Canadian Light Source (CLS) – Lightsources.org

Seawater: The next sustainable battery revolution

2026/06/032026/06/04

International team shows that with minor modifications chloride is effective electrode material for solid-state batteries

Seawater covers most of the globe and makes up around 97 per cent of all water on Earth. It could also hold the key to cheaper and greener batteries for storing green energy collected from wind turbines and solar cells.

Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, an international research team involving scientists from Switzerland, Canada, and the United States, has shown that with some minor modifications, chloride – a sustainable and readily available component of seawater – could one day be the material that shuttles ions back and forth between the electrodes in solid-state batteries used for grid-scale energy storage.

Lithium is currently at the heart of modern batteries, powering everything from our smartphones to e-bikes and electric cars. But there’s a very real risk that the material could become scarcer and more expensive in the future. According to Natural Resources Canada, lithium production has more than doubled world-wide in in the past five years. And a handful of countries hold most of the planet’s lithium stores. Canada’s supplies amount to only 4.4 per cent of the total worldwide.

“We’re not looking to entirely replace lithium-ion batteries, but we need other solutions in the next few decades if we are going to meet this massive need that the world will have for hundreds of terawatt hours that allow for effective use of solar and wind,” said Sarbajit Banerjee, professor at ETH Zürich, a public university in Switzerland, and Head of the Laboratory for Battery Science at Switzerland’s Paul Scherrer Institute.

Image: Seaweed batteries – X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence Spectroscopy

Hijacking cell’s natural machinery to help treat diseases

2026/05/122026/05/12

“Molecular glue” could be used to control activity of harmful proteins

Proteins do most of the work in our body’s cells. But when a protein is too active or does not function properly, it can lead to disease or other health problems.

Researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered a molecule, CLEO4-88, that acts as a ‘molecular glue,’ binding together two proteins to inactivate one of them. The finding – enabled by the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan – points to the possibility of one day treating disease by controlling the activity of harmful proteins.Video: Hijacking cell’s natural machinery to help treat diseases

Molecular glues typically stick together two proteins that would not normally interact, marking one of them for destruction. In this study, researcher Chetan Chana and colleagues discovered that instead marking a protein for destruction, CLEO4-88 inactivated it. The team’s findings are published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

The high-powered X-rays at the CLS enabled the researchers to see that CLEO4-88 stuck two proteins together and slowed down the activity of one of them (ACAA1). While ACAA1 – which is involved in breaking down fats inside cells – was not destroyed, its activity was reduced. This mechanism could potentially be leveraged to control some triple negative breast cancers, where ACAA1 activity has been shown to be elevated.

Image: Molecular glue – crystal

Credit: CLS

From pollution to solution: Optimizing CO2 conversion for a sustainable future

2026/04/152026/04/30

University of Toronto researchers finetune device that converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which is used in production of fuels, plastics, pharmaceuticals

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are fueling climate change—causing extreme weather, rising sea levels, and harm to ecosystems.

Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) have found a way to optimize a device that helps convert CO2 into a variety of useful products including ethanol, plastics, and even pharmaceuticals.

CO2 electrolyzers (machines that uses electricity to break a substance—most often water—into its original parts), use electricity to turn CO2 and water into carbon monoxide (CO), an industrial gas used for making fuels such as ethanol, plastics, and even pharmaceuticals. Some electrolyzers work by being compressed or pressurized. However, the tiny pores inside these devices can become clogged with liquid and salt crystals if too much compression pressure is applied, which hinders their performance.

The U of T team used the Canadian Light Source (CLS), a national research facility at the University of Saskatchewan, to study in microscopic detail the inner workings of an electrolyzer while it was running. They found that reducing the compression pressure to 10% from 20% or 30% prevented blockages and maximized output of CO. The researchers published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

“The pores in our device are about 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair. We needed the CLS to study our device at that level of resolution,” says Tess Seip a recent PhD graduate, who worked on this project along with postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Aida Farsi, who led the study at the U of T.

Image: Members of the research team from the University of Toronto

Gold coating could solve long-standing challenge with zinc batteries

2026/04/022026/04/09

Researchers from Concordia University find way to slow formation of dendrites, currently an obstacle to battery’s use in grid storage

As the demand for more reliable power systems grows in the renewable energy sector, the race is on to develop batteries that cost less but have a longer lifespan.

While zinc-based batteries are safer and more cost-effective than lithium-ion batteries, a major obstacle to their use in large-scale, grid storage is their shorter lifespan. They fail sooner because they develop tiny, tree-shaped metal structures on the anode called dendrites, which cause the battery to short circuit.

