Nanobeam X-ray fluorescence and diffraction computed tomography on human bone with a resolution better than 120 nm.
Studying nanostructured hierarchical materials such as the biomineralized bone is challenging due to their complex 3D structures that call for high spatial resolution. One route to study such materials is X-ray powder diffraction computed tomography (XRD-CT) that reveals the 3D distribution of crystalline phases and X-ray fluorescence computed tomography (XRF-CT) that provides element distributions. However, the spatial resolution of XRD-CT has thus far been limited. Here we demonstrate better than 120 nm 3D resolution on human bone in XRD-CT and XRF-CT measured simultaneously using X-ray nanobeams. The results pave the way for nanoscale 3D characterization of nanocrystalline composites like bone at unprecedented detail.