As of November 20, 2008

for international journal X-Ray Spectrometry (John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Nano-scale chemical imaging of working catalyst (November 13, 2008)

Recent progress in synchrotron X-ray microscopy has opened up extremely attractive applications.  A group led by Professor B. M. Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) recently watched heterogeneous catalysts in action at high temperature.  Solid catalysts have been widely used in the chemical industry, and accelerate the production of many important compounds.  They are typically composed of nanometre-sized metal or metal oxide particles attached to a solid support with a high surface area.  As complex structural and chemical changes take place during catalytic reactions, direct observation of the reacting catalyst is extremely important.  The team employed X-ray microscopy at the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley, United States, to study the catalytic Fischer-Tropsch reaction where a solid catalyst of iron oxide particles mounted on silica is used to convert carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons that can be used as fuels.  By the use of Fe LII, III and C K absorption edges, scanning transmission X-ray imaging has revealed that during the reaction the iron oxide underwent several transformations; the initial iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) is converted into another oxide (Fe₃O₄), before iron silicates (Fe₂SiO₄) and metallic iron begin to form.  Iron carbides (Fe_xC_y) appear in the final stage.  For more information, see the paper, "Nanoscale chemical imaging of a working catalyst by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy", E. de Smit et al., Nature 456, 222-225 (2008).

Intracellular chemical imaging of human neuromeranin (November 13, 2008)

Neuromeranin (NM) is a dark colored pigment synthesized within specific catecholamine-producing neurons in the human brain.  It is of uncertain origin and exists as amorphous granules with a heterogeneous structure called NM granules.  At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, the microchemical environment of NM in whole neurons from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded human substantia nigra sections was recently analyzed.  It was found that concentrations of NM-associated elements increase in the developing brain, and that iron-rich microdomains colocalized with other elements within the pigment.  Furthermore, intracellular speciation of sulfur in NM has revealed the presence of reduced sulfur compounds and various forms of oxidized sulfur compounds which have not previously been reported.  For more information, see the paper, "Intracellular Chemical Imaging of the Developmental Phases of Human Neuromelanin Using Synchrotron X-ray Microspectroscopy", S. Bohic et al., Anal. Chem., Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/ac801817k 

X-ray generation by friction of sticky tape (October 23, 2008)

Professor S. Putterman (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) and his colleagues recently demonstrated that simply peeling ordinary sticky tape in a moderate vacuum can generate sufficient X-rays to take an image of a human finger.  The phenomenon has long been known as tribo-luminescence (or mechano-luminescence), but their report (including online video accessible from the Nature News page) has impressed many.  Nanosecond, 100-mW X-ray pulses as well as radio and visible light have been clearly confirmed to be correlated with stick-slip peeling events.  They observed a 15-keV peak in X-ray energy spectra, and attempted to explain it by various models.  For more information, see the paper, "Correlation between nanosecond X-ray flashes and stick-slip friction in peeling tape”, C. G. Camara et al., Nature, 455, 1089-1092 (2008), and the news article, "Sticky tape generates X-rays  - How weird is that?", Katharine Sanderson, Nature News, http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/news.2008.1185.html as well as readers’ comments thereon.  A very old and pioneering report describing how peeling tape can be a source of X-rays is "Investigation of electron emission on tearing away highpolymer film from glass in vacuum", V. Karasev et al., Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 88, 777-780 (1953).
 

Uncertainty in TXRF (October 23, 2008)

Dr. R. Fernandez-Ruiz (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain) recently published a theoretical paper on the expanded uncertainty associated with TXRF measurements.  For more information, see the paper, "Uncertainty in the Multielemental Quantification by Total-Reflection X-ray Fluorescence: Theoretical and Empirical Approximation", R. Fernandez-Ruiz, Anal. Chem., 80, 8372-8381 (2008).
 

X-ray fluorescence analysis of rocks from other planets (October 15, 2008)

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra for a number of rock samples from Mars, the Moon, and Mercury have been measured at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) beamline in the BESSY II electron storage ring.  In the future, both ESA and NASA will send spacecraft to Mercury.  Remote X-ray sensing is planned to obtain chemical composition mapping on the planetary surface.  The present synchrotron XRF spectra will be used as valuable reference for the analysis. For more information, see the paper, "Measuring and Interpreting X-ray Fluorescence from Planetary Surfaces", A. Owens et al., Anal. Chem., 80, 8398-8405 (2008). 

