Abstract: | The electronic structure of a material plays an important role in its functionality for different applications which can be probed using synchrotron‐based spectroscopy techniques. Here, various cobalt‐based compounds, differing in crystal structure, ligands surrounding the central metal ion and morphology, have been studied by soft X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the Co L‐edge in order to measure the effect of these parameters on the electronic structure. A careful qualitative analysis of the spectral branching ratio and relative intensities of the L3 and L2 peaks provide useful insight into the electronic properties of compounds such as CoO/Co(OH)2, CoCl2.6H2O/CoF2.4H2O, CoCl2/CoF2, Co3O4 (bulk/nano/micro). For further detailed analysis of the XAS spectra, quantitative analysis has been performed by fitting the spectral profile with simulated spectra for a number of cobalt compounds using crystal field atomic multiplet calculations. |