Crystallography Case Studies at the Undergraduate Level

Abstract

Powder diffraction is not a characterization method alien when it concerns inorganic chemistry and material science. At the undergraduate level, however, it is rare to come upon the teaching of these methods (probably due to the lack of expensive instrumentation that could ascend the $500,000 USD mark), and instructors mostly focus on the theory. This work provides techniques to construct these case studies that could be utilized in a classroom environment, particularly at the intermediate and advance inorganic chemistry level. Two examples of case studies are discussed in this didactic.