Welcome to the Sham Group!

Back to Top

Ongoing Activities of the Community

Global XAS Journal Club


Workshop Presentations

Theory of XANES and EXAFS - Dr. Yun-Mui Yiu

Probing Rechargeable Lithium Batteries using Synchrotron Radiation - Dr. Yongji Tang

Hybrid Nanostructured SnO2-graphene Composites as High Performance Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries - Dr. Dongniu Wang

Free-standing Paper-based Graphene Composites as Anode for Lithium-ion Batteries - Dr. Biqiong Wang

Application Synchrotron Techniques for Low Temperature Fuel Cells - Dr. Mohammad Norouzi Banis

Chemically Unzipping of Carbon Nanotubes to Graphene Nanoribbons and the Lithium Ion Battery Performance - Dr. Biwei Xiao

Silicon Nanotube Pattern Formed by Synchrotron Radiation Lithography - Dr. Terry Tang

XANES and XEOL Studies of Nano-Heterostructures - Dr. Zhiqiang Wang

Electronic Structures, Optical Properties and High Pressure Study of Nanostructured Titanium Dioxide - Mr. Ankang Zhao

Study of TiO2 Nanotube-based Photocatalysts - Dr. Jun Li

Hunt for Ferromagnetic Behavior of Strontium Titanate - Dr. Olga Lobacheva

XANES and STXM Studies of Ceramic Biomaterials for Drug Delivery - Dr. Vince guo

The Study of Tribological Behavior and Characterization of Tribofilms Generated from Serpentine - Dr. Fuyan Zhao

X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy of Tribofilm Produced from Mg/Al-CO32--LDH on Steel - Dr. Dong Zhao

Terminology

Synchrotron Radiation:

Synchrotron radiation is electron magnetic radiation emitted by (near speed of light) electrons travelling through magnetic fields (bending magents, wigglers, undulators) in a storage ring. Synchrotron radiation is emitted over the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum, tangential to the orbit of the electrons and is collected by a beamline. The beamline includes optical devices which control the wavelength, photon flux, beam dimensions, focus, and collimation of the rays. The optical devices include slits, attenuators, crystal monochromators, and mirrors. At the end of the beamline is the experimental end-station, where samples are placed in the path of the radiation, and detectors are positioned to measure the resulting absorption, diffraction, scattering or secondary radiation.

X-ray Absorption Fine Structure:

X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) is a specific structure observed in X-ray absorption spectroscopy. XAFS is a spectroscopic technique that uses X-rays to probe the physical and chemical structure of matter at an atomic scale. By analyzing the XAFS, information can be acquired on the local structure and on the unoccupied electronic states. XAFS is element-specific, in that X-rays are chosen to be at or above the binding energy of a particular core electronic level of a particular atomic species therefore an energy-tunable X-ray source like a synchrotron is needed for XAFS measurements.
The X-ray absorption spectra exhibit a steep rise in the absorption coefficient at the core-level binding energy of X-ray absorbing atoms and attenuate gradually with the X-ray energy. The XAFS spectra are usually divided into three energy regions: 1) the edge region, 2) the X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES); 3) the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). The absorption peaks at the absorption edge region ~5eV are due to electronic dipole transitions from a core-level to an unoccupied orbital or band above the Fermi level. The oscillatory structure extending for hundreds of eV past the absorption edge is the EXAFS, resulting from the interference in the single scattering process of the excited photoelectron scattered by neighbouring atoms and provides information on the local structure. The energy region of XANES (extending over a range of about 100 eV) between the edge region and the EXAFS region has been assigned to multiple scattering resonances and provide information on the geometry of the local structure. In the case of organic molecules this energy region has been later called near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), but NEXAFS is synonymous with XANES.

X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence:

X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) monitors the luminescence from a light emitting material, by measuring a specific de-excitation channel associated with the energy redistribution by a system upon the absorption of an energetic photon. The absorption of an X-ray photons and the decay leads to the production of photoelectrons, Auger electrons, and fluorescence X-ray photons. These processes and associated secondary processes result in the formation of thermalized holes in the valence band and electrons in the conduction band of the luminescent solid. The radiative recombination of holes and electrons produces luminescence. Optical photons are the product of electron-hole recombination between the conduction and valence bands, or from defect energy levels in the band gap. Essentially, XEOL is an X-ray photon in, optical photon out technique. XEOL has the added advantage of being element, site and excitation channel specific, which is achieved by tuning the photon (excitation) energy to a particular absorption edge of an element of which the local electronic structure is effectively coupled to the luminescence channel, thereby exciting preferentially, those sites responsible for the optical emission. The optical or photoluminescence yield (PLY), in turn, can be used to monitor the absorption; this technique is sometimes called optical-XAFS.

Lecture Notes

Chemistry 9724Y Materials Analysis Using Synchrotron Radiation

Week 1&2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6&7 Week 8 Week 9&10 Week 11


Calculation for XANES and XAFS

Part I: Theory of XANES and EXAFS

Part II: Density Functional Theory

Links

Western University

Western University

Western Chemistry

School of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies


Synchrotron Facilities

Canadian Light Source (CLS)

     High Resolution Spherical Grating Monochromator (SGM)

     Variable Line Spacing Plane Grating Monochromator (PGM)

     Soft X-ray Microcharacterization Beamline (SXRMB)

     Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy (SM)

Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Cornell High Eneegy Synchrotron Source (CHESS)

Taiwan Photon Source (TPS)


Professional Societies

The International X-ray Absorption Society (IXAS)

Lightsources.org

Xafs.org

Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC)


Databases

Materials Project (CIF,DOS,calculated XRD,calculated XAS,etc.)

Crystallography Open Database(COD)

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC)


Calculators

Ion Chamber Flux Calculator

Optical Constants