Application of X-Ray Photoelectron
Spectroscopy in Materials for Energy
Conversion and Environmental
Remediation
Ankita Mathur, Ravinder Kaushik, and Aditi Halder
Abstract Sustainable development is the main aim of current economic scenario
throughout the world and to achieve such goal the utilization of renewable energy
and remediation of environmental pollutants are crucial. This requires development
of new and advanced materials which should have certain functionalities to accomplish the targeted performance. To identify such functionalities few characterization
tools are essential to material scientist. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is
one of such kind of tools which can identify both qualitatively and quantitatively the
presence of surface functionalities within the limits of detection. It not only informs
about the surface elemental composition, but also about the bonding pattern, oxidation state, vacancy formation, etc. XPS is based on the principle of photoelectric
effect. When low energy X-rays falls on the sample surface, electrons are subsequently ejected from the outer shell of the material. These ejected photoelectrons are
detected to gain information about the sample surface. The X-rays penetrate 10 nm
into the sample to investigate its properties. This article captures few of the application of XPS in exploring the chemical nature of important elements in energy storage
and energy conversion materials. The presence of different kinds of doping in 2Dgraphene structures, in the intercalated cations in the layered oxide materials can be
explored using XPS. The presence of defects and doping in transition metal oxide
can also be explored using XPS. Similarly, this article also cites how XPS can be used
to detect the mechanistic pathways of the pollutant degradation by photocatalysts.
The presence of miniscule amount of pollutant on the surface of photocatalysts could
only be identified by using XPS. Thus, this versatile tool has a huge capability to be
used an advanced characterisation tools both in situ and ex-situ.
A. Mathur
School of Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi 175005,
India
R. Kaushik · A. Halder (B)
School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi
175005, India
e-mail: aditi@iitmandi.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. K. Singh et al. (eds.), Modern Techniques of Spectroscopy, Progress in Optical Science
and Photonics 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6084-6_16
411
Spectroscopy in Materials for Energy
Conversion and Environmental
Remediation
Ankita Mathur, Ravinder Kaushik, and Aditi Halder
Abstract Sustainable development is the main aim of current economic scenario
throughout the world and to achieve such goal the utilization of renewable energy
and remediation of environmental pollutants are crucial. This requires development
of new and advanced materials which should have certain functionalities to accomplish the targeted performance. To identify such functionalities few characterization
tools are essential to material scientist. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is
one of such kind of tools which can identify both qualitatively and quantitatively the
presence of surface functionalities within the limits of detection. It not only informs
about the surface elemental composition, but also about the bonding pattern, oxidation state, vacancy formation, etc. XPS is based on the principle of photoelectric
effect. When low energy X-rays falls on the sample surface, electrons are subsequently ejected from the outer shell of the material. These ejected photoelectrons are
detected to gain information about the sample surface. The X-rays penetrate 10 nm
into the sample to investigate its properties. This article captures few of the application of XPS in exploring the chemical nature of important elements in energy storage
and energy conversion materials. The presence of different kinds of doping in 2Dgraphene structures, in the intercalated cations in the layered oxide materials can be
explored using XPS. The presence of defects and doping in transition metal oxide
can also be explored using XPS. Similarly, this article also cites how XPS can be used
to detect the mechanistic pathways of the pollutant degradation by photocatalysts.
The presence of miniscule amount of pollutant on the surface of photocatalysts could
only be identified by using XPS. Thus, this versatile tool has a huge capability to be
used an advanced characterisation tools both in situ and ex-situ.
A. Mathur
School of Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi 175005,
India
R. Kaushik · A. Halder (B)
School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Mandi
175005, India
e-mail: aditi@iitmandi.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D. K. Singh et al. (eds.), Modern Techniques of Spectroscopy, Progress in Optical Science
and Photonics 13, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6084-6_16
411