High-resolution electron energy loss advantages

Surface science that is carried out under clean, ultrahigh-vacuum conditions utilizes with advantage the high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HR EELS) that excels with its high sensitivity, but this technique does not match the energy resolution of IR or Raman spectroscopies. For adsorbates on real catalysts, therefore, the long time used IR spectroscopy, nowadays practiced almost exclusively in its Fourier transform mode (FTIR), is still the method of choice. 

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) is nowadays widely used to obtain the information with respect to chemical composition, oxidation state and electronic structure of solids. Since all catalytic processes concern the exchange of electrons between the reactants, EELS is extremely valuable in catalysts investigations [9, 49-57], EELS in an electron microscope exhibits the advantage of high spatial resolution in area of interests with simultaneous structure determination by electron diffraction and imaging. 

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