Underpotential deposition of Cu on Au(111) from neutral chloride containing electrolyte
Abstract
The structure of a chloride terminated copper monolayer electrodeposited onto Au(111) from a CuSO4/KCl electrolyte was investigated ex situ by three complementary experimental techniques (scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), X-ray standing wave (XSW) excitation) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. STM at atomic resolution reveals a stable, highly ordered layer which exhibits a Moire structure and is described by a (5×5) unit cell. The XSW/PES data yield a well-defined position of the Cu layer and the value of 2.16 A above the topmost Au layer suggests that the atoms are adsorbed in threefold hollow sites. The chloride exhibits some distribution around a distance of 3.77 Å in agreement with the observed Moire pattern due to a higher order commensurate lattice. This structure, a high order commensurate Cl overlayer on top of a commensurate (1×1) Cu layer with Cu at threefold hollow sites, is corroborated by the DFT calculations.
Citation
Aitchison , H , Meyerbroker , N , Lee , T-L , Zegenhagen , J , Potter , T , Früchtl , H A , Cebula , I & Buck , M 2017 , ' Underpotential deposition of Cu on Au(111) from neutral chloride containing electrolyte ' , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , vol. 19 , no. 35 , pp. 24146-24153 . https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CP04244B
Publication
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1463-9076Type
Journal article
Description
Support by the Leverhulme Trust (RGP-2013-177) and EPSRC via a doctoral training grant (H.A.) is gratefully acknowledged.Collections
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