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Probing the structure of heterogeneous diluted materials by diffraction tomography

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 468–472 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The advent of nanosciences calls for the development of local structural probes, in particular to characterize ill-ordered or heterogeneous materials. Furthermore, because materials properties are often related to their heterogeneity and the hierarchical arrangement of their structure, different structural probes covering a wide range of scales are required1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23. X-ray diffraction is one of the prime structural methods but suffers from a relatively poor detection limit, whereas transmission electron analysis involves destructive sample preparation. Here we show the potential of coupling pencil-beam tomography with X-ray diffraction to examine unidentified phases in nanomaterials and polycrystalline materials. The demonstration is carried out on a high-pressure pellet containing several carbon phases24 and on a heterogeneous powder containing chalcedony and iron pigments. The present method enables a non-invasive structural refinement with a weight sensitivity of one part per thousand. It enables the extraction of the scattering patterns of amorphous and crystalline compounds with similar atomic densities and compositions. Furthermore, such a diffraction-tomography experiment can be carried out simultaneously with X-ray fluorescence, Compton and absorption tomographies6, enabling a multimodal analysis of prime importance in materials science, chemistry, geology, environmental science, medical science, palaeontology and cultural heritage.

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Figure 1: Diffraction–tomography direct analysis.
Figure 2: Diffraction–tomography reverse analysis.
Figure 3: Diffraction–tomography set-up for a multimodal analysis.
Figure 4: Phase-selective powder patterns and images.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank M. Nunez-Regueiro and L. Marques for sample synthesis, discussions and suggestions. The authors are also grateful to R. Tucoulou, S. Labouré, C. Guilloud, M. Soulier, Y. Dabin, C. Nemoz, J.-C. Labiche, A. Sole and the support groups of the ESRF for their help during experiments. This study was funded by grants from ESRF (LTP CH-1777).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France

    Pierre Bleuet & Jean Susini

  2. Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, CNRS-UMR 171, Palais du Louvre, 14, quai François Mitterrand 75001 Paris, France

    Eléonore Welcomme & Philippe Walter

  3. Institut Néel, UPR 2940, CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier, 25 avenue des Martyrs, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Eric Dooryhée & Jean-Louis Hodeau

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  1. Pierre Bleuet
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Correspondence to Jean-Louis Hodeau.

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Bleuet, P., Welcomme, E., Dooryhée, E. et al. Probing the structure of heterogeneous diluted materials by diffraction tomography. Nature Mater 7, 468–472 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2168

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