| Abstract: | Carbon NEXAFS and EELS spectra of soot, and NEXAFS spectra of soot extracts, are presented. The EELS spectra of solid soot particles from a TEM-EELS show fewer structures than the corresponding NEXAFS spectra obtained at two different synchrotron beamlines. We attribute radiation damage in the TEM-EELS to the failure at resolving structures of surface functional carbon groups in or on soot. NEXAFS spectra of soot extracts studied with a scanning transmission X-ray microscope show alterations during X-ray exposure, which can be explained by a simple chemical model where oxygen apparently reacts with the sample. When the same extract is studied in an ultrahigh-vacuum beamline, no such alterations are observed. |
