021/03/04

Australian and International researchers continue to have rapid access to the macromolecular and microfocus beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron to solve protein structures in the fight against COVID-19.

“Since coming out of a hard lockdown, we are now accepting proposals for other research,” said Principal Scientist Dr Alan Riboldi-Tunnicliffe.

“Because scientists can access the beamline remotely, they do not have to worry about changes to borders and travel restrictions.”

There have been a number of COVID-19 publications, which included structural information about key proteins in the virus, from the beamlines.

Instrument scientist Dr Eleanor Campbell reports that an international team of researchers led by the University of Bristol (UK) have identified a possible cause of SARS-CoV-2’s increased infectivity compared to SARS-CoV (the virus which emerged in China in 2003) , which could provide a target for developing COVID-19 therapies.

Australian collaborators included researchers from the Institute of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, who sent the samples to the Australian Synchrotron.

Read more on the Australian Synchrotron website

Research to support optimum care for ventilated preterm babies

2020/12/042021/02/11

A large international collaboration led by researchers from the Hudson Institute for Medical Research and Monash University has revealed that the ventilation of preterm babies to prevent lung collapse could create a risk of brain injury.

A/Prof Flora Wong, a researcher at Hudson Institute and Monash University, and consultant neonatologist at Monash Children’s Hospital, and a team of physiologists used the Imaging and Medical beamline (IMBL) at the Australian Synchrotron to acquire extremely clear and detailed images of blood vessels in large, preterm clinical models, in an investigation to determine if the pressure of lung ventilation affected blood vessels and blood flow.

Read more on the ANSTO website

Image: Micro-angiography showing micro-vessels

Producing less costly, greener hydrogen peroxide

2020/10/212020/10/22

Australian researchers led by the University of New South Wales have used the Australian Synchrotron to understand how the chemical structure of an advanced catalytic material contributes to its stability and efficiency. The approach has the potential to produce hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in a process that is cost-effective with less harm to the environment.

Hydrogen peroxide is an important chemical that used widely in a range of applications, including wastewater treatment, disinfection, paper/pulp bleaching, semi-conductor cleaning, mining and metal processing, fuel cells and in chemical synthesis.

According to an international market research group, IMARC, the global hydrogen peroxide market size was valued at US$4.0 billion in 2017 and is increasing.

Read more on the ANSTO website

Image: The optimized geometry structures of bare CoN₄ moiety and CoN₄ moieties with different coverages of epoxy oxygen. The gray, blue, orange and red balls represent C, N, Co and O atoms, respectively [Reprinted with permission by Creative Commons License: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)]

Secrets of spider web strength revealed

2020/10/212020/10/22

An international collaboration between the University of Melbourne, University of Bayreuth and ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron provides the first insights into how the rare silk of the Australian basket-web spider retains its strength and resilient structure— allowing the spider to make a robust and rather exquisite silken basket.

The silk is so firm and remarkable that it enables the basket web to maintain its structural integrity without any support from the surrounding vegetation.

The insights into physical and chemical properties of this basket-web silk may be useful for the production of artificial spider silks, which have already shown strong potential as an advanced biomimetic material in textile and medical applications.

“The biochemical makeup of the silk thread cross-section, particularly secondary protein structures and complex carbohydrates, was examined on the Infrared Microspectroscopy (IRM) beamline at the Australian Synchrotron,” said beamline scientist and co-author, Dr Pimm Vongsvivut.

Investigating high temperature superconductors

2020/09/222020/10/21

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronic Technologies (FLEET) used the Soft X-ray Spectroscopy beamline at the Australian Synchrotron to investigate the structure of a promising high-temperature superconductor, a calcium-doped graphene material.

The FLEET Centre has provided a detailed description of the research, published in The Chemistry of Materials, on their website.

In characterising the material, the investigators wanted to clarify where the calcium went after it was added to a sample consisting of a single layer of graphene on a silicon carbide substrate.

Measurements at the Australian Synchrotron were able to pinpoint that the calcium atoms were located, unexpectedly, near the silicon carbide surface.

Read more on the ANSTO website

Image: Dr Anton Tadich (far right) with SXR beamline team members and researchers from the FLEET Centre.

Research could lead to better herbicides and infection treatments

2020/07/302020/08/19

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) have used the Australian Synchrotron and cryo-electron microscopy in China to determine the three-dimensional structure of a complex enzyme found in plants microbes that could be used to develop advanced herbicides and treatments for infection.

