Combined Atomic Imaging and Diffraction Studies of the Electrooxidation of Supported Metal Multilayers

固/液界面在各种物理现象中发挥着重要作用，例如催化，晶体生长和许多生物反应，这些反应控制着人体的构建和大脑的功能。因此，解开固/液界面的原子结构仍然是当今表面科学面临的主要挑战之一，因为只有通过理解模型系统中的物理过程，我们才能推断出更复杂的环境。发展这种理解的关键在于制备和研究具有明确定义的元素反应位点的模型表面。能源供应和储存的替代方法的发展需要材料研究的重大进展。这些进展现在可以通过操纵分子和原子尺度的过程来实现，从而增加对新材料的物理和化学性质的理解。特别是，这些材料的设计可能成为可能的基本原则，即理解表面性能，从散装材料的性能，通过应用现代实验技术。该提案的目的是进一步理解的电化学界面处的原子和电子结构，特别是发展的氧化和还原的过渡金属多层膜的电化学方法沉积的基本理解。由于电化学界面的埋藏性质，它是无法接近的最标准的表面科学技术，采用强吸附的电子探针，以获得表面灵敏度。界面的研究仅限于采用穿透辐射的技术，如X射线散射或成像技术，如扫描隧道显微镜（STM）和原子力显微镜（AFM）。利用同步加速器辐射设施（格勒诺布尔的欧洲同步加速器辐射设施和卢瑟福阿普尔顿实验室的钻石光源）是该项目的一个关键组成部分。他们提供最先进的设备，用于执行具有高入射X射线通量、能量调谐和高分辨率的X射线散射实验。使用这样的设备，将有可能探测表面原子结构和具有亚单层分辨率的吸附物质的结构，并且还可以从形成固体表面和发生电场驱动反应的液体电解质之间的边界的选定界面原子获得电子结构信息。通过结合X射线散射（倒易空间信息）和成像技术（真实的空间信息），将有可能在“真实的”工作条件下建立表面结构的详细图片。

The solid/liquid interface plays a fundamental role in a diverse range of physical phenomena, for example in catalysis, crystal growth and in many biological reactions that govern the building of the human body and the functioning of the brain. Unravelling the atomic structure at the solid/liquid interface remains, therefore, one of the major challenges facing surface science today for it is only by understanding the physical processes in model systems that we can extrapolate to more complex environments. The key to developing this understanding lies in the preparation and study of model surfaces with well-defined elemental reaction sites.The development of alternative methods of energy supply and storage requires major advances in materials research. Such advances may now be achieved by the manipulation of molecular and atomic-scale processes, leading to an increased understanding of the physical and chemical properties of new materials. In particular, design of these materials may become possible from fundamental principles, i.e. understanding surface properties, as distinct from the bulk material properties, by the application of modern experimental techniques. The aims of this proposal are to further the understanding of the atomic and electronic structure at the electrochemical interface particularly to develop a fundamental understanding of the oxidation and reduction of transition metal multilayer films deposited by electrochemical methods. Due to the buried nature of the electrochemical interface, it is inaccessible to most standard surface science techniques that employ strongly adsorbed electron probes to gain surface sensitivity. Study of the interface is restricted to techniques that employ penetrating radiation, such as x-ray scattering or to imaging techniques such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The utilization of synchrotron radiation facilities (the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble and the Diamond Light Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) is a key component of this project. They offer state-of-the-art equipment for performing x-ray scattering experiments with high incident x-ray flux, energy tuneability and high resolution. Using such equipment it will be possible to probe surface atomic structure and the structures of adsorbed species with sub-monolayer resolution and also to gain electronic structure information from selected interface atoms that form the boundary between the solid surface and the liquid electrolyte where electric field driven reactions occur. By combining x-ray scattering (reciprocal space information) and imaging techniques (real space information) it will be possible to build a detailed picture of a surface structure under 'real' working conditions.