Seminars Archive

New Developments in Understanding XPS

Abstract
X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS, has a great potential for providing information about the electronic structure of matter. However, it is common to focus on the binding energies, and binding energy shifts for main and satellite peaks to interpret the XPS spectra. We present evidence for new properties and new ways to understand and relate these properties to the chemistry of the states involved. We show the contribution of vibrational excitations to the broadening of XPS features, often observed for metal oxides, and we show how to relate this broadening to the chemical interactions in oxides. We also demonstrate the covalent character of metal-ligand interactions and show that these covalent interactions provide a unified way to understand satellites and their properties.