Kinetics of Abstraction of D and O on Cu(110) Surfaces by Gaseous H Atoms

Comparing postdeposition reactions of electrons and radicals with Pt nanostructures created by focused electron beam induced deposition

The ability of electrons and atomic hydrogen (AH) to remove residual chlorine from PtCl₂ deposits created from cis-Pt(CO)₂Cl₂ by focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is evaluated. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) measurements as well as thermodynamics calculations support the idea that electrons can remove chlorine from PtCl₂ structures via an electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) process. It was found that the effectiveness of electrons to purify deposits greater than a few nanometers in height is compromised by the limited escape depth of the chloride ions generated in the purification step. In contrast, chlorine atoms can be efficiently and completely removed from PtCl₂ deposits using AH, regardless of the thickness of the deposit. Although AH was found to be extremely effective at chemically purifying PtCl₂ deposits, its viability as a FEBID purification strategy is compromised by the mobility of transient Pt-H species formed during the purification process. Scanning electron microscopy data show that this results in the formation of porous structures and can even cause the deposit to lose structural integrity. However, this phenomenon suggests that the use of AH may be a useful strategy to create high surface area Pt catalysts and may reverse the effects of sintering. In marked contrast to the effect observed with AH, densification of the structure was observed during the postdeposition purification of PtC _x deposits created from MeCpPtMe₃ using atomic oxygen (AO), although the limited penetration depth of AO restricts its effectiveness as a purification strategy to relatively small nanostructures.

Hot precursor reactions during the collisions of gas-phase oxygen atoms with deuterium chemisorbed on Pt(100)

We utilized direct rate measurements and temperature programmed desorption to investigate reactions that occur during the collisions of gaseous oxygen atoms with deuterium-covered Pt(100). We find that both D2O and D2 desorb promptly when an oxygen atom beam impinges upon D-covered Pt(100) held at surface temperatures ranging from 90 to 150 K, and estimate effective cross sections of 12 and 1.8 A2, respectively, for the production of gaseous D2O and D2 at 90 K. The yields of D2O and D2 that desorb at 90 K are about 13% and 2%, respectively, of the initial D atom coverage, though most of the D2O product molecules (approximately 80%) thermalize to the surface rather than desorb at the surface temperatures studied. Increasing the surface temperature from 90 to 150 K causes the D2O desorption rate to decay more quickly during O atom exposures to the surface and results in lower yields of gaseous D2O. We attribute the production of D2O and D2 in these experiments to reactions involving intermediates that are not thermally accommodated to the surface, so-called hot precursors. The results are consistent with the production of hot D2O involving first the generation of hot OD groups from the reaction O*+D(a)-->OD*, where the asterisk denotes a hot precursor, followed by the parallel pathways OD*+D(a)-->D2O* and OD*+OD(a)-->D2O*+O(a). The final reaction contributes significantly to hot D2O production only later in the reaction period when thermalized OD groups have accumulated on the surface, and it becomes less important at higher temperature due to depletion of the OD(a) concentration by thermally activated D2O production.