TY - JOUR A1 - Chemello, Giovanni A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Reed, B.P. A1 - Pollard, A.J. A1 - Clifford, C.A. A1 - Howe, T. A1 - Vyas, N. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Radnik, Jörg T1 - Influence of the Morphology on the Functionalization of Graphene Nanoplatelets Analyzed by Comparative Photoelectron Spectroscopy with Soft and Hard X-Rays JF - Advance Materials Interfaces N2 - Since its isolation, graphene has received growing attention from academia and industry due to its unique properties. However, the “what is my material” barrier hinders further commercialization. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is considered as a method of choice for the determination of the elemental and chemical composition. In this work the influence of the morphology of graphene particles on the XPS results is studied and investigated as a function of X-ray energy, using conventional XPS with Al K𝜶 radiation and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) using Cr K𝜶 radiation. Thereby, the information depth is varied between 10 and 30 nm. For this purpose, two commercial powders containing graphene nanoplatelets with lateral dimensions of either ≈100 nm or in the micrometer range are compared. These larger ones exist as stack of graphene layers which is inspected with scanning electron microscopy. Both kinds of particles are then functionalized with either oxygen or fluorine. The size of the graphene particles is found to influence the degree of functionalization. Only the combination of XPS and HAXPES allows to detect the functionalization at the outermost surface of the particles or even of the stacks and to provide new insights into the functionalization process. KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-578860 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202300116 SN - 2196-7350 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley VCH AN - OPUS4-57886 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Shard, A.G. A1 - Clifford, C.A. T1 - Composition, thickness, and homogeneity of the coating of core–shell nanoparticles—possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy JF - Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry N2 - Core–shell nanoparticles have attracted much attention in recent years due to their unique properties and their increasing importance in many technological and consumer products. However, the chemistry of nanoparticles is still rarely investigated in comparison to their size and morphology. In this review, the possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for obtaining more insights into the composition, thickness, and homogeneity of nanoparticle coatings are discussed with four examples: CdSe/CdS quantum dots with a thick coating and a small core; NaYF4-based upconverting nanoparticles with a large Yb-doped core and a thin Er-doped coating; and two types of polymer nanoparticles with a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) core with either a poly(methyl methacrylate) or polystyrene coating. Different approaches for calculating the thickness of the coating are presented, like a simple numerical modelling or a more complex simulation of the photoelectron peaks. Additionally, modelling of the XPS background for the investigation of coating is discussed. Furthermore, the new possibilities to measure with varying excitation energies or with hard-energy X-ray sources (hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) are described. A discussion about the sources of uncertainty for the determination of the thickness of the coating completes this review. KW - X-ray spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticles KW - Spectroscopy / Instrumentation KW - Spectroscopy / Theory PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548305 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04057-9 VL - 414 IS - 15 SP - 4331 EP - 4345 PB - SpringerNature AN - OPUS4-54830 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -