Materials analysis with Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry; Application to catalysts

Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) is shown to be a powerful tool in the analysis of model catalysts. The surface coverage of various metals on thin SiO2 layers on Si and thin Al2O3 layers on Al can be accurately measured while simultaneously depth profiles of the metals are obtained. The scattering technique is briefly reviewed and several applications concerning the preparation of model catalysts by wet chemical methods are presented.