News of January 25, 2024

Four more years of open access electron and x-ray microscope use for sustainability research

The EXCITE project (Electron and X-ray microscopy community for structural and chemical imaging techniques for Earth materials) has been bringing together the most important national and regional electron and X-ray microscopy facilities with European researchers from academia and industry at European level for four years in order to ensure their optimal use and joint development. Funding for the EXCITE network, in which the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) of the HZDR also provides its equipment, has now been extended under the name EXCITE² for four years by the European Union (EU). With a clear focus on the EU's sustainability goals, the microscopy equipment will now be available to researchers from all disciplines from April 2024 instead of just geoscientists.

Modern electron and X-ray microscopes are among the internationally sought-after research infrastructures that are required to work on solutions for the challenges of our times. On the other hand, they are extremely expensive.  A globally coordinated team helmed by Utrecht University’s Oliver Plümper has now secured €14.5 million for the EXCITE² network to allow researchers around the world to make use of state-of-the-art microscopy infrastructures at no cost. “Microscopy is at the epicentre of many of our planet’s most pressing concerns,” says Oliver Plümper, who is filled with joy having secured continuous funding for EXCITE² (read as EXCITE-squared). “It enables us to explore the intricate details of Earth materials and comprehend how minute material processes govern key aspects, such as the effectiveness of sustainable subsurface energy storage, environmental pollutants, or even the algae bloom in ice cores that can influence ice shield melting.”

The HIF as member of the network provides the combined use of its 2D and 3D imaging methods such as the electron microscopy based methods of “automated mineralogy” and the spectral CT scanner as a combination devices. “The materials inside a sample are imaged based on the principle that each material attenuates X-rays differently, depending on its electron density. Radiographs are acquired while rotating the sample (360 degrees). The samples are then computationally reconstructed into a 3D image of the sample. Normal detectors measure the total amount of X-rays (of all energies), while our special energy sensitive detector allows to resolve the energy spectrum,” Dr. Axel Renno (project coordinator at HIF) describes the procedure. As part of the EXCITE² network, the HIF will be able to significantly develop its capabilities for the combined 2D - 3D characterization of recycled raw materials in particular. In cooperation with European geoscientists and analysts, it will also be possible to develop new automated methods for data acquisition and data processing of such measurements.

In the collaboration network active from 2024, 19 partners in eleven European countries and Australia offer access to a wide range of electron and X-ray imaging facilities. The aim is not only to optimize the use of the devices, but also to further develop them. To this end, network activities are being combined within the project in order to standardize procedures for multiscale imaging between different X-ray and electron beam techniques. Standardization is also being sought in the analysis and automation of data linking between different techniques. This also includes the development of artificial intelligence methods.