TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B. P. A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Spencer, J. A1 - Carmona-Carmona, A. J. A1 - Bushell, A. A1 - Herrara-Gómez, A. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Thissen, A. A1 - Thomas, A.G. A1 - Britton, A.J. A1 - Bernasik, A. A1 - Fuchs, A. A1 - Baddorf, A. P. A1 - Bock, B. A1 - Thellacker, B. A1 - Cheng, B. A1 - Castner, D.G. A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Valley, D. A1 - Willneff, E.A. A1 - Smith, E.F. A1 - Nolot, E. A1 - Xie, F. A1 - Zorn, G. A1 - Smith, G.C. A1 - Yasukufu, H. A1 - Fenton, J. L. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Counsell, J..D.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Gaskell, K.J. A1 - Artyushkova, K. A1 - Yang, L. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Eguchi, M. A1 - Walker, M. A1 - Hajdyla, M. A1 - Marzec, M.M. A1 - Linford, M.R. A1 - Kubota, N. A1 - Cartazar-Martínez, O. A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Satoh, R. A1 - Schroeder, S.L.M. A1 - Avval, T.G. A1 - Nagatomi, T. A1 - Fernandez, V. A1 - Lake, W. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Yoshikawa, Y. A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene N2 - We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (<90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼4.9% and ±8.8%, respectively; low pass energy spectra perform worse than the global average, in terms of systematic deviations, due to diminished count rates and signal-to-noise ratio. Differences in absolute offset are attributed to the surface roughness of the LDPE induced by sample preparation. We further assess the usability of LDPE as a secondary reference material and comment on its performance in the presence of issues such as variable dark noise, x-ray warm up times, inaccuracy at low count rates, and underlying spectrometer problems. In response to participant feedback and the results of the study, we provide an updated LDPE intensity calibration protocol to address the issues highlighted in the interlaboratory study. We also comment on the lack of implementation of a consistent and traceable intensity calibration method across the community of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) users and, therefore, propose a route to achieving this with the assistance of instrument manufacturers, metrology laboratories, and experts leading to an international standard for XPS intensity scale calibration. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Transmission function KW - Intensity scale calibration KW - Reference spectra KW - Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000577 VL - 38 IS - 6 SP - 063208 AN - OPUS4-51655 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bates, J. S. A1 - Martinez, J. J. A1 - Hall, M. N. A1 - Al-Omari, A. A. A1 - Murphy, E. A1 - Zeng, Y. A1 - Luo, F. A1 - Primbs, M. A1 - Menga, D. A1 - Bibent, N. A1 - Sougrati, M. T. A1 - Wagner, F. E. A1 - Atanassov, P. A1 - Wu, G. A1 - Strasser, P. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Jaouen, F. A1 - Root, T. W. A1 - Stahl, S. S. T1 - Chemical Kinetic Method for Active-Site Quantification in Fe-N‑C Catalysts and Correlation with Molecular Probe and Spectroscopic Site-Counting Methods N2 - Mononuclear Fe ions ligated by nitrogen (FeNx) dispersed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) serve as active centers for electrocatalytic O2 reduction and thermocatalytic aerobic oxidations. Despite their promise as replacements for precious metals in a variety of practical applications, such as fuel cells, the discovery of new Fe-N-C catalysts has relied primarily on empirical approaches. In this context, the development of quantitative structure−reactivity relationships and benchmarking of catalysts prepared by different synthetic routes and by different laboratories would be facilitated by the broader adoption of methods to quantify atomically dispersed FeNx active centers. In this study, we develop a kinetic probe reaction method that uses the aerobic oxidation of a model hydroquinone substrate to quantify the density of FeNx centers in Fe-N-C catalysts. The kinetic method is compared with low-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy, CO pulse chemisorption, and electrochemical reductive stripping of NO derived from NO2 − on a suite of Fe-N-C catalysts prepared by diverse routes and featuring either the exclusive presence of Fe as FeNx sites or the coexistence of aggregated Fe species in addition to FeNx. The FeNx site densities derived from the kinetic method correlate well with those obtained from CO pulse chemisorption and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The broad survey of Fe-N-C materials also reveals the presence of outliers and challenges associated with each site quantification approach. The kinetic method developed here does not require pretreatments that may alter active-site distributions or specialized equipment beyond reaction vessels and standard analytical instrumentation. KW - Active-Site Quantification PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c08790 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-58889 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B. P. A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Spencer, S.J. A1 - Carmona-Carmona, A. J. A1 - Bushell, A. A1 - Herrara-Gómez, A. