Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5424963 | Surface Science | 2008 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
The reaction of Fe3O4(1Â 1Â 1) with water vapour has been studied with scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and with X-ray and UV-photoemission as a function of water partial pressure and temperature. The photoemission results point to dissociation to form surface hydroxyls at a partial pressure of 10â6Â mbar H2O and a substrate temperature of about 200Â K. At 298Â K it is known that dissociation occurs at around 10â3Â mbar [Kendelewicz et al., Surf. Sci. 453 (2000) 32]. This difference suggests that an intermolecular mechanism of dissociation is involved. It also suggests that the pressure dependence arises from a coverage term rather than differences in the Gibbs Free Energies of the oxide and hydroxide, as previously proposed. The STM results indicate that dissociation takes place on a termination of Fe3O4(1Â 1Â 1) thought to contain a 1/4 monolayer (ML) of Fe3+ ions on top of a close-packed oxygen monolayer.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemistry
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Authors
R.S. Cutting, C.A. Muryn, D.J. Vaughan, G. Thornton,