An improved single crystal adsorption calorimeter for determining gas adsorption and reaction energies on complex model catalysts

A new ultrahigh vacuum microcalorimeter for measuring heats of adsorption and adsorption-induced surface reactions on complex single crystal-based model surfaces is described. It has been specifically designed to study the interaction of gaseous molecules with well-defined model catalysts consisting of metal nanoparticles supported on single crystal surfaces or epitaxial thin oxide films grown on single crystals. The detection principle is based on the previously described measurement of the temperature rise upon adsorption of gaseous molecules by use of a pyroelectric polymer ribbon, which is brought into mechanical∕thermal contact with the back side of the thin single crystal. The instrument includes (i) a preparation chamber providing the required equipment to prepare supported model catalysts involving well-defined nanoparticles on clean single crystal surfaces and to characterize them using surface analysis techniques and in situ reflectivity measurements and (ii) the adsorption∕reaction chamber containing a molecular beam, a pyroelectric heat detector, and calibration tools for determining the absolute reactant fluxes and adsorption heats. The molecular beam is produced by a differentially pumped source based on a multichannel array capable of providing variable fluxes of both high and low vapor pressure gaseous molecules in the range of 0.005-1.5 × 10(15) molecules cm(-2) s(-1) and is modulated by means of the computer-controlled chopper with the shortest pulse length of 150 ms. The calorimetric measurements of adsorption and reaction heats can be performed in a broad temperature range from 100 to 300 K. A novel vibrational isolation method for the pyroelectric detector is introduced for the reduction of acoustic noise. The detector shows a pulse-to-pulse standard deviation ≤15 nJ when heat pulses in the range of 190-3600 nJ are applied to the sample surface with a chopped laser. Particularly for CO adsorption on Pt(111), the energy input of 15 nJ (or 120 nJ cm(-2)) corresponds to the detection limit for adsorption of less than 1.5 × 10(12) CO molecules cm(-2) or less than 0.1% of the monolayer coverage (with respect to the 1.5 × 10(15) surface Pt atoms cm(-2)). The absolute accuracy in energy is within ∼7%-9%. As a test of the new calorimeter, the adsorption heats of CO on Pt(111) at different temperatures were measured and compared to previously obtained calorimetric data at 300 K.

Adsorption microcalorimetry: recent advances in instrumentation and application

Adsorption microcalorimetry measures the energetics of adsorbate-surface interactions and can be performed by use of several different techniques. This review focuses on three methods: single-crystal adsorption calorimetry (SCAC), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and electrochemical adsorption calorimetry. SCAC is a uniquely powerful technique that has been applied to a variety of atoms and molecules that represent a large variety of well-defined adsorbate species on a wide range of single-crystal surfaces. ITC and electrochemical microcalorimetry are useful for studying adsorption energies in liquid solutions (on surfaces of suspended powders) and at the electrode-electrolyte interface, respectively. Knowledge of the energetics of adsorbate formation is valuable to ongoing research in many fields, including catalysis, fuel cells, and solar power. In addition, calorimetric measurements serve as benchmarks for the improvement of computational approaches to understanding surface chemistry. We review instrumentation and applications, emphasizing our own work.

Interface formation between calcium and electron-irradiated poly(3-hexylthiophene)

The adsorption of Ca on electron-irradiated poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) surfaces at 300 K (E(kin) = 100 eV) has been studied by adsorption microcalorimetry, atomic beam/surface scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and low-energy He(+) ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS). The results are compared to previous studies of Ca adsorption on pristine P3HT. The major structural effect of electron irradiation is a substantial increase in the fraction of unsaturated carbon atoms, probably a result of electron-induced hydrogen abstraction from the hexyl chains and formation of new C=C double bonds. No loss of sulfur was observed. The combined XPS, LEIS, and calorimetry data indicate that the reaction and growth behavior of Ca on P3HT surfaces is not significantly affected by this electron damage, apart from an increased sticking probability at low coverages. The sticking probability of Ca on the irradiated P3HT is initially 0.63, compared to 0.36 on the pristine surface. It increases with coverage, approaching unity between 4 and 5 ML. The heat of adsorption stays nearly constant at 405 kJ/mol up to a coverage of 0.6 ML, which is ascribed to Ca diffusing below the surface and forming CaS clusters by abstraction of sulfur from the thiophene rings, based on XPS and LEIS data. The heat of adsorption then decreases gradually until it reaches the heat of sublimation of bulk Ca, 178 kJ/mol, by 4 ML; this is attributed to the formation of 3D Ca islands on top of the polymer, which eventually coalesce into a continuous Ca film by 11 ML. The heat of reaction versus coverage and the ultimate depth up to which the Ca atoms react with the polymer thiophene groups (approximately 3 nm) are nearly independent of electron damage, except for a difference in the heat of adsorption below 0.1 ML associated with defects or impurities. The increase in initial sticking probability caused by electron damage is attributed to stronger bonding of Ca adatoms to unsaturated versus saturated hydrocarbons. These very weakly held Ca adatoms are transient precursors to the two reactions which dominate the measured heat of adsorption (reaction with thiophene units and Ca cluster formation), but they can also desorb in this three-path kinetic competition. Mass spectrometer data show that these precursors have longer surface residence times on the electron-damaged surface.

