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Updated: Jul 16, 2026
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Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Single-crystal-like diffraction data from polycrystalline materials
Wessels1, Baerlocher, McCusker
1Laboratorium fur Kristallographie, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|April 16, 1999
Summary
A new powder diffraction method enables solving complex crystal structures, even for materials not growable as single crystals. This advance expands structural analysis capabilities for polycrystalline materials using synchrotron radiation.
Area of Science:
- Crystallography
- Materials Science
- Solid-State Chemistry
Background:
- Powder diffraction is crucial for analyzing polycrystalline materials.
- Solving complex crystal structures from powder data remains challenging.
- Limitations exist in determining structures of materials that cannot form large single crystals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for solving complex crystal structures using powder diffraction data.
- To demonstrate the method's validity on challenging structural problems.
- To expand the accessibility of structure determination for polycrystalline materials.
Main Methods:
- Utilized textured samples to enhance diffraction signal.
- Leveraged high-intensity, parallel synchrotron X-ray radiation.
- Applied a new structure solution approach to powder diffraction datasets.
Main Results:
- Successfully demonstrated the method on three complex structures.
- Solved the intricate structure of zeolite UTD-1 (69 non-hydrogen atoms) directly.
- Validated the potential to solve structures of similar complexity to single-crystal methods.
Conclusions:
- The developed powder diffraction method is effective for complex structure determination.
- This technique broadens the scope of structural analysis for materials lacking single crystals.
- Enables detailed structural insights into a wider range of polycrystalline substances.
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