Adsorption and reaction of methanol on thin-film cerium oxide

Methanol adsorption and reaction has been studied on cerium oxide thin films that were vapor deposited on Ru(0 0 0 1). The methanol behavior was examined as a function of temperature and Ce oxidation state. Methanol reacts at low temperatures with fully oxidized CeO₂ to produce water at 200 K while formaldehyde and methanol desorb near 560 K. This leads to the reduction of the ceria. On reduced ceria, more methanol can be adsorbed and it undergoes more extensive decomposition producing CO and H₂ near 640 K in addition to formaldehyde and water. As the degree of ceria reduction increases, more H₂ and less H₂O are produced. TPD experiments using isotopically labeled CH₃OD show that deuterated water is produced from the oxidized surface at low temperatures, whereas the deuterium is stabilized on the reduced surface and is incorporated into the dihydrogen that desorbs near 600 K. High resolution C 1s and O 1s XPS and C k-edge NEXAFS measurements were performed to quantify the amount of methanol adsorbed and to identify the adsorbed species.     

Adsorption and reaction of hydrogen sulfide on thin-film cerium oxide

The adsorption and reaction of hydrogen sulfide, H₂S, have been studied on cerium oxide thin films that were vapor deposited on Ru(0 0 0 1). The behavior of the H₂S was examined as a function of Ce oxidation state. H₂S weakly chemisorbs on fully oxidized CeO₂ desorbing near 155 K. Hydrogen from the H₂S reacts with the surface O to desorb as water between 200 K and 450 K. When ca. 20% of the Ce⁴⁺ is reduced to Ce³⁺ more H₂S dissociates to -OH and -SH and water is produced near 580 K. When the ceria is ca. 70% reduced, water formation is suppressed and H₂ desorbs near 580 K. S 2p photoelectron spectroscopy indicates the decomposition of H₂S into -SH and then -S as the sample is annealed from 100 K to 600 K. O 1s photoemission indicated the presence of H₂O and -OH.     

Adsorption of some substituted ethylene molecules on Pt(111) at 95 K Part 1: NEXAFS, XPS and UPS studies

The present work examines the interactions of propanoic acid, acrylic acid, acrolein and methylmethacrylate (MMA) with Pt(111) at 95 K to identify the nature of the interactions on this surface. The investigations are carried out by XPS, UPS and NEXAFS on monolayer and multilayer. Theoretical molecular orbital calculations are firstly performed to determine the nature of the bonding and antibonding orbitals of these molecules. The NEXAFS results show that the condensed multilayers of acrylic acid and acrolein are almost oriented parallel to the surface when propanoic acid and MMA are randomly oriented. The monolayer formed at 95 K for all these molecules are also oriented flat on Pt(111). However two different interaction processes are observed depending on the chemical structure of the compound: acrolein and propanoic acid are physisorbed when MMA and acrylic acid are in strong interaction with the metal but with an uncertainty on the chemisorption mode between a π-bonded state or a “di-σ like” state.     

Thin PTCDA films on Si(0 0 1): 2. Electronic structure

We have studied the thin film formation and the electronic structure of the organic molecular semiconductor 3,4,9,10 perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), on clean and on hydrogen-passivated Si(0 0 1) surfaces. The studies were made by means of high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS), angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED). On the H passivated surface the changes in the electronic structure of the substrate and the molecules with increasing film thickness are very small. The molecular orbitals show a dispersive behavior, indicating that the PTCDA layers are ordered. On the reactive clean surface the anhydride groups of the molecule interact with the substrate as indicated by changes in the core level binding energies. This results in a much lower ordering in the film compared to PTCDA on a passivated silicon surface. There is no sign of decomposition of the molecule because of the more reactive substrate.     

XPS and NEXAFS studies of aliphatic and aromatic amine species on functionalized surfaces

The chemical constitution of functionalized supports is an important parameter that determines their performance in a broad range of applications, e.g. for immobilization of biomolecules. Supports with amino functionalized surfaces are also often used for DNA microarray experiments. However, spectral data which have been reported for surfaces with amino functionalities suffer from some inconsistencies. In this article a detailed XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and NEXAFS (Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure) database for amino functionalized surfaces is presented. Amino-terminated surfaces prepared from aliphatic and aromatic aminosilanes or aminothiols and a field sample are considered. Effects of aging in air and damage by radiation are addressed as well.     

