An EXAFS signal is given by the photoelectron scattering generated for the center atom. The phase of the signal is determinate by the distance and the path the photoelectrons travel. A simple scheme of the different paths is shown by
[link] . In the case of two shells around the centered atom, there is a degeneracy of four for the path between the main atom to the first shell, a degeneracy of four for the path between the main atom to the second shell, and a degeneracy of eight for the path between the main atom to the first shell, to the second one and to the center atom.
The analysis of EXAFS spectra is accomplished using Fourier transformation to fit the data to the EXAFS equation. The EXAFS equation is a sum of the contribution from all scattering paths of the photoelectrons
[link] , where each path is given by
[link] .
The terms
Feffi (k), φ
i (k), and
λi (k) are the effective scattering amplitude of the photoelectron, the phase shift of the photoelectron, and the mean free path of the photoelectron, respectively. The term
R
i is the half path length of the photoelectron (the distance between the centered atom and a coordinating atom for a single-scattering event). And the
k2 is given by the
[link] . The remaining variables are frequently determined by modeling the EXAFS spectrum.
Xafs analysis for arsenic adsorption onto iron oxides
The absorption of arsenic species onto iron oxide offers n example of the information that can be obtained by EXAFS. Because the huge impact that the presence of arsenic in water can produce in societies there is a lot of research in the adsorption of arsenic in several kinds of materials, in particular nano materials. Some of the materials more promising for this kind of applications are iron oxides. The elucidation of the mechanism of arsenic coordination onto the surfaces of those materials has been studied lately using X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
There are several ways how arsenate (AsO
43− ,
[link] ) can be adsorbed onto the surfaces.
[link] shows the three ways that Sherman proposes arsenate can be adsorbed onto goethite (α-FeOOH): bidentate cornersharing (2C), bidentate edge sharing (2E) and monodentate corner-sharing (1V) shapes.
[link] shows that the bidentate corner sharing (2C) is the configuration that corresponds with the calculated parameters not only for goethite, but for several iron oxides.
Several studies have confirmed that the bidentate corner sharing (2C) is the one present in the arsenate adsorption but also one similar, a tridentate corner sharing complex (3C), for the arsenite adsorption onto most of iron oxides as shows
[link] .
[link] shows the coordination numbers and distances reported in the literature for the As(III) and As(V) onto goethite.
As
CNAs-O
RAs-O(Å)
CNAs-Fe
RAs-Fe(Å)
III
3.06±0.03
1.79±0.8
2.57±0.01
3.34±3
3.19
1.77±1
1.4
3.34±5
3
1.78
2
3.55±5
V
1.03.0
1.631.70
2
3.30
4.6
1.68
--
3.55±5
Coordination numbers (CN) and inter-atomic distances (R) reported in the literature for the As(III) and As(V) adsorption onto goethite.
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