A combined X-ray spectroscopic study on the multicolored pattern formation in gels containing FeCl3 and K3[Fe(CN)6]

What is it about?

We examined the potential of the combined use of two X-ray spectroscopic methods, time-resolved X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and position-dependent X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy, for the study of intricate reaction-diffusion processes of inorganic compounds in gel media. To test this approach, we prepared a glass tube containing agarose gel mixed with FeCl3 solution and water-glass gel mixed with K3[Fe(CN)6] solution and hydrochloric acid. Wide brown and narrow blue bands formed in the water-glass gel. XRF and XANES spectroscopy were used to study the time dependence of the Fe concentration distributions and the microscopic local structures of the Fe species formed in the colored bands, respectively.

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Why is it important?

This study demonstrated that the combination of time-resolved XRF and position-dependent XANES is helpful to explore intricate reaction-diffusion processes.