Exploring the local atomic and electronic structure of Zn in carbon-nitride-based nanotubes films (CNNTs) on Cu-Zn substrate by total electr

We recently proposed a new synthesis route to prepare a variety of carbon-nitride-based nanotubes films (CNNTs), possessing one-dimensional hollow nanostructure, high surface-to-volume ratio and abundant active sites, on Cu-Zn alloy substrate. These materials can have importan applications in photocatalysis, photonics and energy storage because of their semiconductive nature, and abundant nitrogen-metal (Zn) coordination sites. In order to investigate the growth mechanism of CNNTs and the interaction between Zn and conjugated C-N networks, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments are of importance to explore the electronic structure and local coordination state of Zn species in CNNTs. The experiment is complicated by the fact that the film thikness is lower than the probing depth of X-rays at the Zn K-edge. Here, we propose to solve this problem by detecting XAS in the total electron yield mode.