Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Abstract

Many physical and chemical properties of nanostructured materials depend on surfaces and interfaces. A powerful method to investigate inorganic or organic thin films and also the surface of semiconductor nanocrystals is X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), where incident X-rays lead to the emission of photoelectrons from a sample. Due to the short path length which the electrons can travel in matter without scattering, detecting photoelectrons probes the surface properties of the sample. XPS experiments can be performed with classical X-ray tubes, but also with the use of synchrotron radiation. In particular the latter can reveal detailed information such as the local environment of elements at the surface of a sample, because synchrotron XPS can usually be performed with significantly improved resolution. In this chapter different possibilities to perform photoemission experiments and the different kinds of obtainable information are shortly reviewed. Thereby, the discussion focuses mainly on the characterization of semiconductor nanocrystals. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.