ILEEMS: Methodology and Applications to Iron Oxides

ILEEMS is the acronym for Integral Low-energy Electron Mössbauer Spectroscopy. In this variant of Mössbauer spectroscopy the low-energy electrons, E < ～15 eV, emitted by the probe nuclei in the absorber are counted as a function of source velocity. As a consequence of their low energy, the detected electrons' origin lies within a very thin surface layer with thickness of a few nanometers and consequently, ILEEMS is a useful technique to examine surfaces of Fe-containing substances. In a first part of this paper the authors briefly describe the design of a home-made ILEEMS equipment allowing the temperature of the investigated sample to be varied between 77 K and room temperature. The second part of this contribution deals with a selection of results obtained from ILEEMS spectra for various Fe oxides. In particular, the following items are covered: (1) surface versus bulk Morin transition in small-particle and near-bulk hematite, α-Fe₂O₃; (2) bulk and thin-film magnetite, Fe₃O₄; (3) ferrihydrite, 5Fe₂O₃·9H₂0, goethite, α-FeOOH, and lepidocrocite, γ-FeOOH, all to some extent in relation to their morphology. Interesting and intriguing findings concerning the surface properties of these oxides were obtained and it is argued that the results encourage more systematic research in this and related fields using the surface-sensitive ILEEMS technique.