XRD/SAXS for determination of pore sizes

Porosity and surface area are important characteristics of solid materials that highly determine the properties and performance of many advanced materials, including catalysts, sorbents, nanoparticles, low-k dielectric films, and pharmaceuticals. While a variety of techniques are employed to analyze pore related properties, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and related methods like small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) have the advantage of being non-destructive. SAXS is capable of pore size determination with pore diameters below ten angstroms.