Electron spectroscopy of carbonaceous materials

The effect of the possible electronic configurations of carbon in carbonaceous materials on the X-ray excited Auger and photoelectron spectra is discussed. It is shown that a simple treatment of the X-ray excited carbon KVV Auger peak that does not involve differentiation or smoothing is sufficient to enable the sp2 : sp3 ratio to be determined to a good accuracy. The results are consistent with, but clearer than, those obtained either from other treatments of the C KVV Auger peak or from the C 1s photoelectron peak.