Characterizing crystalline defects in single nanoparticles from angular correlations of single-shot diffracted X-rays

Akinobu Niozu (1, 2) , Yoshiaki Kumagai (3, 4) , Toshiyuki Nishiyama (1, 2) , Hironobu Fukuzawa (2, 3) , Koji Motomura (3) , Maximilian Bucher (4) , Kazuki Asa (1, 2) , Yuhiro Sato (1, 2) , Yuta Ito (3) , Tsukasa Takanashi (3) , Daehyun You (3) , Taishi Ono (3) , Yiwen Li (3) , Edwin Kukk (5) , Catalin Miron (6) , Liviu Neagu , Carlo Callegari , Michele Di Fraia , Giorgio Rossi , Davide Galli , Tommaso Pincelli , Alessandro Colombo , Shigeki Owada , Kensuke Tono (7) , Takashi Kameshima (7) , Yasumasa Joti (7) , Tetsuo Katayama (7) , Tadashi Togashi (7) , Makina Yabashi (2) , Kazuhiro Matsuda (1) , Kiyonobu Nagaya (1, 2) , Christoph Bostedt (4) , Kiyoshi Ueda (2, 3)

1 DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, KYOTO UNIVERSITY - Department of Physics, Kyoto University
2 RIKEN RSC - RIKEN SPring-8 Center [Hyogo]
3 Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials
4 Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division [Argonne]
5 University of Turku
6 LIDYL - Laboratoire Interactions, Dynamiques et Lasers (ex SPAM)
7 JASRI - Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute [Hyogo]

Characterizing and controlling the uniformity of nanoparticles is crucial for their application in science and technology because crystalline defects in the nanoparticles strongly affect their unique properties. Recently, ultra-short and ultra-bright X-ray pulses provided by X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) opened up the possibility of structure determination of nanometre-scale matter with Å spatial resolution. However, it is often difficult to reconstruct the 3D structural information from single-shot X-ray diffraction patterns owing to the random orientation of the particles. This report proposes an analysis approach for characterizing defects in nanoparticles using wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) data from free-flying single nanoparticles. The analysis method is based on the concept of correlated X-ray scattering, in which correlations of scattered X-ray are used to recover detailed structural information. WAXS experiments of xenon nanoparticles, or clusters, were conducted at an XFEL facility in Japan by using the SPring-8 Ångstrom compact free-electron laser (SACLA). Bragg spots in the recorded single-shot X-ray diffraction patterns showed clear angular correlations, which offered significant structural information on the nanoparticles. The experimental angular correlations were reproduced by numerical simulation in which kinematical theory of diffraction was combined with geometric calculations. We also explain the diffuse scattering intensity as being due to the stacking faults in the xenon clusters.

Domaines: Chimie théorique et/ou physique; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]

Akinobu Niozu, Yoshiaki Kumagai, Toshiyuki Nishiyama, Hironobu Fukuzawa, Koji Motomura, et al.. Characterizing crystalline defects in single nanoparticles from angular correlations of single-shot diffracted X-rays. International Union of Crystallography journal, 2020, 7 (2), pp.276-286. ⟨10.1107/S205225252000144X⟩. ⟨cea-02948178⟩