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June 2025 ESRFnews

Researchers from the Technical

University of Denmark (DTU), the ESRF,

and electrolyser company Twelve

have developed a new operando

X-ray technique suite to study

catalyst and electrode degradation

in carbon dioxide electrolysers. The

breakthrough enables scientists to

track elemental and structural changes

simultaneously, offering new insights

into long-term stability.

Converting CO₂ into valuable

chemicals via electrolysis is a

promising strategy to cut industrial

emissions. Membrane–electrode

assembly (MEA)-based systems are

efficient and scalable, suitable for

producing artificial fuels or converting

CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO). But

MEA stability over time remains a

barrier to commercial adoption.

“The performance of CO₂

electrolysis can be determined in

an hour, but hundreds of hours are

needed for stability analysis,” says

Brian Seger of DTU.

The new X-ray platform at the ID31

beamline combines wide- and small-

angle X-ray scattering with X-ray

fluorescence (XRF), tracking ion

evolution, water movement, and catalyst

structure in real time. “This complex

problem must be tackled from various

perspectives,” says Jakub Drnec,

scientist in charge of ID31.

Tests with gold and silver

nanoparticle catalysts showed that gold

maintained structure and adhesion,

while silver was unstable, degrading

due to weak substrate adhesion. The

findings underscore the importance

of catalyst choice for long-term CO₂

electrolysis (Nat. Nanotechnol. DOI:

101038s41565025019161

Andy Fitch wins award

Andy Fitch the scientist in charge

of the ID22 highresolution powder

diffraction beamline has won the 2025

Hanawalt Award from the International

Centre for Diffraction Data The award

recognises Fitchs development of

highresolution synchrotron beamlines

and microstructure characterisation

capabilities J Synchrotron Radiat

30 1003

Operando suite targets CO₂

electrolysis

C A R D I O T

ESRF users often take their food

seriously, but none more so than a

team from KU Leuven in Belgium.

Using high-speed 4D X-ray imaging,

the scientists have studied howto

make fried treats a bit healthier

without losing that tasty crunch

People like fried products because

of the texture and the taste but they

have been claimed to be an ultra

processed food that we should try

to minimise in our diet says KU

Leuvens Pieter Verboven

To study the process Verboven and

colleagues dunked wheat flour dough

the sort found in donuts and

churros into a custommade

oil fryer pictured above at the

ID19 beamline. The high-speed

tomography allowed them to

track how the dough puffs up

microscopically as its water

evaporates forming pores that the oil

later sneaks into The experiment

was extremely complex as we needed

to scan the sample submerged in oil

very fast to track all the changes says

ID19 scientist Bratislav Lukic

The secret to less oily donuts

Temperature The researchers

found that cooler oil leads to less

oil absorption just 13 at 120 C

compared with 144 at 180 C

Nat Commun 16 2600 Next

the team is planning to serve up new

models to optimise frying protocols

E S R F/ S T E F C A N D É

ID19 fries to perfection

“The experiment

was extremely

complex, as

we needed to

scan the sample

submerged in oil

very fast to track

all the changes