Surface Reactivity and Electronic Structure of Metal Oxides

The foci of this thesis are the metal oxides Cu2O, ZnO and Fe3O4 and their interaction with water and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The intention is to study SO2-induced atmospheric corrosion on a molecular level. All studies are based on photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements. The band structure of Cu2O in the Γ-M direction has been probed by angle-resolved PES (ARPES). It reveals a more detailed picture of the bulk band structure than earlier data and gives the first experimental evidence of a dispersive hybridized Cu 3d-Cu 4s state. The experimental data is compared to band structure calculations. The structure of clean metal oxide surfaces and impact of sample preparation have been studied. Oxygen vacancies can form a (√3x√3)R30° reconstruction on Cu2O(111). Oxygen atoms adjacent to copper vacancies, steps or kinks are shown to be adsorption sites for both water and SO2. Annealing temperature influences the defect density and hydrogen content in ZnO, which can have large impact on the surface properties of ZnO(0001). Water is shown to adsorb dissociatively on ZnO(0001) and partly dissociatively on Cu2O(111). The dissociation occurs at undercoordinated oxygen sites on both surfaces. Water stays adsorbed on ZnO(0001) at room temperature but on Cu2O(111), all water has desorbed at 210 K. SO2 interacts with one or two undercoordinated O-sites on all studied oxide surfaces forming SO3 or SO4 species respectively. SO4 on Fe3O4(100) follows the (√2x√2)R45° reconstruction. On Cu2O(111) and ZnO(0001), SO2 adsorbs on defect sites. An SO3 to SO4 transition is observed on Cu2O(111) when heating an SO3 adsorbate layer from 150 K to 280K. Coadsorption of water and SO2 on ZnO(0001) and Fe3O4(100) has been studied briefly. Water blocks SO2 adsorption sites on ZnO(0001). On Fe3O4(100) and on one type of reduced ZnO(0001) sample, SO2 dissociation to atomic sulfur or sulfide occurs to a higher extent on water exposed surfaces than on clean surfaces. Water thus appears to increase the charge density on some surfaces. Further studies are needed to reveal the cause of this unexpected effect.QC 20110516