In metrology, the science of measurement, a “metrology triangle” approach is used to provide a secure foundation. For example, the Quantum Metrology Triangle links Voltage, Resistance and Current through the Josephson Effect and the Quantum Hall Effect.

The OrbiSIMS¹, introduced in 2017, has become increasingly popular for biological and material sciences studies owing to its ability to give high confidence in molecular identification (mass resolving power > 240,000 and mass accuracy < 2 ppm) simultaneously with high confidence in localisation (micrometre scale spatially and nanoscale in depth). With a growing number of instruments internationally there is an increased need for metrology for reproducible measurements. We will show how Signal, Noise and Transmission form three sides of a metrology triangle that combine to enable better measurement. In a recent comprehensive study of the noise in an Orbitrap mass spectrometer, a probabilistic model was developed.² A region of the intensity scale is described by Poisson statistics allowing the scaling parameter, A, that relates ion current to the number of ions in the trap to be determined. A true signal intensity scale is then established which allows the useful yield of atoms in an implant layer to be measured. Through comparison with time-of-flight and magnetic sector instruments the fractional ion transmission is determined.³ We will discuss how Signal and Transmission combine to understand matrix effects in biological sample preparation and how understanding Signal and Noise are important for data analytical methods.

1. M. K. Passarelli. et al, I. S. Gilmore, Nat. Methods, 14(2017)12, 1175-1183.
2. M R. Keenan, G. F. Trindade, A. Pirkl, C. L. Newell, K. Ayzikov, J. Zhang, L. Matjacic, H. Arlinghaus, A. Eyres, R. Havelund, J. Bunch, A. P. Gould, A. Makarov and Ian S. Gilmore, in preparation.
3. Y. Zhou, A. Franquet, V. Spampinato, G. F. Trindade, P. van der Heide, W. Vandervorst and I S Gilmore, in preparation.

[1]R. Sandenbergh, M. Biermann, and T. von Moltke, ‘Surface Analytical Characterization of Chromium Passivation on Tinplate’, in Passivation of Metals and Semiconductors, and Properties of Thin Oxide Layers, P. Marcus and V. Maurice, Eds., Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 2006, pp. 143–148. doi: 10.1016/B978-044452224-5/50024-X.

[2]J. Baltrusaitis et al., ‘Generalized molybdenum oxide surface chemical state XPS determination via informed amorphous sample model’, Applied Surface Science, vol. 326, pp. 151–161, Jan. 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.11.077.

[3]M. d’Halluin et al., ‘Graphite-supported ultra-small copper nanoparticles – Preparation, characterization and catalysis applications’, Carbon, vol. 93, pp. 974–983, Nov. 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.carbon.2015.06.017.

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Nanomedicines are an area of great interest for current and future pharmaceutical development. The use of nanoparticles to act as carriers for a therapeutic load has the potential to significantly improve medical outcomes, for example by allowing a therapeutic agent to circulate within the body for longer, or by allowing targeted delivery of a drug to a specific site. Such nanomedicines often rely on specific functional coatings to achieve their desired impact; for example the majority of nanomedicines currently available on the market utilise a poly-ethylene glycol (PEG) surface coating for its ‘stealth’ properties, helping nanomedicines evade the body’s clearance mechanisms. Accurate measurement of the surfaces of such nanomaterials is therefore of great importance, yet direct, quantitative surface chemistry measurements are not commonly available, and vacuum-based analysis methods such as XPS are unlikely to provide a representative measurement of the particles in their hydrated state.

Here we present to the best of our knowledge the first use of Cryo-XPS to provide direct, quantitative measurements of the surface chemistry of nanomedicines in a hydrated state. Two nanomedicine systems were measured: a drug-carrying polymer nanoparticle; and an mRNA loaded lipid nanoparticle. Both systems possessed a supposedly PEG-terminated surface, and were measured using XPS in both aqueous cryogenic state, and dry drop-cast onto a substrate. The results of these measurements clearly demonstrate that while the PEG surface cannot readily be observed in the dry state, the cryogenic measurements exhibit spectra that are consistent with the particle being measured in a hydrated condition.

The single atom limit achieves the ultimate degree of material efficiency for supported metal catalysts. To this end, the ability to create highly dispersed, single-site catalysts, which are highly efficient and have low cost, is very much desirable. While single atom sites can be created, there is still disagreement over whether the single atom sites are indeed catalytically active or if the observed catalytic activity of single-site catalysts is due to metal nanoparticles either unobserved during initial microscopy studies or formed upon exposure to catalytic conditions. Such disagreements create a crucial need for the development of well-defined single-site catalysts with an accurate theoretical model in order to correctly determine the chemical nature of the catalytically active sites. To this end, we provide new atomistic insights regarding the “44” Cu surface oxide through the integration of synchrotron-based X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction measurements (SXRD), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) techniques. We also quantify the low-temperature CO oxidation kinetics on Pt single-site catalysts supported on the “29” Cu surface oxide. The “29” Cu surface oxide is a high coverage chiral structure that arises when we further oxidize the “44” structure. Using STM, CO temperature programmed desorption (TPD), and DFT techniques, we determine that an accurate model for the “29” Cu oxide surface is formed from the growth of a Cu_xO layer formed from 6 fused hexagonal rings above the Cu (111) surface where 5 oxygen adatoms are added at the center of the Cu_xO rings. Furthermore, we determine the state of the Pt single atoms before, during, and after reaction through a combination of theoretical and experimental techniques. We also correlate ambient pressure experiments, surface science measurements and first principles-based calculations to demonstrate that Pt/Cu(111) single-atom alloys (SAAs) oxidized with varying degrees of O₂ exposure can be reduced with H₂ with reasonable kinetics (hours). This is in contrast to oxidized pure Cu(111) where such reduction is very slow (days). We further contrast the catalytic properties of Rh/Cu(111) SAAs with varying degrees of O₂ exposure to the those of Pt/Cu(111) SAAs. Finally, we report the effects of a copper oxide thin film toward the segregation of noble metal single-atoms on Cu (111) using DFT.

The physical mechanism proposed in our 2017 paper about the origin of the Shirley background in photoemission spectra¹ es based on interchannel coupling² but with the important addition of energy losses in the valence band.³ Besides the Shirley background, it is possible to derive other predictions of the interchannel Coupling with Valence Band Losses mechanism (ICLM). Two of them are discussed in this paper: 1) the quantitative relation between Auger peaks and the Shirley background and 2) the conduction-band-like structure of the extended region of the Shirley background.