ABSTRACT
A new vibrational spectroscopy method aimed at the investigation of solid surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum, called "Surface Action Spectroscopy (SAS)", is described and the first results are reviewed. This technique is based on ideas and experiments performed in the gas phase. A surface is exposed to a messenger species at low temperature. This messenger species is desorbed via absorption of tunable infrared light from a free-electron laser and the desorption rate of the messenger species is recorded via mass spectrometry. It is shown that the technique is extremely surface sensitive and we discuss the basic mechanisms of the technique. We show a feasibility study on a V2 O3 (0001) surface, where we know the surface structure. We then proceed to the example of iron oxide films to study the surface structure in parallel with calculations of the surface phonons, which allow us to confirm the surface structure of Fe3 O4 (111) to be Fetet terminated. It also provides evidence for the so-called biphase structure. To conclude, we discuss possibilities to apply the technique to interesting questions in model and real catalysis, since the technique may provide interesting information independent of long-range order of the sample.
ABSTRACT
The partial oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde on well-ordered thin V(2)O(5)(001) films supported on Au(111) was studied. Temperature-programmed desorption shows that bulk-terminated surfaces are not reactive, whereas reduced surfaces produce formaldehyde. Formaldehyde desorption occurs between 400 K and 550 K, without evidence for reaction products other than formaldehyde and water. Scanning tunnelling microscopy shows that methanol forms methoxy groups on vanadyl oxygen vacancies. If methanol is adsorbed at low temperature, the available adsorption sites are only partly covered with methoxy groups after warming up to room temperature, whereas prolonged methanol dosing at room temperature leads to full coverage. In order to explain these findings we present a model that essentially comprises recombination of methoxy and hydrogen to methanol in competition with the reaction of two surface hydroxyl groups to form water.
ABSTRACT
Our combined experimental and theoretical analysis of the shifts, with particle size, of core-level binding energies (BE's) of metal nanoparticles on insulating supports, shows that these shifts have an important initial state contribution arising, in large part, because of lattice strain. This contribution of BE shifts has not been recognized previously. Lattice strain changes the chemical bonding between the metal atoms and this change induces BE shifts.
ABSTRACT
Using grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction, the p(2x2) surface structures of the single crystal NiO(111) and a 5 monolayer thick NiO(111) film on Au(111) were both shown to exhibit locally the theoretically predicted octopolar reconstruction, with some important differences. The single crystal exhibits a single Ni termination with double steps. The thin film exhibits both possible terminations (O and Ni) and single steps. These surfaces were found to be nonreactive with respect to hydroxylation.
