Adsorption of thiophene on Al(1 1 1) and deposition of aluminum on condensed thiophene

The adsorption of thiophene on clean Al(1 1 1) at 90 and 130 K has been studied with X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and UPS) and work function measurements. Relatively weak chemisorption compared to adsorption on transition metals is indicated by minor changes in the valence spectrum in progressing from monolayer to multilayer thiophene, a modest work function change of −0.50 eV due to saturation dosing, and return of the work function and valence spectrum to that of clean Al(1 1 1) upon annealing at 210 K. The complementary experiment in which aluminum is thermally deposited on multilayer thiophene condensed on gold at 130 K has also been performed. XPS peak area analysis shows that metal doses less than 14×10¹⁵ atoms/cm² result in penetration through the physisorbed thiophene, but higher doses lead to the gradual build up of metal throughout the organic layer. Persistence of the thiophene UPS valence features for metal doses of 50×10¹⁵ atoms/cm² is consistent with penetration and aluminum island formation. For aluminum deposition on thiophene, charge transfer from aluminum is evidenced by metal-induced low binding energy components in the C 1s and S 2p spectra at 282.6 and 162.5 eV, respectively, and a shift in the Al 2p spectrum of 0.5 eV to higher binding energy compared to metallic aluminum. UPS also indicates progression of the frontier orbital toward the Fermi level as aluminum is deposited.