Vanadium oxide surface studies

The vanadium oxides can exist in a range of single and mixed valencies with a large variety of structures. The large diversity of physical and chemical properties that they can thus possess make them technologically important and a rich ground for basic research. Here we assess the present status of the microscopic understanding of the physico-chemical properties of vanadium oxide surfaces. The discussion is restricted to atomically well-defined systems as probed by surface techniques. Following a brief review of the properties of the bulk oxides the electronic and geometric structure of their clean single crystal surfaces and adsorption studies, probing their chemical reactivity, are considered. The review then focuses on the growth and the surface properties of vanadium oxide thin films. This is partitioned into films grown on oxide substrates and those on metal substrates. The interest in the former derives from their importance as supported metal oxide catalysts and the need to understand the two-dimensional overlayer of the so-called “monolayer” catalyst. On the single crystal metal substrates thin oxide layers with high structural order and interesting properties can be prepared. Particular attention is given to ultrathin vanadium oxide layers, so-called nano-layers, where novel phases, stabilised by the substrate, form.     

Photoelectron Spectra of Nonmetal Compounds and Their Interpretation by MO Models

The results of (low energy) photoelectron spectroscopy render possible a better appreciation of the “Nature of the Chemical Bond”. The application of this new experimental method is demonstrated utilizing representative compounds of the nonmetal elements, and a close symbiosis delineated with molecular orbital models. In particular, general consequences are discussed concerning electron deficiency, σ- and π-interactions, electron pair delocalization, and substituent effects or geometric perturbations. Photoelectron spectroscopic ionization energies permit evaluation of parameters for specified molecular groups, allow correlation with numerous other experimental data, and are didactically valuable in the teaching of general chemistry.     

Epitaxial growth of sexiphenyl on Al(111): from monolayer to crystalline films

A combination of in situ surface sensitive-techniques, UV photoemission and low energy electron diffraction, with ex situ bulk sensitive X-ray diffraction reveals the formation of epitaxial thin films of sexiphenyl on Al(111) starting from the first monolayer. For room temperature growth, highly ordered films are formed with a unique alignment of the sexiphenyl molecules with the long axes of all molecules aligned parallel to both the surface and the <10> azimuthal directions of Al(111). This is related to a densely packed highly commensurate first monolayer, which acts as a template for the unique (21) crystallite orientation observed.     

A comparison of the role of charge transfer,hyperconjugation, inductive and field interactions in substitutd methyl and silyl substituent effects on benzene π vertical ionization energies

The first two vertical π-ionization energies of MX₃ substituted benzenes as determined by photoelectron spectroscopy are compared with the results of modified CNDO/2 calculations, where M is Si or C and X is H, F, Cl and OCH₃. The major substituent interaction mechanisms of MX₃ are described within the CNDO/2 model. The results for methylorthobenzoate support intramolecular charge transfer stabilization of the benzene radical cation ground state by oxygen lone pair electrons, whereas the dominant interaction of the Si(OCH₃)₃ group is a positive charge stabilising field effect. The first vertical ionization energies of PhSiCl₃ and PhCCl₃ are unexpectedly assigned to ionization from the a′ π orbital rather than the a″ orbital nodal at the substituent site. Carbon-chlorine hyperconjugation is a suggested stabilizing interaction in the PhCCl₃²A′ cation. The shape of the first band in the PE spectrum of phenylsilane is described as a possible example of a pseudo Jahn—Teller effect. Unlike CX₃, SiX₃ substituents except, where X is methoxy, exhibit calculated opposing field and σ-inductive effects.