Structure and electronic properties of gold adsorbed on Ti(0 0 0 1)

The Au/Ti(0 0 0 1) adsorption system was studied by low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and photoemission spectroscopy with synchrotron radiation after step-wise Au evaporation onto the Ti(0 0 0 1) surface. For adsorption of Au at 300 K, no additional superstructures were observed and the (1 × 1) pattern of the clean surface simply became diffuse. Annealing of gold layers more than 1 ML thick resulted in the formation of an ordered Au-Ti surface alloy. Depending on the temperature and annealing time, three surface reconstructions were observed by LEED: (√3 × √3) R30°, (2 × 2) and a one-dimensional incommensurate (√3 × √3) rectangular pattern. The Au 4f core level and valence band photoemission spectra provided evidence of a strong chemical interaction between gold and titanium. The data indicated formation of an intermetallic interface and associated valence orbital hybridization, together with diffusion of gold into the bulk. Au core-level shifts were found to be dependent on the surface alloy stoichiometry.     

Superparamagnetic silica nanoparticles with immobilized metal affinity ligands for protein adsorption

Superparamagnetic silica-coated magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles with immobilized metal affinity ligands were prepared for protein adsorption. First, magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitating Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in an ammonia solution. Then silica was coated on the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles using a sol–gel method to obtain magnetic silica nanoparticles. The condensation product of 3-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) and iminodiacetic acid (IDA) was immobilized on them and after charged with Cu²⁺, the magnetic silica nanoparticles with immobilized Cu²⁺ were applied for the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA). Scanning electron micrograph showed that the magnetic silica nanoparticles with an average size of 190 nm were well dispersed without aggregation. X-ray diffraction showed the spinel structure for the magnetite particles coated with silica. Magnetic measurement revealed the magnetic silica nanoparticles were superparamagnetic and the saturation magnetization was about 15.0 emu/g. Protein adsorption results showed that the nanoparticles had high adsorption capacity for BSA (73 mg/g) and low nonspecific adsorption. The regeneration of these nanoparticles was also studied.     

Gold coatings on polyethyleneterephthalate nano-patterned by F2 laser irradiation

In this work we present periodic surface structures generated by linearly polarized F₂ laser light (157 nm) on polyethyleneterephthalate (PET). Atomic force microscopy was used to study the topological changes induced by the laser irradiation. The laser irradiation induces the formation of periodic ripple structures with a width of ca 130 nm and a height of about 15 nm in the fluence range 3.80-4.70 mJ/cm² and the roughness of the polymer surface increases due to the presence of these periodic structures. Subsequently, the laser modified PET foils were coated with a 50 nm thick gold layer by sputtering. After Au deposition on the PET foils with ripple structure, the roughness of surface decreases in comparison to PET with ripples without Au coating. For 50 nm thick Au layers, the ripple structure is not directly transferred to the gold coating, but it has an obvious effect on the grain size of the coating. With considerably thinner Au layers, the ripple structures are smoothened but preserved.     

Photoemission study of glycine adsorption on Cu/Au(1 1 1) interfaces

The adsorption of glycine on Au(1 1 1) pre-deposited with different amounts of Cu was investigated with both conventional X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and synchrotron-based photoemission. In the Cu submonolayer range, glycine physically adsorbs on the Cu/Au(1 1 1) surfaces in its zwitterionic form and completely desorbs at 350 K. The C 1s, O 1s and N 1s core level binding energies monotonically increase with Cu coverage. This indicates that, in the Cu submonolayer range, the admetal is alloyed with Au rather than forming overlayers on the Au(1 1 1) substrate, consistent with our recent experimental and theoretical results [X. Zhao, P. Liu, J. Hrbek, J.A. Rodriguez, M. Pérez, Surf. Sci. 592 (2005) 25]. Upon increasing the amount of deposited Cu over 1 ML, part of the glycine overlayer transforms from the zwitterionic form to the anionic form (NH₂CH₂COO⁻) and adsorbs chemically on the Cu/Au(1 1 1) surface with the N 1s binding energy shifted by −2.3 eV. When the amount of deposited Cu is at 3.0 or 6.0 ML, the intensity of the N 1s chemisorption peak increases with aging time at 300 K. It indicates that glycine adsorption induces Cu segregation from the subsurface region onto the top layer of the substrate. Judging from the initial N 1s peak intensities, it is concluded that 64% and 36% of the top layer are still occupied by Au atoms before glycine adsorption even when the amounts of deposited Cu are 3.0 and 6.0 ML, respectively. On the Au(1 1 1) surface pre-dosed with 6.0 ML of Cu, part of the chemisorbed glycine will desorb and part will decompose upon heating to 450-500 K. In addition, about 20% of the glycine exists in the neutral form when the glycine overlayer was dosed on Cu/Au(1 1 1) held at 100 K.     

