Chemical Analysis of Ternary Ti Oxides using Soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

We measured the O 1s and Ti 2p X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) spectra of a series of ternary Ti oxides. The spectra of A12TiO5 are compared to those of TiO2 and the physical mixture TiO2–Al2O3. The spectra reflect important differences in the electronic structure caused by changes in the chemical bonding. It is also shown that XAS can be used to distinguish a true compound like Al2TiO5 from a stoichiometric mixture like TiO2–Al2O3. The differences in the spectra of NiTiO3, SrTiO3, BaTiO3 and PbTiO3 are discussed in terms of the different chemical environment and the local coordination. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.