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Mössbauer Spectroscopy Group

Mössbauer Spectroscopy Group

What is Mössbauer spectroscopy and how can it help you?

Mössbauer Spectroscopy Group

Key to the success of the technique is the discovery of recoilless gamma ray emission and absorption, now referred to as the 'Mössbauer Effect', after its discoverer Rudolph Mössbauer, who first observed the effect in 1957 and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1961 for his work. Mössbauer spectroscopy uses the Mössbauer effect to measure the minute differences between the hyperfine interactions of a probe nucleus in one solid material (eg an element present in your sample) with that in another solid (eg the same element in a reference material with known structure and properties). The extreme sensitivity of the technique allows us to probe these minute differences and by analysing the differences between the sample and the reference material, to extract the following types of information on specific probe ions

  • Oxidation state/s and abundances, eg Fe0, Fe2+, Fe3+, Fe4+
  • Coordination, eg tetrahedral, octahedral, etc
  • Local structural environment/s
  • Range of site occupancies

Typical Mössbauer probe ions are Fe and Sn so if your sample contains Fe or Sn it can be analysed using Mössbauer spectroscopy. Other Mössbauer probe ions also exist although their measurement can be difficult. Mössbauer spectroscopy is particularly powerful when used in conjunction with other, complementary techniques. Materials that we have studied at Sheffield Hallam University using Mössbauer spectroscopy include

Image:57Fe Mössbauer spectra recorded from 6H-BaFeO2F ceramic at temperatures above ambient temperature, Oliver Clemens, José F Marco, Michael F Thomas, Susan D Forder, Hongbin Zhang, Simon Cartenet, Anais Monze, Paul A Bingham, Peter R Slater and Frank J Berry, Magnetic interactions in cubic-, hexagonal and trigonal-barium iron oxide fluoride, BaFeO2F, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 28 (2016) 346001. Names of SHU Mössbauer group members are in bold.

Available Techniques

Room-temperature 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy

High-temperature 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy 293K to 600K

Low-temperature 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy 9K to 300 K

About Us

Mössbauer Spectroscopy has been used in research and teaching at Sheffield Hallam University for more than 30 years. During this time our Mössbauer projects have made valuable links with the aluminium, steel and nuclear industries and several Universities. The high energy resolution of the Mössbauer technique provides information about the nuclear energy levels in a diversity of studies that have included alloys, meteorites, catalysts, glasses and ceramics for waste immobilisation.

Mössbauer Spectroscopy Group

Please contact us to discuss your requirements. We can issue no-obligation quotations once we have discussed your needs and we also offer preferential rates for longer term analysis contracts.

For more information, please contact Dr Paul Bingham at 0114 225 6449 or p.a.bingham@shu.ac.uk

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