X-ray spectra of shock compression (October 3, 2008)

A research group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently reported an interesting application of ultrafast X-ray spectrometry to studies on the compression and heating of shocked matter.  Here, the sample is 300 μm thick LiH, which is heated by a 450 J nsec laser, and the X-ray used is Ti Kα X-ray fluorescence (4.51 keV) from Ti foil heated by another pulse laser of 5 psec.  X-ray photons produced at the Ti foil are estimated as a 2 × 10¹³/pulse.  The energy spectra of X-ray scattering by the LiH sample during compression were taken by a spectrometer consisting of a large curved graphite (HOPG) crystal in van Hamos geometry and an Imaging Plate (IP) detector.  It was found that the X-ray scattering spectrum from shocked LiH shows elastic Rayleigh scattering and inelastic plasmon scattering features.  Whereas earlier in time only elastic scattering was observed, at 7 nsec, a plasmon energy shift of 24 eV was detected.  This indicates the transition to metallic free electron plasma in the solid phase.   For more information, see the paper, "Ultrafast X-ray Thomson Scattering of Shock-Compressed Matter", A. L. Kritcher et al., Science, 322, 69 -71 (2008).

X-ray fluorescence analysis of carbon nanotubes in cells (August 2, 2008)

A French research group has reported the application of X-ray fluorescence microscopy to the analysis of macrophages exposed to unpurified and purified single-walled (SW) and multiwalled (MW) carbon nanotubes (CNT).   During this research, elemental mapping at cell level was performed for P, Cl, K, Ca and Fe.  For more information, see the paper, "Carbon Nanotubes in Macrophages: Imaging and Chemical Analysis by X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy", C. Bussy et al., Nano Lett., 8, 2659-2663 (2008).

A new jobsite for the synchrotron radiation community (November 19, 2008)

A new website dedicated to job offers at synchrotron radiation sources has been started by a joint initiative of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and Institute of Physics (IOP).  So far, job seekers have had to regularly scan the websites of many different facilities in the world.  The objective of the new website is to cluster as many offers as possible into a single resource.  It will also allow those interested to subscribe to weekly mailings of new positions. Visit the following site, http://www.synchrotronjobs.com/
 

First Indian lunar mission and X-ray spectrometry (October 21, 2008)

Chandrayaan-1 is the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) mission to the moon, with the main scientific objectives of photo-selenological and chemical mapping of the lunar surface.  It was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on October 22^nd, 2008.  The total mission is expected to last for two years.  One of the most important activities is X-ray measurements by the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray spectrometer (C1XS).  The primary goal of the C1XS instrument is to carry out high-quality X-ray spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, in order to constrain solutions to key questions on the origin and evolution of the Moon.  C1XS will use X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (1.0-10 keV) to measure the elemental abundance, and map the distribution, of the three main rock-forming elements: Mg, Al and Si.  To record the incident solar X-ray flux at the Moon, which is needed to derive absolute lunar elemental surface abundances, C1XS also includes an X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM), which is provided through collaboration between the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and University of Helsinki.  With its wide field-of-view of ± 52 degrees, XSM provides observation of the solar X-ray spectrum from 1-20 keV with good energy resolution and fast spectral sampling at 16 s intervals.  The total mass of C1XS and XSM is 5.2 kg.  For more information about Chandrayaan-1, visit the Web page, http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/Home.htm  Wikipedia gives further info as well, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
 

The 3^rd Asada Award (October 18, 2008)

The joint recipients of the 3rd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, are: Dr. Shuji Maeo (Osaka Electro Communication Univ., "Development of multi excitation type X-ray tube") and Dr. Hajime Tanida (Japan Synchrotron Radiation Institute, SPring-8, "Instrumentation on total-reflection XAFS for liquid-liquid interface studies").  The ceremony was held during the 44th Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, at Japan Women’s University, Tokyo.

Shutdown of Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) at Daresbury Laboratory (August 4, 2008)

PANalytical launches EasySAXS solution for nanoparticle sizing (November 11, 2008)

PANalytical recently released its new solution for small angle X-ray scattering, EasySAXS, which opens up possibilities for the characterization of nanopowders and nano-composite materials.  For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.panalytical.com/easysaxs
 

