X-Ray Vision Detects Contaminants.

Once dangerous environmental contaminants, such as arsenic, chromium, cadmium, and lead, are detected, the problem becomes how to deal with them. Increasingly, environmental researchers are turning their attention to x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy. This technique has revolutionized how scientists can examine atomic- and molecular-level structures.

Unlike with x-ray diffraction, another widely used technique, the samples do not need to be crystalline: XAFS is equally applicable to solutions and amorphous materials commonly found in real-world samples. Using XAFS, researchers can determine the chemical composition of contaminants and better …