X-ray diffraction platform

X-ray Diffraction (XRD) is a powerful non-destructive technique for characterizing crystalline materials in many different solid materials (organic, inorganic, and metallorganic). While most other analytical techniques provide elemental or molecular information from a sample, XRD is unique in providing a wide range of information on structures, crystalline phases, lattice parameters preferred crystal orientations, and other structural parameters such as, particle size, strain, stress, and crystal defects. The ICN2 x-ray diffraction facility is dedicated to support the research activities of ICN2 groups, the surrounding research community or private companies. The facility has the suitable equipment and knowledge for dealing with nanopowders and thin films materials. Samples usually come from the fields of Chemistry, Physics, and Material Science. The XRD facility is equipped with two versatile and advanced Malvern PANalytical diffractometers: a Multipurpose Diffractometer (MPD) for powder materials and a Materials Research Diffractometer (MRD) for thin films. The instruments allow to perform routinary powder analysis and phase identification, to more sophisticated measurements, including grazing angle diffraction, X-ray reflectometry, diffuse scattering studies in nanopowders (SAXS), high-resolution analysis and reciprocal space mapping in epitaxial films, in-plane diffraction, as well as diffraction under non-ambient conditions (High temperature and controlled atmosphere).