Exploring the capabilities of X-ray absorption spectroscopy for determining the structure of electrolyte solutions: computed spectra for Cr(3+) or Rh(3+) in water based on molecular dynamics

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra of Cr(3+) and Rh(3+) in aqueous solution are analyzed and compared with computed spectra derived from structural results obtained by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. This procedure quantifies the reliability of the EXAFS structural determination when applied to ions in solution. It provides guidelines for interpreting experimental spectra of octahedrally coordinated metal cations in aqueous solution. A set of relationships among Debye-Waller factors is proposed on the basis of MD results to reduce the number of independent fit parameters. The determination of the second hydration shell is examined. Calculated XANES spectra compare well with experimental ones. Indeed, the splitting observed on the main peak of the Rh K-edge was anticipated by the calculations. Simulated spectra from MD structures of increasing cluster size show a relationship between the second hydration shell and features of the XANES region at energies just above the edge. The combination of quantum and statistical calculations with the XANES spectrum is found to be very fruitful to get insight into the quantitative estimation of structural properties of electrolyte solutions.     

X-ray absorption study of the solvation structure of Cu2+ in methanol and dimethyl sulfoxide

The solvation structure of Cu(2+) in methanol (MeOH) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has been determined by studying both the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) regions of the K-edge absorption spectra. The EXAFS technique has been found to provide a very accurate determination of the next-neighbor coordination distances, but it is inconclusive in the determination of the coordination numbers and polyhedral environment. Conversely, quantitative analysis of the XANES spectra unambiguously shows the presence of an average 5-fold coordination in both the MeOH and DMSO solution, ruling out the usually proposed octahedral Jahn-Teller distorted geometry. The EXAFS and XANES techniques provide coherent values of the Cu-O first-shell distances that are coincident in the two solvents. This investigation shows that the combined analysis of the EXAFS and XANES data allows a reliable determination of the structural properties of electrolyte solutions, which is very difficult to achieve with other experimental techniques.     

Structural and electronic evolution of the As(OH)3 molecule in high temperature aqueous solutions: an x-ray absorption investigation

The geometrical and electronic structure of the arsenious acid molecule As(OH)(3) in aqueous solutions has been investigated by x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) within extended x-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS) and x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), using realistic first-principle calculations in the latter case. This investigation was performed on aqueous solutions of arsenious acid from ambient to supercritical conditions (P = 250 and 600 bars, T 相似文献   

Hydrogen and higher shell contributions in Zn2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ aqueous solutions: an X-ray absorption fine structure and molecular dynamics study

A detailed investigation of the hydration structure of Zn2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ in water solutions has been carried out combining X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. The first quantitative analysis of EXAFS from hydrogen atoms in 3d transition metal ions in aqueous solutions has been carried out and the ion-hydrogen interactions have been found to provide a detectable contribution to the EXAFS spectra. An accurate determination of the structural parameters associated with the first hydration shell has been performed and compared with previous experimental results. No evidence of significant contributions from the second hydration shell to the EXAFS signal has been found for these solutions, while the inclusion of the hydrogen signal has been found to be important in performing a quantitative analysis of the experimental data. The high-frequency contribution present in the EXAFS spectra has been found to be due to multiple scattering (MS) effects inside the ion-oxygen first coordination shell. MD has been used to generate three-body distribution functions from which a reliable analysis of the MS contributions to the EXAFS spectra of these systems has been carried out.     

Np(IV)/Np(V) valence determinations from Np L3 edge XANES/EXAFS

X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy for in situ metal valence determination has become a powerful analytical tool in heterogeneous systems. This is in part because it is applicable without prior separation procedures. For some systems, however, determining the oxidation state from XANES spectra is not straightforward and caution must be used. We show that the analysis of L3,2 edge EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) spectra is better suited to distinguish between Np(IV) and Np(V) than from their XANES spectra. Whereas evidence for the oxidation of Np(IV) in solution samples from their Np L3 XANES is unclear, their EXAFS data unequivocally reveals Np(V) formation in the solutions.     

Structural study on highly oxidized states of a water oxidation complex [RuIII(bpy)2(H2O)]2(mu-O)4+ by ruthenium K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy

The oxidation-induced structural change of a water-oxidizing diruthenium complex, [(bpy)(2)(H(2)O)Ru(III)(micro-O)Ru(III)(OH(2))(bpy)(2)](4+) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine), was investigated by means of X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Ru K-edge XANES (X-ray absorption near-edge structure) spectra from the acidic solution and solid precipitates obtained by oxidation showed that the absorption edge shifts toward higher energy with a preedge feature slightly more enhanced than those of the lower oxidation states. This indicates that the higher oxidation state has a lower symmetry due to shortening of the Ru-O bonds that originated from the water ligands. The EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) spectra were similar to those of the lower oxidation states, whose analysis revealed the existence of short Ru-O double bonds and an almost linear Ru-O-Ru angle (169 +/- 2 degrees ). Ab initio EXAFS simulations for several possible structural models suggest that the dimeric structure is maintained during the water oxidation reaction.     

