[PDF]     https://doi.org/10.3952/physics.2025.65.4.6

Open access article / Atviros prieigos straipsnis
 
Lith. J. Phys. 65, 236–247 (2025)
 

SURFACE ANALYSIS OF CARBON ALLOTROPES
Saulius Kaciulis
Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials, ISMN – CNR, PO Box 10, 00015 Monterotondo Scalo (RM), Italy
Email: saulius.kaciulis@cnr.it

Received 30 October 2025; accepted 3 December 2025

The spectroscopy of carbon is very important in surface analysis of solids, because its content indicates the grade of surface contamination. Adventitious carbon from air ambient is practically present on any solid material and the C 1s photoelectron spectrum is often used as a reference for the scale calibration of binding energy. Moreover, during the last two decades, new 2D carbon materials have been developed and intensively investigated: graphene, fullerenes, nanotubes and nanowalls, quantum dots, etc. Also, the growing applications of amorphous carbon (a-C), e.g. diamond-like carbon (DLC), carbon quantum dots (CQDs), etc., require the characterization of these materials. This short overview is dedicated to the analysis of new carbon-based materials by widely used surface-sensitive techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The combination of XPS and AES techniques permits one to investigate the electron hybridization in carbon materials, i.e. to determine the ratio of sp2/sp3 configurations, which defines their main mechanical, electrical and optical properties. In addition, it was demonstrated that the same experimental approach could be successfully used for the investigation of bulk composite materials containing 2D carbon, e.g. graphene or nanotubes.
Keywords: carbon electron hybridization, 2D carbon, XPS, AES


ANGLIES ALOTROPŲ PAVIRŠIAUS ANALIZĖ
Saulius Kačiulis
Nanostruktūrinių medžiagų tyrimų institutas, Monterotondo Scalo (RM), Italija
 
Anglies spektroskopija yra labai svarbi kietųjų kūnų paviršiaus analizėje, nes anglies kiekis nusako paviršiaus užterštumo laipsnį. Anglis, kaip teršalas iš oro aplinkos, yra praktiškai randama ant bet kokio kietojo kūno, o C 1s fotoelektroninis spektras dažnai naudojamas elektronų ryšio energijos skalės kalibravimui. Be to, per pastaruosius du dešimtmečius buvo sukurtos ir intensyviai tyrinėtos naujos dvimatės anglies medžiagos: grafenas, fulerenai, nanovamzdeliai bei nanosienelės, kvantiniai taškai ir kt. Didėjant amorfinės anglies (a-C) praktiniam pritaikymui, pvz., deimantinės anglies (DLC), anglies kvantinių taškų (CQDs) ir kt., būtinas šių medžiagų charakterizavimas. Ši trumpa apžvalga skirta naujų anglimi pagrįstų medžiagų analizei, naudojant paviršiui jautrius metodus: Rentgeno spindulių fotoelektroninę spektroskopiją (XPS) ir Ožė elektroninę spektroskopiją (AES). XPS ir AES technikų derinys leidžia tyrinėti elektronų hibridizaciją anglies medžiagose, t. y. leidžia nustatyti sp2/sp3 konfigūracijų santykį, kuris apibrėžia pagrindines jų mechanines, elektrines ir optines savybes. Papildomai buvo pademonstruota, kad toks pat eksperimentinis požiūris gali būti sėkmingai taikomas trimatėms kompozicinėms medžiagoms su dvimate anglimi, pvz., su grafenu arba nanovamzdeliais.


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