ITQ Talks: 3Sbar. The New Beamline at ALBA synchrotron for Operando Studies of Catalytic Interfaces – Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez
En esta nueva sesión de ITQ Talks contaremos con el Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez, responsable de la línea de luz 3Sbar en el sincrotrón ALBA.
Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez impartirá la charla “3Sbar: The New Beamline at ALBA synchrotron for Operando Studies of Catalytic Interfaces”
- 27 de noviembre de 2025 (12:00h)
- Salón de Actos del ITQ (UPV-CSIC)
3Sbar: The New Beamline at ALBA synchrotron for Operando Studies of Catalytic Interfaces
“God made the bulk, the surface was invented by the devil.” Wolfgang Pauli’s famous statement encapsulates the complexity of surfaces, where solids meet gases or liquids and where chemistry, structure, and reactivity converge. Understanding these interfaces under relevant conditions is essential for unraveling key processes in catalysis and energy conversion, yet it remains challenging due to different experimental limitations.
The 3Sbar beamline at ALBA synchrotron has been designed to overcome these limitations, providing a unique platform for the simultaneous investigation of the chemical and structural properties of surfaces and interfaces under relevant reaction conditions. The beamline integrates ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS), surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD), and X-ray scattering (XRS), allowing comprehensive characterization of solid–gas and solid–liquid interfaces across a wide range of pressures and environments relevant to the investigated processes. Moreover, 3Sbar is equipped with online gas chromatography (GC) and quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) systems, enabling real-time monitoring of reaction products and direct correlation between surface transformations and catalytic performance. By combining multiple X-ray techniques with online product analysis, 3Sbar enables a complete operando approach, linking surface chemistry, structure, and reactivity simultaneously. This capability establishes 3Sbar as a powerful tool to advance the understanding of catalytic and electrochemical processes, contributing to the design of cleaner and more efficient technologies.
This presentation will introduce the 3Sbar beamline and illustrate its capabilities through representative catalytic experiments. Examples include solid–gas reactions, and solid–liquid electrochemical systems, where the evolution of electrified interfaces can be probed under working conditions.
Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez
Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez holds a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Granada and began his scientific career as a student assistant in microelectronic systems at Technische Universität Darmstadt (2005–2006). From 2007 to 2010, he served as a scientific assistant in the Department of Applied Surface Physics and Nanotechnology at the University of Mainz while completing his PhD in surface physics at Ruhr University Bochum. He subsequently worked as an electronic engineer at Adlantis GmbH in Dortmund (2010–2011).
Dr. Velasco Vélez was awarded two prestigious Feodor Lynen fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, conducting research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States (2011–2013) and later at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin (2013–2014). From 2014 to 2022, he was a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Since 2022, he has served as Head of the 3Sbar Beamline at the ALBA Synchrotron in Barcelona.
