X-ray Absorption Near-edge Studies of Au1-xPtx alloys

Since Au-Pt alloys have various atomic structures depending upon composition and annealing temperature, it is very interesting to investigate the electronic structures of alloys. We studied the changes of the electronic structure I the Au-Pt alloys by x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). Two kinds of Au-Pt alloy samples were prepared by arc melting methods and ion-beam-mixing technique. The Pt L2, 3-edge and Au L2, 3-edge X-ray absorption spectra (XPS) were measured with the electron yield mode detector at the 3C1 beam line of the Pohang Light Source (PLS). It was found that there was a substantial decrease in the area of the Pt L2, 3 white lines compared with that of pure Pt. The observed decrease in white line area was attributed to an increase in the number of pure Pt. The observed decrease in white line area was attributed to an increase in the number of 5d-electrons at the Pt site upon alloy formation. However, the Au L2, 3 edge spectra for Au-Pt alloys are all similar to that of pure Au. This implies that the 5d hole count of Au is not changed by alloy formation with Pt.