High-throughput analysis of molecular orientation on surfaces by NEXAFS imaging of curved sample arrays

Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy provides detailed information about the orientation and alignment of thin films. NEXAFS is a synchrotron-based technique-the availability of beam-time per user is typically limited to no more than a few weeks per year. The limited availability is currently a true barrier for using NEXAFS in combinatorial studies of molecular alignment. We have recently demonstrated how large area full field NEXAFS imaging allows users to pursue combinatorial studies of surface chemistry. Now we report an extension of this approach which allows the acquisition of orientation information from a single NEXAFS image. An array with 80 elements (samples), containing eight series of different surface modifications, was mounted on a curved substrate allowing the collection of NEXAFS spectra with a range of orientations with respect to the X-ray beam. Images collected from this array show how hyperspectral NEXAFS data collected from curved surfaces can be used for high-throughput molecular orientation analysis.