Development and Application of X-ray Powder Diffraction—To Commemorate the Discovery of X-ray Powder Diffraction for One Hundred Years (To be Continued)

To commemorate the discovery of X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) for one hundred years, the development and application of XRPD during the past one hundred years were summarized sketchily. The contents included three aspects: the progress of the experimental equipments which had great influence on the depth and width of XRPD application, especially the function of high-speed computer and strong X-ray sources; the three aspects of structures researched by XRPD (the structure of polycrystalline aggregations, the structure of surfaces and films, the structure of crystals); new developed technology of XRPD (serial X-ray crystallography, in-situ XRPD and XRPD under extreme condition, time resolution XRPD, XRPD on micro areas, 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy, the cooperation of powder diffraction and electron diffraction).