Soft X-ray emission and absorption spectra in the O K region of oxygen incorporated in microporous carbon Original Research Article

Soft X-ray emission and absorption spectra in the O K region of oxygen incorporated in microporous carbon were measured using synchrotron radiation, in order to directly observe the oxygen and identify its chemical bonding states on the graphitic surface in microporous carbon. The O K X-ray emission spectrum exhibits a peak at 526 eV with a low-energy tail, and the absorption spectrum at the O K threshold exhibits a sharp peak at 531.5 eV and then rises from 535 eV. Spectral feature analysis using DV-Xα molecular orbital calculations show that the measured X-ray spectra are not sufficiently explained by H2O or typical substituents, such as –OH, –CHO, and –COOH, on the graphitic surfaces.