Crystallite Size and Micro strain
• Crystallites smaller than ~120nm create broadening of diffraction peaks
–this peak broadening can be used to quantify the average crystallite size of nanoparticles using the Scherrer equation
–must know the contribution of peak width from the instrument by using a calibration curve
• microstrain may also create peak broadening
–analyzing the peak widths over a long range of 2θ using a Williamson-Hull plot can let you separate microstrain and crystallite size