X–ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) of Si wafer measured using total reflection X–rays

Extended X–ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X–ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra of a Si wafer are measured using grazing incidence X–rays. The spectra are measured using the total electron yield method. Fourier transform of the measured EXAFS oscillation is compared among different glancing angles. It is concluded that the XANES spectra are more sensitive to the surface Si–O bond than the EXAFS spectra. The source of probing depth difference of XAFS spectroscopy estimated by different researchers are discussed.     

In situ extended X-ray absorption fine structure study during selective alcohol oxidation over Pd/Al2O3 in supercritical carbon dioxide

High-pressure in situ X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data are reported during the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde in supercritical carbon dioxide over a Pd/Al(2)O(3) catalyst (shell impregnated). For this purpose, a continuous-flow system with a spectroscopic cell suitable for in situ X-ray absorption studies on heterogeneous catalysts up to 200 degrees C and 200 bar has been developed. Due to the high contribution of the dense fluid to the overall X-ray absorption, high stability of the process pressure is mandatory, particularly when recording EXAFS spectra. According to EXAFS and XANES results, the palladium particles were fully reduced after exposure to benzyl alcohol in scCO(2). In contrast to Pd-catalyzed liquid-phase oxidation, a higher oxygen tolerance of the catalyst was observed. Palladium was partially oxidized on the surface under typical reaction conditions (0.9 mol % benzyl alcohol/0.5 mol % O(2) in carbon dioxide), which gradually increased when the concentration of oxygen in the feed was raised. Both XANES and EXAFS data uncovered that palladium is mainly oxidized on the surface or within the outermost layers. These results are in accordance with simulations of the XANES data using the FEFF8.20 code (program for ab initio calculations on multiple scattering XAS) and EXAFS data fitting/simulation.     

Structural characterization study of FeCo alloy nanoparticles in a highly porous aerogel silica matrix

A series of FeCo-SiO(2) nanocomposite aerogels having different FeCo loadings of 3, 5, and 8 wt % were prepared using a novel urea-assisted sol-gel route. The size of the nanoparticles, which was estimated using Scherrer analysis of the main peak of the x-ray diffraction pattern, varies from 3 to 8 nm. X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) techniques at both Fe and Co K edges were used to investigate the structure of the FeCo nanoparticles. EXAFS and XANES show that FeCo nanoparticles have the typical bcc structure. Evidence of oxidation was observed in low FeCo content aerogels. Spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis suggests the formation of a passivation layer of predominantly iron oxide.     

X-ray spectroscopic and diffraction study of the structure of the active species in the Ni(II)-catalyzed polymerization of isocyanides.

The structure of the active complex in the Ni-catalyzed polymerization of isocyanides to give polyisocyanides is investigated. It is shown by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), including EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) and XANES (X-ray absorption near edge structure), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, to contain a carbene-like ligand. This is the first structural characterization of a crucial intermediate in the so-called merry-go-round mechanism for Ni-catalyzed isocyanide polymerization.     

Anatase-TiO2 nanomaterials: analysis of key parameters controlling crystallization

Nanoparticulated TiO2 materials with anatase structure were synthesized by using a microemulsion method. The structural characteristics of the amorphous solid precursors and their evolution during thermal treatments were studied by using X-ray absorption structure (X-ray absorption near edge structure XANES and extended X-ray absorption fine structure EXAFS), XRD-PDF (X-ray diffraction-pair distribution function), and infrared spectroscopy. Concerning the precursor materials, XANES and EXAFS showed a local order closely related to that of the anatase structure but containing defective, undercoordinated Ti5c4+ species in addition to normal Ti6c4+ species. The PDF technique detects differences among samples in the local order (below 1 nm) and showed that primary particle size varies throughout the amorphous precursor series. The physical interpretation of results concerning the amorphous materials and their evolution under thermal treatment gives conclusive evidence that local, intraparticle ordering variations determine the temperature for the onset of the nucleation process and drive the solid behavior through the whole crystallization process. The significance of this result in the context of current crystallization theories of oxide-based nanocrystalline solids is discussed.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy of hemes and hemeproteins in solution: multiple scattering analysis

