Supramolecular self-assembly at the liquid / solid interface is a powerful strategy for the bottom-up fabrication of complex and well-ordered structures. In order to achieve greater functionality, molecules with functional groups that possess symmetries other than those of the substrate must be included. Here, we explored this idea by integrating the pseudo-C5 triazole moiety into an oligomer through facile synthesis using well-known click chemistry. The molecules initially adsorbed without direct commensuration with HOPG (high oriented pyrolytic graphite) in a lamellar-like liquid-crystalline phase. Subsequent molecular conformational changes are believed to enable a spontaneous phase transition to a more condensed crystalline phase. The crystalline phase forms a dynamic bilayer , in which ripening of the second layer domains was observed. We will present scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) snapshots of this evolution and discuss the dynamics associated with these phase transitions and bilayer formation. Packing models and phase dependence on experimental conditions will be presented. This work lays the foundation for extending the library of self-assembling molecules to develop higher functionality at surfaces.

Gas-surface reactivity measurements performed with vibrational and rotational state selected reagents provide precise energetic resolution that can be exploited to uncover important aspects of gas-surface reactivity. This talk will focus on two examples. In the first, we explore the surface temperature dependent reactivity of methane (CH₄) molecules prepared in the ν₃ C-H stretching state. We find that at low incident kinetic energy, thermal excitation of the Ni(111) surface can increase reaction probability by nearly three orders of magnitude. Calculations from the Jackson group provide insight into the origin of this effect. As a second example, we will describe recent experiments that compare the reactivity of the symmetric (ν₁) and antisymmetric (ν₆) C-H stretching states in di-deutero methane, CH₂D₂, on Ni(111). That work explores how the vibrational symmetry of the reactant molecule may influence the rate and pathway of rapid intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) that occurs just prior to reaction, and it tests whether vibrationally adiabatic models for methane activation in the gas phase are also applicable to methane reactivity on a metal surface.

Taken together, the work highlights how general patterns of energy flow within the gas-surface reaction complex can influence reactivity patterns, and how the kinetics of energy redistribution might be used to control or enhance the rate or selectivity of reactions on surfaces.

Surface explosions are surface reaction mechanisms wherein an autocatalytic increase in the reaction rate results in the reaction proceeding to completion over a very narrow temperature range during heating. While several substrate-adsorbate systems exhibiting decomposition via surface explosion mechanism have been identified, a detailed understanding of the mechanism remains unclear. We have successfully identified aspartic acid as a suitable probe for studying surface explosion mechanism on Cu(110) surface. Because a wide range of isotopically labeled varieties of aspartic acid are commercially available, we have been able to conduct a detailed investigation of its autocatalytic reaction mechanism. Using specifically labeled aspartic acid molecules, we have identified the reaction products and identified the origins of atoms in the decomposing aspartic acid molecules. The explosive nature of the reaction mechanism has enabled us to study its kinetics using isothermal methods by heating the Cu(110) surface to a constant temperature and then monitoring the product desorption as a function of time. We observe a significant lag time during which nucleation of the reaction is occurring without observable desorption of products. Once the reaction begins, it the proceeds to completion over a relatively short time period. Our preliminary studies on chiral Cu(643)^R&S surfaces indicate that aspartic acid exhibits enantiospecific surface decomposition kinetics. The ultimate objective of this work is to be able to identify the mechanism and in particular, the steps in the mechanism which are responsible for the enantiospecificity.

Palladium is a peculiar metal with non-activated dissociation and bulk incorporation of hydrogen. Previous studies of H thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) at Pd(111) indicated that large H₂ exposures at ~100K induce a non-saturating desorption signal which is so called as α peak at 180 K [1]. The absorption origin of the α peak was inferred as the hydrogen located in subsurface sites just below the top surface Pd atoms layer, where it is stabilized at low temperatures by an energy barrier with respect to bulk sites. However, a hydrogen depth profiling measurement by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) at the Pd(001) surface indicated that the α₁ peak (which regards as α peak at the Pd(111)) has to be assigned to the deeper located H in the 0-50 monolayer [ML] subsurface region [2]. The actual H depth distribution however was difficult to assess precisely with NRA, since the beam induced local heating was suspected to cause a partial escape of H from detection by diffusion into the bulk. To investigate the α-H origin without any heating ambiguity, TDS has been observed at well-defined ultra-thin Pd(111) films. Controlling the Pd film thickness enables us to seek the α-H depth profiling.