The reaction of carbon monoxide with palladium supported on cerium oxide thin films

In this study we probe the reaction of carbon monoxide with Pd nanoparticles supported on cerium oxide thin films. With the use of soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (sXPS), and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) the surface intermediates and pathways leading to reaction products of CO on Pd supported on ceria were investigated. When Pd is supported on the stoichiometric CeO₂ surface (Ce⁺⁴) only the molecular adsorption of CO on Pd is visible (286.4 eV). All of the CO desorbs below 520 K, however a small amount of O exchange between the CO and the ceria was indicated through the acquisition of labeled ¹⁸O from the substrate in the desorbed CO. The Pd nanoparticles are activated on partially reduced CeO_x to promote the dissociation of <10% of the CO as indicated by a C-Pd species (284.4 eV) in sXPS. The C recombines with O from the ceria and desorbs between 600 and 700 K. The majority of the CO does not dissociate, however, and the degree of dissociation does not increase with the degree of ceria reduction. This result is in contrast with Rh nanoparticles supported on ceria where the degree of dissociation increased with the degree of ceria reduction and nearly total dissociation was obtained when the ceria was highly reduced.     

Photoemission, NEXAFS and STM studies of pentacene thin films on Au(1 0 0)

We have investigated the initial stages of the growth of pentacene thin films on the Au(1 0 0) substrate using synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Results indicate a well-ordered structure with the pentacene molecules adopting a predominantly flat orientation with respect to the substrate for coverages of less than three monolayers. NEXAFS and photoemission data indicates the presence of a second molecular orientation for thicker films, with the introduction of a slight tilting away from planar bonding geometry at higher pentacene coverages. STM images of coverages less than three monolayers indicate a well-ordered pentacene structure allowing for the calculation of pentacene unit cell parameters. The pentacene molecular rows adopt a side-by-side bonding arrangement on the surface. For pentacene deposited at room temperature, step edges were observed to act as nucleation centres for film growth. Annealing of the substrate to 373 K was found to remove excess molecules and improve film quality, but did not otherwise change the bonding geometry of the pentacene with respect to the surface.     

Molecular adsorption and growth of naphthalene films on Ag(1 0 0)

The adsorption of naphthalene, vacuum deposited on a Ag(1 0 0) surface, was comprehensively investigated by means of low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), temperature-programmed thermal desorption (TPD) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and polarization-dependent near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy in the mono- and multilayer regime. A growth of long-range ordered monolayer at 140 K is observed with LEED. The polarization-dependent C 1s NEXAFS shows that the naphthalene molecules in the monolayer lie almost parallel to the Ag(1 0 0) surface. With increasing film thickness, the molecular orientation turns to upright position. Furthermore, NEXAFS measurements show that in the multilayer regime the molecular orientation depends on the substrate temperature during deposition.     

Adsorption and structure of methyl mercaptoacetate on Cu(1 1 1) surface by XPS and NEXAFS spectroscopy

Methyl mercaptoacetate (MA) on Cu(1 1 1) surface was investigated using synchrotron radiation-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. MA adsorbs on the surface via thiolate formation and weak interaction of the carbonyl group with the surface. Two different adsorption states previously reported for methanethiolate and ethanethiolate were confirmed, besides atomic sulfur. NEXAFS measurements support gauche-type conformation of MA whose skeleton lies on the surface.     

Ex-situ prepared films of 4-aminothiophenol on Au(1 1 1): photoemission, NEXAFS and STM measurements

Ex-situ prepared films of 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) on Au(1 1 1) have been studied by core-level photoemission using synchrotron radiation, ultra-high-vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (UHV-STM, STS), and X-ray absorption (NEXAFS). Photoemission measurements suggest that the film contains a relatively low percentage of 4-ATP bonded to the Au surface, with the presence of free 4-ATP, with oxidised and possibly dimerised molecules also present. We find a lower oxide content than has previously been observed, with well-resolved STM images. These images show a disruption of the long range order of the Au(1 1 1)-(22 × √3) reconstruction, with local nucleation of the reconstruction apparently induced by the 4-ATP, and bias-dependent contrast images. This latter effect, together with the asymmetry observed in STS, is ascribed to the presence of oriented molecular dipole layers between the metal and the organic material. NEXAFS data suggest a broadly upright geometry, with, however, considerable uncertainties.     