Thermo Fisher Scientific launches handheld Niton XRF analyzer with large area drift detector (November 10, 2008)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has announced the Thermo Scientific Niton XL3t Series with geometrically optimized large area drift detector (GOLDD) technology.  This new technology delivers improvements in light element detection, overall sensitivity and measurement, making the new analyzer as much as 10 times faster than conventional Si-PIN detectors, and up to 3 times more precise than conventional smaller, silicon drift detectors.  It also allows light element detection for Mg, Al, Si, P and S even without He or vacuum purging.  For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.niton.com/
 

e2v introduces industry’s first reconfigurable four-channel 10-bit 1.25 Gsps ADC (November 7, 2008)

e2v technologies plc has announced the launch of EV10AQ190, its 10-bit version of the Quad 1.25 Gsps analogue-to-digital converter (ADC).  For more information, contact Sylvie Mattei, Phone: +33-4-7658-3025, sylvie.mattei@2v.com or visit the Web page, http://www.e2v.com
 

PANalytical’s new Axios FAST XRF spectrometer (October 14, 2008)

PANalytical has announced the launch of the new Axios FAST, the latest addition to the Axios family of wavelength dispersive XRF spectrometers.  Its primary role is to perform high-speed routine XRF measurements for dedicated process control.  The system is also fitted with up to four programmable goniometers, which can run simultaneously to give additional flexibility compared to a dedicated fixed channel configuration.  For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.panalytical.com/axiosfast
 

Oxford’s X-Max analytical SDD detector (October 13, 2008)

Oxford Instruments has started to supply its new X-Max Silicon Drift Detector (SDD).  The X-Max Analytical SDD detector has a large effective area, ranging from 20mm² up to an outstanding 80mm², and achieves an energy resolution down to 123eV with throughput far in excess of 100,000 cps.  The solid angle is more than 10 times larger than those of conventional EDS systems for electron microscopes.  For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.oxford-instruments.com/Pages/home.aspx
 

PGT’s new SDD, SAHARAIII (September 15, 2008)

Princeton Gamma Tech Instruments (Princeton, NJ) has introduced the SAHARA III, a new Peltier-cooled Silicon Drift Detector which offers users an active detector area of 100 mm², with beryllium or low-energy polymer windows.  It is a cryogen-free lightweight compact detector system that can achieve low-energy resolutions below 125eV and high count-rates above 100 kps, with a cool down period of less than 2 minutes.  For more information, contact Greg Nelson, Phone: +1-609-924-7310, ghn@pgt.com or visit the Web page, http://www.pgt.com/index.html
 

SPECTRO’s new handheld XRF (September 9, 2008)

SPECTRO Analytical Instruments has announced a complete line of mobile and portable metal analyzers; the new SPECTRO xSORT handheld XRF spectrometer, the SPECTRO iSORT portable OES spectrometer and the SPECTROTEST mobile OES spectrometer.   The SPECTRO xSORT is a portable X-ray fluorescence instrument for onsite metal analysis.  It is equipped with a silicon drift detector, and can determine all of the elements in an alloy in only two seconds.  The instrument weighs 1.7 kg.  SPECTRO is a member of AMETEK Materials Analysis Division.  For more information, contact Tom Milner, Phone: +49-2821-892-0, Fax: +49-2821-892-2200, spectro.info@ametek.com or visit the Web page, http://www.spectro.com/pages/e/index.htm

Thermo Fisher Scientific strengthens anatomical pathology portfolio with acquisition of Raymond A. Lamb (November 11, 2008)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has announced that it has acquired Raymond A. Lamb Ltd., a manufacturer of histology and anatomical pathology products based in Eastbourne, U.K., near London.  Raymond A. Lamb had revenues of approximately $9 million in 2007 and will be integrated into Thermo Fisher's Analytical Technologies Segment.  For further information, contact Karen Kirkwood, +1-781-622-1306, karen.kirkwood@thermofisher.com or visit the web page, http://www.thermofisher.com
 

Partnership of e2V and Component Distributors Inc (September 24, 2008)

e2v technologies plc has announced that it has partnered with Component Distributors Inc (CDI) to supply its gas sensors to the north, south and central markets of the Americas.  CDI, a high-tech electronics distributor based out of Denver, Colorado, was founded in 1970 and is an employee-owned enterprise.  For further information, contact Mike Tarbard, phone: +44-1-245-493493, mike.tarbard@e2v.com or visit the Web page, http://www.e2v.com

SpectroscopyNow.com

For additional news about X-ray analysis and other spectroscopy sciences, browse the Wiley website.

Kenji Sakurai
Director, X-Ray Physics Group, National Institute for
Materials Science (NIMS)
and Professor, Doctoral Program in Materials Science and
Engineering, Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences,
 University of Tsukuba
1-2-1, Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047 Japan
Phone : +81-29-859-2821, Fax : +81-29-859-2801
sakurai@yuhgiri.nims.go.jp
http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/lab/