Abstract
It has been demonstrated that the X-ray pair distribution function (PDF) formalism allows for the identification of very small signal contributions in multi-component systems by the difference and double-difference PDF (dd-PDF) approach. Due to their stronger interaction with light elements compared to X-rays, neutrons are often beneficial or complementary for the characterization of modern materials. Here, it is demonstrated that the dd-PDF strategy previously developed for X-ray PDF data can successfully be applied to neutron PDF data despite much lower count rates compared to X-rays. The dd-PDF strategy was employed for the investigation of aqueous iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) dispersions. At the Near and InterMediate Range Order Diffractometer (NIMROD) at ISIS, the IONPs could even be investigated in pure water, whereas at the Nanoscale Ordered Materials Diffractometer (NOMAD) at SNS, heavy water had to be used, but additional information could be retrieved from modelling the data of IONP powder in the dry state and with adsorbed (heavy) water. The simple and robust approach can easily be adapted for the use in other multicomponent systems, like heterogenous catalysts or battery systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1843-1852 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Colloid and Polymer Science |
| Volume | 303 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2025 |
Funding
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. We gratefully acknowledge the Science and Technology Facilities Council for access to neutron beamtime at ISIS (RB1920266). A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oakridge National Laboratory. We acknowledge the beamtime allocation granted from SNS (25873.1).
Keywords
- Double-difference PDF
- NIMROD
- NOMAD
- Nanomaterials
- Neutron pair distribution function (PDF)