Neutron Diffraction

Abstract Neutron diffraction as an analytical tool in solid‐state chemistry is briefly presented. We start by recalling a few characteristic properties of the neutron that make thermal neutrons a unique structural probe in solid‐state science. The generation of neutrons, some fundamentals of neutron diffraction, concepts and components of instrumentation for powder as well as single‐crystal neutron diffraction are briefly touched upon. A major part of this chapter deals with typical applications of neutron diffraction, among them being the study of hydrogen in crystals, the use of the peculiar diffraction contrast offered by neutrons to distinguish elements with similar atomic number, study of static disorder and thermal displacements in high‐ T c superconductors, the superior precision of structural parameters obtained from neutron diffraction data, magnetic structures from neutron diffraction, complementary use of single‐crystal X ‐ray and neutron diffraction data to obtain bonding electron densities in crystals, and the determination of spatially resolved magnetization densities in solids. The last example contains spatially resolved in situ neutron diffraction on batteries.