Using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) to Determine the Specific Surface Area of Materials

The reliable measurement of the specific surface area (SSA) of many modern materials – porous or non-porous – is of vital importance both in research and industry. To date, the most commonly used method for the determination of the specific surface area of any material is based on the BET (Brunauer-Emmet-Teller) method that relies on the physisorption of gas molecules at the sample surface.
The assessment of the specific surface area by alternative methods, namely small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), can be a good complementary method to BET as it can overcome some of the limitations of sorption-based methods. For the assessment of the specific surface area by SAXS no outgassing is required, resulting in significantly shorter overall sample preparation and measurement times. Also, the risk of irreversibly altering the nature of the sample by high-temperature treatment during the outgassing procedure can be completely avoided. In addition, SAXS also works on very small amounts of sample, making this method very powerful for the analysis of materials with very small specific surface areas and where only limited amounts of sample are available.
In this webinar we will discuss how the specific surface area of a material can be measured by SAXS and how the resulting values compare to measurements obtained from a classical BET-based approach.

Webinar content:

• Introduction to the measurement of the specific surface area (SSA) by SAXS
• Discussion of the benefits/drawbacks of SAXS vs. BET measurements

Target group:

• Anyone interested in the measurement of the specific surface area
• Anyone already using physisorption-based methods for the determination of the SSA
• Anyone working in research and development as well as production and QC of pharmaceutical materials