Now researchers from Concordia University have found a way to slow dendrite formation. Using the ultrabright X-rays of the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, they found that “sprinkling” a small amount of gold nanoparticles on a battery’s inner surface can cut dendrite growth by up to 50 times compared to regular zinc batteries. Their gold-treated batteries went on to work for more than 6,000 hours in lab settings.

“Coating the electrode is known to improve battery performance, but the small quantity of particles needed for our technique and how they are arranged on the battery surface is a very new, exciting finding,” says Seungil Lee, a PhD student at Concordia and lead author of the team’s paper, published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Image: GiSAXS measurements showing arrangements, spacing of gold particles on electrode surface

New malaria vaccine shows promise in preclinical trials

2026/03/112026/03/12

International research team used CLS to map structure of human antibodies bound to their prototype vaccine.

Malaria is caused by a parasite that is spread to humans by infected mosquitoes. In 2024, almost 282 million people worldwide were infected and 610,000 died, according to the World Health Organization. Malaria is a leading cause of death in children under the age of five.

Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, an international team involving researchers from Canada, the US, and the Netherlands have developed a novel vaccine that is showing considerable promise in preclinical trials.Video: New malaria vaccine shows promise in preclinical trials

“Our long-term goal is to eliminate malaria by designing a vaccine that is more effective than the ones currently on the market,” says lead author Danton Ivanochko, a researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.

When the researchers examined blood samples from people with naturally acquired immunity to malaria, they were able to identify which proteins on the parasite play the largest role in transmission.

Cheaper, greener steel for the automotive industry

2026/03/032026/03/06

Finnish researchers develop new composition, manufacturing process for producing stronger steel

Automakers today use a special type of steel (called Advanced High-Strength Steel, or AHSS) in components critical to driver and passenger safety, such as safety cages and bumpers. These parts of the car are designed to absorb collision forces so that less impact is transferred to occupants.

Researchers in Finland have developed not only a new composition for this type of steel but also a new manufacturing process that produces a stronger steel while also making it cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Their findings are published in the journal Materials & Design.

“We wanted to know: can we make steels that are two or three times stronger than current formulations, so we can reduce the amount of steel required and lower the overall weight of a vehicle?” says Roohallah Aliabad, a researcher at the Microstructure and Mechanisms research group (Centre for Advanced Steels Research) at the University of Oulu. “A byproduct of this research is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. When you reduce the weight of cars, you are indirectly contributing to that goal.”

Aliabad and his colleagues are investigating compositions and processing routes that use manganese as an alloying element. Manganese is significantly less expensive than chromium and nickel, which are traditionally used in steel alloys. The team found that, by tailoring the microstructure of their steel, they could create an ultra strong, non-uniform microstructure (controlled heterogeneity) that contains two types of austenite, a form of iron.

Image: Roohalah Aliabad, Centre for Advanced Steels Research, University of Oulu (Finland)

Enhanced rice could address iron deficiencies around the world

2026/02/042026/02/05

Rice is one of the most consumed foods in world: “In places like Bangladesh, almost 80 per cent of the calories that people consume come from rice.”

“About two billion people are suffering from iron deficiency, which makes people sick and can even cause death,” says Felipe Ricachenevsky, a professor with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

He and colleagues in Brazil, Italy, Chile, and Germany are working to increase the amount of iron in rice, one of the most consumed foods in the world. “In places like Bangladesh, almost 80 per cent of the calories that people consume come from rice. So, if there isn’t enough iron in rice, then people aren’t getting enough iron,” he explains.Video: Enhanced rice could address iron deficiencies around the world

Studies have shown it is possible to increase iron content in rice by modifying an individual gene in the plant. Building on this work, Ricachenevsky and colleagues altered two similar genes in the same plant, hoping it would produce an even greater increase in iron content.

They then used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to analyze their modified rice. The team also imaged their samples at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (SIRIUS) in Campinas, Brazil.

Image: Felipe Ricachenevsky, centre, with the research team

Credit: CLS

Turning sludge into semiconductors

2026/01/142026/01/15

Danish researchers develop method for producing in-demand form of arsenic from groundwater treatment waste

Researchers from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland have developed a technique to convert toxic arsenic waste into a critical material for semiconductors and essential green-transition technologies.

