Interaction of oxygen with a Mo(111) surface

Oxygen adsorption on a Mo(111) surface is investigated at low pressures (10^?7 to 10^?5 Pa) and room temperature by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultra-violet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). In agreement with previous studies it is established that the surface is not reconstructed during adsorption and the oxygen forms no ordered structures. On the basis of kinetic and spectroscopy data, the formation of two adsorption states on the surface within 1 monolayer is established. The valence band of a clean surface is studied in detail. An attempt is made to ascribe the peaks obtained to definite d states. The interaction between O₂ and Mo(111) is discussed in terms of the results obtained and a comparison with the O₂/W(111) system is made.