Band Bending in Mg-Colored and O-2-Activated Ultrathin MgO(001) Films

Thomas Jaouen (1) , Baptiste Hildebrand (1) , Philipp Aebi (1) , Gabriel Delhaye (2) , Sylvain Tricot (2) , Bruno Lépine (2) , Guy Jezequel (2) , Philippe Schieffer (2)

1 Centre des Nanomatériaux de Fribourg
2 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes

Ultrathin MgO films grown on Ag(001) have been investigated using X-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopies for oxide films successively exposed to Mg and O-2 flux. Studying work functions and layer-resolved Auger shifts allows us to keep track of band profiles from the oxide surface to the interface and reveal the charge-transfer mechanisms underlying the controlled creation of Mg-induced surface color centers and the catalytic enhancement of O-2 activation. Our results demonstrate that one can intimately probe the catalytic properties of metal-supported ultrathin oxide films by studying the electronic band alignment at interfaces.

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Theoretical and/or physical chemistry; Physics [physics]; Condensed Matter [cond-mat]; Materials Science [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Thomas Jaouen, Baptiste Hildebrand, Philipp Aebi, Gabriel Delhaye, Sylvain Tricot, et al.. Band Bending in Mg-Colored and O-2-Activated Ultrathin MgO(001) Films. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2017, 121 (8), pp.4363-4367. ⟨10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b12541⟩. ⟨hal-01502359⟩