Employing state‐of‐the‐art and practical peak‐fitting and background modeling methods (active approach), we obtained high quality fitting of the photoemission spectrum of Co 2p in cobalt spinel. The concurrent analysis of both 2p3/2 and 2p1/2 branches played a fundamental role. It revealed various Auger features that interfere with the main photoemission lines. It was possible to accurately reproduce the corresponding composition (Co3O4.0 ± 0.25) and to report the relative intensity of the various multiplet/satellite peaks including the associated uncertainties. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The metallic Zn 2p photoemission spectra hold a complex background that requires individual assignment of Shirley background for each peak comprising the spectra. For this reason, a close fit requires the use of the Shirley‐Vegh‐Salvi‐Castle background‐type under the active background approach. We found that the intensity of the plasmon peaks and their associated background cannot be described through existing energy loss (intrinsic and extrinsic) formalisms. We also analyzed the Zn 2p and O 1s spectra for the initial stages of oxide formation at various oxygen exposures. We found that the composition of the oxide layer is ZnO1.00±0.10 for all exposures, suggesting that our assessment of the primary function of metallic Zn is accurate and can be employed for quantitative studies. We also present a set of parameters to accurately fit and resolve the metallic and oxide Zn 2p peaks.

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