Investigations of the valence state of Co in a MnCoO ceramics

McCoO ceramics materials were produced by solid state reaction and sintred in a furnance in air atmosphere for 20h. Annealing temperature was 600 Celsius degree. For investigations a series of samples, with a various composition was chosen: MnCoO, Mn, Co2O and Mn2CoO. Chemical behaviour of the Cobaltium was measured by XPS method.  The analyses were carried out with X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (Omicron NanoTechnology) with 128-channel collector. XPS measurements were performed at room temperature in a ultra-high vacuum conditions, below 1.1 x10-8 mBar. The photoelectrons were excited by an Mg-Ka X-Ray source. The X-ray anode was operated at 15 keV and 300 W. Omicron Argus hemispherical electron analyser with round aperture of 4 mm was used for analysing of emitted photoelectrons. The binding energies were corrected using the background C1s line (285.0 eV). XPS spectra were analysed with Casa-XPS software using a Shirley background subtraction and Gaussian–Lorentzian curve as a fitting algorithm. Measurements shoved more or less equal content of Co3+ and Co4+ in each samples.