In situ preparation of Calcium hydroxide films

The in situ preparation of Calcium hydroxide films in an ultra high vacuum (UHV) is constrained by the decomposition of species at the surface and the absence of OH bulk diffusion. Therefore, it is not possible to prepare such films simply by water exposure to a Calcium layer.We present four different approaches for the preparation of Ca(OH)2 films in an UHV. Two of these methods are found to be ineffective for the preparation, the other two are shown to produce Calcium hydroxide films. Both of the two effective procedures make use of H2 gas exposure. Metastable Induced Electron Spectroscopy, Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy are employed to verify quality and purity of the films.