Improved pyroelectric detectors for single crystal adsorption calorimetry from 100 to 350 K

The adsorption of atoms and molecules on single crystal surfaces allows one to produce well-characterized atomic, molecular, or dissociated adsorbates. Microcalorimetric measurement of the resulting adsorption energies, i.e., single crystal adsorption calorimetry, allows determination of the standard enthalpies of formation of these adsorbates. Methods are described for making an improved heat detector for such measurements, which greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio, particularly at low temperatures (down to 100 K). The heat detector is an adaptation of a previously introduced design, based on a metallized pyroelectric polymer (beta-polyvinylidene fluoride), which is pressed against the back of a single crystal during measurement but removed during sample preparation and annealing. The improvement is achieved by selectively etching the metal coating of the polymer, thus reducing the pyro- and piezoelectric noise from all nonessential regions of the polymer. We, furthermore, describe how to achieve a better thermal contact between the sample and the pyroelectric polymer, without increasing the thermal mass of the detector, resulting in significantly improved sensitivities for both 1 and 127 microm thick samples. The result is a detector which, using 1 microm samples, is approximately 40 times more sensitive at 100 K than the traditional polymer-based detector, showing a pulse-to-pulse standard deviation in the heat of adsorption of just 1.3 kJ/mol with gas pulses containing only 1.1% of a monolayer onto Pt(111), for which 1 ML (monolayer) is 1.5x10(15) species/cm(2). For measurements at 300 K, where especially pyroelectric noise is likely of less concern, the new design improves the sensitivity 3.6-fold compared to the traditional detector. These improvements are furthermore used to propose a new detector design that is able to measure heats of adsorption on samples as thick as 127 microm with reasonable sensitivity.

Formation of the calcium/poly(3-hexylthiophene) interface: structure and energetics

The adsorption of Ca on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) has been studied by adsorption microcalorimetry, atomic beam/surface scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy He(+) ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS), and first-principles calculations. The sticking probability of Ca on P3HT is initially 0.35 and increases to almost unity by 5 ML. A very high initial heat of adsorption in the first 0.02 ML (625-500 kJ/mol) is attributed to the reaction of Ca with defect sites or residual contamination. Between 0.1 and 0.5 ML, there is a high and nearly constant heat of adsorption of 405 kJ/mol, which we ascribe to Ca reacting with subsurface sulfur atoms from the thiophene rings of the polymer. This is supported by the absence of LEIS signal for Ca and the shift of the S 2p XPS binding energy by -2.8 eV for reacted S atoms. The heat of adsorption decreases above 0.6 ML coverage, reaching the sublimation enthalpy of Ca, 178 kJ/mol, by 4 ML. This is attributed to the formation of Ca nanoparticles and eventually a continuous solid Ca film, on top of the polymer. LEIS and XPS measurements, which show only a slow increase of the signals related to solid Ca, support this model. Incoming Ca atoms are subject to a kinetic competition between diffusing into the polymer to react with subsurface thiophene units versus forming or adding to three-dimensional Ca clusters on the surface. At approximately 1.6 ML Ca coverage, Ca atoms have similar probabilities for either process, with the former dominating at lower coverage. Ultimately about 1.6 ML of Ca (1.2 x 10(15) atoms/cm(2)) reacts with S atoms, corresponding to a reacted depth of approximately 3 nm, or nearly five monomer-unit layers. Density-functional theory calculations confirm that the heat of reaction and the shift of the S 2p signal are consistent with Ca abstracting S from the thiophene rings to form small CaS clusters.

Energetics of cyclohexene adsorption and reaction on Pt(111) by low-temperature microcalorimetry

The heat of adsorption and sticking probability of cyclohexene on Pt(111) were measured as a function of coverage using single-crystal adsorption calorimetry in the temperature range from 100 to 300 K. At 100 K, cyclohexene adsorbs as intact di-sigma bonded cyclohexene on Pt(111), and the heat of adsorption is well described by a second-order polynomial (130 - 47 theta - 1250 theta(2)) kJ/mol, yielding a standard enthalpy of formation of di-sigma bonded cyclohexene on Pt(111) at low coverages of -135 kJ/mol and a C-Pt sigma bond strength of 205 kJ/mol. At 281 K, cyclohexene dehydrogenates upon adsorption, forming adsorbed 2-cyclohexenyl (c-C6H(9,a)) and adsorbed hydrogen, and the heat of adsorption is well described by another second-order polynomial (174 - 700 theta + 761 theta(2)) kJ/mol. This yields a standard enthalpy of formation of adsorbed 2-cyclohexenyl on Pt(111) at a low coverage of -143 kJ/mol. At coverages below 0.10 ML, the sticking probability of cyclohexene on Pt(111) is close to unity (>0.95), independent of temperature.

