Abstract
A suitable relationship between oxide ion polarizability, cation polarizability, optical basicity and O1s binding energy in XPS spectra has been searched on the basis of experimental and calculated data reported in the literature for numerous simple oxides. It has been established that O1s binding energy decreases with increasing oxide ion polarizability, cation polarizability and optical basicity. The observed O1s chemical shift to lower binding energy from 533.5eV to 528.2eV could be explained with an increase in electron charge density of the oxide ions, due to an increase in their electronic polarizability. Increased oxide ion polarizability means stronger electron donor ability of the oxide ions and vice versa. That is why O1s binding energy can be used for the construction of common basicity scale of different amorphous and crystalline materials. On this basis the simple oxides have been separated into three groups according to the values of their oxide ion polarizability, optical basicity and O1s binding energy.