Bi induced step-flow growth in the homoepitaxial growth of Au(1 1 1)

Homoepitaxial growth of Au on Bi-covered Au(1 1 1) was studied at room temperature using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). From observations of RHEED it is found that the Au(1 1 1) (23 × 1) reconstruction structure changes to a (1 × 1) by about 0.16-0.5 ML deposition of Bi and to a (2√3 × 2√3)R30° by about 1.0 ML deposition of Bi, respectively. The surface morphology evolution by Bi deposition leads to a change of Au homoepitaxial growth behavior from layer-by-layer to step flow. This indicates that the surface diffusion distance of Au atoms on the Bi-precovered (1 × 1) and (2√3 × 2√3)R30° surfaces is longer than that on the Au(1 1 1) (23 × 1) clean surfaces. A strong surface segregation of Bi was found at top of surface. It is concluded that Bi atoms acted as an effective surfactant in the Au homoepitaxial growth by promoting Au intralayer mass transport.     

Oxygen adsorption and oxidation reactions on Au(2 1 1) surfaces: Exposures using O2 at high pressures and ozone (O3) in UHV

Nanosized gold particles supported on reducible metal oxides have been reported to show high catalytic activity toward CO oxidation at low temperature. This has generated great scientific and technological interest, and there have been many proposals to explain this unusual activity. One intriguing explanation that can be tested is that of Nørskov and coworkers [Catal. Lett. 64 (2000) 101] who suggested that the “unusually large catalytic activity of highly-dispersed Au particles may in part be due to high step densities on the small particles and/or strain effects due to the mismatch at the Au-support interface”. In particular, their calculations indicated that the Au(2 1 1) stepped surface would be much more reactive towards O₂ dissociative adsorption and CO adsorption than the Au(1 1 1) surface. We have now studied the adsorption of O₂ and O₃ (ozone) on an Au(2 1 1) stepped surface. We find that molecular oxygen (O₂) was not activated to dissociate and produce oxygen adatoms on the stepped Au(2 1 1) surface even under high-pressure (700 Torr) conditions with the sample at 300-450 K. Step sites do bind oxygen adatoms more tightly than do terrace sites, and this was probed by using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of O₂ following ozone (O₃) exposures to produce oxygen adatoms up to a saturation coverage of θ_O = 0.90 ML. In the low-coverage regime (θ_O ? 0.15 ML), the O₂ TPD peak at 540 K, which does not shift with coverage, is attributed to oxygen adatoms that are bound at the steps on the Au(2 1 1) surface. At higher coverages, an additional lower temperature desorption peak that shifts from 515 to 530 K at saturation coverage is attributed to oxygen adsorbed on the (1 1 1) terrace sites of the Au(2 1 1) surface. Although the desorption kinetics are likely to be quite complex, a simple Redhead analysis gives an estimate of the desorption activation energy, E_d, for the step-adsorbed oxygen of 34 kcal/mol and that for oxygen at the terraces near saturation coverage of 33 kcal/mol, values that are similar to others reported on Au surfaces. Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) indicates an oxygen-induced step doubling on the Au(2 1 1) surface at low-coverages (θ_O = 0.08-0.17 ML) and extensive disruption of the 2D ordering at the surface for saturation coverages of oxygen (θ_O ? 0.9 ML). Overall, our results indicate that unstrained step sites on Au(2 1 1) surfaces of dispersed Au nanoparticles do not account for the novel reactivity of supported Au catalysts for CO oxidation.     

