The Pitanga¹ (Photoabsorption and emIssion specTroscopies At Near Ambient Pressure) beamline will provide soft x-rays in the energies from 250 to 2000 eV, ideal for studying the chemical state of light elements and first-row transition metals and rare earth elements using the near-ambient pressure photoemission (NAPXPS) technique. The NAPXPS will focus on surface studies through elemental composition determination, chemical composition, and chemical speciation on solids and liquids. It will allow interfacial elemental studies, providing chemical and potential information at solid/gas, solid/liquid, solid/solid, and liquid/vapor interfaces.

The Pitanga beamline for NAPXPS provides these experiments under in situ and operando conditions for different materials such as catalysts, thin films, nanomaterials, batteries, fuel cells, sensors, and many biomaterials and pharmaceuticals. The general working principle of NAPXPS relies on the separation of ambient pressure (up to a few mBar) in the main chamber from the UHV of the analyzer through an aperture (few hundred μm in diameter) and a differential pumped lens system (2–3 stages). A SiNx window is commonly used to allow the pass-through of X-rays while maintaining the UHV of the beamline.

¹The Pitanga beamline is part of the second phase of the Sirius project, which was included in the Growth Acceleration Program (Novo PAC) and will be funded by resources from the FNDCT/MCTI. The plan announced by the Federal Government foresees investments of R$ 800 million over the next four years for the second phase of the Sirius project. This includes the design and construction of ten new research stations, including technical and building infrastructure, in addition to the continuous optimization of electron accelerators. Learn more.