A possible approach towards spin-polarized transport through single molecule magnets: Mn12 on Au(1 0 0)/Fe(1 0 0)/MgO(1 0 0)

The possibility to use the Au(1 0 0)/Fe(1 0 0)/MgO(1 0 0) system as a substrate for future spin-polarized transport measurements on Mn₁₂ single molecule magnets has been investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at room temperature. In particular, the stability of the iron layer during a wet chemical preparation of Mn₁₂ monolayers was studied. The results demonstrate that Mn₁₂ can be deposited on Au(1 0 0)/Fe(1 0 0)/MgO(1 0 0) while preserving the metallic nature of the ferromagnetic iron layer which is required as a possible source of spin-polarized electrons in future studies.     

Adsorption of hydrogen on Pt(1 1 1) and Pt(1 0 0) surfaces and its role in the HOR

Hydrogen adsorption isotherms, evaluated by combination of cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, are reported on Pt(1 1 1) and Pt(1 0 0) surfaces in 0.1 M HClO₄. We found that at E > 0.05 V Pt(1 1 1) and Pt(1 0 0) are only partially covered by the adsorbed hydrogen (H_ad). On both surfaces, a full monolayer of the adsorbed hydrogen is completed at −0.1 V, i.e. the adsorption of atomic hydrogen is observed in the hydrogen evolution potential region. We also found, that the activity of the hydrogen oxidation reaction is mirrored by the shape of the hydrogen adsorption isotherms, implying that H_ad is in fact a spectator in the HOR.     

Adsorption of alkali metals on Ge(0 0 1)(2 × 1) surface

Ab initio total energy calculations have been performed for Na, K and Rb adsorption on Ge(0 0 1)(2 × 1) surface. It was found that the adsorption site of AM is AM size dependent. Structural analysis showed that the Ge–Ge dimer bond becomes stronger with increasing AM size. As the coverage increases from 0.5 to 1 ML it turns out that no depolarization effect occurs upon Na adsorption, while this effect becomes more important with increasing AM size. We also found that for all adsorption systems investigated the germanium surface is metallic and semiconducting for the coverage of 0.5 and 1 ML, respectively.     

CI Study of CO adsorption on MgO(1 0 0)

Using CI embedding method, we have studied the adsorption of CO on MgO(1 0 0). The MgO(1 0 0) substrate is described by a Mg₉O₉ (3 × 3 × 2) core cluster, embedded in ionic (Mg²⁺/O²⁻) core potentials. The adsorption energy is calculated to be 0.11 eV at the CI level with a blue shift of 19 cm⁻¹ for CO stretching on MgO(1 0 0). The dispersion accounts only 35% of the total binding energy of CO on MgO(1 0 0). The CO/MgO(1 0 0) interaction is weak and mainly of the van der Waals type with only slight chemical bonding characters.     

Synthesis and characterization of preferentially oriented (1 0 0) Pt nanowires

Two types of platinum deposits were obtained by potentiostatic deposition onto Ti substrates, namely platinum black (Pt B) and platinum nanowires (Pt NW) with the latter being achieved through a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane at the solution/substrate interface. Surface characterization of these deposits was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in sulphuric acid solution. Surface properties for Pt NW revealed a predominant presence of (1 0 0) crystallographic planes, not present in Pt B deposit grown in the same conditions. Also, Pt NW exhibits an increased resistance to electrochemically active surface area (EASA) loss upon potential cycling in acidic solution, as compared to Pt B.     

First-principles study of hydrogen adsorption on Mo(1 1 0)

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory-generalized gradient approximation method have been performed for hydrogen (H) adsorption on Mo(1 1 0) surface. For various coverages, the hollow (hol) site was found to be the most stable binding site. The adsorption energy of this site was slightly increased as the increasing of hydrogen coverage. Subsurface (sub) occupation at low and medium coverages was ruled out while it became to be stable at the coverage of 1 ML. This is also supported by the potential energy surface (PES) study for hydrogen diffusing from hol to sub site. It’s interesting to find a surface reconstruction at the coverage of 1 ML, which is characterized by the lateral shift of the topmost layer for the sub adsorption. At higher coverage, the local density of states (LDOS) analysis showed that a new peak was clearly visible which was ascribed to a surface state induced by hydrogen adsorption. This surface state was mostly localized on the hydrogen atom and the first Mo layer, implying the hybridization of the hydrogen 1s states and the Mo metal states.     