The adsorption of acetic acid on Au/Pd(1 1 1) alloy surfaces

The adsorption of acetic acid is studied as a function of gold content by temperature-programmed desorption and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy on Au/Pd(1 1 1) alloys formed by depositing 5 ML of gold onto a Pd(1 1 1) surface and heating to various temperatures. For mole fractions of gold greater than ∼0.5, acetic acid adsorbs molecularly and desorbs intact with an activation energy of ∼52 kJ/mol. This acetic acid is present as catemers, where the nature of the catemer is found to depend on gold concentration. When the relative gold concentration is less than ∼0.33, adsorption of acetic acid at 80 K and heating to ∼207 K forms η¹-acetate species on the surface. On further heating, these can either thermally decompose to eventually evolve hydrogen, water and oxides of carbon, or form η²-acetate species, where the coverage of reactively formed η²-acetate species increases with decreasing gold concentration in the near surface region.     

Electronic properties of Au nano-particles supported on stoichiometric and reduced TiO2(1 1 0) substrates

Growth modes and electronic properties were analyzed for Au nano-particles grown on stoichiometric and reduced TiO₂(1 1 0) substrates by medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) and photoelectron spectroscopy(PES) using synchrotron-radiation-light. Initially, two-dimensional islands (2D) with a height of one and two atomic layers grow and higher coverage increases the islands height to form three-dimensional (3D) islands for the stoichiometric TiO₂(1 1 0) substrate. In contrast, 3D islands start to grow from initial stage with a small Au coverage (?0.1 ML, 1 ML = 1.39 × 10¹⁵  atoms/cm²: Au(1 1 1)) probably due to O-vacancies acting as a nucleation site. Above 0.7 ML, all the islands become 3D ones taking a shape of a partial sphere and the Au clusters change to metal for both substrates. We observed the Au 4f and Ti 3p core level shifts together with the valence band spectra. The Ti 3p peak for the O-deficient surface shifts to higher binding energy by 0.25 ± 0.05 eV compared to that for the stoichiometric surface, indicating downward band bending by an electron charge transfer from an O-vacancy induced surface state band to n-type TiO₂ substrate. Higher binding energy shifts of Au 4f peaks observed for both substrates reveal an electron charge transfer from Au to TiO₂ substrates. The work functions of Au nano-particles supported on the stoichiometric and reduced TiO₂ substrates were also determined as a function of Au coverage and explained clearly by the above surface and interface dipoles.     

Adsorption and surface dynamics of short DNA and LNA oligonucleotides on single-crystal Au(1 1 1) electrode surfaces

We have studied the surface dynamics of a double-strand decanucleotide (HS-10AT^L) with 10 adenine-thymine base pairs linked to a Au(1 1 1)-electrode surface via a hexamethylene thiol linker. The study is based on a combination of voltammetry, interfacial capacitance data, electrochemical in situ scanning tunnelling microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The thymine bases of the oligonucleotide are connected to furanoses locked in a C3′-endo configuration called LNA (locked nucleic acid). Hybridization in solution is effected prior to linking to the Au(1 1 1)-surface. The melting point of the linker-free locked decanucleotide, 10AT^L is >63 °C. However, voltammetric reductive desorption of the adsorbed thiol-modified double-strand decanucleotide, HS-10AT^L, gives almost the same charge as single-strand HS-10A, 29 ± 3 and 27 ± 5 μC cm⁻², respectively. In situ STM after HS-10AT^L-immobilization also gives images showing highly ordered domains, virtually indistinguishable from those of immobilized HS-10A. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy gives an N/P ration of 5.0 for HS-10AT^L in line with the expected value for single-strand HS-10A (5.0).All three sets of data suggest that HS-10AT^L hybridized in solution is significantly dissociated on binding to the Au(1 1 1)-electrode surface. This points to an adsorption mechanism in which a stable high density of Au-S bonds is achieved but at the expense of significant unzipping of the more voluminous duplex form.     

Theoretical study on adsorption of thiophenethiolate molecule on Au(1 1 1) surface

We have theoretically studied the adsorption of a thiophenethiolate (C₄H₃S-S) molecule on the Au(1 1 1) surface by first-principles calculations. It is found that the bridge site is the most stable adsorption site with the adsorption energy of 1.02 eV. In the optimized adsorption geometry, the bond between the head S atom and the connected C atom in the tail thiophene molecule is tilted by 57.2° from the surface normal. In addition, the adsorption of thiophenethiolate induces large relaxations of the surface Au atoms around it. Furthermore, weak interactions between the S atom in the tail thiophene ring and the Au atoms also contribute to the adsorption on the Au surface.     

