https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01622-3
Review
Resonant elastic X-ray scattering in chemistry and materials science
1 School of Chemistry, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
2 The National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
a e-mail: john.helliwell@manchester.ac.uk
Received:
15
November
2011
Revised:
23
March
2012
Published online:
15
June
2012
The applications of anomalous scattering for locating metal atoms and discriminating between different elements has increased when optimised with synchrotron X-radiation.The on-resonance effect enhances the targeted elemental signal and allows small occupancies to be determined, including in situations of a mixed metal population at a single atomic site. Thus the applications of resonant elastic X-ray scattering in biological, inorganic and materials chemistry is being widely applied to single crystals, which is our emphasis, but also powders, fibres, solutions, amorphous and thin film states of matter. Recent developments have included the use of high photon energies (upto 100 keV) as well as softer X-rays (2 keV). The various instrument and technical capabilities have improved in the last 15 years. This ease of measurement of the resonant scattering signals along with absorption edge shifts indicates an expansion to the measurement of multiple data sets, to allow monitoring of redox changes. Whilst crystal structure determination in biological crystallography has been revolutionised by the MAD method, it is not a requirement for chemical or materials crystallography, as other phasing techniques are routine. Synchrotron source upgrades will allow nano-sized X-ray beams to be more widely available. The new X-ray lasers suggest new capabilities too.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2012
