The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certifies a suite of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) to be used to evaluate specific aspects of the instrument performance of both X-ray and neutron powder diffractometers. This report describes SRM 640f, the seventh generation of this powder diffraction SRM, which is designed to be used primarily for calibrating powder diffractometers with respect to line position; it also can be used for the determination of the instrument profile function. It is certified with respect to the lattice parameter and consists of approximately 7.5 g of silicon powder prepared to minimize line broadening. A NIST-built diffractometer, incorporating many advanced design features, was used to certify the lattice parameter of the Si powder. Both statistical and systematic uncertainties have been assigned to yield a certified value for the lattice parameter at 22.5 °C of a = 0.5431144 ± 0.000008 nm.

This paper describes a new flow-through capillary sample holder that allows the in situ study of re-solvation processes. The holder can be aligned to the goniometer's center using two perpendicular micrometric tables that move in y and z directions. The re-solvation of two ibrutinib solvates of anisole and fluorobenzene was tested using the holder to show the practical application of this technique.

A deconvolutional method for preprocessing powder diffraction data has been improved. The cumulants of instrumental aberration functions of Bragg-Brentano (Parrish) diffractometer calculated up to the fourth order are presented. The treatments of axial-divergence aberration and the effective spectroscopic profile of the source X-ray have been simplified from those used in previous methods. The current method has been applied to powder diffraction data collected with a Cu-target X-ray tube, used over 20 years, and a Ni-foil Kβ filter.

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were fabricated in a metal-assisted chemical etching method with two steps including dipping silicon wafers in AgNO3/HF solutions and then in H2O2/HF solutions. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurements with a set of incidence angles were carried out on the resulting samples to detect characteristics of silver nanoparticles in the etched silicon. Compared with the uniform size of silver nanoparticles on the surface, the silver nanoparticles in etched silicon were found with size increasing and content decreasing corresponding to the depths. Based on the silver size increasing phenomenon, a detailed supplementary hypothesis about SiNWs formation was proposed about silver disintegration and redeposition in the later stage of silicon etching. For 2, 3, 4, and 8 mM AgNO3 solutions used to study their effect on the SiNWs, it was found that a higher quantity of Ag+ concentration such as 8 mM were not beneficial for producing good quality SiNWs.

An alternative neutron diffractometer performance, which documents the feasibility of using a high-resolution three-axis neutron diffractometer for elastic and plastic deformation studies of bulk metallic polycrystalline samples, is presented. Contrary to the conventional double-axis setting, the suggested alternative consists of an unconventional three-axis set-up employing a bent perfect crystal monochromator and an analyzer with a polycrystalline sample in between. Though the alternative is, for measurements, much more time-consuming, its sensitivity to the change of the diffraction angle of the sample is, however, substantially higher and permits also plastic deformation studies on the basis of analysis of the diffraction line profiles. Moreover, much larger widths (up to 10 mm) of the irradiated gauge volumes can be investigated when just slightly affecting the angular resolution properties of the experimental setting.

The crystal structure of trimethylarsine oxide dihydrate, (CH3)3AsO⋅2H2O, (TMAO dihydrate) has been solved using parallel tempering with the FOX software package and refined using synchrotron powder diffraction data obtained from beamline 08B1-1 at the Canadian Light Source. Rietveld refinement, performed with the software package GSASII, yielded orthorhombic lattice parameters of a = 13.3937(4) Å, b = 9.53025(30) Å, and c = 11.5951(3) Å (Z = 8, space group Pbca). The Rietveld refined structure was compared with density functional theory calculations performed with VASP and shows reasonable agreement. Arsenic K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy analysis also revealed additional information on the electronic structure of the arsenic atom within the TMAO dihydrate structure.

X-ray reference powder patterns and structures have been determined for a series of cobalt- and tungsten-containing cubic alkaline-earth perovskites, (BaxSr1–x)2CoWO6 (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9). The structure of the end members of the series, Sr2CoWO6 and Ba2CoWO6, were tetragonal and cubic, respectively, agreeing with the literature data. From Rietveld refinements, it was found that when x = 0.1 and 0.2, the structure was tetragonal I4/m (a = 5.60481(6) and 5.62305(11) Å and c = 7.97989(12) and 7.9847(2) Å, respectively; Z = 2). When x > 0.2, the structure was cubic (Fm$\bar{3}$m, No. 225; Z = 4) (from x = 0.3 to 0.9, a increases from 7.98399(13) to 8.08871(10) Å). This tetragonal series of compounds exhibit the characteristics of a distorted double-perovskite structure. The bond valence sum values for the alkaline-earth (Ba, Sr) sites in all (BaxSr1−x)2CoWO6 members are greater than the ideal value of 2.0, indicating over-bonding situation, whereas for the W sites, as x increases, a change from under-bonding to slightly over-bonding situation was observed. Density functional theory calculations revealed that while Sr2CoWO6 is a semiconductor, Ba2CoWO6 and SrBaCoWO6 are half-metals. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of this series of compounds (BaxSr1−x)2CoWO6, with x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9, have been submitted to be included in the Powder Diffraction File.

The crystal structure of ceftriaxone sodium hemiheptahydrate has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Ceftriaxone sodium hemiheptahydrate crystallizes in the space group C2 (#5) with a = 30.56 492(16), b = 4.75 264(2), c = 18.54 978(16) Å, β = 90.3545(6), V = 2694.562(21) Å3, and Z = 4. Both Na exhibit trigonal bipyramidal coordination. Prominent in the structure are alternating Na/O and organic layers perpendicular to the c-axis. There are many O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds involving the water molecules and the ionized portions of the anion. There are a surprising number of C–H⋯S hydrogen bonds, as well as C–H⋯N and C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The powder pattern has been submitted to ICDD for inclusion in the Powder Diffraction File™.

Single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction data, collected at room temperature, unit-cell parameters and space group for eluxadoline nitrate monohydrate, C32H35N5O5⋅2HNO3⋅H2O, are reported [a = 11.066(5) Å, b = 13.452(6) Å, c = 24.373(9) Å, unit-cell volume V = 3628.15 Å3, Z = 4, ρcal = 1.344 g⋅cm−3, and space group P212121]. All the diffraction peaks in the experimental pattern have been indexed and are consistent with the P212121 space group.

The crystal structure of oseltamivir phosphate has been refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and optimized using density functional techniques. Oseltamivir phosphate crystallizes in space group P21212 (#18) with a = 24.0079(3), b = 24.6716(2), c = 7.45254(5) Å, V = 4414.24(5) Å3 at 295 K, and Z = 8. Prominent in the crystal structure are hydrogen bonds between the phosphate groups and the ammonium groups of the oseltamivir cations. The strong hydrogen bonds link the cations and the anions into columns parallel to the c-axis, with van der Waals interactions between the columns. Thermal expansion between 120 and 295 K is anisotropic. The powder pattern is included in the Powder Diffraction File™ as entry 00-068-1107.