A large international team led by Prof Luke Guddat of UQ published the structure of the enzyme acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) in the journal Nature and also explained the first step in how the enzyme regulates the biosynthesis of three essential amino acids, leucine, valine and isoleucine.

“The way that the complex regulates this pathway had been unknown until now. We were finally able to explain it by understanding how the entire structure was assembled,” said Prof Guddat, who has been researching this enzyme for twenty years.

Read more on the Australian Synchrotron website

Image: The 3D structure resembles a ‘Maltese Cross’.

Significant progress on ultraflexible solar cells

2020/04/292020/05/21

Research from Monash University, the University of Tokyo and RIKEN, partly undertaken at the Australian Synchrotron, has produced an ultra-flexible ultra-thin organic solar cell that delivered a world-leading performance under significant stretching and strain.

The development paves the way forward for a new class of stretchable and bendable solar cells in wearable devices, such as fitness and health trackers, and smart watches with complex curved surfaces.

The advance, which was published in Joule, was made possible by designing an ultra-thin material based on a blend of polymer, fullerene and non-fullerene molecules with the desired mechanical properties and power efficiency, according to Dr Wenchao Huang, a Research Fellow at Monash University and the article’s first author.
The thickness of the solar cell film is only three micrometres, which is ten times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Dr Huang, who completed his PhD in the lab of Prof Chris McNeill at Monash on flexible organic solar cells, received the Australian Synchrotron’s Stephen Wilkins Medal in 2016 for his exceptional doctoral thesis that made use of the synchrotron-based research capabilities at the facility.

Image: Schematic of ultraflexible solar cell

Expertise in characterising materials for lithium ion batteries

2020/02/272020/03/05

Pioneering work on materials for energy production, such as lithium ion batteries, has made ANSTO a centre of specialist capabilities and expertise.

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In addition to the research on lithium-ion batteries; the team also investigates other types of batteries that can reversibly host ions, such as sodium and potassium ion batteries.
Dr Christophe Didier, a post-doc working with Peterson at the ACNS and shared with Peterson’s University of Wollongong collaborators, published work in Advanced Energy Materials providing structural insights into layered manganese oxide electrodes for potassium-Ion batteries.
“In this case, we were able to use X-rays on an operating battery at the Australian Synchrotron, because potassium has a lot more electrons than lithium.”
These results again confirm the importance of understanding the detailed structural evolution that underpins performance that will inform the strategic design of electrode materials for high-performance potassium ion batteries. “We do have many collaborators but we are always interested in new projects. Because we are knowledgeable in the materials themselves, we can contribute to the selection of suitable materials as well as leading the characterisation effort.

Image: Powder diffraction instrument scientist, Dr Qinfen Gu at the Australian Synchrotron.

Stopping yellow spot fungus that attacks wheat crops

2020/01/142020/01/23

Scientists from the Centre for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM) and Curtin University in Western Australia have used an advanced imaging technique at the Australian Synchrotron for an in-depth look at how a fungus found in wheat crops is damaging its leaves.

Prof Mark Gibberd, director of the Centre, said the investigation was thought to be one of the first that utilised high-resolution X-ray imaging to examine biotic stress related to fungal infection in wheat.
Using X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) on leaf samples collected from wheat plants, the team, which included project leader Dr Fatima Naim and ARC Future Fellow Dr Mark Hackett, mapped specific elements in the leaves in and around points of infection.

“Our research project looks at the physiological impact of plant diseases, such as yellow spot, on the function of leaves” said Gibberd.
Yellow spot is a ubiquitous fungal disease caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Ptr). It can reduce grain yields by up to 20 per cent – a significant amount which could be the difference between a profitable and non-profitable crop for a farmer.
In Australia, it is one of the most costly diseases to the wheat industry, with wheat yield losses due to yellow spot estimated at over $210 million per year.

>R ead more on the Autralisan Synchrotron at ANSTO website

Image: FM image reveals elements present in yellow spot fungs and the wheat leaves.
Credit: Curtin University

Progress on Project Bright beamlines

2019/10/162019/11/07

The complex engineering of scientific instruments is explored in this ‘behind the scenes’ look at the installation of frontends for two new beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron.

Good progress has been made on the installation of supporting infrastructure for the first of the new beamlines for the Australian Synchrotron as part of Project Br–ght.
The work is a series of complex engineering tasks that require precise planning, the expertise of applied mechanical engineering, controls engineering and supporting technicians.
Importantly, the majority of installation works could only be done during periods when the synchrotron was not operational.

