X-ray absorption fine structure and its applications to structure determination

X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) denotes the details of how X-ray is absorbed by an atom at energies near and above the core-level binding energies of that atom. Specifically, XAFS is the modulation of an atom’s X-ray absorption probability because of the chemical and physical state of the atom. XAFS spectra are especially sensitive to the formal oxidation state, the coordination chemistry,, and the distances, coordination number, and the species of the atoms instantly surrounding the selected element. Because of this dependency, XAFS provides a useful, and pretty simple way to determine the chemical state and the local atomic structure for a certain atomic species. XAFS can be used in a variety of systems and bulk physical environment. XAFS is normally used in a wide range of scientific fields, including biology, environmental science, catalysts research, and material science. Herein, the structures of a few inorganic compounds are investigated by XAFS.