Preparation of atomically dispersed Cu species on a TiO2 (1Â 1Â 0) surface premodified with an organic compound

On a bare TiO2 (1 1 0) surface Cu easily aggregates to Cu particles by vacuum evaporation while on the TiO2 (1 1 0) surface premodified with 3-thiophene carboxylic acid provide monoatomically dispersed Cu species which will lead to small nanocluster with less than 1 nm in size.