Enhancement of dissociation by metal-support interaction: reaction of NO on Rh supported by ceria films of controlled oxidation state

Highly oriented thin films of cerium oxide with variable ratio of Ce³⁺/Ce⁴⁺ were grown on Ru(0 0 0 1) single crystal surface and loaded with a fixed, low coverage of Rh. The chemisorption of NO on the resulting model catalyst was studied by soft X-ray photoemission which yielded the relative quantities of N containing species on the surface as a function of temperature, and by thermal desorption which yielded the relative yields of NO and N₂ desorbed. It is found that the ability of the reduced Rh clusters to dissociate NO depends upon the oxidation state of the ceria upon which it is deposited, and for highly reduced ceria surfaces effectively 100% of Rh-adsorbed NO dissociates by 350 K. Possible causes of this surprising behavior are discussed.     

Identification of the vanadyl terminated V2O3(0 0 0 1) surface by NEXAFS spectroscopy: A combined theoretical and experimental study

In this work we present results from density functional theory (DFT) cluster studies to determine polarization-dependent near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra of the vanadyl termination of the V₂O₃(0 0 0 1) surface. The oxygen K edge spectra are calculated for the relaxed surface geometry where geometric parameters are taken from recent periodic DFT work. A detailed analysis of energetic peak positions, relative intensities, and final state orbitals allows a deep understanding of the complex angular dependence of the calculated spectra on the basis of the local binding environment of differently coordinated oxygen species. Further, our theoretical analysis can assign and explain various spectral details in the experimental NEXAFS data, in particular, those related to vanadyl oxygen. This allows us to support the experimentally suggested vanadyl surface termination.     

H2O induced structural modification of pentacene crystal

Water is one of the obstacles for prolonged life-time of organic based field-effect-transistors (OFETs). Here, we show how H₂O molecules adsorb and affect pentacene crystal by using photoelectron spectroscopic methods. Diffusion into the crystal is accompanied with accumulation of H₂O onto the crystal. Valence band, core level, and X-ray absorption spectra show that H₂O molecules physisorb on the pentacene surface via oxygen, resulting in the increase of the hole-injection barrier. The diffused molecules results in the deteriorated crystallinity, and they reflect the weakening inter-molecular interactions of pentacene crystal.     

Conformational isomers of stilbene on Si(1 0 0)

Stilbene (1,2-diphenylethylene) has shown an intriguing isomerisation behavior and may serve as a model system for “molecular switches” incorporating a CC double bond. To evaluate the possible use of such molecules as molecular switches on semiconductor surfaces, the adsorption of cis- and trans-stilbene on Si(1 0 0) has been investigated. Identification of both isomers is achieved by differences in adsorption geometry as revealed by NEXAFS, and differences in electronic structure in the occupied and unoccupied molecular orbitals. For both isomers, bonding takes place via the CC double bond to the Si dimer atoms allowing for free movement of the aromatic rings, a necessary prerequisite for photoinduced isomerisation on the surface. Our experimental results agree well with theoretical calculations.     

Geometrical characterization of adenine and guanine on Cu(1 1 0) by NEXAFS, XPS, and DFT calculation

Adsorption of purine DNA bases (guanine and adenine) on Cu(1 1 0) was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS), and density-functional theory (DFT) calculation. At coverages near 0.2 monolayers, Angular-resolved NEXAFS analysis revealed that adenine adsorbates lie almost flat and that guanine adsorbates are tilted up on the surface with the purine ring parallel to the atom rows of Cu(1 1 0). Referring to the previous studies on pyrimidine DNA bases [M. Furukawa, H. Fujisawa, S. Katano, H. Ogasawara, Y. Kim, T. Komeda, A. Nilsson, M. Kawai, Surf. Sci. 532-535 (2003) 261], the isomerization of DNA bases on Cu(1 1 0) was found to play an important role in the adsorption geometry. Guanine, thymine and cytosine adsorption have an amine-type nitrogen next to a carbonyl group, which is dehydrogenated into imine nitrogen on Cu(1 1 0). These bases are bonded by the inherent portion of -NH-CO- altered by conversion into enolic form and dehydrogenation. Adenine contains no CO group and is bonded to Cu(1 1 0) by participation of the inherent amine parts, resulting in nearly flatly-lying position.     

