Combined SANS and SAXS in studies of nanoparticles with core-shell structure

724-728Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) are essentially diffraction experiments involving small (~1°) scattering angles. Unlike conventional diffraction experiments (XRD or neutron diffraction) where one examines the specimen with an atomic resolution (~0.2 nm), SANS/SAXS are used to investigate structures on a length scale of ~10 nm. Hence, SANS / SAXS are ideal techniques for studying the sizes and shapes of nanoparticles. At times, because of differences in contrast for neutrons and X-rays, a combined SANS and SAXS study provides information about the core and the shell structure of nanoparticles. This paper gives an introduction to the techniques of SANS and SAXS and their applications in material science. Recent results on study of core-shell structure of a micelle (nanoparticle of organic material) are presented