Dissociation of oxygen on Ag(100) induced by inelastic electron tunneling

J Phys Condens Matter. 2010 Jul 7;22(26):264005. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/22/26/264005. Epub 2010 Jun 14.

Abstract

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is used to study the dissociation of molecular oxygen on Ag(100) induced by inelastic electron tunneling (IET) at 5 K. This dissociation is possible above 3.3 V with a yield of (3.63 ± 0.47) × 10(-9) per electron. Dissociation leads to three different types of hot atom motion: lateral motion, a cannon ball mechanism, and abstractive dissociation. Analysis of the I-t characteristics during dissociation suggests that the dissociation is proceeded by an adsorption site change.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Diffusion
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Electrons
  • Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / instrumentation*
  • Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / methods
  • Oxygen / chemistry*
  • Radioisotopes / chemistry*
  • Silver / chemistry*
  • Surface Properties

Substances

  • Radioisotopes
  • Silver
  • Oxygen