Surface Chemistry XPS

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to gather data about the chemistry and composition of a material it s primarily a surface technique. Soft x-rays are incident on a material, the electrons of the atoms are excited, and some are ejected from the electron shell. The electron that s ejected is called a photoelectron, and it has a specific energy depending on the atom and the shell. This is used to work out what atoms are present in the material. 

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In this chapter we focused on the characterization of core-shell magnetic nanopartides as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS, also known as Eledron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA), is an elemental analysis technique and used to determine quantitatively the atomic composition and surface chemistry. XPS spedra are obtained by irradiating a material with a beam of X-rays while simultaneously measuring the kinetic energy and number of electrons that escape from the top 1 to 10 nm of the material being analysed (Watts et al., 2003 http //en. Wikipedia org/wiki/X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). 

Because of its ability to determine surface chemistry, XPS can be particularly useful in the analysis of polymer surfaces to see if oxidation has taken place and, if so, what functional groups (e.g., ester, acid, aldehyde) the oxygen is present in. 

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