scholarly journals In-Situ X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Raman Microscopy of Roselite Crystals, Ca2(Co2+,Mg)(AsO4)2 2H2O, from the Aghbar Mine, Morocco

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 670
Author(s):  
Jacob Teunis Kloprogge ◽  
Barry James Wood ◽  
Danilo Octaviano Ortillo

Roselite from the Aghbar Mine, Morocco, [Ca2(Co2+,Mg)(AsO4)2 2H2O], was investigated by X-ray Photoelectron and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy revealed a cobalt to magnesium ratio of 3:1. Magnesium, cobalt and calcium showed single bands associated with unique crystallographic positions. The oxygen 1s spectrum displayed two bands associated with the arsenate group and crystal water. Arsenic 3d exhibited bands with a ratio close to that of the cobalt to magnesium ratio, indicative of the local arsenic environment being sensitive to the substitution of magnesium for cobalt. The Raman arsenate symmetric and antisymmetric modes were all split with the antisymmetric modes observed around 865 and 818 cm−1, while the symmetric modes were found around 980 and 709 cm−1. An overlapping water-libration mode was observed at 709 cm−1. The region at 400–500 cm−1 showed splitting of the arsenate antisymmetric mode with bands at 499, 475, 450 and 425 cm−1. The 300–400 cm−1 region showed the corresponding symmetric bending modes at 377, 353, 336 and 304 cm−1. The bands below 300 cm−1 were assigned to lattice modes.

2020 ◽  
pp. 000370282098425
Author(s):  
J. Theo Kloprogge

In nature a wide variety of minerals are known with the general formula X2M(TO4)2·2(H2O) and an important group is formed by minerals with T = As. Most of these occur as minor or trace minerals in environments such as hydrothermal alterations of primary sulfides and arsenides. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman microspectroscopy have been utilized to study the chemistry and crystal structure of the roselite subgroup minerals, Ca2M(AsO4)2·2H2O (with M = Co, Mg, Mn, Zn, and Cu). The arsenate AsO4 stretching region exhibited minor differences between the roselite subgroup minerals, which can be explained by the ionic radius of the cation substituting on the M position in the structure. Multiple AsO4 antisymmetric stretching vibrations were found, pointing to a tetrahedral symmetry reduction. Similar observations were made for the corresponding bending modes. Bands around 450 cm-1 were attributed to ν4 bending modes. Several bands in the 300–350cm-1 region attributed to ν2 bending modes also provide evidence of symmetry reduction of the AsO4 anion. Two broad bands for roselite were found around 3330 and 3120 cm-1 and were attributed to the OH stretching bands of crystal water. These bands are accompanied by two bands around 1700 and 1610 cm-1 attributed to the corresponding OH-bending modes. In conclusion, both XPS and Raman spectroscopy have been shown here to be valuable non-destructive analytical tools to characterize these secondary arsenate minerals. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Raman microspectroscopy allow the chemistry and molecular structure of the roselite subgroup minerals to be studied in a non-destructive way. The minerals in the roselite subgroup are easily distinguished based on their chemical composition as determined by XPS. As expected for minerals with the same crystal structure, similarities exist in the Raman spectra, sufficient differences exist to be able to identify these minerals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 894 ◽  
pp. 421-426
Author(s):  
Dharmendra Kumar R. Rai ◽  
Dayanand S. Sutar ◽  
Chetan Singh Solanki ◽  
K.R. Balasubramaniam

The fabrication of ultra thin silicon nitride (SiNX) layer (< 2 nm) on amorphous silicon (a-Si) in-situ hot-wire CVD by decomposing ammonia (NH3) gas is reported. Approximately 1.5 nm thin SiNXis formed by nitridation of 40 nm thick a-Si for 10 min at substrate temperature of 250 °C. The amorphous phase of SiNXformed on a-Si and a-Si layer deposited on c-Si wafer is identified by Raman spectroscopy. The formation of ultra thin SiNXby nitridation of a-Si at 250 °C is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profile measurement of SiNX/a-Si structured film. The report indicates that the HWCVD method can be used for fabricating superlattice structures consisting of ultra thin SiNXlayers (< 2 nm).


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Benjamin Hahn ◽  
Paul M. Dietrich ◽  
Jörg Radnik

AbstractIonizing radiation damage to DNA plays a fundamental role in cancer therapy. X-ray photoelectron-spectroscopy (XPS) allows simultaneous irradiation and damage monitoring. Although water radiolysis is essential for radiation damage, all previous XPS studies were performed in vacuum. Here we present near-ambient-pressure XPS experiments to directly measure DNA damage under water atmosphere. They permit in-situ monitoring of the effects of radicals on fully hydrated double-stranded DNA. The results allow us to distinguish direct damage, by photons and secondary low-energy electrons (LEE), from damage by hydroxyl radicals or hydration induced modifications of damage pathways. The exposure of dry DNA to x-rays leads to strand-breaks at the sugar-phosphate backbone, while deoxyribose and nucleobases are less affected. In contrast, a strong increase of DNA damage is observed in water, where OH-radicals are produced. In consequence, base damage and base release become predominant, even though the number of strand-breaks increases further.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document