The surface science of titanium dioxide

Zinc oxide is a unique material that exhibits semiconducting and piezoelectric dual properties. Using a solid–vapour phase thermal sublimation technique, nanocombs, nanorings, nanohelixes/nanosprings, nanobelts, nanowires and nanocages of ZnO have been synthesized under specific growth conditions. These unique nanostructures unambiguously demonstrate that ZnO probably has the richest family of nanostructures among all materials, both in structures and in properties. The nanostructures could have novel applications in optoelectronics, sensors, transducers and biomedical sciences. This article reviews the various nanostructures of ZnO grown by the solid–vapour phase technique and their corresponding growth mechanisms. The application of ZnO nanobelts as nanosensors, nanocantilevers, field effect transistors and nanoresonators is demonstrated.

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Zinc oxide nanostructures: growth, properties and applications

The Interaction of Water with Solid Surfaces: Fundamental Aspects Revisited

Surface Science Studies of the Photoactivation of TiO2New Photochemical Processes

S. Pillai would like to acknowledge the UNSW Faculty
of Engineering Research Scholarship. K.R. Catchpole
acknowledges the support of an Australian Research Council fellowship.

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Surface plasmon enhanced silicon solar cells

A low-temperature (25 K) STM study of Cs adsorption on Cu(211) indicates that Cs forms variable-density structures which align along the step edges of the Cu(211) surface. The density of the overlayer increases with Cs coverage, forming a quasihexagonal c(2×2) structure at a coverage of 0.17. A dynamical LEED study of that structure at 130 K indicates that the Cs atoms are adsorbed on top of the Cu atoms in the center of the terraces, with a Cs–Cu nearest-neighbor distance of 3.56± 0.04 A. This structure is accompanied by a significant rumpling of the Cu(211) surface.

LEED AND STM STUDY OF Cs ON Cu(211)

Available work function data and LEED data for alkali-oxygen transition metal coadsorption systems are summarised. The systems may be categorised as one of two types based on their work function behavior. A decrease in work function upon oxygen adsorption appears to be a necessary (but not sufficient) indicator for ordering of the overlayer. Available structural determinations [including our recent SPA-LEED/STM work on K–O/Ni(100)-(3×3)] are consistent with current models of work function behavior.

On structural effects in alkali-oxygen coadsorption systems

Surfaces of Quasicrystals and Complex Metallic Alloys

The growth of Bi on surfaces of Al-based quasicrystals yields a quasicrystalline monolayer which is followed by the formation of crystalline islands of various forms depending on coverage, deposition flux and substrate temperature. We have used the Bi thin films consisting of both crystalline and quasicrystalline allotropes as substrates to study the deposition of C60 and pentacene molecules. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals substrate-dependent differences in molecular adsorption.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/24/35/354012/pdf

Epitaxial Bi allotropes on quasicrystal surfaces as templates for adsorption of pentacene and fullerene.

In this experimental work we have studied and characterized a surface phase transition on a decagonal Al72Ni11Co17 sample between a crystalline phase, which is induced by sputtering with energetic noble gas ions, and the bulklike decagonal phase. The surface transition to the stable, quasicrystalline phase was followed as a function of temperature by two complementary techniques: high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HR-XPS) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The observation of shifts in the core–electron binding energies of the constituent atoms and of other photoemission line shape parameters as the surface undergoes the phase transition and the comparison with the structural information obtained from the LEED data enabled us to determine the evolution of the surface from 5 twinned cubic crystalline domains to the decagonal phase. A quasicrystalline chemical environment with some degree of long-range order is observed for Al before the quasicrystalline surface is fully recovered, po...

Ronan McGrath

Papers

LEED AND STM STUDY OF Cs ON Cu(211)

On structural effects in alkali-oxygen coadsorption systems

Surfaces of Quasicrystals and Complex Metallic Alloys

Epitaxial Bi allotropes on quasicrystal surfaces as templates for adsorption of pentacene and fullerene.

Crystal to Quasicrystal Surface Phase Transition: An Unlocking Mechanism for Templated Growth