Chemistry of Alanine on Pd(1 1 1): Temperature-programmed desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic study

The adsorption of alanine is studied on a Pd(1 1 1) surface using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD). It is found that alanine adsorbs into the second and subsequent layers prior to completion of the first monolayer for adsorption at ∼250 K, while at ∼300 K, alanine adsorbs almost exclusively into the first monolayer with almost no second-layer adsorption. Alanine adsorbs onto the Pd(1 1 1) surface in its zwitterionic form, while the multilayer contains about 30-35% neutral alanine, depending on coverage. Alanine is thermally stable on the Pd(1 1 1) surface to slightly above room temperature, and decomposes almost exclusively by scission of the CCOO bond to desorb CO₂ and CO from the COO moiety, and the remaining fragment yields ethylamine and HCN.     

ZnTe/GaAs(2 1 1)B heterojunction valence band discontinuity measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Thin ZnTe layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on single crystal GaAs(2 1 1)B substrates. Reflection high energy electron diffraction monitored the deoxidation of substrate and entire growth process. Valence band offset was calculated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Also interface formation of the ZnTe/GaAs was studied. Analysis shows that interface is abrupt and calculated valance band offset is 0.25 ± 0.1 eV and indicates type I alignment. The experimental result agrees well with the theoretical predictions involving interface dipole effect as well as electron affinity rule.     

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of adsorbate valence bands

The CO valence levels for a monolayer of CO adsorbed on the basal (001) face of ruthenium have been observed by XPS. The assignment of the observed peaks is discussed.     

Novel orientational ordering and reentrant metallicity in K(x)C(60) monolayers for 3 < or = x < or = 5

STM studies on K(x)C(60) monolayers reveal new behavior over a wide range of the phase diagram. As x increases from 3 to 5 K(x)C(60) monolayers undergo metal-insulator-metal reentrant phase transitions and exhibit a variety of novel orientational orderings, including a complex 7-molecule, pinwheel-like structure. The proposed driving mechanism for the orientational ordering is the lowering of electron kinetic energy by maximizing the overlap of neighboring molecular orbitals. In insulating (metallic) K(x)C(60) this gives rise to orbital versions of the superexchange (double-exchange) interaction.     

X-ray photoelectron diffraction study of Cu(1 1 1): Multiple scattering investigation

Multiple scattering theory based on a cluster model is used to simulate full-hemispherical X-ray photoelectron diffraction measurements in order to verify how state of the art multiple scattering simulations are able to reproduce the experiment. This approach is applied to the Cu(1 1 1) surface for two different photoelectron kinetic energies. Differences and similarities between single and multiple scattering are discussed in comparison with experimental results. We find that the present approach gives very good results despite some limitations.