A Review of X-Ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopic Studies of Pyrochlore-Type Oxides Proposed for Nuclear Materials Applications

Pyrochlore-type oxides (A2B2O7) have received considerable attention for nuclear waste sequestration applications. It is important to understand how the electronic structure of these materials changes depending on the composition and how the structure of these materials is affected by radiation. X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) is a powerful technique that can be used to study the electronic structure of the materials as well as the effect of radiation-induced structural damage on these materials. The objective of this contribution is to demonstrate how XANES can be used to extract important information on pyrochlore-type oxides, including: oxidation state, coordination number (CN), antisite disorder, and the effect of radiation on the structure of the material.NSER