The CCiTUB have a new soft X-ray emission spectrometer of the latest generation, thanks to the grant EQC2021-007308-P financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Union's Next Generation EU Fund (call corresponding to the year 2021) endowed with 451,999€.
It is a spectrometer from JEOL Ltd. (Japan) which incorporates two laminar diffraction gratings with variable spacing and corrected for aberration, and a high-sensitivity CCD chamber. It is a powerful spectrometer with high energy resolution (0.3 eV @ 73 eV) and high sensitivity, designed to detect very low energy X-rays (50 eV – 210 eV). The acquisition is in parallel and also allows two-dimensional maps to be obtained. This spectrometer has been installed in the JEOL JXA-8230 electronic microprobe, already existing in the CCiTUB.
The soft X-ray spectrometer allows elemental analysis and chemical state analysis of the lighter elements, such as Li, B, N, C, Al, Si, S, etc.which are key to the development of new materials, especially Li, that is a critical component for the manufacture of electric car batteries. The team is already operational in the Electron Microprobe laboratory of the CCiTUB, located in Lluís Solé i Sabarís, and is open to the entire scientific community.