Direct observation of benzene and pyridine molecules adsorbed in microporous carbon using synchrotron-radiation-excited soft X-ray emission spectroscopy Original Research Article

Benzene and pyridine molecules adsorbed in micropores of microporous carbon were directly observed by synchrotron-radiation-excited soft X-ray emission spectroscopy. There were spectral feature differences in C K X-ray emission between the adsorbate benzene and pyridine molecules, while the X-ray spectra agreed closely with their corresponding calculated C2p-DOS spectra. These results show that synchrotron-radiation-excited soft X-ray emission spectroscopy is a powerful tool for in-situ direct observation of molecular adsorbates in bulk microporous materials and for investigating their electronic structures and chemical bonding states in micropores.