Photon-stimulated ion desorption from DCOO/Si(100) near the O K-edge

Photon-stimulated ion desorption from deuterated formic acid chemisorbed on Si(100) has been studied using pulsed synchrotron radiation in the energy region of the oxygen 1s electron excitation. The O 1s electrons of hydroxyl oxygen and carbonyl oxygen could be selectively excited in the O K-edge region because the chemical environments are different. It is found that the CDO⁺ yield is enhanced at the O 1s(C---O)→σ*(C---O) resonance and the CD⁺ yield at the O 1s(C=O)→σ*(C---O) resonance. The results indicate that ion desorption is related both to the antibonding character of excited molecular orbitals and the local character of core hole orbitals.     

Thin PTCDA films on Si(0 0 1): 1. Growth mode

We have studied the interface and thin film formation of the organic molecular semiconductor 3,4,9,10 perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on clean and on hydrogen passivated Si(0 0 1) surfaces. The studies were made by means of high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HRXPS), near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). On the passivated surface the LEED pattern is somewhat diffuse but reveals that the molecules grow in several ordered domains with equivalent orientations to the substrate. NEXAFS shows that the molecules are lying flat on the substrate. The Si 2p XPS line shape is not affected when the film is deposited so it can be concluded that the interaction at the interface between PTCDA and the substrate is weak. The evolution of the film formation appears to be homogeneous for the first monolayer with a nearly complete coverage of flat lying molecules based on the XPS attenuation. For layer thickness of 0.5-2 monolayers (ML) the molecules start to form islands, attracting the molecules in between, leaving the substrate partly uncovered. For thicker films there is a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode with thick islands and a monolayer thick film in between. For the clean surface the ordering of the film is much lower and angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) of the molecular orbitals have only a small dependence of the emission angle. NEXAFS shows that the molecules do not lie flat on the surface and also reveal a chemical interaction at the interface.     

Chemistry of chloroethylenes on Cu(100): bonding and reactions

The bonding and reactions of chloroethylenes (vinyl chloride, trans- and cis-dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene) on a Cu(100) surface have been investigated by temperature-programmed desorption and reaction, near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) studies and measurements of changes of the surface work function. The monolayer molecules adsorb molecularly intact at 95 K via π coordination. The molecules orient with their molecular planes parallel to the surface with little increase (<0.02 Å) in the C---C bond distance compared with the gas phase values. The degree of thermal dissociation increases with the extent of halogenation, and no chlorine is present in the hydrocarbon reaction products liberated from the surface. Both cis- and trans-1.2-chloroethylene produce acetylene and a small amount of benzene, while dissociation of trichloroethylene generates acetylene and deposits a carbon residue on the surface. Vinyl chloride desorbs from Cu(100) without reaction.     

Anchoring of alkyl chain molecules on oxide surface using silicon alkoxide

Chemical states of the interfaces between octadecyl-triethoxy-silane (ODTS) molecules and sapphire surface were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) using synchrotron soft X-rays. The nearly self-assembled monolayer of ODTS was formed on the sapphire surface. For XPS and NEXAFS measurements, it was elucidated that the chemical bond between silicon alkoxide in ODTS and the surface was formed, and the alkane chain of ODTS locates upper side on the surface. As a result, it was elucidated that the silicon alkoxide is a good anchor for the immobilization of organic molecules on oxides.     

Adsorption of CO and C2H4 on Rh-loaded thin-film dysprosium oxide

A dysprosium oxide thin film was deposited on Ru(0 0 0 1) by vapor depositing Dy in 2 × 10⁻⁷ torr O₂ while the Ru was at 700 K. The film was ca. 5 nm thick and produced a p(1.4 × 1.4) LEED pattern relative to the Ru(0 0 0 1) substrate. The adsorption and reaction of CO and C₂H₄ adsorbed on Rh supported on the Dy₂O₃ film were studied by TPD and SXPS. The CO initially reacted with loosely bound oxygen in the substrate to produce CO₂. After the loosely bound oxygen was removed, the CO adsorbed non-dissociatively in a manner similar to what is seen on Rh(1 1 1). C₂H₄ adsorbed on the Rh particles and underwent progressive dehydrogenation to produce H₂ during TPD. The C from the C₂H₄ reacted with the O in Dy₂O₃ to produce CO. CO dissociation on the Rh particles could be promoted by treating the Dy₂O₃ with C₂H₄ before CO exposure.