The structure, dynamics, and energetics of protein adsorption-lessons learned from adsorption of statherin to hydroxyapatite

Proteins are found to be involved in interaction with solid surfaces in numerous natural events. Acidic proteins that adsorb to crystal faces of a biomineral to control the growth and morphology of hard tissue are only one example. Deducing the mechanisms of surface recognition exercised by proteins has implications to osteogenesis, pathological calcification and other proteins functions at their adsorbed state. Statherin is an enamel pellicle protein that inhibits hydroxyapatite nucleation and growth, lubricates the enamel surface, and is recognized by oral bacteria in periodontal diseases. Here, we highlight some of the insights we obtained recently using both thermodynamic and solid state NMR measurements to the adsorption process of statherin to hydroxyapatite. We combine macroscopic energy characterization with microscopic structural findings to present our views of protein adsorption mechanisms and the structural changes accompanying it and discuss the implications of these studies to understanding the functions of the protein adsorbed to the enamel surfaces.

Heat of adsorption of naphthalene on Pt(111) measured by adsorption calorimetry

The heat of adsorption of naphthalene on Pt(111) at 300 K was measured with single-crystal adsorption calorimetry. The heat of adsorption on the ideal, defect-free surface is estimated to be (300 - 34 - 199(2)) kJ/mol. From this, a C-Pt bond energy for aromatic hydrocarbons on Pt(111) of approximately 30 kJ/mol is estimated, consistent with earlier results for benzene on Pt(111). There is higher heat of adsorption at very low coverage, attributed to step sites where the adsorption heat is >/=330 kJ/mol. Saturation coverage, = 1 ML, corresponds to 1.55 x 10(14) molecules/cm(2). Sticking probability measurements of naphthalene on Pt(111) give a high initial value of 1.0 and a Kisliuk-type coverage dependence that implies precursor-mediated sticking. The ratio of the hopping rate to the desorption rate of this precursor is approximately 51. Naphthalene adsorbs transiently on top of chemisorbed naphthalene molecules with a heat of adsorption of 83-87 kJ/mol.

SPR microscopy and its applications to high-throughput analyses of biomolecular binding events and their kinetics

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing has long been used to study biomolecular binding events and their kinetics in a label-free way. This approach has recently been extended to SPR microscopy, which is an ideal tool for probing large microarrays of biomolecules for their binding interactions with various partners and the kinetics of such binding. Commercial SPR microscopes now make it possible to simultaneously monitor binding kinetics on >1300 spots within a protein microarray with a detection limit of approximately 0.3 ng/cm(2), or <50 fg per spot (<1 million protein molecules) with a time resolution of 1s, and spot-to-spot reproducibility within a few percent. Such instruments should be capable of high-throughput kinetic studies of the binding of small ( approximately 200 Da) ligands onto large protein microarrays. The method is label free and uses orders of magnitude less of the precious biomolecules than standard SPR sensing. It also gives the absolute bound amount and binding stoichiometry.

Adsorption Energy, Growth Mode, and Sticking Probability of Ca on Poly(methyl methacrylate) Surfaces with and without Electron Damage

The adsorption of Ca atoms on pristine and electron-irradiated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) surfaces at 300 K has been studied by adsorption microcalorimetry, atomic beam/surface scattering, and low-energy He+ ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS). On pristine PMMA, the initial sticking probability of Ca is 0.5, increasing quickly with Ca coverage. Below 0.5 ML, the heat of adsorption is 730-780 kJ/mol, much higher than Ca's sublimation energy (178 kJ/mol). The Ca here is invisible to ISS, which is attributed to Ca binding to ester groups below the CH3/CH2-terminated PMMA surface. The adsorption energy increases with coverage, suggesting attractions between neighboring Ca-ester complexes. Above 0.5 ML, Ca starts to grow as three-dimensional (3D) Ca clusters on top of the surface, which dominate growth after 2 ML. It is proposed that each Ca reacts with two esters to form the Ca carboxylate of PMMA, because this reaction's heat would be close to that observed. The total amount of Ca that binds to subsurface sites is estimated from the integral heat of adsorption to involve 4-6 layers of ester groups. Exposing the PMMA surface to electrons increases Ca's initial sticking probability but lowers its adsorption energy. This is attributed to electron-induced defects acting as nucleation sites for 3D Ca islands, whose growth now competes kinetically with Ca diffusing to subsurface esters. Consequently, only two layers of subsurface esters get populated at saturation. The heat eventually reaches Ca's bulk heat of sublimation on all PMMA surfaces, where pure, bulk-like Ca thin films form.

