Metal oxide surfaces studied with low energy alkali ion charge exchange

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With this award, the Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanisms Program supports Professor Jory A. Yarmoff of the University of California-Riverside in a project involving the use of low energy alkali ion scattering to characterize the surface properties of metal oxides and related materials. Energy spectra of the projectiles that scatter from the surface provide a measure of the elemental composition at the surface, while the fraction of ions neutralized and their angular distribution provide information on the inhomogeneous local electrostatic potential. The research will utilize other surface analysis tools, such as scanning probe microscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy, to enable a complete characterization of the materials under investigation. The systems to be studied include clean metal oxide surfaces, surfaces that have intentional oxygen vacancy defects, and atoms and molecules adsorbed on the oxide surfaces.This work will expand basic knowledge of ion-surface charge exchange for an important class of materials that are ubiquitous in nature and technology, as well as enable the development of new analytical methods. These experiments will impact applications in electronics, catalysis, photochemistry and other technologies that rely on the electronic and chemical properties of metal oxides. The project will contribute to the training of graduate and undergraduate students through hands-on laboratory experience in an important area of modern research. Outreach efforts will impact local high school teachers through a summer program that includes actual laboratory experience.