Installation of the ‘frontends’ for two new beamlines, Medium Energy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (MEX) and Biological Small Angle X-ray Scattering (BioSAX) is now complete with final commissioning tasks on schedule. Completion is expected during the coming Christmas shutdown, according to Senior Engineering Manager Brad Mountford.
The ‘frontend” is the physical conduit that carries powerful synchrotron light from the main storage ring through the shield wall that surrounds the ring.

>Discover the Project BR-GHT here

Analysis of fingermarks with synchrotron techniques provide new insights

2019/09/062019/09/06

A new study by researchers from Curtin University using the infrared (IR) and X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron has provided a better understanding of the chemical and elemental composition of latent fingermarks.

The findings by lead researchers Prof Simon Lewis and Dr Mark Hackett may provide opportunities to optimise current fingermark detection methods or identify new detection strategies for forensic purposes.
Latent fingermarks are generally described as those requiring some process to make them readily visible to the eye. These fingermarks are typically made up of natural skin secretions, along with contaminants (such as food or cosmetics) picked up from various surfaces.
The detection of latent fingermarks is often crucial in forensic investigations, but this is not always a straightforward task. “We know that there are issues in detecting fingermarks as they get older, and also under certain environmental conditions”, said Lewis, whose main research focus is forensic exchange evidence.

“In order to improve our ability to detect fingermarks, we need to understand the nature of fingermark residue, and this includes both the organic and inorganic components. Many chemical components in fingermark residue are present at very low levels, and we don’t know how they are distributed within the fingermark. This is what took us to the Australian Synchrotron.”

A little bit of the moon just landed at ANSTO

2019/08/122019/08/12

Research on lunar meteorite and moon crater analogues coincides with Science Week.

Researchers at the Australian Synchrotron are currently collaborating on a particularly rare, other-worldly sample; a lunar meteorite. “Although we do work on the moons of the outer planets, I believe this is our first sample from Earth’s moon, which could be more than four billion years old,” said Dr Helen Brand, planetary geologist and senior beamline scientist at the Australian Synchrotron.

Lunar meteorites are rocks found on Earth that were ejected from the Moon by the impact of an asteroid or another body. “These objects, which originate primarily from the moon’s crust, are extremely rare and precious. Because of their scarcity, scientists often use analogues or man-made versions of meteorites for investigations. “At the moment it is quite exciting as I have two projects relating to actual and analogue lunar objects, both of which are scheduled for the Imaging and Medical Beamline at the Synchrotron,” she said. n, which could be more than four billion years old,” said Dr Helen Brand, planetary geologist and senior beamline scientist at the Australian Synchrotron.

Progress on low energy electronics

2018/12/112018/12/12

Soft X-ray experiments used to characterise new thin film topological Dirac Semimetal

A large international collaboration including scientists from Monash University, the ARC Centre for Future Low Energy Electronics (FLEET), the Monash Centre for Anatomically Thin Materials and the Australian Synchrotron reported today in Nature on the development of an advanced material that is able to switch between an electrically conductive state to an insulating state, simply by applying an electric field.
The work represents a step towards the development of a new generation of ultra-low energy electronics at room temperature.
Co-author Dr Anton Tadich, a beamline scientist at the Soft X-ray beamline and Partner Investigator with FLEET, collaborated with investigators from Monash University, Singapore and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab on the use of photoemission techniques at the Australian Synchrotron X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and the Advanced Light Source in the US Angle Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy, (ARPES).
The chemical composition and growth mechanisms of thin films of the topological Dirac semi-metal sodium bismuthide Na₃Bi on a silicon substrate was investigated using XPS at the Australian Synchrotron’s Soft X-ray beamline.

Insights into Titan’s atmosphere

2018/11/132018/11/22

Terahertz/Far Infrared beamlines assisted investigation into possible composition of lower atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Although firmly located on earth, the Australian Synchrotron’s Terahertz/Far Infrared beamline (THz/Far IR) is one of three synchrotron facilities in the word able to simulate the extreme conditions of distant planetary worlds.
The most recently reported research using the beamline published in Earth and Space Chemistry, involved recreating the pressure and temperatures environments in the hazy atmosphere surrounding Saturn’s moon Titan.

“We are interested in Titan because it is the most Earth-like of the planetary bodies possessing an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and methane,” said co-author Rebecca Auchettl (pictured above), a PhD candidate who was supervised by Dr Courtney Ennis, formerly of La Trobe University now at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Image: Co-author Rebecca Auchettl, PhD candidate.