Electron back‐scattering Mössbauer complemented by x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been applied to study the nature of passive films on iron. Data indicate that iron in the films is present as Fe 3+ . While Mössbauer spectra of the films recorded at room and close to liquid helium temperatures more closely resemble those of amorphous iron oxides and hydroxides than the corresponding bulk crystalline materials, the results are better interpreted in terms of a small particle or thin film oxide. XPS shows that films formed in solutions containing Fe 2+ ions resemble while those formed in the absence of Fe 2+ are similar to .
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Brett et al. (1986) studied this question.