Last modified: 2011-11-09

Studies of Liquids

Research at MAX-lab, Beamline I411 and I511

Areas of Research - Examples

Studies of Liquids

Electronic Structure and Dynamics
of Surface Systems

Studies of Reactions at Surfaces

Surface structure, dynamics & magnetism

Studies of surfaces with X-ray diffraction

Environmental and materials research

Studies of Protein Crystals

Studies of Molecule Structures
with SAXS

Microscopes - IR & PEEM

Accelerator Physics

Nuclear Physics

Activity Reports from MAX-lab

Seminars at MAX-lab

Go to start Research at MAX-lab

Properties of liquids - vivid for life

We believe life on earth began in water and the human body can in a good first approximation be considered as a bag of water. Despite all their importance to our existence, we still know only very little about the properties of liquids.

Studying substances in the liquid phase is a challenge to the experimentalist while isolated gas molecules or solids with rigid structures are comparably easy to handle. Experimental techniques that allow the measurement of the electronic structure and dynamics of liquids have only recently become available. At the MAX-lab beamlines we have setups for the studies of liquids.

At I411 a liquid beam is available and at I511 liquids can be enclosed in a little cell sealed with ultra thin membranes that allow the synchrotron light to pass. Many possible master projects can be conducted in the frame of the ongoing research at the lab, from the investigation of electronic and structure properties of drugs in solution or all possible types of liquids to the research about the beginning of life: in water.

FOR TECHNICAL DETAILS ABOUT THE BEAMLINE I411... READ MORE
FOR TECHNICAL DETAILS ABOUT THE BEAMLINE I511... READ MORE

Project examples

From salt water to salt cluster

Project leader: Olle Björneholm
Division of Surface and Interface Science Department of Physics and Materials Science, Uppsala University

Microscopic droplets of salt water and wet salt nanoparticles are examples of aerosol particles playing important roles in the atmosphere. They partly counteract the green house effect by increasing the albedo of the Earth, and by affecting cloud formation, identified by the IPCC as the major uncertainty for climate modeling. They can also take part in chemical reactions, sometimes initiated by solar radiation, in which ions at their surfaces react with ambient molecules.

By studying both liquids and particles with synchrotron radiation, we study how the surface ion composition changes as a droplet of seawater evaporates, thereby increasing the salt concentration. We find that bromide, of which there is much less in seawater than of chloride, is successively enriched at the surface as the droplets loose water.