Study of adsorption of bovine serum albumin to Langmuir-Blodgett film coated surfaces using work of adhesion as a tool

This work reports on the use of rate of change of work of adhesion (ΔW) as a tool to study adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to glass and Langmuir-Blodgett film of dihexadecyl phosphate (DHP) and dioctadecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (DOMA) coated surfaces. Pure BSA and BSA with additives - sorbitol and urea - have been adsorbed to bare glass surfaces and DHP and DOMA coated surfaces. The results suggest that an increase in ΔW with time indicates promotion of adsorption while a decrease indicates hindered adsorption. Further adsorption of BSA was most effective on DHP coated surface compared with bare glass and DOMA coated glass. In case of mixtures of BSA with urea and sorbitol, BSA + urea showed hindered adsorption while adsorption of BSA + sorbitol was efficient for all substrates.     

Au/TiO2/Ru(0 0 0 1) model catalysts and their interaction with CO

Au/TiO₂/Ru(0 0 0 1) model catalysts and their interaction with CO were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and different surface spectroscopies. Thin titanium oxide films were prepared by Ti deposition on Ru(0 0 0 1) in an O₂ atmosphere and subsequent annealing in O₂. By optimizing the conditions for deposition and post-treatment, smooth films were obtained either as fully oxidized TiO₂ or as partly reduced TiO_x, depending on the preparation conditions. CO adsorbed molecularly on both oxidized and reduced TiO₂, with slightly stronger bonding on the reduced films. Model catalyst surfaces were prepared by depositing submonolayer quantities of Au on the films and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, a weak interaction between the Au and the TiO₂ substrate was found. At 100 K CO adsorption occurred on both the TiO₂ film and on the Au nanoparticles. CO desorbed from the Au particles with activation energies between 53 and 65 kJ/mol, depending on the Au coverage. If the Au deposit was annealed to 770 K prior to CO exposure, the CO adsorption energy decreased significantly. STM measurements revealed that the Au particles grow upon annealing, but are not encapsulated by TiO_x suboxides. The higher CO adsorption energy observed for smaller Au coverages and before annealing is attributed to a significantly stronger interaction of CO with mono- and bilayer Au islands, while for higher particles, the adsorption energy becomes more bulk-like. The implications of these effects on the known particle size effects in CO oxidation over supported Au/TiO₂ catalysts are discussed.     

Active oxidation of Cu3Au(1 1 0) using hyperthermal O2 molecular beam

Oxidation of Cu₃Au(1 1 0) using a hyperthermal O₂ molecular beam (HOMB) was investigated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy in conjunction with a synchrotron light source. From the incident energy dependence of the O-uptake curve, the precursor-mediated dissociative adsorption occurs, where the trapped O₂ molecule can migrate and dissociate at the lower activation-barrier sites, dominantly at thermal O₂ exposures. Dissociative adsorption of O₂ on Cu₃Au(1 1 0) is as effective at the thermal O₂ exposure as on Cu(1 1 0). On the other hand, at the incident energies of HOMB where the direct dissociative adsorption is dominant, it was determined that the dissociative adsorption of O₂ implies a higher activation barrier and therefore less reactivity due to the Au alloying in comparison with the HOMB oxidation of Cu(1 1 0). The dissociative adsorption progresses with the Cu segregation on Cu₃Au(1 1 0) similarly as on Cu₃Au(1 0 0). The growth of Cu₂O for 2 eV HOMB suggests that the diffusion of Cu atoms also contribute to the oxidation process through the open face, which makes the difference from Cu₃Au(1 0 0).     

CO interaction with Au atoms adsorbed on terrace, edge and corner sites of the MgO(1 0 0) surface. Electronic structure and vibrational analysis from DFT

