scholarly journals Three-energy focusing Laue monochromator for the diamond light source x-ray pair distribution function beamline I15-1

Author(s):  
John P. Sutter ◽  
Philip A. Chater ◽  
Michael R. Hillman ◽  
Dean S. Keeble ◽  
Matt G. Tucker ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuradha Pallipurath ◽  
Francesco Civati ◽  
Jonathan Skelton ◽  
Dean Keeble ◽  
Clare Crowley ◽  
...  

X-ray pair distribution function analysis is used with first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to study the co-operative H<sub>2</sub>O binding, structural dynamics and host-guest interactions in the channel hydrate of diflunisal.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Seungyeol Lee ◽  
Huifang Xu ◽  
Hongwu Xu ◽  
Joerg Neuefeind

The crystal structure of moganite from the Mogán formation on Gran Canaria has been re-investigated using high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray/neutron pair distribution function (PDF) analyses. Our study for the first time reports the anisotropic atomic displacement parameters (ADPs) of a natural moganite. Rietveld analysis of synchrotron XRD data determined the crystal structure of moganite with the space group I2/a. The refined unit-cell parameters are a = 8.7363(8), b = 4.8688(5), c = 10.7203(9) Å, and β = 90.212(4)°. The ADPs of Si and O in moganite were obtained from X-ray and neutron PDF analyses. The shapes and orientations of the anisotropic ellipsoids determined from X-ray and neutron measurements are similar. The anisotropic ellipsoids for O extend along planes perpendicular to the Si-Si axis of corner-sharing SiO4 tetrahedra, suggesting precession-like movement. Neutron PDF result confirms the occurrence of OH over some of the tetrahedral sites. We postulate that moganite nanomineral is stable with respect to quartz in hypersaline water. The ADPs of moganite show a similar trend as those of quartz determined by single-crystal XRD. In short, the combined methods can provide high-quality structural parameters of moganite nanomineral, including its ADPs and extra OH position at the surface. This approach can be used as an alternative means for solving the structures of crystals that are not large enough for single-crystal XRD measurements, such as fine-grained and nanocrystalline minerals formed in various geological environments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 233 (6) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Hansen ◽  
Bastian Dietl ◽  
Martin Etter ◽  
Reinhard K. Kremer ◽  
David C. Johnson ◽  
...  

Abstract Results of combined synchrotron X-ray diffraction and pair distribution function experiments performed on the layered compound CrTe3 provide evidence for a short range structural distortion of one of the two crystallographically independent CrTe6 octahedra. The distortion is caused by higher mobility of one crystallographically distinct Te ion, leading to an unusual large Debye Waller factor. In situ high temperature X-ray diffraction investigations show an initial crystallization of a minor amount of elemental Te followed by decomposition of CrTe3 into Cr5Te8 and Te. Additional experiments provide evidence that the Te impurity (<1%) cannot be avoided. Analyses of structural changes in the temperature range 100–754 K show a pronounced anisotropic expansion of the lattice parameters. The differing behavior of the crystal axes is explained on the basis of structural distortions of the Cr4Te16 structural building units. An abrupt distortion of the structure occurs at T≈250 K, which then remains nearly constant down to 100 K. The structural distortion affects the spin exchange interactions between Cr3+ cations. A significant splitting between field-cooled (fc) and zero-field-cooled (zfc) magnetic susceptibility is observed below about 200 K. Applying a small external magnetic field results in a substantial spontaneous magnetization, reminiscent of ferro- or ferrimagnet exchange interactions below ~240 K. A Debye temperature of ~150 K was extracted from heat capacity measurements.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mozammel Hoque ◽  
Sandra Vergara ◽  
Partha P. Das ◽  
Daniel Ugarte ◽  
Ulises Santiago ◽  
...  

Atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis has been widely used to investigate nanocrystalline and structurally disordered materials. Experimental PDFs retrieved from electron diffraction (ePDF) in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) represent an attractive alternative to traditional PDF obtained from synchrotron X-ray sources, when employed on minute samples. Nonetheless, the inelastic scattering produced by the large dynamical effects of electron diffraction may obscure the interpretation of ePDF. In the present work, precession electron diffraction (PED-TEM) has been employed to obtain the ePDF of two different sub-monolayer samples ––lipoic acid protected (~ 4.5 nm) and hexanethiolated(~ 4.2 nm, ~ 400-kDa core mass) gold nanoparticles­­––randomly oriented and measured at both liquid-nitrogen and room temperatures, with high dynamic-range detection of a CMOS camera. The electron diffraction data were processed to obtain ePDFs which were subsequently compared with PDF of different ideal structure-models. The results demonstrate that the PED-ePDF data is sensitive to different crystalline structures such as monocrystalline (truncated octahedra) versus multiply-twinned (decahedra, icosahedra) structuresof the face-centered cubic gold lattice. The results indicate that PED reduces the residual from 46% to 29%; in addition, the combination of PED and low temperature further reduced the residual to 23%, which is comparable to X-ray PDF analysis. Furthermore, the inclusion of PED resulted in a better estimation of the coordination number from ePDF. To the best of our knowledge, the precessed electron-beam technique (PED) has not been previously applied to nanoparticles for analysis by the ePDF method.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Geddes ◽  
Henry D. Hutchinson ◽  
Alex R Ha ◽  
Nicholas P. Funnell ◽  
Andrew Goodwin

<div> <div> <div> <p>Using a non-negative matrix factorisation (NMF) approach, we show how the pair distribution function (PDF) of complex mixtures can be deconvolved into the contributions from the individual phase components and also the interface between phases. Our focus is on the model system Fe||Fe3O4. We establish proof-of-concept using idealised PDF data generated from established theory-driven models of the Fe||Fe3O4 interface. Using X-ray PDF measurements for corroded Fe samples, and employing our newly-developed NMF analysis, we extract the experimental interface PDF (‘iPDF’) for this same system. We find excellent agreement between theory and experiment. The implications of our results in the broader context of interface characterisation for complex functional materials are discussed. </p> </div> </div> </div>


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