“Arsenic has been considered a toxic contaminant for decades. It’s known as the King of Poisons and the Poison of Kings,” says Case van Genuchten, lead author on the recent publication. “It is very commonly found in groundwater and in gold and copper mine sites around the world.”

Groundwater can easily be treated to remove arsenic for drinking, but the leftover arsenic sludge remains toxic, as does the arsenic in mine tailings. Dealing with this waste has been a long-standing environmental and economic challenge, since there is no way to make arsenic non-toxic.

Van Genuchten and post-doc Kaifeng Wang, co-author of the study, saw a potential opportunity for valorizing arsenic waste by transforming it.

Image: Case van Genuchten and Kaifeng Wang in the lab

Credit: CLS

Toward greener production of hydrogen

2025/12/092025/12/10

McGill researchers improve efficiency, stability of electrolysis process

Hydrogen fuel could be an important part of the clean energy revolution. But it faces some challenges. Most hydrogen today is made from natural gas using a process called steam methane reforming, which produces lots of carbon dioxide.

“While hydrogen is a clean fuel, the way that we make it isn’t clean at all,” says Hamed Heidarpour, a PhD student in Ali Seifitokaldani’s Electrocatalysis Lab at McGill University in Montreal.

Creating hydrogen from water through electrolysis, on the other hand, generates no CO2. But the method is inefficient, expensive, and requires a lot of electricity, which doesn’t always come from renewable sources.

Heidarpour and his colleagues found a way to make the process more energy-efficient and stable – and thus more viable for real-world industrial applications.

Their version of electrolysis combines water with hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), an organic compound that can be produced by breaking down non-food plant materials such as pulp and paper residue. In traditional electrolysis, hydrogen is produced at the cathode, and oxygen at the anode. But the reaction – called the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) — is slow and takes a lot of energy. By including an organic molecule like HMF, the OER is replaced with the more energy-efficient oxidation of HMF, which has the bonus of also producing hydrogen.

“At the same energy input, we can double the production of hydrogen,” he says.

Heidarpour focused on designing a better catalyst to make the HMF oxidation reaction even more energy-efficient, and more commercially viable. The normal copper catalyst does not last long enough for long-term use, so the team added a protective layer of chromium to stabilize it. Their research was published in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Image: Hamed in the lab

Credit: CLS

Understanding bacteria’s role in transforming steroids to pharmaceuticals

2025/11/202025/11/21

Identifying 3D structure of enzymes by University of Guelph researchers key first step in harnessing alterations for disease treatments.

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have been using bacteria found in soil and water to chemically convert steroids into effective treatments for human diseases. One example is cortisol, which is used to treat asthma and skin rashes. But how bacteria convert steroids is not fully understood.

Now a research team from the University of Guelph has taken a significant step forward in answering that question. Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Stephen Seah and colleagues have determined the 3D structures of steroid-transforming enzymes from Proteobacteria (also called Pseudomonadota), a large, diverse family of gram-negative bacteria named after Proteus – the shape-shifting Greek sea god.Video: Understanding bacteria’s role in transforming steroids to pharmaceuticals

Studying the 3D structure of these enzymes, which Seah says would be impossible without the ultrabright X-ray source of the CLS, is key to understanding how this Proteobacteria chemically transforms steroids – such as bile acids – which are typically resistant to being changed.

Seah and his colleagues found that the bacteria have evolved to transform steroids as a means to obtain carbon and energy for their own growth. However, he says, these transformations can be harnessed to chemically alter steroids into compounds that we can use for disease treatments; a discovery that will help advance future pharmaceutical development.

“If we understand the process, we can manipulate other bacteria to produce novel compounds that may have medicinal properties,” says Seah. “I think my work helps fill in this gap of knowledge.” The team’s research findings were published recently in both the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Biochemistry.

This new research, says Seah, also opens the door to exploring the potential of other enzymes in bacteria to change the chemical structure of steroids. “In other words, one could create steroids with diverse chemical structures using the many steroid-modifying enzymes that bacteria produced to alter naturally occurring steroids,” he says. “Some of these modified steroids may have therapeutic properties.”

Image: Protein structure

Credit: CLS

Structural surprise in motor protein may point to new strategies for controlling disease

2025/10/212025/10/22

Motor proteins are tiny “machines” inside cells that use chemical energy to move along molecular tracks and carry out essential processes like chromosome segregation during cell division. When a cell splits to make two new cells (called daughter cells), it carefully shares its instructions (chromosomes) so each new cell knows how to grow and work properly.

