Ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of room-temperature oxygen adsorption on Cu(1 0 0) and Cu(1 1 1)

Journal Article · 16 January 2022 · Applied Surface Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.152438 · OSTI ID:1880984

Liu, Bo-Hong ^[1]; Huber, Maximilian ^[2]; van Spronsen, Matthijs A. ^[3]; Salmeron, Miquel ^[4]; Bluhm, Hendrik ^[5]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu (Taiwan)
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Technical Univ. of Munich (Germany); Free Univ. of Berlin (Germany)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Diamond Light Source, Ltd.
4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin (Germany)

We investigated the room-temperature chemisorption of oxygen on Cu(1 0 0) and Cu(1 1 1) using ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS). A shoulder-to-shoulder comparison between the oxygen-gas titration on the two surfaces reveals that Cu(1 0 0) is the more active for oxygen dissociative chemisorption when the surfaces are clean. The (2 $$\sqrt{2}$$ × $$\sqrt{2}$$)R45o missing-row reconstruction appears in Cu(1 0 0)’s LEED image after about 10⁴ Langmuir of oxygen exposure, whereas on Cu(1 1 1), no long-range ordering was observed throughout the whole experiment. An oxide layer consisting of cuprous and cupric oxide shows up on Cu(1 1 1) at an oxygen exposure that is significantly lower than for Cu(1 0 0). This observation suggests that the presence of (2 $$\sqrt{2}$$ × $$\sqrt{2}$$)R45o missing-row reconstruction layer slows down Cu(1 0 0) oxidation. Literature has widely reported that surface morphology influences the copper oxidation process. This study provides an XPS demonstration that copper surface oxide formation in O₂ at room temperature depends on the surface crystallographic orientation.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1880984
• Journal Information: Applied Surface Science, Journal Name: Applied Surface Science Vol. 583; ISSN 0169-4332
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English