High-pressure science reaches new heights at the ESRF

“ESRF feels like home, and I am happy to return for about half of the experiments in my project, which will take place on multiple beamlines”, explains Cerantola, who has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for S-CAPE: The deep Sulphur Cycle. He plans to use beamlines ID14, ID15A, ID15B, ID20 and ID27, and to carry out the remaining experimental work at the European XFEL.

Sulphur’s role in Earth

Cerantola’s project explores sulphur’s behaviour from early planetary accretion to present-day mantle conditions, combining static and dynamic compression under extreme pressures and temperatures. The aim is to capture real-time transformations in sulphur-bearing compounds. The results are expected to improve our understanding of deep-Earth processes and of sulphur’s role in planetary evolution and potential habitability.

Cerantola emphasises the role of the ESRF in his project: "The ESRF beamlines push the limits of what is technically possible today in extreme-conditions experiments. For high-pressure and high-temperature research, access to these unique laboratories is essential and often the key to success. The combination of advanced X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy techniques with highly developed sample environments at the extreme-conditions beamlines allows us to probe in situ reactions, transient phenomena, and exotic compounds that would otherwise remain inaccessible. On top of that, ESRF offers an exceptionally user-friendly environment, which greatly facilitates the successful outcome of even the most challenging experiments."

Icy moons

Whilst Cerantola is focusing on our planet, Pakhomova looks further afield, into large icy moons. Her project OCEANS has also been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant this week.

OCEANS will investigate how extreme pressures shape organic chemistry in the deep oceans of icy moons. Using ESRF’s upgraded high-pressure beamline ID27, her team will simulate subsurface-ocean conditions to study the stability and evolution of organic molecules. The results will help interpret data from upcoming space missions like JUICE, Europa Clipper, and DragonFly, advancing our understanding of extraterrestrial habitability.

Pakhomova’s experimental work on the minerology of large icy moons was also recognized last September, when she received the 2025 EHPRG (European High Pressure Research Group) Award.

Barocaloric materials as refrigerants

Another former ESRF researcher, Tomasz Poręba, has received a Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF) grant for research on barocaloric materials that could potentially replace environmentally harmful volatile-gas refrigerants. These materials release or absorb heat when compressed, analogous to the thermodynamic cycle used in conventional refrigeration, but without the risk of refrigerant leakage. Some candidates appear more energy-efficient than commercial refrigerants currently in use.

Poręba will be based at the University of Bern (Switzerland), and part of the measurements are planned on ID27. He initiated this research during his postdoctoral work at the ESRF and has already published on the topic.

Mohamed Mezouar, Head of the X-ray Diffraction and Scattering Group, comments: “The simultaneous award of two ERC Grants and a Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF) Grant is a strong recognition of the excellence of high-pressure research at the ESRF. It highlights the scientific leadership, technical innovation, and collaborative spirit of our teams in this field.”

The ESRF Director of Research Gema Martínez-Criado discusses the role that the ESRF-EBS upgrade has played: “These awards clearly demonstrate how the ESRF–EBS upgrade has transformed high-pressure science. The unprecedented brilliance, coherence and stability of the EBS source allow researchers to access pressure-temperature regimes and time scales that were previously out of reach, reinforcing the ESRF’s position as a global reference for frontier research under extreme conditions”.

References from their latest work:

https://www.esrf.fr/home/news/general/content-news/general/a-stable-form-of-carbon-may-explain-carbon-abundance-at-the-core-mantle-boundary.html

https://www.esrf.fr/home/news/general/content-news/general/the-role-of-methanol-in-large-icy-moons-uncovered.html

Poręba, T. and Kicior, I., RSC Adv.,2023,13, 33305. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/ra/d3ra06957e

Text by Montserrat Capellas Espuny

Top image: The beamline ID27. Credits: S. Candé.