The XRD-CT Pioneers

Winner: 2023 Analytical Science Horizon Prize: Sir George Stokes Prize

For the development and application of X-ray diffraction computed tomography to image and identify structure-activity relationships within functional materials and devices.

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Finden Ltd, a British scientific consultancy, has achieved significant advancements in X-ray diffraction computed tomography (XRD-CT) and related chemical imaging methods like pair distribution function computed tomography (PDF-CT) or multimodal-CT through collaborations with academic and industrial partners. Most recently, Finden has driven the development of XRD-CT to the point where high-quality data can be generated for a variety of functional materials under operational conditions.

Initially showcased in 1991, XRD-CT offers a superior approach to characterising the physicochemical composition of intact objects. It has an advantage over traditional X-ray imaging because it provides a diffraction pattern for each pixel in the data that can be interpreted similarly to conventional diffraction data. This yields spatial (and temporal) insights into the heterogeneous micro and nanostructure that govern the properties of materials.

Leveraging this technique, the team have has gained a novel understanding of the behaviour of materials under process conditions in real-time and widened access for the scientific community.

We hope that eventually, these techniques will move from particle accelerators into the laboratory, and ultimately into the medical field. There, they have the potential to bring about improvements in the health sector, as well as the performance of materials.

The team

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Thomas E. Ashton, Postdoctoral Researcher, UCL
Dustin Bauer, PhD student, UCL
Andrew Beale, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry/CSO Finden Ltd, UCL/Finden Ltd
Keith T. Butler, Senior Lecturer, QMW
Alan Coelho, Software developer/Chief Executive, Coelho Software
Jawwad A. Darr, Professor of Chemistry, UCL
Ann-Christin Dippel, Beamline Scientist, DESY
Hongyang Dong, PhD student, UCL/Finden Ltd
Jakub Drnec, Beamline Scientist, ESRF
Olof Gutowski, Beamline Scientist, DESY
I. Z. Ismagilov, Scientific Researcher, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis
Simon Jacques, Managing Director, Finden Ltd
Rahul Khatry, Researcher, NPL
V. V. Kuznetsov, Scientific Researcher, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis
Dorota Matras, Postdoctoral Researcher, Diamond Light Source
E. V. Matus, Scientific Researcher, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis
Marco di Michiel, Beamline Scientist, ESRF
Vesna Middelkoop, Research Scientist, VITO
Yaroslav Odarchenko, Research Scientist, Finden Ltd
Stephen Price, Senior Scientist, Finden Ltd
Pierre Senecal, Secondary School Teacher, UCL
Andrew Thompson, Senior Researcher, NPL
Antony Vamvakeros, Research and Development Lead, Finden Ltd
Martin von Zimmermann, Beamline Scientist, DESY

Q&A

What were the biggest challenges in this project?

Andrew Beale: There were many - the work can be broken down into four stages: data acquisition, data transformation, analysis, and interpretation. Perhaps the biggest challenge to start with was the data handling but, through technical advances over the years, this has become easier and the emphasis has shifted towards analysis and interpretation. Finden though has developed an efficient pipeline to go from sampling to understanding in a short time frame and I think we are unrivalled in what we offer here.

Why is this work so important and exciting?

Andrew Beale: With this technique, we see things that we didn't know were important before we performed a measurement. This allows us a more complete understanding of what makes a material work or fail and this is the first step in developing better materials for the future. Although the capabilities we have developed have largely been demonstrated in materials science, they have also been shown to yield new insights in the life sciences as well.

How do you see this work developing over the next few years, and what is next for this technology/research?

Andrew Beale: We hope that as laboratory X-ray sources get brighter and detectors more sensitive, these techniques will move from the synchrotron into the laboratory and ultimately into the medical field to hopefully bring about improvements in the health sector as well as the performance of materials.

What is the importance of collaboration in the chemical sciences?

Andrew Beale: The work we have performed could not have been achieved without the efforts of a number of talented researchers who were originally trained in chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, materials, and mathematics. I think this sort of collaboration helps researchers become more interdisciplinary and this is necessary to tackle some of the major technical challenges that we face today.