The Department of Chemistry at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is proud to announce the establishment of the “DTU · Electron Crystallography Facility”, which will be inaugurated in August 2023 and open to both academic and commercial partners.
The facility will host one of the first examples of a fully integrated electron diffractometer, the Rigaku XtaLAB Synergy-ED, as well as facilities for sample preparation in newly designed laboratories. The XtaLAB Synergy-ED instrument provides a unified process from sample preparation, over data collection, to structure determination at sub-Ångstrøm resolution of nano-scale crystals.
This innovative tool allows for structure elucidation of materials for which growth of single-crystals suitable for traditional X-ray diffraction methods is impossible or impractical, and for structural studies of materials, where the quantity is limiting the use of any other techniques.
"We are thrilled about the new possibilities that this instrument provides," said Professor and Facility Director Kasper S. Pedersen, DTU Chemistry. “It will greatly enhance our ability to conduct pioneering research in the multitude of fields of chemistry, materials science, and biology where structural information and structure-function relationships at the atomic and molecular level are key”.
Dr Mark Benson, General Manager, Global Sales and Marketing at Rigaku, said: “We are very happy that DTU has decided to acquire our XtaLAB Synergy-ED for their Electron Crystallography Facility. Electron diffraction will revolutionize many areas of chemistry, such as MOF research, where crystals are often too small for even a synchrotron facility.”
The DTU · Electron Crystallography Facility will provide ample opportunities for fundamental insight and for revolutionizing and accelerating materials discovery of, for instance, drug candidates, heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts, and energy materials, and will be used widely across the departments of the university and outside collaborators. A parallel facility will open at University of Copenhagen.
For more information, please contact Professor Kasper S. Pedersen at kastp@kemi.dtu.dk or +45 23 60 40 67.