Thermodynamic roles of basic amino acids in statherin recognition of hydroxyapatite

Salivary statherin is a highly acidic, 43 amino acid residue protein that functions as an inhibitor of primary and secondary crystallization of the biomineral hydroxyapatite. The acidic domain at the N-terminus was previously shown to be important in the binding of statherin to hydroxyapatite surfaces. This acidic segment is followed by a basic segment whose role is unclear. In this study, the role of the basic amino acids in the hydroxyapatite adsorption thermodynamics has been determined using isothermal titration calorimetry and equilibrium adsorption isotherm analysis. Single point mutations of the basic side chains to alanine lowered the binding affinity to the surface but did not perturb the maximal surface coverage and the adsorption enthalpy. The structural and dynamic properties of the single point mutants as characterized by solid-state NMR techniques were not altered either. Simultaneous replacement of all four basic amino acids with alanine lowered the adsorption equilibrium constant by 5-fold and the maximal surface coverage by nearly 2-fold. The initial exothermic phase of adsorption exhibited by native statherin is preserved in this mutant, along with the alpha-helical structure and the dynamic properties of the N-terminal domain. These results help to refine the two binding site model of statherin adsorption proposed earlier in our study of wild-type statherin (Goobes, R., Goobes, G., Campbell, C.T., and Stayton, P.S. (2006) Biochemistry 45, 5576-5586). The basic charges function to reduce protein-protein charge repulsion on the HAP surface, and in their absence, there is a considerable decrease in statherin packing density on the surface at binding saturation.

n-alkanes on Pt(111) and on C(0001)∕Pt(111): Chain length dependence of kinetic desorption parameters

We have measured the desorption of seven small n-alkanes (C(N)H(2N+2), N=1-4,6,8,10) from the Pt(111) and C(0001) surfaces by temperature programed desorption. We compare these results to our recent study of the desorption kinetics of these molecules on MgO(100) [J. Chem. Phys. 122, 164708 (2005)]. There we showed an increase in the desorption preexponential factor by several orders of magnitude with increasing n-alkane chain length and a linear desorption energy scaling with a small y-intercept value. We suggest that the significant increase in desorption prefactor with chain length is not particular to the MgO(100) surface, but is a general effect for desorption of the small n-alkanes. This argument is supported by statistical mechanical arguments for the increase in the entropy gain of the molecules upon desorption. In this work, we demonstrate that this hypothesis holds true on both a metal surface and a graphite surface. We observe an increase in prefactor by five orders of magnitude over the range of n-alkane chain lengths studied here. On each surface, the desorption energies of the n-alkanes are found to increase linearly with the molecule chain length and have a small y-intercept value. Prior results of other groups have yielded a linear desorption energy scaling with chain length that has unphysically large y-intercept values. We demonstrate that by allowing the prefactor to increase according to our model, a reanalysis of their data resolves this y-intercept problem to some degree.

Interactions of O2 with Pd Nanoparticles on α-Al2O3(0001) at Low and High O2 Pressures

The interaction of O(2) with small Pd particles (2-10 nm) supported on an alpha-Al(2)O(3)(0001) single crystal under both ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) and high-pressure conditions has been studied by temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), temperature-programmed low-energy ion scattering (TP-LEIS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A low O(2) exposure (30 L) at 500 K leads to surface oxygen adatoms on the Pd nanoparticles, which desorb in TPD as O(2) in a peak at approximately 880 K. Surface O adatoms on the smallest Pd particles move to subsurface sites starting at 400 K, and they almost all move subsurface by approximately 750 K, desorbing mainly at considerably higher temperature. The dominant oxygen species above 700 K is subsurface, implying that it is more stable than oxygen adatoms on Pd. Exposures of the Pd nanoparticles to 25 Torr O(2) at 373-473 K readily convert the Pd to a species whose Pd XPS peak shifts by the same amount as the binding energy difference between bulk Pd and bulk PdO. We attribute this to PdO nanoparticles (or a thin film of PdO on or under the Pd for the larger particles). The decomposition of the PdO on these nanoparticles to Pd in an equilibrium O(2) pressure of 10-7 Torr does not occur until approximately 750 K, or approximately 200 K higher than the equilibrium decomposition of bulk PdO. This is attributed to the higher energy of Pd nanoparticles compared to bulk Pd and, for the larger particles, to the adhesion energy of the PdO film to the Pd, both of which stabilize the PdO on these Pd nanoparticles relative to bulk PdO. This PdO-like film on the larger particles may be similar to the ordered oxide thin film previously reported to form on Pd(111) but may also reside at the alpha-Al(2)O(3) interface and be partially stabilized by adhesion to this interface.