This Week’s Spectroscopy News

Essential Reading

This week, we unveiled the technology that has clinched the top spot for The Analytical Scientist Innovation Awards 2024: the world’s first infrared analyzer based on nanomechanical sensing for FTIR spectrometers – EMILIE!

Produced by Invisible-Light Labs GmbH, EMILIE is a nanomechanical infrared analyzer combining nanoelectromechanical sensing (NEMS) with optomechanical infrared (IR) technology. Compatible with FTIR spectrometers, EMILIE streamlines nanomaterials analysis by reducing sampling times from hours to minutes and enabling bulk analysis without labor-intensive scanning.

We had the chance to speak to the Invisible-Light Labs Team, to get some insight on EMILIE’s development. Here are a few snippets of what they had to say. 

“The development of EMILIE was driven by the desire to make a positive impact on the world we live in by enabling scientific breakthroughs in nanomaterial characterization, environmental monitoring, drug development, and material sciences, among others.”

“The impact of EMILIE on environmental norms and regulations could be significant by providing a tool suitable for the routine monitoring and chemical characterization of airborne ultrafine particles (UFPs) and nanoplastics in water, among other nanoscale pollutants, for the first time.”

To find out more about the winner, check out the full article here.

Also in the news…

Researchers use near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to investigate the mechanism underlying subthreshold depression, identifying positive correlation between hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex and disease severity. Link 

An evaluation of the interaction between activated carbon (AC) and adsorbed Xe molecules, employing a newly designed model using Xenon isotope nuclear magnetic resonance (129Xe-NMR) spectroscopy. Link 

Researchers couple a Kerr microcomb source with a microring resonator in a photonically integrated circuit for cavity-enhanced spectroscopy, for potential applications in environmental and biomedical testing. Link

Mid-infrared cavity ring-down spectroscopy combined with an automatic sample processing unit effectively produces repeatable results when examining radiocarbon concentrations in graphite and gaseous samples, but not spent ion-exchange resin samples. Link 

A new non-invasive strategy involving hyperspectral near-infrared spectroscopy and diffuse correlation spectroscopy is developed to assess blood flow in skeletal muscle, for the early detection of sepsis. Link

The Spectacular and Strange

Project (P2)X

An initiative that caught my eye this week is the Kopernikus P2X project – a German government scheme focused on developing sustainable solutions by advancing technologies for renewable energy integration, and the transition to a climate-neutral economy. 

Recently, a team here unveiled a new efficient iridium-based nanocatalyst for proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEM-WE) – a form of converting and storing renewable energy. They demonstrated their alternative’s competency when compared to the current iridium-based catalyst using operando Ir L3-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS).

Iridium is one of the rarest elements on the planet, and finding ways to conserve it have therefore become crucial in recent years. For this reason the ‘P2X catalyst’ combines a thin layer of iridium oxide with a nanostructured titanium dioxide support, requiring only a quarter as much iridium as catalysts in current use.

Marianne van der Merwe, a researcher in the team, commented that the team’s work "provides valuable key information about the different mechanisms of iridium oxide-based electrocatalysts during the oxygen evolution reaction and deepens our understanding of catalyst performance and stability," in their press release.

More From The Analytical Scientist

The Analytical Scientist Innovation Awards 2024: #3

Clocking in at 3rd place in the Innovation Awards this year, we have another spectroscopy solution: the Optovolt Module, produced by Bruker. OptoVolt enables imaging at over 1000 frames per second, capturing millisecond-scale neural communication dynamics. Optimized for fluorescent voltage indicators, it offers the temporal precision and signal-to-noise ratio required to detect individual neural events.

“As developers of imaging instrumentation, we are always looking at how we can improve imaging quality to be faster, deeper, with higher resolution,” said Jimmy Fong, who leads the technology and product development team at Bruker for its multiphoton microscopes. “In addition, we strive to make our tools easier to use and more accessible to the scientific community. We hope that better tools in the hands of scientists can help lead to more impactful discoveries.”    

Read more here.

More Bang for Your Buck

A new method has been developed at Oak Ridge Laboratory to optimize nickel catalyst stability during dry reforming of methane (DRM): a means to convert methane and carbon dioxide, into a valuable industrial feedstock – known as “synthesis gas” (syngas).

The researchers used X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) to demonstrate that increased airflow during synthesis strengthens Ni–silica (Si) interactions, leading to more stable catalytic sites. 

“We are developing design principles to stabilize catalysts for a broad range of industrial processes. It requires a fundamental understanding of the implications of synthesis protocols,” discussed co-lead author Felipe Polo-Garzon in a recent press release. “For industry, that's important because rather than presenting a dead-end road in which you try something, see how it performs, and then decide where to go from there, we're providing an avenue to move forward."

Check out the full story here to find out more.