Composite materials, both biominerals such as bone or shells but also increasingly synthetic materials, often have a complex hierarchical 3D structure ranging over several length scales. To fully understand the structure of such materials, a method for probing the nanoscale structure in 3D is needed. Materials such as bone are particularly challenging due to their complex composition and hierarchical structure. Recent developments in synchrotron x-ray focusing optics have paved the way for smaller x-ray beams with high brilliance. Herein, we present how we probe the 3D elemental distribution and crystallographic properties of human bone using combined fluorescence and diffraction tomography (F-CT and XRD-CT) with a 50 nm pencil X-ray beam. The 2.6×3.1 µm2 cross section sample was a FIB-cut rod of human iliac crest bone. We recorded 2D diffraction patterns and fluorescence spectra for each point in a 50 nm raster scan grid pattern from 92 projection angles covering 0-182°. This allowed us to reconstruct tomographically both x-ray diffraction patterns and the elemental composition in a ∼5×5×3 µm3 volume encompassing the sample. We show that tomographic reconstruction of x-ray diffraction and fluorescence information is possible at <140 nm spatial resolution estimated from features in reconstructed images. Thereby it is possible to probe crystalline structure and elemental composition in 3D at length scales an order of magnitude smaller than hitherto available. This allows studying a very broad range of materials from biominerals to energy materials in more detail than ever before.
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