In this talk, I will give a general introduction of the Liquids Reflectometer (LR) and capabilities at our beamline. The LR is located at the Spallation Neutron Source, one of the most powerful sources of neutrons for research and is hosted by Oak Ridge National Lab. Neutrons have no electrical charge, which allows them to easily and safely pass through a sample, revealing information about the material’s structure and properties. Discoveries fueled by neutron research at ORNL help scientists answer big science questions and spur countless innovations. The LR is an ideal tool to probe surface and interfacial structures of thin films on length scales of 0.5nm to 350nm. The LR features a horizontal sample geometry and thus can accommodate air/liquid surfaces in addition to air/solid and liquid/solid interfaces. The LR is useful for a wide range of science topics. Researchers use it to study biomaterials, polymers, electrochemistry, corrosion, and chemistry involving thin layers of surfactants or other materials on the surfaces of liquids, such as cell-membrane analogs. These systems provide a flexible platform to study structure-property relationships at the boundary between hard and soft matter, with applications in biomimetics, bio-sensing, bio-compatible films, hydrogen storage, batteries, fuel cells, and polymers. A variety of sample environments are supported, including an 18-slot robotic sample exchanger, temperature-controlled liquid/solid and potentiostatically controlled electrochemical cells, vacuum and gas-handling chambers, a high electric field chamber, and a Langmuir trough. I will provide a few examples towards to the end of the talk to give the audience an idea of the kind of experiments that have been done at Liquid Reflectometer.

Liquids reflectometer at spallation neutron source

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