Pd film was deposited at the 50 ML of Ag(111) coated Si(111) surface by a Knudsen cell at room temperature. The Pd surface structure was characterized by a reflection high-energy electron diffracion (RHEED) and an atomic force microscopy (AFM). Pd(111) film grew layer-by-layer at the Ag(111) surface when grown at room temperature without any interdiffusion. The lattice constant mismatch between Pd and Ag of 4.9 % expanded the Pd lattice constant when the Pd thickness (θ_Pd) was below 80 ML. It recovered the bulk lattice constant at θ_Pd > 80 ML. H₂ was exposed to the Pd(111) surface at 102 K with an exposure pressure of 1x10^-4 Pa. By integrating α-TDS signal, α-H absorption amount of H₂ exposure dependence (<4x10⁴ L) and of θ_Pd dependence (<560 ML) were observed.

H absorption on the Pd film (θ_Pd=420 ML) saturated as ~8 ML at the maximum exposure of 4x10⁴ L. The averaged α-H concentration corresponded to 1.9 %. The θ_Pd dependence of α-H at the exposure of 4050 L showed that the α-H absorption increased with θ_Pd (maximum θ_Pd was 560 ML). H concentration at θ_Pd=80 ML was 1.8 % which was close to the saturated concentration, it decreased to 1.2 % at θ_Pd=560 ML. Our result indicated that the α-H absorption progress from near the surface region, but it possibly to absorb at the deeper bulk region than that of the previous NRA measurement at the high exposures.

References;

[1]. G. E. Gdowski et al. Surf. Sci. 181, L147 (1987).

[2]. M. Wilde et al. Surf. Sci. 482, 346 (2001).

The present study investigates the microscopic hydrogen (H) absorption mechanism at palladium (Pd) (110) single crystal surfaces. The unique properties of H-Pd interactions such as non-activated H₂ dissociation and facile bulk absorption are well known, yet an accurate atomic-level understanding of the H transportation across the surface, i.e., penetration into the Pd interior and hydride formation during absorption as well as the H release into the gas phase has not been achieved. We apply ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C resonant nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) for nondestructive H depth profiling in combination with thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) to quantitatively reveal the H-concentration-depth distribution and to unambiguously assign characteristic TDS features to surface-adsorbed and subsurface-absorbed H-species. To obtain additional insight into the release mechanism during thermal desorption of the H states absorbed in the Pd interior, the internal state distribution of desorbing H₂ molecules is characterized with a rovibrational state selective resonance-enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) technique.

TDS experiments using isotope labeling for the surface-adsorbed and subsurface-absorbed H states reveal that two parallel absorption routes exist that lead to two distinctly different depth distributions of Pd hydride in the near-surface region which give rise to separate TDS signatures (α₁ at T=160 K and α₃ at T>190 K), respectively. The first absorption pathway involves only a few (~4%) minority sites (presumably defects) at which penetration is highly efficient and leads to in-plane localized nucleation of hydride that remains concentrated within a few nanometers below the surface (α₁ state). The second absorption route proceeds on regular terraces with a significantly slower penetration rate per site so that subsurface H diffusion leads to a more extended hydride depth distribution (α₃ state, several tens of nm below the surface). A clear difference between the two H absorption states (α₁, α₃) is also seen in the REMPI internal-state populations of desorbing H₂. Both absorption pathways critically require gas phase H₂, replace surface-adsorbed H atoms with the gas phase isotope, and have activation energies (< 100 meV) much smaller than expected for the isolated subsurface migration of chemisorbed H. The results are accounted for by a concerted mechanism, in which pre-adsorbed H transits into the subsurface while its vacated adsorption site is simultaneously refilled by a nearby ‘nascent’ H atom in a state of high potential energy, which is supplied through gas phase H₂ dissociation at vacancies in the chemisorption layer.