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The reaction of carbon dioxide on the vicinal Cu surfaces at low temperatures was investigated by infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and quadrupole mass spectrometry. Dissociation of CO2 molecules into CO on the Cu(997) and Cu(977) surfaces was observed at temperatures between 80 K and 90 K, whereas it did not occur on Cu(111) under a similar condition. CO and physisorbed CO2 were the main adsorbates during the reaction. In contrast, the amount of atomic oxygen on the surface was small. The dissociation of CO2 was promoted by the small amount of oxygen produced by the CO2 dissociation on the Cu surfaces. This leads to the induction period in the CO2 reaction; the initial reaction rate on the clean Cu surfaces was low, and the coadsorbed oxygen enhanced the dissociation reactivity of CO2. Mass analysis of desorption species during the reaction revealed that the observed CO formation on the vicinal Cu surface is mainly caused by an oxygen-exchange reaction with residual CO in an ultra-high vacuum chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the adsorption and thermal reaction processes of NO with silicene spontaneously formed on the ZrB2/Si(111) substrate using synchrotron radiation x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density-functional theory calculations. NO is dissociatively adsorbed on the silicene surface at 300 K. An atomic nitrogen is bonded to three Si atoms most probably by a substitutional adsorption with a Si atom of silicene (N≡Si3). An atomic oxygen is inserted between two Si atoms of the silicene (Si—O—Si). With increasing NO exposure, the two-dimensional honeycomb silicene structure gets destroyed, judging from the decay of typical Si 2p spectra for silicene. After a large amount of NO exposure, the oxidation state of Si becomes Si4+ predominantly, and the intensity of the XPS peaks of the ZrB2 substrate decreases, indicating that complicated silicon oxinitride species have developed three-dimensionally. By heating above 900 K, the oxide species start to desorb from the surface, but nitrogen-bonded species still exist. After flashing at 1053 K, no oxygen species is observed on the surface; SiN species are temporally formed as a metastable species and BN species also start to develop. In addition, the silicene structure is restored on the ZrB2/Si(111) substrate. After prolonged heating at 1053 K, most of nitrogen atoms are bonded to B atoms to form a BN layer at the topmost surface. Thus, BN-covered silicene is formed on the ZrB2/Si(111) substrate by the adsorption of NO at 300 K and prolonged heating at 1053 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption, desorption, and decomposition of formic acid (HCOOH) on Cu(111), Cu(997), Zn-Cu(111), and Zn-Cu(997) were systematically studied by high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption, and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. On the clean Cu(111) surface, 13% of formic acid molecules adsorbed at 83 K were dissociated to form bidentate formate species by heating at 300 K; however, on the Zn-Cu(111) surface, only 4% of adsorbed HCOOH molecules were dissociated into the bidentate formate species. On the contrary, 13% of adsorbed HCOOH molecules were already dissociated into monodentate formate species on Cu(997) even at 83 K and 17% of adsorbed formic acid molecules were transformed to bidentate formate species by heating at 300 K, indicating that the stepped Cu surface has higher reactivity for HCOOH dissociation at low temperature. On the Zn-Cu(997) surface, 20% of formic acid became bidentate formate species in contrast to the case with Zn-Cu(111). Thus, the Zn deposited Cu step surface shows special activity for adsorption and dissociation of formic acid. The desorption peak maxima of the formate decomposition products (CO2 and H2) on Zn-Cu(997) were shifted to higher temperatures than those on Cu(997). Zn on Cu surfaces plays an important role in the stabilization of formate species, which probably leads to the decrease in the activation barrier for hydrogenation on the Zn-Cu alloyed surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vibrational modes of chemisorbed CO on a Si(001) surface are investigated by means of transmission Fourier-transform infrared absorption spectroscopy. We observed the three components corresponding to the stretching vibration of the terminal-site CO adsorbed on the down-dimer sites of a Si(001) surface. The symmetric stretching vibration and asymmetric stretching vibration are observed separately. This assignment is consistent with the polarization dependence of the incident light and with the vibrational modes obtained by performing theoretical calculations. We found that both the intradimer row and interdimer row coupling should be considered to explain the appearance of the three components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The charge-transfer states and the carrier concentration of the native oxide Si(111) surface adsorbed with 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and independently driven four-probe electrical conductivity measurements. The XPS results show that F4-TCNQ molecules are involved in charge transfer with the SiO2/Si(111) surface. The Si 2p XPS spectra and the surface photovoltage shift provide the evidences of (i) change in the oxidation states at the SiO2-Si(111) interface region and (ii) formation of a p-type space charge layer (SCL) with a hole concentration of 1.7×1010 cm-2, respectively. The four-probe I-V measurements also support the formation of the p-type SCL, and the estimated hole concentration of 2.0×1010 cm-2 agrees well with the XPS results. The estimated SCL hole concentrations were much smaller than the excess charge density in the F4-TCNQ layer, of the order of 1013 cm-2, suggesting that most of charges were localized as the oxidation states at the SiO2-Si(111) interface region. The present quantitative methods ensure precise determination of the doping concentration near the surface region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel