%0 Journal Article
%T Towards atomic resolution in sodium titanate nanotubes using near-edge X-ray-absorption fine-structure spectromicroscopy combined with multichannel multiple-scattering calculations
%A Carla Bittencourt
%A Peter Kr¨ıger
%A Maureen J. Lagos
%A Xiaoxing Ke
%J Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
%D 2012
%I 
%R 10.3762/bjnano.3.88
%X Recent advances in near-edge X-ray-absorption fine-structure spectroscopy coupled with transmission X-ray microscopy (NEXAFS¨CTXM) allow large-area mapping investigations of individual nano-objects with spectral resolution up to E/Ĥ¤E = 104 and spatial resolution approaching 10 nm. While the state-of-the-art spatial resolution of X-ray microscopy is limited by nanostructuring process constrains of the objective zone plate, we show here that it is possible to overcome this through close coupling with high-level theoretical modelling. Taking the example of isolated bundles of hydrothermally prepared sodium titanate nanotubes ((Na,H)TiNTs) we are able to unravel the complex nanoscale structure from the NEXAFS¨CTXM data using multichannel multiple-scattering calculations, to the extent of being able to associate specific spectral features in the O K-edge and Ti L-edge with oxygen atoms in distinct sites within the lattice. These can even be distinguished from the contribution of different hydroxyl groups to the electronic structure of the (Na,H)TiNTs.
%K multichannel multiple scattering
%K nanotubes
%K NEXAFS
%K sodium titanates
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.3.88