I have measured some XANES spectra of CeO2 film(~220nm) in fluorescence mode at Ce L3 edge with two incident angles of 0.6 degree and 3 degree. My goal is to get relative surface sensitive (penetration depth~ 20 nm above edge) information of [Ce3+] from 0.6 o  while bulk sensitive information at 3 o (penetration depth~ 160 nm above edge). In the meantime, I also collected CeO2 powder reference spectrum under transmission mode. The comparison is shown in the graph.

The film at 3 degree has a sharper white line than the powder while at 0.6 degree, it is the opposite. I think this might be because at the surface of the film,it has more Ce3+ while when we detect the bulk it has more Ce4+. 

My question  is how can I tell if I need self-absorption correction or not for the films in this case? Can I say I do not need self absorption correction because I have a higher normalized u for the film collected in the fluorescence mode than powder collected in the transmission mode?

Thanks a lot for your comments.

Weizi

--