XANES study of rhenium oxide compounds at the L1 and L3 absorption edges

We report on the study of a set of rhenium oxide reference compounds (NH(4)eO(4), NaReO4, ReO3, ReO2, and Re2O7) using x-ray-absorption near-edge structure. The parallel use of Re L-1 and L-3 absorption edges permits a concomitant understanding of both the oxidation state and the local symmetry for these compounds. Experiments are compared with ab initio simulations. A good agreement is reached in most cases. The choice of the cluster size and the calculation method (full potential or not), which are mandatory ingredients allowing a satisfactory reproduction of the recorded spectra, is discussed in detail. In the meantime, these parameters give important pieces of information on the studied materials.