The interaction of CO with Au atoms adsorbed on terrace and low-coordinates sites (edge and corner) of the MgO(1 0 0) surface was studied using the density functional theory (DFT) in combination with embedded cluster models. Surface anionic (O²⁻) and neutral oxygen vacancy (F_s) sites were considered. In all the cases, the CO stretching frequencies are shifted with respect to free CO with values between −232 and −358 cm⁻¹. In particular, the values for Au on F_s at edge and corner are shifted to higher stretching frequencies by 100 and 59 cm⁻¹, respectively, with respect to the value on a perfect MgO(1 0 0) surface. This result is in agreement with recent scanning tunneling microscopy and infrared spectroscopy experiments where a corresponding shift of 70 cm⁻¹ was observed by comparing the measurements on perfect and O-deficient MgO(1 0 0) surfaces. However, these results are different than expected because Au atoms on F_s centers are negatively charged and, therefore, according to the generally accepted scheme the CO frequency should be red-shifted with respect to the adsorption on anionic five-coordinated site where the Au atom is essentially neutral. The following picture emerges from the present results: the single occupied HOMO(α) of Au atom on F_s at low-coordinated sites consists in two lobes extended sideward the Au atom. For symmetry reasons, this MO overlaps efficiently with the 2π^∗ MO of CO. This bonding contribution to the Au-CO link is counteracted by a Pauli repulsion between the 5σ MO of CO and more internal orbitals (the HOMO-1(α) and the HOMO(β)) centered on Au. In consequence, CO is forced to vibrate against a region with a high electron density. This is the so-called “wall effect” which by itself contributes to higher CO frequency values.     

Structure and stability of Sb/Au(1 1 0)-c(2 × 2) surface phase

Adsorption of 0.5 monolayers (ML) of Sb on the Au(1 1 0) surface resulted in the formation of a c(2 × 2) surface reconstruction. Analysis of surface X-ray diffraction data by a direct method revealed the existence of an ordered substitutional surface alloy, with every other hollow site occupied by Au and Sb atoms. Quantitative conventional χ² refinement showed a contraction of 0.12 ± 0.03 Å in the spacing of the first Au layer to the second, an expansion of 0.13 ± 0.03 Å in the second-to-third layer distance, and an inward Sb displacement (rumpling) of 0.21 ± 0.04 Å. This surface phase proved to be extremely robust, with the long-range order of this arrangement remaining up to substrate temperatures of 900 K.     

Control of nucleation site density of GaN nanowires

The control of nucleation site size and density for Au catalyst-driven growth of GaN nanowires is reported. By using initial Au film thicknesses of 15-50 Å we have shown that annealing between 300 and 900 °C creates Au cluster size in the range 30-100 nm diameter with a cluster density from 300 to 3500 μm⁻².Conventional optical lithography to create parallel Au stripes shoes that a minimum separation of ∼15 μm is needed to avoid overlap of wires onto neighboring lines with our growth conditions that yield wires of this same length. The GaN nanowires exhibit strong band-edge photoluminescence and total resistances of 1.2 × 10⁸-5.5 × 10⁶ Ω in the temperature range from 240 to 400 K, as determined for the temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics.     

Stabilization of bimolecular islands on ultrathin NaCl films by a vicinal substrate

The structure of ultrathin NaCl films on Au(1 1 1) and on Au(11 12 12), as well as the one of bimolecular 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) and 1,4-bis-(2,4-diamino-1,3,5,-triazine)-benzene (BDATB) islands on NaCl films on both surfaces have been studied with a low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscope. We show that intermixed bimolecular assemblies based on selective three-fold hydrogen-bonding (H-bonding), that have previously been observed on Au(1 1 1) and on Au(11 12 12), can also be stabilized on insulating NaCl films on Au, however, only if these films are grown on Au(11 12 12) and not on Au(1 1 1). The behaviour of the heterocomplex structures is found to be largely influenced by the structural properties of the underlying substrate and by the number of NaCl layers. On a partly NaCl-covered Au(1 1 1) surface, the excess of molecules after completion of the first layer on Au prefers to form a second molecular layer based on ordered heterocomplex structures rather than to adsorb on the NaCl islands. The use of a vicinal surface together with the strong cohesion characteristic of the NaCl film introduces smooth elastic deformations on the NaCl(0 0 1) plane. As a consequence, the periodically modified structure of the overlayer provides preferential binding sites and allows adsorption of two-dimensional molecular structures. In contrast to what is observed on Au(11 12 12), the molecular domains on the NaCl film do not follow the Au step directions, but the NaCl(0 0 1) high symmetry directions. Our results provide a strategy to increase the adsorption energy of flat molecules on insulating layers by choosing a vicinal metal substrate.     