A group of motor proteins known as kinesin-8 proteins helps regulate how chromosomes are distributed between daughter cells — a process that, when disrupted, can lead to genomic instability. This instability is a key factor in the development of many diseases, including cancer.

“You can think of kinesins as tiny robots walking along train tracks to help organize and move chromosomes during cell division,” says John Allingham, professor and associate head of research in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University.

While most research on kinesins has focused on the “feet” or motor domains — regions that walk along microtubule tracks — Allingham’s group turned their attention to the less-studied “body” or stalk region, which connects the feet and enables them to work together.

Recently, Allingham and his colleagues determined the structure of the stalk region of the fungal kinesin-8 protein Kip3, using Canada’s only synchrotron research facility, the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Their findings, published in Structure, reveal an unexpected architecture that could reshape our understanding of how kinesin-8 proteins assemble and function.

“What we expected to find was a long, coiled structure typical of other kinesin families,” says Allingham. “Instead, we discovered that this region folds into a compact helical bundle — more like a folded camping chair than a long, flexible pole.”

Image: John Allington (far right) and his research team

Credit: CLS

Using nanotechnology to target crop-munching pests

2025/09/232025/09/25

A bane of farmers’ existence, it’s estimated that plant-eating pests are responsible for the loss of up to 40 per cent of pre-harvest yields globally. But a new generation of crop treatments that target only “bad” bugs could mean big gains for the Canadian agriculture sector, improving pest management tools in an industry that in 2024 generated over $142 billion.

Dr. Justin Pahara and his team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Lethbridge Research and Development Centre are designing new screening methods to learn whether current crop treatments are effective. Their end goal, however, is to develop a method for using nanotechnology to deliver specific chemicals into pests based on their unique DNA – without harming helpful insects.

For example, through methods developed and tested at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, the researchers found that lygus bugs contain regions of enriched minerals pointing to certain proteins that could one day be targeted with tailored agents to prevent them from eating crops. The lygus bug is a common agriculture pest that feeds on many crops, including canola. Pahara and his team’s innovative methods are published in the Canadian Journal of Chemistry.

“We all need food, and if farmers cannot grow their products efficiently and make a living out of it, it’s a problem,” says Pahara. “We need new tools for pest management. Insects are becoming more tolerant to chemicals in the same way antibiotic resistance works in humans.”

Developing targeted pest treatments would also make “carpet bombing” insects with harmful pesticides a thing of the past.

“The ‘spray-and-pray’ approach ends up also killing beneficial bugs such as pollinators, and predatory insects like spiders, wasps, and beetles that help maintain a healthy ecosystem,” says Pahara.

The first step was to study how pesticides get into pests in the first place, how the nanomaterials get into their bodies and where the substances accumulate, information that will help design better solutions.

Pahara and his team used the BioXAS beamline at the CLS to create X-ray images of cutworms and lygus bugs, showing what chemicals were present in the insects and where.

Finetuning perovskites for new applications in solar cells, LEDs and semiconductors

2025/07/292025/07/30

Perovskite is a rising star in the field of materials science. The mineral is a cheaper, more efficient alternative to existing photovoltaic materials like silicon, a semiconductor used in solar cells. Now, new research has shown that applying pressure to the material can alter and fine-tune its structures — and thus properties — for a variety of applications.

Using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, a team of researchers observed in real time what happened when they “squeezed” a special type of perovskite between two diamonds. 2D hybrid perovskite is made up of alternating organic and inorganic layers. It’s the interaction between these layers, says Dr. Yang Song, professor of chemistry at Western University, that determines how the material absorbs, emits, or controls light.

The research team found that applying pressure significantly increased the material’s photoluminescence, making it brighter, which Song says hints at potential applications in LED lighting. The team also observed a continuous change in its colour from green to yellow to red. “So you can tune the colour.” Being able to observe changes to the material as they happen using ultrabright synchrotron light was critical to their research, said Song.

One of the biggest changes in the material came when the researchers applied a very large amount of pressure to the perovskite: It started glowing differently, signaling that its ability to handle light had improved. They also found the material squished more in one direction than others and that its internal structure became less twisted. Most similar materials become more twisted when they’re squeezed. The findings of the research, which also involved the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, were published recently in the journal Advanced Optical Materials.

New material could improve safety in nuclear reactors

2025/07/222025/07/24

Nuclear reactors and spacecraft are exposed to high levels of radiation and high temperatures, so it’s critical the metals they’re made of are strong and stable.

