369-OperandoLab laboratory (IMDEA Energy)

The Operando Lab is specialized in monitoring and determining the structural, optical and surface properties of a wide variety of materials and their relationship with their behaviour under different working conditions.

The laboratory has a wide range of solid characterisation techniques to evaluate the behaviour of materials under operating conditions.

Equipment in this laboratory includes spectroscopic techniques covering the medium UV-IR spectrum, which provide information ranging from the determination of functional groups or adsorption of molecules, by means of infrared spectroscopy, to the evaluation of optoelectronic properties (UV-Vis-NIR). On the other hand, it consists of suitable equipment for the characterisation of structural properties such as a Raman spectrometer equipped with two excitation sources (532 and 785 nm) and X-ray diffraction equipment with different excitation sources, including a silver anode for pair distribution analysis (PDF) and a reaction chamber with which diffractograms are recorded in the presence of gases and at a controlled temperature.

In addition, a near-probe microscope is available for simultaneous evaluation of surface properties in contact and tapping mode in air and in liquid and gas cell, as well as optoelectronic, electrical and magnetic measurements.

Simultaneous determination of reaction products is possible in all cases by coupling a gas chromatograph or a mass spectrometer to the output of the analytical equipment.