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Thissen, A. A1 - Thomas, A.G. A1 - Britton, A.J. A1 - Bernasik, A. A1 - Fuchs, A. A1 - Baddorf, A.P. A1 - Bock, B. A1 - Thellacker, B. A1 - Cheng, B. A1 - Castner, D.G. A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Valley, D. A1 - Willneff, E.A. A1 - Smith, E.P. A1 - Nolot, E. A1 - Xie, F. A1 - Zorn, G. A1 - Smith, G.C. A1 - Yasukufu, H. A1 - Fenton, J.L. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Counsell, J.D.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Gaskell, K.J. A1 - Artyushkova, K. A1 - Yang, L. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Eguchi, M. A1 - Walker, M. A1 - Hajdyla, M. A1 - Marzec, M.M. A1 - Linford, M.R. A1 - Kubota, N. A1 - Cortazar-Martinez, O. A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Satoh, R. A1 - Schroeder, S.L.M. A1 - Avval, T.G. A1 - Nagatomi, T. A1 - Fernandez, V. A1 - Lake, W. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Yoshikawa, Y. A1 - Compean-Gonzalez, C.L. A1 - Ceccone, G. A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - ERRATUM: “Versailles project on advanced materials and standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene” [J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 38, 063208 (2020)] N2 - The lead authors failed to name two collaborators as co-authors. The authors listed should include: Miss Claudia L. Compean-Gonzalez (ORCID: 0000-0002-2367-8450) and Dr. Giacomo Ceccone (ORCID: 0000-0003-4637-0771). These co-authors participated in VAMAS project A27, provided data that were analyzed and presented in this publication (and supporting information), and reviewed the manuscript before submission. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Transmission function KW - Low-density polyethylene PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000907 VL - 39 IS - 2 SP - 027001 PB - American Vacuum Society AN - OPUS4-52380 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kim, K.J. A1 - Kim, C.S. A1 - Ruh, S. W. A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Mata-Salazar, J. A1 - Juarez-Garcia, J.M. A1 - Cortazar-Martinez, O. A1 - Herrera-Gomez, A. A1 - Hansen, P.E. A1 - Madesen, J.S. A1 - Senna, C.A. A1 - Archanjo, B.S. A1 - Damasceno, J.C. A1 - Achete, C.A. A1 - Wang, H. A1 - Wang, M. A1 - Windover, D. A1 - Steel, E. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Fujimoto, T. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Terauchi, S. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Jordaan, W.A. A1 - Spencer, S.J. A1 - Shard, A.G. A1 - Koenders, L. A1 - Krumrey, M. A1 - Busch, I. A1 - Jeynes, C. T1 - Thickness measurement of nm HfO2 films N2 - A pilot study for the thickness measurement of HfO2 films was performed by the Surface Analysis Working Group (SAWG) of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance (CCQM). The aim of this pilot study was to ensure the equivalency in the measurement capability of national metrology institutes for the thickness measurement of HfO2 films. In this pilot study, the thicknesses of six HfO2 films with nominal thickness from 1 nm to 4 nm were measured by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Reflectometry(XRR), X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (XRF), Transmission Electron Spectroscopy (TEM), Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). The reference thicknesses were determined by mutual calibration of a zero-offset method (Medium Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (MEIS) of KRISS) and a method traceable to the length unit (the average thicknesses of three XRR data except the thinnest film). These reference thicknesses are traceable to the length unit because they are based on the traceability of XRR. For the thickness measurement by XPS, the effective attenuation length of Hf 4f electrons was determined. In the cases of XRR and TEM, the offset values were determined from a linear fitting between the reference thicknesses and the individual data by XRR and TEM. The amount of substance of HfO2, expressed as thickness of HfO2 films (in both linear and areal density units), was found to be a good subject for a CCQM key comparison. