The properties of functional materials are uniquely determined by their underlying spatial and electronic structures. In this talk, applications of synchrotron X-ray techniques to study spatial and electronic structures of nanomaterials, semiconductors and catalytic materials are discussed. For spatial structure studies, both the growth mechanism and the remarkable interplay between surface morphology and plasmonic properties of DNA-mediated Au plasmonic nanostructures were shown. The structure of nanoparticles was determined by a newly developed fluctuation X-ray scattering technique. The feasibility of structural determination from mixtures of several kinds of nanoparticles was also demonstrated. For electronic structure studies, the charge separation and the redox process in light absorbers and catalysts in the design of an efficient artificial photosynthesis system were investigated. The density of states and the valence and conduction band structures of light absorbers were studied by x-ray absorption and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering techniques. The oxidation states and chemical bonding environments of catalysts were measured by XANES and EXAFS.

[Invited Speech, Presenter: Gang Chen]