Dear colleague,

When reading your question, I am not sure, if I understood your question rightly.

From my understanding, the deconvolution of a specific signal (Ti or Zn) should reveal different sub-signals related to different chemical environments. All of these different peaks contribute to the unresolved main signal (Ti or Zn) as defined by the binding energy in the spectrum. You may find individual sub-signals (call them peaks) for Ti-O, metallic Ti, and Ti-C, having different shares of the unresolved peak envelope.You will find examples for this in the papers of the ESCA group of Durham University or other literature.

Best wishes,

Heinrich

Hi Ashiru,

It's difficult to answer with 100% accuracy without seeing the data - I'd strongly advise sitting with someone experienced in XPS, who you trust with your raw data, to understand the answer. As Heinrich noted above it's not 100% clear what the question is, but my understanding is that you've collected data, already used some analysis software to deconvolute the raw data into sub-components.

Are all the individual components counted for quantification of an element? Yes, but do be careful. As Heinrich correctly notes above, if you want the correct quantification for total titanium in the sample then including all of the components is critical: Ti(0), Ti-O, Ti-C etc. Bear in mind two simple practical things that are easy to get wrong depending on the analysis software, spectrometer and RSF (sensitivity factor library) you're using...

1) It's possible to accidentally "double count" an element if you use the area of the components AND the area of the raw peak - is this the "2 or 1" you're concerned about? Do not mix them - either count the area of the components (e.g. add the Ti(0), Ti-O, Ti-C etc) OR the total peak area. For a good model, this should give you approximately the same number. In some software (I use CasaXPS) it will potentially give an incorrect element composition if you use both the total peak area AND components together without being very careful.

2) Are you including both peaks for orbitals that undergo spin-orbit coupling? Both Zinc & Titanium 2p are doublets - they have two peaks. I use a RSF library that assumes both peaks in the doublet are included for the quantification. For chemical state identification I might only model the position of the Ti(2p3/2) and its components, but if I want an accurate composition, then I need to include the area of Ti(2p1/2) also. Check this for your RSF, software etc.

As an aside, if you're looking at chemical state of zinc then the Auger position is extremely helpful - the Zn(2p3/2) peak doesn't actually move very much... see e.g. the excellent website XPS Simplified: https://xpssimplified.com/elements/zinc.php

I hope that this helps,

James

Hello dear Ashiru,

I agree with Dr. James, as well as, you just need to show the binding energy main peaks of the Ti (as Example) if are related to Anatase and/or Rutile phase. For instance, 457.6 and 463.5 eV are represent the spectra lines of 2p3/2 and 2p1/2 of Ti on the representsTiO2 (Anatase and Rutile) phase.

Thank you all. I really appreciate your contributions