Researchers at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) are studying a special type of metal called high entropy alloy (HEA), which is made by combining several different metals together.

While previous research has shown HEA is extremely tough and can handle exposure to radiation better than regular metals, little is known about what happens inside HEA under such extreme conditions.

Dr. Qiang Wang and colleagues from CNL set about to change that. They used the ultrabright synchrotron light of the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan to study a HEA composed of chromium, iron, manganese and nickel.

“It has to be stable, so it won’t change the microstructure at high heat, and have a certain resistance to irradiation,” Wang said. “That’s why we chose this material. And also because it is reasonably easy to manufacture.”

The group bombarded their special recipe HEA with high-energy particles called protons at 400°C and 600°C and exposed it to different amounts of radiation. Using synchrotron X-rays, Wang and the team looked closely for tiny changes.

They discovered small plate-shaped defects, called “Frank loops,” which were more common at lower temperatures but larger at higher temperatures. The team also found that the metals started to separate, especially at higher temperatures; some areas in the metal lost more manganese, while others gained more nickel and iron. Their findings, says Wang, provide new insight into specifically how HEAs stand up under extreme conditions.

“We did find some advantages and some things we didn’t expect to happen, so obviously this material needs to be better studied to fully understand the applications,” Wang said.

However, he added, this material exhibited fewer defects than stainless steel exposed to similar conditions. Stainless steel is approved for and commonly used in nuclear applications.

To Wang’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind in Canada — and the alloy itself was manufactured in this country. Time will tell, he says, whether the alloys will be used for equipment manufacturing or shielding.

Tracking how tiny metal contaminants can foul up a fuel cell

2025/07/162025/07/17

Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising candidate to replace internal combustion engines, especially for heavy-duty vehicles like long-haul trucks and forklifts. Rather than burning fuel, the hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce electricity much like a battery, while creating no carbon dioxide emissions.

But as the fuel cells operate, they get contaminated by tiny, positively-charged particles of metal – also known as metal cations – that can degrade their performance. These particles can come from anywhere – impurities in the hydrogen, degradation of metal parts of the cell, or even the air – and they are “bad news,” says ChungHyuk Lee, a chemical engineer at Toronto Metropolitan University.

“They accumulate in the catalyst layers of the cell, and get in the way of the chemical reaction,” he says.

To figure out how exactly these cations behave in a fuel cell, Lee and his colleagues added cobalt ions to a fuel cell and used the ultrabright light of the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to track their movement through a simplified version of a fuel cell. Using the BioXAS beamline at the CLS was critical for the experiment, said Lee, because the cations move so quickly that no other device is fast enough to record their movement.

They used those measurements collected at CLS to build a mathematical model to predict how far and how fast they would travel in a real cell under different conditions.

They found that the cations were particularly mobile under more humid conditions, which are common in fuel cells and thus make it more difficult to control the contaminants. And they tended to get stuck within the thin but “twisty and tortuous” catalyst layers, where they interfere with the reactions that produce electricity.

Wearable tech that’s safe for the body and kind to the environment

2025/07/092025/07/10

The world of wearable technology – such as sensors and energy-producing devices – is expanding, thanks to new research into a unique combination of materials that are flexible, safe to use on or inside the human body, and environmentally friendly.

Dr. Simon Rondeau-Gagné, along with a team of collaborators and graduate students, used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to show that semiconducting polymers and collagen – the main component of human skin – can be combined to create organic devices “that are more efficient, more conformable and specifically…more green as well.”

Collagen provided both the skin-like rigidity and elasticity (or bendability) the researchers were looking for in “a platform that can be integrated with something like the human body,” said Rondeau-Gagné, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor. Incorporating a polyester polymer gave the devices weeks-long stability but also eventual biodegradability. The research results were recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

“We want our devices to be stable enough that they can be used, but unstable enough to not end up accumulating and not creating any kind of problems in the environment, such as microplastic pollution,” he said. “We’re concerned about the environmental footprint and what happens when you dispose of these future technologies.”

Rondeau-Gagné says that, now that they shown their materials are flexible and match the performance of devices made from non-biodegradable components, the sky’s the limit in term of possible applications for organic electronics. In the short term, such a device could be attached to plants to measure, for example, leaf growth. “As the leaf grows, the stretchable device could measure that and provide data about various growing conditions in a greenhouse or in the field.”

This research is part of the Agriculture UWindsor Centre of Excellence (AGUWin), an initiative dedicated to advancing agricultural research, skills training, and sustainable practices.