Addition reactions of nitrones on the reconstructed C(1 0 0)-2 × 1 surfaces

In this paper, the reactions of nitrone, N-methyl nitrone, N-phenyl nitrone and their hydroxylamine tautomers (vinyl-hydroxylamine, N-methyl-vinyl-hydroxylamine and N-phenyl-vinyl-hydroxylamine) on the reconstructed C(1 0 0)-2 × 1 surface have been investigated using hybrid density functional theory (B3LYP), Møller–Plesset second-order perturbation (MP2) and multi-configuration complete-active-space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) methods. The calculations showed that all the nitrones can react with the surface “dimer” via facile 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with small activation barriers (less than 12.0 kJ/mol at B3LYP/6-31g(d) level). The [2+2] cycloaddition of hydroxylamine tautomers on the C(1 0 0) surface follows a diradical mechanism. Hydroxylamine tautomers first form diradical intermediates with the reconstructed C(1 0 0)-2 × 1 surface by overcoming a large activation barrier of 50–60 kJ/mol (B3LYP), then generate [2+2] cycloaddition products via diradical transition states with negligible activation barriers. The surface reactions result in hydroxyl or amino-terminated diamond surfaces, which offers new opportunity for further modifications.     

NEXAFS study of a Pt-containing rod-like organometallic polymer (Pt-DEBP): molecular orientation onto HOPG, Au/Si(1 1 1), Cr/Si(1 1 1) and Si(1 1 1) surfaces

The influence of different substrates on the molecular orientation of organometallic polymer Pt-DEBP, [Pt(PBu₃)₂CCC₁₂H₈CC]_n, has been investigated by NEXAFS spectroscopy. Thin films were deposited on HOPG, Au/Si(1 1 1), Cr/Si(1 1 1), Si(1 1 1) and stainless steel. The assignment of the spectral features has been carried out on the basis of previous STEX calculations performed on phenylacetylene model molecule in gas phase and adsorbed on Pt(1 1 1) and Cu(1 0 0). Angular dependent analysis of the π* resonance occurring at 285.50 eV photon energy deriving by the benzene carbon orbitals showed a polarisation effect for all substrates. A preferential molecular orientation at nearly 40° to the surface normal was observed. This result might be explained by the strong interaction between sp and sp² carbons of the organic diethynylbiphenyl DEBP moiety contained in close chains, leading to polymer self-assembling.     

Ab initio and XPS studies of pyrite (1 0 0) surface states

Ab initio quantum chemical modelling (GGA, CASTEP and B3LYP, CRYSTAL03) is used to predict differences in electronic structure between the (1 0 0) surface and bulk of pyrite. Experimental X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) data for the S 2p core lines show the presence of two types of S surface states: surface S²⁻ monomers at a S 2p_3/2 binding energy (BE) of 161.2 eV, and (S–S)²⁻ surface dimer states at a S 2p_3/2 BE of 162.0 eV, compared to the S 2p_3/2 BE of bulk pyrite at 162.7 eV. The Fe 2p surface XPS displays several multiplets (implying high spin configuration) at higher BE than the bulk Fe 2p signal, which can be ascribed to surface state contributions. The quantum chemical simulation predicts an S 2p core level shift of 0.69 eV between the S bulk and S surface dimers, in good agreement with the 0.6 eV found in XPS measurements. A Mulliken population analysis confirms the conjectured charge distribution on the surface, which leads to the two different S surface states, as well as the surface high spin configuration responsible for the high BE Fe multiplets. Evidence for surface Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ surface states can be seen in the Fe projected valence band density of states, confirming the interpretation of the photoemission spectra.     

