Overview

Overview

Single-crystal X-ray Diffraction, SXRD, is a non-destructive analytical technique which provides detailed information about the internal lattice of crystalline substances, including unit cell dimensions, bond-lengths, bond-angles, as well as site-ordering.

The data generated from the X-ray analysis is interpreted and refined to obtain the crystal structure by single-crystal refinement.  X-Rays are either transmitted through the crystal, reflected off the surface, or diffracted by the crystal lattice.  Diffracted rays at the correct orientation for the configuration are then collected by the detector.  Preferred size of crystals is between 100 nm and 200 nm.

Incoatec microfocus CuK α source (λ= 1.54178 Å) and Photon II detector. Due to the diameter of the incident beam (0.3 mm) the longest dimension of the crystal should be smaller than 0.3 mm. This setup is preferred for small crystals and crystals of compounds containing mostly light atoms (i.e. poorly diffracting organic compounds)

Main Applications

• Specific applications of single-crystal diffraction include:
  • New mineral identification, crystal solution and refinement
  • Determination of unit cell, bond-lengths, bond-angles and site-ordering
  • Characterization of cation-anion coordination
  • Variations in crystal lattice as function of chemical and physical environment