High-Quality Pair Distribution Function (PDF) Analysis in the Home Laboratory
The pair distribution function (PDF) is a key tool to understand the fundamental properties of a material. It provides information on the local arrangement of atoms in a material, whether the sample is crystalline or amorphous. The XRDynamic 500 automated multipurpose powder X ray diffractometer enables high-quality PDF measurements in reasonable time frames in the lab.
Introduction
Material development over the last few decades has focused often on crystalline materials, where properties could often be reliably predicted and characterized. However, many materials, particularly amorphous or nanostructured materials, remained out of reach as their complex structures made their properties hard to predict and tailor. Recently, the demand for advanced materials to meet the demands of today’s society has increased interest in these complex materials.
To understand the physical properties of a material, it is necessary to study the structure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) is one method used for this purpose. Standard XRD typically focuses on sharp Bragg peaks that provide information on the long-range crystalline order. However, understanding nanostructured, disordered, or amorphous materials, requires insights into their local structures on shorter length scales. PDF analysis (also referred as total X-ray scattering analysis) reveals this by examining both the Bragg scattering (long-range order) and diffuse scattering (short- and medium-range order) components of the diffractogram. This method gives insights into the distances between pairs of atoms or molecules in both crystalline and amorphous materials.(1,2)
References:
1. T. Egami, S. J. L. Billinge, Underneath the Bragg Peaks: Structural Analysis of Complex Materials, Pergamon 2003
2. V. Petkov, Pair distribution functions analysis, https://doi.org/10.1002/0471266965.com159
Get the document
To receive this document please enter your email below.
