EH1
Description
The first hutch contains a vertical geometry diffractometer that can accommodate small user’s
chambers (UHV equipments, electrochemical cells, etc). This station is dedicated to surface
characterization during catalytic reactions.
There are three different reactors available for users:
1.
2.
3.
A batch reactor with a gas line system
A batch reactor for harsh conditions
A flow reactor with a remote controlled gas system
Batch reactor
Small UHV chamber with a 360 deg beryllium window. The UHV equipment and a turbo pump are
located on the chamber upper part to leave a wide solid angle for exploring reciprocal space. The
reaction (chamber) part can be sealed off with a gate valve.
It is equipped with:
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

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Ion sputter gun (PHI-Perkin Elmer) for sample preparation
Residual Gas Analyser, RGA
Leak valve for gas introduction
Several pressure gauges for different pressure ranges
Sample mounting on a boralectric heater with a thermocouple type K or E attached to the
sample holders. Sample annealing possible up to 1400K. For oxygen rich conditions, T max =
800K
Batch reactor for harsh conditions
Special batch reactor to handle corrosive gases with a cylindrical 360 deg aluminum window 1mm
thick. This imposes to work with photon energies above 20 KeV. UHV equipment and turbo pump are
located on the lower chamber part. On the upper part electron beam evaporators and the ion sputter
gun can be installed. Corrosive gases as HCl or H2S can be used. It is also possible to install a HCl
trap on the gas exhaust pipe of the pump.
It is equipped with:





Ion sputter gun (PHI-Perkin Elmer) for sample preparation
Residual Gas Analyser, RGA
Leak valve for gas introduction
Several pressure gauges for different pressure ranges
Sample mounting on a boralectric heater with a thermocouple type K or E attached to the
sample holders. Sample annealing possible up to 1400K in UHV. For oxygen rich conditions,
Tmax = 800K
Flow reactor
Recently a flow reactor (called UFO Chamber) was designed and constructed with in-situ UHV
surface preparation tools and is already available for users. This chamber allows the study of reactions
in real time and closer to real industrial conditions. An upgraded gas line is available using an
automated system of gas flow controllers. This improves the data acquisition procedure and gives the
ability to follow the catalytic reaction from the beginning.
The flow reactor (UFO Chamber) has a lower and an upper part. The lower part is the UHV section
and is equiped with:


Ion Sputter Gun (SPECS) for sample surface preparation
Electron beam evaporators (Omicron)
The flow reactor (UFO Chamber) has a lower and an upper part. The lower part is the UHV section
whose upper big flange is holding the UHV tools and is equiped with:



Ion Sputter Gun (SPECS) for sample surface preparation
Residual Gas Analyser, RGA
Electron beam evaporators (Omicron)
The big flange can be moved up and down with respect to the sample position. When it is up, the
sample is in UHV conditions and can be prepared with standard UHV tools. When the flange is down
the region around the sample is sealed off having a small reactor volume (15 mL). Gases can flow
through two capillaries. UHV conditions are preserved in the bottom section all the time.
Flow reactor gas system
The gas system has four mass flow controllers at the gas inlet. This allows mixing exact proportions of
desired gases. It is remote controlled via SPEC (BL control software).
Focusing the X-rays beam
A Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB1) mirror system is installed in EH1 for focusing the beam at the sample in the
micron range.