The C1s core line in irradiated graphite

Recently, plasma deposited amorphous carbon films have been the subject of extensive experimental and theoretical investigations aimed at correlating their electronic, structural, and mechanical properties to growth parameters. To investigate these properties, different spectral parameters reflecting the electronic structure of carbon-based materials are proposed in literature. The effects of various electronic configurations on the carbon photoelectron spectra are analyzed here with particular attention to C1s core line with the aim to better interpret its structure. The latter is commonly fitted under the assumption that it can be described by using just two spectral components related to sp2 and sp3 hybrids. Their relative intensities are then used to estimate the sp2 and sp3 phases. We show that, in the presence of an amorphous network, the C1s line shape is the result of a more complex mixture of electronic states. Ar+ irradiated graphite and successive oxidation was used to identify spectral features to better describe the C1s line shape.