Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 208, 231-244 (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01621-4

Review

Trends in anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering in grazing incidence for supported nanoalloyed and core-shell metallic nanoparticles

¹ Centre de Recherche sur la Matière Divisée, UMR 6619 Université d’Orléans - CNRS, 1 bis, rue de la Férollerie, 45071 Orléans Cedex, France
² Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Université A/MIRA, 06000 Bejaia, Algérie
³ Faculté des Sciences, Université de Boumerdes, 35000 Boumerdes, Algérie
⁴ Synchrotron Soleil, L’Orme de Merisiers, BP. 48, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, Cedex, France
⁵ Institut Néel, CNRS et Université Joseph Fourier, BP. 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

^a e-mail: Pascal.Andreazza@univ-orleans.fr

Received: 22 November 2011
Revised: 23 March 2012
Published online: 15 June 2012

Abstract

As atomic structure and morphology of particles are directly correlated to their functional properties, experimental methods probing local and average features of particles at the nanoscale elicit a growing interest. Anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) is a very attractive technique to investigate the size, shape and spatial distribution of nanoobjects embedded in a homogeneous matrix or in porous media. The anomalous variation of the scattering factor close to an absorption edge enables element specific investigations. In the case of supported nano-objects, the use of grazing incidence is necessary to limit the probed depth. The combination of grazing incidence with the anomalous technique provides a powerful new method, anomalous grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (AGISAXS), to disentangle complex chemical patterns in supported multi-component nano-structures. Nevertheless, a proper data analysis requires accurate quantitative measurements associated to an adapted theoretical framework. This paper presents anomalous methods applied to nanoalloys phase separation in the 1–10 nm size range, and focuses on the application of AGISAXS in bimetallic systems: nanocomposite films and core-shell supported nanoparticles.