Morphology and optical properties of MgO thin films on Mo(0 0 1)

The photophysical properties of N-(1-naphthyl)-carbazole (1-NACZ), N-(2-naphthyl)-carbazole (2-NACZ), N-(1-naphthyl)-benzimidazole (1-NABI) and N-(2-naphthyl)-benzimidazole (2-NABI) were studied. The emission wavelengths of 1-NACZ and 2-NACZ were very sensitive to the polarity of solvents. The magnitude of change in the dipole moment was calculated based on the Lippert–Mataga equation. 1-NACZ and 2-NACZ had higher change in the dipole moment than that of 1-NABI and 2-NABI . The optical properties, including fluorescence quantum yield and fluorescence decay times, were determined in different polarity solvents. These gave the evidence about the intramolecular charge transfer character in the excited singlet state of 1-NACZ and 2-NACZ.     

Surface structure for Au on (0 0 1) SrTiO3

First-principle calculations are performed to study the crystal structure, formation energies, and electronic structures of (0 0 1) SrTiO₃ surfaces with/without Au covered. The initiative Au additive layer is crystallized in a fcc structure with (0 0 1) face on SrO-terminated surface. The bimodal growth trend of Au on TiO₂-terminated surface is qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations. The defect structure of Au occupying the oxygen (O) vacancies of TiO₂-terminated surface is energetically favorable under oxygen-poor conditions, and a feature corresponding to gap states appear and the occupied Ti 3d states disappear.     

An ab initio study of CO adsorption on ceria(1 1 0)

Hartree–Fock and DFT calculations are reported for the CO/CeO₂(1 1 0) surface system. The electron density, electrostatic potential, atomic charges and projected electronic density of states have been calculated from an ECP-and-point-charge-embedded cluster model and is compared with periodic calculations. The agreement between the two surface models is reasonably good. A number of weakly bonding CO adsorption sites were found, with E_ads (BSSE-corrected) ranging from 0.01 to 0.22 eV per adsorbed molecule. The two most favourable sites are found in the vicinity of surface cerium ions, with the CO molecule oriented in a tilted fashion, C-end down. The surface-induced CO stretching vibrational frequency shifts on these sites are a redshift of ≈−30 cm⁻¹ and a blueshift of ≈25 cm⁻¹, respectively.     

Atomic arrangement of Al-induced clusters on Si(0 0 1) surface at high temperature

The atomic structure of the Al-induced clusters on Si(0 0 1) surface formed by the annealing of 0.5 ML Al/Si(0 0 1) at 500 °C has been studied using coaxial impact collision ion scattering spectroscopy (CAICISS). CAICISS results proposed that the Al atoms occupy the cave site (T4 site) and off-centered T4 site. To determine the structure of the Al-induced clusters definitely, classical ion-scattering trajectory simulations using scattering and recoiling imaging code (SARIC) have been performed for the recently proposed most possible four different cluster models (Bunk, Zotov, Kotlyar, and Zavodinsky model). Our CAICISS spectra and simulation results show that the Bunk model is the best plausible one among the models. As the results of the simulations, it is found that Al–Si dimers has been oriented on the topmost layer of the Si(0 0 1) surface with a bonding length (Δz) of 1.00 ± 0.05 Å.     

In situ and real-time surface differential diffraction (SDD) study of Cd underpotential deposition on Au(1 1 1)

In situ and real-time surface differential diffraction (SDD) has been used to study the underpotential deposition (UPD) of Cd on Au(1 1 1) in sulfuric acid media. Comparison of SDD results in sulfate electrolytes with and without the presence of Cd²⁺ ions reveals that the surface reconstruction associated with the sulfate adsorption and desorption dominates the structural effect. It is also found that the reconstructed gold surface is stable upon Cd UPD process. In the initial stages of UPD, Cd atoms bind to the surface in bridge sites. This is followed by an adlayer structure with Cd adsorption in threefold hollow sites before Au/Cd intermixing takes place.