Patent ID: 8693626

Claim:
A method for analyzing a solid comprising one or more elements distributed in a solid substrate, the method comprising: (a) preparing a sample of the solid, wherein the sample is combined with a reinforcing agent that does not contain the one or more elements; (b) obtaining the distribution of the one or more elements from spatially resolved x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of the sample, and (c) obtaining the speciation of the one or more elements from spatially resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analysis of the sample, wherein the source of x-rays for steps (b) and (c) is synchrotron radiation; wherein the macroscale-representative samples are macroscale-representative of the solid over at least one dimension or over two dimensions; wherein the macroscale-representative sample has a thickness from about 10 μm to about 500 μm; wherein the macroscale-representative sample thickness is commensurate to the spatial resolution and the penetration depth of x-rays; and wherein the reinforcing agent is embedded in the sample by vacuum impregnation.