Tag Archives: Richard Palmer

New nanoparticle beam technology

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It’s been quite a while since there’s been an equipment announcement here and, happily, this equipment will help with climate change, and more according to scientists from Swansea University (UK).

A June 29, 2021 Swansea University press release (also on EurekAlert but published on July 2, 2021) announces the new nanoparticle beam instrument,

A new state-of-the-art instrument has been built by a team from Swansea University’s Nanomaterials Laboratory which will help scientists fight against climate change, microbial infection and other major global challenges.

The team invented and built the nanoparticle beam instrument with the help of scientists from Freiburg University, Germany and have now installed it at the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, Diamond Light Source, based at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.

In an initial four-year contract, the instrument will be available for use by staff and users of the Diamond synchrotron and a new Swansea University satellite laboratory team based at the Diamond facility, seconded from the University’s Nanomaterials Laboratory in Engineering led by Professor Richard Palmer. The Laboratory is a world leader in inventing revolutionary nanoparticle beam technology.

The new Swansea instrument located at Diamond’s versatile soft X-ray (VerSoX) beamline B07 will enable the precise generation of nanoscale particles of diverse materials by the method of gas-phase condensation, their size-selection with a mass spectrometer and then deposition onto surfaces to make prototype devices. It will help scientists explore and optimise the influence of particle size, structure and composition on properties relevant to applications as varied as catalysis, batteries, and antibacterial coatings for medical implants. It has the potential to aid radical discovery and innovation in both energy and medical technologies. Initial focus will be on the generation of green hydrogen and green ammonia as clean fuels. This can positively contribute to tackling climate change by harnessing renewable but intermittent energy sources – such as wind, tidal and solar – and storing the energy in these molecules.

The nanoparticle source at Diamond will complement the Matrix Assembly Cluster Source (MACS) and two more new instruments developed by the group at Swansea University. The instrument at Diamond is an ultra-precision source of size-selected nanoparticles (also termed clusters) designed for materials discovery and optimisation, while the MACS is designed to scale-up discoveries made at this model scale to the level of manufacturing.

Professor Steve Wilks, Provost of Swansea University, said: “The installation of this new nanoparticle instrument heralds the start of a strategic partnership between Swansea University and Diamond Light Source, and is underpinned by the Welsh Government. It opens up new opportunities for the Diamond staff and user community to work alongside our Swansea University satellite team based at Diamond, as conceived by Professor Palmer. In particular, nanoparticles have tremendous potential as new catalysts for sustainable energy generation, such as the splitting of water by sunlight to make clean hydrogen fuel, and for the synthesis of medicines and sensors.”

Professor Laurent Chapon, Diamond’s Physical Sciences Director, commented: “Diamond always wants to offer state -of-the-art instruments – often unique in the world – to the user community. One of the ways we push our technology is by partnering with key universities to help us drive forward the balance of scientific vision and needs from the community. Our collaboration with Swansea University provides a unique experimental (nanoparticle beam) set-up for materials discovery, that supports our surface, interface and catalysis community in addressing the pressing challenges of global health and climate. We all now look forward to the advancement in knowledge this new capability will bring.”

The Welsh Government Office for Science Sêr Cymru Programme is supporting the secondment of Dr Yubiao Niu from the Swansea team to Diamond via a Sêr Cymru Industrial Fellowship. He will commission the new instrument and explore the use of nanoparticle catalysts for low energy synthesis of ammonia and storage of hydrogen, with Imperial College also collaborating.

Professor Peter Halligan, WG’s Chief Science Advisor, said: “Generating a hydrogen-based fuel such as ammonia promises to overcome several of the technical challenges faced by hydrogen but has its own challenges. The metallic cluster catalyst method is innovative technology and one which deserves to be explored and exploited to its full potential. Dr Yubiao Niu, Swansea University, Diamond Light Source and Imperial College should be applauded for their foresight and ambition in this exciting area of research.”

in case you’re curious,

Caption: Professor Richard Palmer and Dr. Yubiao Niu from Swansea University with the new nanoparticle instrument at Diamond Light Source.. Credit: Henry Hoddinott.

