RESUMEN
X-ray microscopy offers the opportunity to image biological and radiosensitive materials without special sample preparations, bridging optical and electron microscopy capabilities. However, the performance of such microscopes, when imaging radiosensitive samples, is not limited by their intrinsic resolution, but by the radiation damage induced on such samples. Here, we demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, radio-efficient microscope, scanning Compton X-ray microscopy (SCXM), which uses coherently and incoherently (Compton) scattered photons to minimize the deposited energy per unit of mass for a given imaging signal. We implemented SCXM, using lenses capable of efficiently focusing 60 keV X-ray photons into the sub-micrometer scale, and probe its radio-efficient capabilities. SCXM, when implemented in high-energy diffraction-limited storage rings, e.g., European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Extremely Brilliant Source and PETRA IV, will open the opportunity to explore the nanoscale of unstained, unsectioned, and undamaged radiosensitive materials.
RESUMEN
In this paper we report a pioneering electrochemical study of the galvanic coupling of Au and Fe in neutral aqueous solutions containing sulphate and fluoride ions, carried out by synchrotron-based in situ soft X-ray imaging and X-ray absorption microspectroscopy. The investigation was performed at the TwinMic X-ray Microscopy station at Elettra synchrotron facility combining X-ray imaging with µ-XAS with sub-micron lateral resolution. Using a purposely developed model thin-layer wet cell the morphology and chemical evolution of Fe electrodes in contact with aqueous solutions containing Na2SO4 and NaF have been investigated. The obtained results shed light on fundamental aspects regarding stability of Fe-based metallic bipolar plates in different electrochemical environments, an important issue for durability of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. Imaging morphological features typical of the relevant electrochemical processes with chemical contrast, yields details on the spatial distribution and speciation of Fe resulting from corrosion of the Fe electrodes in the working fuel cells.