isotope effects were observed in desorption kinetics and adsorption geometry of cyclohexane on Rh(111) by the use of infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption, photoelectron spectroscopy, and spot-profile-analysis low energy electron diffraction. The desorption energy of deuterated cyclohexane (C6D12) is lower than that of C6H12. In addition, the work function change by adsorbed C6D12 is smaller than that by adsorbed C6H12. These results indicate that C6D12 has a shallower adsorption potential than C6H12 (vertical geometric isotope effect). The lateral geometric isotope effect was also observed in the two-dimensional cyclohexane superstructures as a result of the different repulsive interaction between interfacial dipoles. The observed isotope effects should be ascribed to the quantum nature of hydrogen involved in the C-H···metal interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adsorption structures and interaction of cyclohexane molecules on the clean and hydrogen-preadsorbed Rh(111) surfaces were investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy, spot-profile-analysis low-energy electron diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption, and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS). Various ordered structures of adsorbed cyclohexane were observed as a function of hydrogen and cyclohexane coverages. When the fractional coverage (θH) of preadsorbed hydrogen was below 0.8, four different commensurate or higher-order commensurate superstructures were found as a function of θH; whereas more densely packed incommensurate overlayers became dominant at higher θH. IRAS measurements showed sharp softened C-H vibrational peaks at 20 K, which originate from the electronic interaction between adsorbed cyclohexane and the Rh surface. The multiple softened C-H stretching peaks in each phase are due to the variation in the adsorption distance from the substrate. At high hydrogen coverages they became attenuated in intensity and eventually diminished at θH = 1. The gradual disappearance of the soft mode correlates well with the structural phase transition from commensurate structures to incommensurate structures with increasing hydrogen coverage. The superstructure of adsorbed cyclohexane is controlled by the delicate balance between adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions which are affected by preadsorbed hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the water (D2O) adsorption at 135 K on a hydrogen pre-adsorbed Rh(111) surface using temperature programmed desorption and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) in ultrahigh vacuum. With increasing the hydrogen coverage, the desorption temperature of water decreases. At the saturation coverage of hydrogen, dewetting growth of water ice was observed: large three-dimensional ice grains are formed. The activation energy of water desorption from the hydrogen-saturated Rh(111) surface is estimated to be 51 kJ/mol. The initial sticking probability of water decreases from 0.46 on the clean surface to 0.35 on the hydrogen-saturated surface. In IRAS measurements, D-down species were not observed on the hydrogen saturated surface. The present experimental results clearly show that a hydrophilic Rh(111) clean surface changes into a hydrophobic surface as a result of hydrogen adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption states and thermal reactions of NO on the clean and nitrogen modified Rh(111) surfaces were investigated between 20 and 150 K using infrared reflection adsorption spectroscopy (IRAS) and temperature programmed desorption. On the clean surface, singleton species at atop and hollow sites were observed at 1816 and 1479 cm-1, respectively. Using time-resolved IRAS, the activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the site change from atop to hollow sites on Rh(111) were estimated to be 117 meV and 1.7×1010 s-1, respectively. On the saturated monolayer, physisorbed NO dimers were formed. In the second layer, they were adsorbed with the N[Single_Bond]N bond nearly parallel to the surface. In the multilayer formed at 20 K, the NO dimers were randomly oriented. On the nitrogen modified Rh(111) surface, a new adsorption state of chemisorbed monomer was observed as well as atop and hollow species. Physisorbed NO dimers were a precursor to N2O formation on the nitrogen modified Rh(111) surface. In the N2O formation reaction, three kinds of N2O species were identified. The first species desorbed from the surface immediately after the formation reaction, which is a reaction-limited process. The second species was physisorbed on the surface and desorbed at 86 K, which is a desorption-limited process. The third species was chemisorbed on the surface and decomposed above 100 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption states and growth process of the first layer and multilayer of water (D2O) on Rh(111) above 135 K were investigated using infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS), temperature programed desorption, spot-profile-analysis low-energy electron diffraction, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). At the initial stage, water molecules form commensurate ([Square_Root]3×[Square_Root]3)R30° islands, whose size is limited for several hexagonal units; the average diameter is ∼2.5 nm. This two-dimensional (2D) island includes D-down species, and free OD species exist at the island edge. With increasing coverage, the D-up species starts to appear in IRAS. At higher coverages, the 2D islands are connected in STM images. By the titration of Xe adsorption we estimated that the D-down domain occupies about 55% on Rh(111) at the saturation coverage. Further adsorption of water molecules forms three-dimensional ice crystallites on the first water layer; thus, the growth mode of crystalline water layers on Rh(111) is a Stranski–Krastanov type. We have found that an ice crystallite starts to grow on D-down domains and the D-down species do not reorient upon the formation of a crystalline ice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]