Nano snowman

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I guess if people can spot religious figures in their morning toast or in the vegetables and fruits they grow, there’s no reason why scientists shouldn’t be able to see a snowman’s face in a nanoparticle,

Courtesy: University of Birmingham

A Dec. 20, 2016 news item on phys.org describes the nanoparticle,

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have captured the formation of a platinum encrusted nanoparticle that bears a striking resemblance to a festive snowman. As well as providing some Christmas cheer, the fully functional ‘nano-snowman’ has applications for providing greener energy and for advancements in medical care.

A Dec. 20, 2016 University of Birmingham press release, which originated the news item, provides more detail (Note: Links have been removed),

At only five nanometres in size, the nano-snowman was imaged with an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope at the Nanoscale Physics, Chemistry and Engineering Research Laboratory at the University of Birmingham.

It was formed unexpectedly from a self-assembled platinum-titanium nanoparticle which was oxidised in air, and features ‘eyes, nose and a mouth’ formed of precious-metal platinum clusters embedded in a titanium dioxide face.

Despite its festive appearance, the nano-snowman performs a serious function of catalysing the splitting of water to make green hydrogen for fuel cells. In this functionality the nanoparticle demonstrates how the inclusion of titanium atoms to a platinum catalyst particle has its benefits.

Platinum is highly functional in performing chemical transformations making it a sought after metal for scientific use. It is also expensive and in critical supply. Therefore, the nano-snowman demonstrates how, by including titanium atoms, the amount of platinum needed is reduced and the existing platinum used is protected against sintering (aggregation of the nanoparticles).

Professor Richard Palmer, head of the University’s Nanoscale Physics Research Lab – the first centre for nanoscience in the UK – leads the way in research on nanoparticle science and explains how this information holds great interest for the Energy and Pharmaceutical industries:

“By combining titanium and platinum atoms in a nanoparticle, we can reduce the need to use rare and expensive platinum, and also maintain that which we have used. This could affect a number of applications where platinum is used such as creating green hydrogen for cleaner energy use; generating low energy electrons in radiotherapy that can kill cancer cells; and to perform chemical transformations to create pharmaceutical products.”

Saeed Gholhaki, one of the scientists to discover the snowman says:

“In the nano regime atoms are the building blocks of nanoscale structures. These building blocks can form wonderful shapes and structures regulated by the laws of nature. Nanoscience is about understanding the physics behind, and thus controlling these phenomenon, ultimately allowing us to design materials with desired properties. Sometimes the building blocks, in this case platinum cores, can assemble in an interesting way to resemble familiar objects like the face of a snowman!”

That’s all folks.

Visualizing 20 atoms of gold

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For an outsider it seems like an odd thing to do, theorize about how atoms of gold and other elements might be arranged. I assume this is why there are people who like to write and people (physicists and others) who like to theorize about atoms. The July 26, 2012 news item on Nanowerk notes that a theory about gold atoms has been successfully visualized at the University of Birmingham , UK (Note: I have removed a link),

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a method to visualise gold on the nanoscale by using a special probe beam to image 20 atoms of gold bound together to make a cluster. The research is published today (26 July 2012) in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Nanoscale (“Direct atomic imaging and dynamical fluctuations of the tetrahedral Au20 cluster”).

This is the part of the story I found rather interesting (from the University of  Birmingham’s July 19, 2012 pre-released news item ,

Physicists have theorised for many years how atoms of gold and other elements would be arranged and ten years ago the structure of a 20-atom tetrahedral pyramid was proposed by scientists in the US. Birmingham physicists can now reveal this atomic arrangement for the first time by imaging the cluster with an electron microscope.

Here’s the image the scientists have produced,

A cluster of twenty atoms of gold is visualised for the first time by Birmingham physicists

The work is not entirely devoted to theory (from the pre-released news item),

Richard Palmer, the University of Birmingham’s Professor of Experimental Physics, Head of the Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory, and lead investigator, said: ‘We are working to drive up the rate of production of these very precisely defined nano-objects to supply to companies for applications such as catalysis. Selective processes generate less waste and avoid harmful biproducts – this is green chemistry using gold.’

I’m not sure how you go from a 20-gold-atom tetrahedron to driving up the rate of production, so I’m hoping to hear more about this in the future.