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Published June 2013 | public
Journal Article

Chemisorption-Isotherm Measurements at Electrode Surfaces by Quantitative High-Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

Abstract

The chemisorption isotherm of benzoquinone at a well-defined Pd(100) surface was obtained by quantitative high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). Extraction of surface-coverage information from HREELS required the normalization of integrated peak intensities to compensate for differences in the backscattered electron flux brought about by the organic adlayer. A common procedure rests on a match of the elastic-peak heights, but it fails for organic adsorbates since those introduce surface roughness that result in a higher stream of inelastically scattered electrons. A more accurate method is based on the equalization of the incident electron beam currents. This is attained only when the background intensities integrated over a peak-free spectral region are set equal to one another. The HREELS-generated isotherm was compared with that acquired by thin-layer electrochemical measurements; excellent agreement was observed.

Additional Information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York. Published online: 31 January 2013. This material is based upon work performed by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, as follows: The HREELS spectral analysis and surface-coverage determination were supported through the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under award no. DE-SC0004993; the TLE and HREELS experimental measurements were supported by The Welch Foundation (A-1064).

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023