ALBA Synchrotron

The 14th beamline is now becoming a reality at the ALBA Synchrotron. The optical and experimental hutches of the beamline have been started and will be ready by the end of summer.
This new beamline, funded by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan within the framework of NextGenerationEU, will be the first optimized for ALBA II and a unique worldwide scientific tool for energy materials and environmental sciences research.
3Sbar beamline (Surface Structure and Spectroscopy at 1 bar) is a grazing incidence hard X ray micro-spot beamline that will perform near-ambient-pressure hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-HAXPES) and simultaneously Surface X ray diffraction (SXRD) and scattering (Surface XRS) at partial pressures over one atmosphere. This particular combination of techniques will allow to understand the correlation between chemical information and structural changes at relevant partial pressures for the processes under investigation, making a leap in fundamental and applied research in different topics as catalysis and electrochemistry. The beamline energy range will go from 2 to 17 keV and resolution at 5 keV will be 126-128 meV.
"We are following the schedule to have the beamline infrastructure fully built by the end of the year and start with the installation of the scientific instrumentation along 2025", says Juan Jesús Velasco, principal beamline scientist. 3Sbar is scheduled to be ready for the first experiments in 2026.
Users will find in 3Sbar an outstanding instrument to study in depth solid-liquid and solid-gases processes at interfaces, with relevant applications in catalysis, electrocatalysis, batteries, corrosion, sensors and environmental research research (among others). All of them oriented to find solutions for a cleaner and more environmentally friendly world.
External layout of the beamline
Layout of 3Sbar, showing the three hutches: optic, experimental and control hutches.
The project is funded by the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan within the framework of NextGenerationEU.