Electron Beam Damage Studies on 6-Line Ferrihydrite

Abstract

Electron energy loss near-edge structure (ELNES) combined with multiple linear least-square (MLLS) fitting and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern analysis has been used to study electron beam damage in 6-line ferrihydrite. Initially all iron is Fe3+ in octahedral coordination. Under increasing electron dose, an increasing percentage of octahedrally coordinated Fe3+ migrates to tetrahedral sites. When the dose exceeds 3 × 108 electrons/nm2, Fe2+ was found to be present in the material.