A full quantitative analysis of Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectra has been performed for hemes in two porphynato complexes, that is, iron(III) tetraphenylporphyrin chloride (Fe(III)TPPCl) and iron(III) tetraphenylporphyrin bis(imidazole) (Fe(III)TPP(Imid)2), in two protein complexes whose X-ray structure is known at atomic resolution (1.0 A), that is, ferrous deoxy-myoglobin (Fe(II)Mb) and ferric aquo-myoglobin (Fe(III)MbH2O), and in ferric cyano-myoglobin (Fe(III)MbCN), whose X-ray structure is known at lower resolution (1.4 A). The analysis has been performed via the multiple scattering approach, starting from a muffin tin approximation of the molecular potential. The Fe-heme structure has been obtained by analyzing independently the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) region and the X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) region. The EXAFS structural results are in full agreement with the crystallographic values of the models, with an accuracy of +/- 0.02 A for Fe-ligand distances, and +/-6 degrees for angular parameters. All the XANES features above the theoretical zero energy (in the lower rising edge) are well accounted for by single-channel calculations, for both Fe(II) and Fe(III) hemes, and the Fe-N p distance is determined with the same accuracy as EXAFS. XANES evaluations of Fe-5th and Fe-6th ligand distances are determined with 0.04-0.07 A accuracy; a small discrepancy with EXAFS (0.01 to 0.05 A beyond the statistical error), is found for protein compounds. Concerns from statistical correlation among parameters and multiple minima in the parameter space are discussed. As expected, the XANES accuracy is slightly lower than what was found for polarized XANES on Fe(III)MbCN single crystal (0.03-0.04 A), and states the actual state-of-the-art of XANES analysis when used to extract heme-normal parameters in a solution spectrum dominated by heme-plane scattering.     

Are recent water models obtained by fitting diffraction data consistent with infrared/Raman and x-ray absorption spectra?

X-ray absorption (XA) spectra have been computed based on water structures obtained from a recent fit to x-ray and neutron diffraction data using models ranging from symmetrical to asymmetrical local coordination of the water molecules [A. K. Soper, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17, S3273 (2005)]. It is found that both the obtained symmetric and asymmetric structural models of water give similar looking XA spectra, which do not match the experiment. The fitted models both contain unphysical structures that are allowed by the diffraction data, where, e.g., hydrogen-hydrogen interactions may occur. A modification to the asymmetric model, in which the non-hydrogen-bonded OH intramolecular distance is allowed to become shorter while the bonded OH distance becomes longer, improves the situation somewhat, but the overall agreement is still unsatisfactory. The electric field (E-field) distributions and infrared (IR) spectra are also calculated using two established theoretical approaches, which, however, show significant discrepancies in their predictions for the asymmetric structural models. Both approaches predict the Raman spectrum of the symmetric model fitted to the diffraction data to be significantly blueshifted compared to experiment. At the moment no water model exists that can equally well describe IR/Raman, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and diffraction data.     

Determination of CoSi2 self-aligned nanostructures with grazing incidence X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Self-aligned nanostructures (SAN) made by reacting Co nanoparticles with crystalline Si substrates at high temperatures were studied with grazing incidence X-ray absorption spectroscopy (GI-XAS). The results from extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) were used to identify SAN as crystalline CoSi2. Theoretical calculations of EXAFS and XANES spectra of several crystalline cobalt silicides were performed with the FEFF8 package. On the basis of these studies, the SAN samples were determined to contain nearly pure CoSi2.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy to analyze nuclear geometry and electronic structure of biological metal centers—potential and questions examined with special focus on the tetra-nuclear manganese complex of oxygenic photosynthesis

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has become a prominent tool for the element-specific analysis of transition metals at the catalytic center of metalloenzymes. In the present study the information content of X-ray spectra with respect to the nuclear geometry and, in particular, to the electronic structure of the protein-bound metal ions is explored using the manganese complex of photosystem II (PSIII) as a model system. The EXAFS range carries direct information on the number and distances of ligands as well as on the chemical type of the ligand donor function. For first-sphere ligands and second-sphere metals (in multinuclear complexes), the determination of precise distances is mostly straightforward, whereas the determination of coordination numbers clearly requires more effort. The EXAFS section starts with an exemplifying discussion of a PSII spectrum data set with focus on the coordination number problem. Subsequently, the method of linear dichroism EXAFS spectroscopy is introduced and it is shown how the EXAFS data leads to an atomic resolution model for the tetra-manganese complex of PSII. In the XANES section the following aspects are considered: (1) Alternative approaches are evaluated for determination of the metal-oxidation state by comparison with a series of model compounds. (2) The interpretation of XANES spectra in terms of molecular orbitals (MOs) is approached by comparative multiple-scattering calculations and MO calculations. (3) The underlying reasons for the oxidation-state dependence of the XANES spectra are explored. Furthermore, the potential of modern XANES theory is demonstrated by presenting first simulations of the dichroism in the XANES spectra of the PSII manganese complex.