Ultrathin Free-Standing Oxide Membranes for Electron and Photon Spectroscopy Studies of Solid-Gas and Solid-Liquid Interfaces

Yi-Hsien Lu; Carlos Morales; Xiao Zhao; Matthijs A van Spronsen; Artem Baskin; David Prendergast; Peidong Yang; Hans A Bechtel; Edward S Barnard; D Frank Ogletree; Virginia Altoe; Leonardo Soriano; Adam M Schwartzberg; Miquel Salmeron

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c01801

Ultrathin Free-Standing Oxide Membranes for Electron and Photon Spectroscopy Studies of Solid-Gas and Solid-Liquid Interfaces

Nano Lett. 2020 Sep 9;20(9):6364-6371. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c01801. Epub 2020 Aug 21.

Authors

Yi-Hsien Lu¹, Carlos Morales^{1

2}, Xiao Zhao^{1

3}, Matthijs A van Spronsen¹, Artem Baskin⁴, David Prendergast⁴, Peidong Yang^{1

5}, Hans A Bechtel⁶, Edward S Barnard⁴, D Frank Ogletree⁴, Virginia Altoe⁴, Leonardo Soriano², Adam M Schwartzberg⁴, Miquel Salmeron^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
² Departamento de Física Aplicada and Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Francisco Tomás y Valiente 7, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
⁴ Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
⁶ Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.

PMID: 32786946
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c01801

Abstract

Free-standing ultrathin (∼2 nm) films of several oxides (Al₂O₃,TiO₂, and others) have been developed, which are mechanically robust and transparent to electrons with E_kin ≥ 200 eV and to photons. We demonstrate their applicability in environmental X-ray photoelectron and infrared spectroscopy for molecular level studies of solid-gas (≥1 bar) and solid-liquid interfaces. These films act as membranes closing a reaction cell and as substrates and electrodes for electrochemical reactions. The remarkable properties of such ultrathin oxides membranes enable atomic/molecular level studies of interfacial phenomena, such as corrosion, catalysis, electrochemical reactions, energy storage, geochemistry, and biology, in a broad range of environmental conditions.

Keywords: XPS; electrochemistry; nano-FTIR; operando spectroscopy; oxide membranes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.