The incident X-rays are deflected and scattered by the sample when it is treated with X-rays, resulting in intricate patterns. X-ray scattering technology analyzes the sample's intensity, scattering angle, polarization, wavelength, and/or energy changes to expose the sample's structure, element, and atomic information. X-rays are scattered by electrons in the sample, therefore the more electrons there are, the more scattered they are. This means that heavier materials with a lot of electrons are usually good candidates for scattering investigations.
X-rays can be elastically scattered at varying angles by different samples, and the angle of dispersed X-rays can reveal diverse sample information. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) examines elastic X-ray scattering at a very small angle (often 0.1-10°), whereas wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) examines elastic X-ray scattering at a larger angle (typically ＞ 10°).
Varying sample information can be collected with different resolutions by detecting X-rays dispersed from different angles: SAXS has nanometer resolution, whereas WAXS has atomic resolution. As a result, SAXS is typically employed to examine the sample's larger-scale general microstructure, whereas WAXS is more akin to X-ray diffraction and can observe atomic details. SAXS and WAXS can be done simultaneously and are easily interchangeable because they only need shifting the detector and sample closer or farther apart.
X-ray scattering can be used on a variety of samples, including repeating crystals, novel materials, and polymers. These non-destructive techniques are widely used in conjunction with X-ray microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy to probe samples. X-ray scattering can be used to determine sample size, general shape, size and shape distribution of molecules in the sample, porosity, morphology, and orientation, among other things.
The analytical laboratory at Alfa Chemistry features a lot of X-ray diffraction equipment. Here are a few of the highlights. Please contact Alfa Chemistry for further information about our X-Ray and Light Scattering Facilities.
Light Scattering Instrument
Alfa Chemistry has many instruments that can be used to characterize the shape, size, and interaction of particles in solution, such as radius of gyration, hydrodynamic diameter, molecular weight, second virial coefficient, and zeta potential. Malvern Zetasizer for dynamic light scattering and zeta potential, Malvern Nanosight for hydrodynamic diameter and particle concentration, and Brookhaven light scattering for dynamic or static light scattering for Mw, Rg, and A2 are examples of related instrument facilities.
Anton Paar SAXSpoint
This is the latest generation of point collimation benchtop SAXS device, which uses the latest improvements in X-ray tube and detector technology to increase intensity by an order of magnitude while lowering the minimum q. Benchtop experiments, such as dynamics and grazing incidence SAXS, are also possible using SAXSpoint. Previously, this could only be done on the synchrotron SAXS line.
Anton Paar SAXSess
A copper X-ray source with two vacuum beam lines is used in the instrument: a point collimated beam line with a CCD camera with aq range of 0.27% nm-1, and a line collimated beam line with a Mythen detector. The aq range of the beamline is 0.057 nm-1. Both beam lines can be extended to q = 40 nm-1 by employing the wide-angle scattering accessory. Both beam lines can handle a wide variety of samples, including liquids, solutions, pastes, powders, gels, and solids.
Concentrated micelle solutions, liquid crystals, organic and inorganic particle suspensions, polymers, gels, pastes, ionic liquids, and mesoporous materials are all studied using the collimated beam line. For weak scattering samples, the collimated beam line is ideal. It's mainly used to research polymer solutions.
