Abstract. The XAFS2 is a general-purpose X-ray absorption beamline. It is the second one built at the LNLS. After approximately 7 years in operation this beamline has been substantially updated in order to improve its experimental possibilities. Recently arrived, a 4-circle Huber diffractometer has been incorporated to perform combined experiments. This collects XRD patterns with the XAFS. Through the development of a new sampling environment it is now also possible to perform these measurements in situ/operando conditions. Other upgrades include a complete remodelling of the beamline software and its control system. The following new systems are crucial for the next steps that are currently underway at the beamline, namely, (i) enabling remote access for users and (ii) the testing of QEXAFS measurements. IntroductionUpon the completion, in 2007, of the commissioned works on the XAFS2 [1], a large number of users have been using this experimental facility in order to perform several kinds of experiments [2][3][4][5]. Since 2007, and with the development of combined simultaneous characterizations [6], there are a plethora of new possibilities additional to the usual XAFS experiments. Among these numerous possibilities; a combined XAFS and XRD experiment would be especially useful in order to obtain structural information of the short range order (around a selected absorber atom) and of the long range order, thus unveiling information on the material as a whole. Here one is probing different properties of the same system in a unique experiment under the same conditions, thus bridging the complex gaps in the structure. Therefore, in order to improve those abilities of the beamline, a 4-circle Huber Diffractometer was added to the experimental hutch in order to explore both techniques [7] through user demand. Here below an example of these XAFS and XRD measurements is presented. The example shows the performance of the beamline at work while combining both techniques.Importantly, the control system of the beamline has been renovated by the installation of a PXI. The PXI is from National Instruments (PXI-NI) and communicates with Galil/Parker controllers on an EPICS platform [8]. Note some parts of the motors were changed in order to improve performance with the upgrade and there were also important changes to the control hardware. The Windows

[a, b] (Photo)electrochemical processes are involved in many fields of science and technology. The use of spectroscopic techniques coupled to (photo)electrochemistry, are mandatory to get information about interfacial processes on scale ranges from millimeters to the nanoscale. The development of spectroelectrochemical cells (SECs) contributes to the progress of the field of (photo)electrochemistry and their impact in science and technology. Therefore, in this work, we describe in detail the development of a versatile SEC that can be used for conventional electrochemical experiments and several in situ techniques just by changing its window. We performed electrochemical and computational experiments to analyze the response of our SEC as a function of the working electrode size, position, and distance to the window. Besides, we show in detail how the cell can be used to perform experiments of in situ FTIR, Raman, XAFS and ultrafast spectroscopy.

<p><b>Abstract:</b> (Photo)electrochemical processes are involved in many fields of science and technology. The use of spectroscopic techniques coupled to (photo)electrochemistry, are mandatory to get information about interfacial processes on scale ranges from millimeters to the nanoscale. The development of spectroelectrochemical cells (SEC) contribute to the progress of the field of (photo)electrochemistry and its impact in science and technology. Therefore, in this work, we describe in detail the development of a versatile SEC that can be used for several <i>in situ</i> techniques. We performed electrochemical and computational experiments to analyze the response of our SEC as a function of the working electrode size, position and distance to the window. We found that our SEC behaves as the conventional cell when the electrode is far from the window. However, important differences arise in the thin layer configuration. The computational experiments suggest that to mitigate these problems, it is important to perform <i>in situ</i> experiments in the thin layer configuration using electrodes as small as possible.</p>