Surface core level shift (SCLS) refers to the phenomenon observed in surface-sensitive spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), where the binding energy of core-level electrons in atoms located at or near the surface of a material differs from that of the same atoms in the bulk of the material.
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A difference in the binding energy of the same core level for surface and bulk atoms of one material. Reduced coordination changes bonding and local potential; the relaxation that screens the photoemission core hole also changes. A measured shift combines these initial- and final-state effects and cannot by itself be converted into a unique local charge.