Hyperspectral imaging of functional materials under operando conditions

Functional materials are, by accident or design, heterogeneous in nature and behaviour. Determining this is crucial for obtaining more comprehensive relationships between structure and activity. This can be obtained by combining the measurement modalities of imaging and spectroscopy or scattering to create novel, hyphenated imaging techniques like X-ray Fluorescence-/X-Ray Diffraction-Computed Tomography (XRF/XRD-CT) to obtain 2D insight perpendicular to the plane of the beam (imaging) or parallel (tomography) and when multiple 2D slices are obtained, this allows for 3D or even 5D imaging (see figure below). In this lecture I demonstrate how these techniques have been used to characterise real functional materials and devices used in catalysis, energy storage and cultural heritage. I also highlight the opportunities and challenges when it comes to the application of these methods at 4th generation synchrotron sources.

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