Reaction of water with Ce-Au(1 1 1) and CeOx/Au(1 1 1) surfaces: Photoemission and STM studies

This article reports photoemission and STM studies for the adsorption and dissociation of water on Ce-Au(1 1 1) alloys and CeO_x/Au(1 1 1) surfaces. In general, the adsorption of water at 300 K on disordered Ce-Au(1 1 1) alloys led to O-H bond breaking and the formation of Ce(OH)_x species. Heating to 500-600 K induced the decomposition or disproportionation of the adsorbed OH groups, with the evolution of H₂ and H₂O into gas phase and the formation of Ce₂O₃ islands on the gold substrate. The intrinsic Ce ↔ H₂O interactions were explored by depositing Ce atoms on water multilayers supported on Au(1 1 1). After adsorbing Ce on ice layers at 100 K, the admetal was oxidized immediately to yield Ce³⁺. Heating to room temperature produced finger-like islands of Ce(OH)_x on the gold substrate. The hydroxyl groups dissociated upon additional heating to 500-600 K, leaving Ce₂O₃ particles over the surface. On these systems, water was not able to fully oxidize Ce into CeO₂ under UHV conditions. A complete Ce₂O₃ → CeO₂ transformation was seen upon reaction with O₂. The particles of CeO₂ dispersed on Au(1 1 1) did not interact with water at 300 K or higher temperatures. In this respect, they exhibited the same reactivity as does a periodic CeO₂(1 1 1) surface. On the other hand, the Ce₂O₃/Au(1 1 1) and CeO_2−x/Au(1 1 1) surfaces readily dissociated H₂O at 300-500 K. These systems showed an interesting reactivity for H₂O decomposition. Water decomposed into OH groups on Ce₂O₃/Au(1 1 1) or CeO_2−x/Au(1 1 1) without completely oxidizing Ce³⁺ into Ce⁴⁺. Annealing over 500 K removed the hydroxyl groups leaving behind CeO_2−x/Au(1 1 1) surfaces. In other words, the activity of CeO_x/Au(1 1 1) for water dissociation can be easily recovered. The behavior of gold-ceria catalysts during the water-gas shift reaction is discussed in light of these results.     

Dynamics of water adsorption on TiO2 monitored by work function spectroscopy

Water adsorption dynamics on two TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile surfaces at room temperature has been investigated using the work function (WF) change as a function of time. The first surface was prepared in a standard way using sputtering/annealing cycles, whereas the second one was long term annealed at 620 K in moderate vacuum conditions (the residual gas pressure of about 1 × 10⁻⁷ mbar) and cleaned afterwards. The WF change show striking difference as compared to those obtained for highly reduced TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile or the (2 × 1) reconstructed surfaces. For the first kind of surface we show that the observed adsorption dynamics can be qualitatively explained by the present understanding of the water adsorption on non-reconstructed TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile surface according to which the bridging oxygen vacancies and Ti rows are the main adsorption sites. Although generally similar to the former results, water adsorption dynamics on the second kind of the surface has an additional feature that can be only explained by a new adsorption site, which we suggest to be due to (2 × 1) reconstructed regions coexisting with the non-reconstructed TiO₂ (1 1 0) surface.     

Sulphur overlayers on the Au(1 1 0) surface: LEED and TPD study

The adsorption and desorption of sulphur on the clean reconstructed Au(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface has been studied by low energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption. The results obtained show a complex behaviour of the S/Au(1 1 0) system during sulphur desorption at different temperatures. Two structures of the stable ordered sulphur overlayer on the Au(1 1 0) surface, p(4 × 2) and c(4 × 4), were found after annealing the S/Au(1 1 0) system at 630 K and 463 K, respectively. The corresponding sulphur coverage for these overlayers was estimated by AES signal intensity analysis of the Au NOO and S LMM Auger lines to be equal to 0.13 ML and 0.2 ML, respectively. Both sulphur structures appear after removing an excess of sulphur, which mainly desorbs at 358 K as determined from TPD spectra. Furthermore, it was not possible to produce the lower coverage p(4 × 2) sulphur structure by annealing the c(4 × 4) surface. In the case of the p(4 × 2) S overlayer on the Au(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface it is proposed that the sulphur is attached to “missing row” sites only. The c(4 × 4) S overlayer arises via desorption of S₂ molecules that are formed on the surface due to mobility of sulphur atoms after a prolonged anneal.