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM. KW - Thickness measurements KW - nm films KW - X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy KW - Mutual calibration PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/0026-1394/58/1A/08016 SN - 0026-1394 VL - 58 IS - 1a SP - 08016 PB - IOP Publishing Lt. CY - Bristol AN - OPUS4-54175 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Preiss, J. A1 - Kage, Daniel A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Martínez, T. J. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Presselt, M. T1 - Ab initio prediction of fluorescence lifetimes involving solvent environments by means of COSMO and vibrational broadening N2 - The fluorescence lifetime is a key property of fluorophores that can be utilized for microenvironment probing, analyte sensing, and multiplexing as well as barcoding applications. For the rational design of lifetime probes and barcodes, theoretical methods have been developed to enable the ab initio prediction of this parameter, which depends strongly on interactions with solvent molecules and other chemical species in the emitters' immediate environment. In this work, we investigate how a conductor-like screening model (COSMO) can account for variations in fluorescence lifetimes that are caused by such fluorophore−solvent interactions. Therefore, we calculate vibrationally broadened fluorescence spectra using the nuclear ensemble method to obtain distorted molecular geometries to sample the electronic transitions with time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The influence of the solvent on fluorescence lifetimes is accounted for with COSMO. For example, for 4-hydroxythiazole fluorophore containing different heteroatoms and acidic and basic moieties in aprotic and protic solvents of varying polarity, this approach was compared to experimentally determined lifetimes in the same solvents. Our results demonstrate a good correlation between theoretically predicted and experimentally measured fluorescence lifetimes except for the polar solvents Ethanol and acetonitrile that can specifically interact with the heteroatoms and the carboxylic acid of the thiazole derivative. KW - Fluorescence lifetime KW - Ab initio calculation KW - COSMO KW - Conductor-like screening model PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.8b08886 SN - 1089-5639 SN - 1520-5215 VL - 122 IS - 51 SP - 9813 EP - 9820 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-47177 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feng, W. A1 - Gemming, T. A1 - Giebeler, L. A1 - Qu, J. A1 - Weinel, Kristina A1 - Agudo Jácome, Leonardo A1 - Büchner, B. A1 - Gonzalez-Martinez, I. T1 - Influence of magnetic field on electron beam-induced Coulomb explosion of gold microparticles in transmission electron microscopy N2 - In this work we instigated the fragmentation of Au microparticles supported on a thin amorphous carbon film by irradiating them with a gradually convergent electron beam inside the Transmission Electron Microscope. This phenomenon has been generically labeled as ‘‘electron beam-induced fragmentation’’ or EBIF and its physical origin remains contested. On the one hand, EBIF has been primarily characterized as a consequence of beam-induced heating. On the other, EBIF has been attributed to beam-induced charging eventually leading to Coulomb explosion. To test the feasibility of the charging framework for EBIF, we instigated the fragmentation of Au particles under two different experimental conditions. First, with the magnetic objective lens of the microscope operating at full capacity, i.e. background magnetic field 𝐵 = 2 T, and with the magnetic objective lens switched off (Lorenz mode), i.e. 𝐵 = 0 T. We observe that the presence or absence of the magnetic field noticeably affects the critical current density at which EBIF occurs. This strongly suggests that magnetic field effects play a crucial role in instigating EBIF on the microparticles. The dependence of the value of the critical current density on the absence or presence of an ambient magnetic field cannot be accounted for by the beam-induced heating model. Consequently, this work presents robust experimental evidence suggesting that Coulomb explosion driven by electrostatic charging is the root cause of EBIF. KW - Electron beam-induced fragmentation KW - Coulomb explosion KW - X-ray diffraction KW - Lorenz transmission electron microscopy KW - Electron beam-induced charging PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-600170 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113978 VL - 262 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-60017 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -