Well Defined Ultrathin Pd Films On Pt111

Download or read book Well-defined Ultrathin Pd Films on Pt(111) written by Yeon Su Park and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well-defined ultrathin films of palladium, with coverages ranging from submonolayer, [Theta]P[subscript]d = 0.5 monolayer (ML), to multilayer, [Theta]P [subscript]d = 8 ML, were electrochemically deposited on Pt(111) using potentiostatic and potentiodynamic methods. In both methods, between the coverage regimes studied, the growth of the Pd films follows the Stranski-Krastanov mechanism. The interfacial electrochemical properties associated with the film-to-bulk transition were characterized by conventional voltammetric techniques in combination with low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The voltammetric peaks associated with H-atom adsorption and desorption on terrace sites indicate that the Pd electrodeposit starts to exhibit bulk-like properties at a coverage of 3 ML. Voltammetric cycling, in sulfuric acid solution, between the hydrogen evolution and the double-layer regions, was found to exert minimal influence on the annealing (smoothening) of the electrodeposited Pd films. However, cycling within the same potential region in the presence of bromide anions (at which Br− adsorption/Br desorption takes place) smoothens the initially rough Pd films essentially as well as high-temperature annealing. The influence of chemisorbed bromine on the anodic dissolution of Pd was also studied; this was for comparison with previous work on the anodic dissolution of Pd, in inert electrolyte, catalyzed by chemisorbed iodine. The present studies indicated that a small but measurable amount of bromine was desorbed along with dissolution of the Pd step atoms; bromine at the Pd terrace behaved identically to iodine in that the coverage of iodine is maintained regardless of the amount or origin of the of anodically stripped Pd. Atomically smooth, well-defined ultrathin Pd films were prepared by a constant potential deposition (CPD) method followed by multiple potential cycles, in dilute Br− solution, within the double-layer region and reductive removal of Br[subscript]ads, by simple emersion at a potential just before the hydrogen evolution reaction potential (E[subscript]HER). A previously adapted method for the same purpose involved the chemisorption of iodine onto ultrathin PdCPD films, from dilute I- solution, followed by reductive desorption of I[subscript]ads in iodide-free solution at pH 10 and at a potential just before E[subscript]HER.