Analytical techniques, surface

Chapter 7 (by H. Ishida and A Ishitani) review microscopic and surface analytical techniques. Chapter 8 (by D. M. Haaland) reviews developments in statistical chemometrics for data analysis. 

SALI compares fiivorably with other major surface analytical techniques in terms of sensitivity and spatial resolution. Its major advantj e is the combination of analytical versatility, ease of quantification, and sensitivity. Table 1 compares the analytical characteristics of SALI to four major surfiice spectroscopic techniques.These techniques can also be categorized by the chemical information they provide. Both SALI and SIMS (static mode only) can provide molecular fingerprint information via mass spectra that give mass peaks corresponding to structural units of the molecule, while XPS provides only short-range chemical information. XPS and static SIMS are often used to complement each other since XPS chemical speciation information is semiquantitative however, SALI molecular information can potentially be quantified direedy without correlation with another surface spectroscopic technique. AES and Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) provide primarily elemental information, and therefore yield litde structural informadon. The common detection limit refers to the sensitivity for nearly all elements that these techniques enjoy. 

MOKE measurements can be made using relatively simple and inexpensive apparatus, compared to most other surface magnedc probes and surface analytical techniques. MOKE is usefid for the mj netic characterizadon of films of one to several monolayers, thin films, or the near-surface regions of bulk materials. MOKE has... 

Nearly all these techniques involve interrogation of the surface with a particle probe. The function of the probe is to excite surface atoms into states giving rise to emission of one or more of a variety of secondary particles such as electrons, photons, positive and secondary ions, and neutrals. Because the primary particles used in the probing beam can also be electrons or photons, or ions or neutrals, many separate techniques are possible, each based on a different primary-secondary particle combination. Most of these possibilities have now been established, but in fact not all the resulting techniques are of general application, some because of the restricted or specialized nature of the information obtained and others because of difficult experimental requirements. In this publication, therefore, most space is devoted to those surface analytical techniques that are widely applied and readily available commercially, whereas much briefer descriptions are given of the many others the use of which is less common but which - in appropriate circumstances, particularly in basic research - can provide vital information. 

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is currently the most widely used surface-analytical technique, and is therefore described here in more detail than any of the other techniques. At its inception hy Sieghahn and coworkers [2.1] it was called ESCA (electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis), hut the name ESCA is now considered too general, because many surface-electron spectroscopies exist, and the name given to each one must be precise. The name ESCA is, nevertheless, still used in many places, particularly in industrial laboratories and their publications. Briefly, the reasons for the popularity of XPS are the exceptional combination of compositional and chemical information that it provides, its ease of operation, and the ready availability of commercial equipment. 

After XPS, AES is the next most widely used surface-analytical technique. As an accepted surface technique AES actually predates XPS by two to three years, because the potential of XPS as a surface-specific technique was not recognized immediately by the surface-science community. Pioneering work was performed by Harris [2.125] and by Weber and Peria [2.126], but the technique as it is known today is basically the same as that established by Palmberg et al. [2.127]. 

Together with XPS and AES, SSIMS ranks as one of the principal surface analytical techniques. Because its sensitivity for elements greatly exceeds that of the other two techniques and much chemical information is available, its use is rapidly expanding in many fields of application. 

Ion beam spectrochemical analysis (IBSCA) is a sputtering-based surface analytical technique similar to SIMS/SNMS. In IBSCA the radiation emitted by excited sputtered secondary neutrals or ions is detected. IBSCA was developed parallel to SIMS in the nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies [4.246, 4.247]. It is also known... 

In contrast to many other surface analytical techniques, like e. g. scanning electron microscopy, AFM does not require vacuum. Therefore, it can be operated under ambient conditions which enables direct observation of processes at solid-gas and solid-liquid interfaces. The latter can be accomplished by means of a liquid cell which is schematically shown in Fig. 5.6. The cell is formed by the sample at the bottom, a glass cover - holding the cantilever - at the top, and a silicone o-ring seal between. Studies with such a liquid cell can also be performed under potential control which opens up valuable opportunities for electrochemistry [5.11, 5.12]. Moreover, imaging under liquids opens up the possibility to protect sensitive surfaces by in-situ preparation and imaging under an inert fluid [5.13]. 

J. C. Riviere Surface Analytical Techniques, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1990. 

During the past twenty or so years numerous sophisticated surface analytical techniques have been successfully employed to investigate and understand the nature of bonding surfaces and their interaction with the environment. Some of these, e.g., HR-SEM and XPS have been mentioned above, with details of these and many more techniques covered in Chapter 6. In this section emphasis will be placed on those somewhat less sophisticated techniques that are employed in or in close conjunction with bond shops. What they lack in sophistication they often make up for in the ability to quickly and cheaply evaluate whether problems such as surface contamination or out-of-spec surface treatment procedures are... 

Its ability to distinguish among different elements and different chemical bonding configurations has made XPS the most popular surface analytical technique for providing structural, chemical bonding, and composition data... 

In many aqueous solutions nickel has the ability to become passive over a wide range of pH values. The mechanism of passivation of nickel and the properties of passive nickel have been studied extensively—perhaps more widely than for any other element, except possibly iron. In recent years the use of optical and surface analytical techniques has done much to clarify the situation . Early studies on the passivation of nickel were stimulated by the use of nickel anodes in alkaline batteries and in consequence were conducted in the main in alkaline media. More recently, however, attention has been directed to the passivation of nickel in acidic and neutral as well as alkaline solutions. 

State-of-the-art TOF-SIMS instruments feature surface sensitivities well below one ppm of a mono layer, mass resolutions well above 10,000, mass accuracies in the ppm range, and lateral and depth resolutions below 100 nm and 1 nm, respectively. They can be applied to a wide variety of materials, all kinds of sample geometries, and to both conductors and insulators without requiring any sample preparation or pretreatment. TOF-SIMS combines high lateral and depth resolution with the extreme sensitivity and variety of information supplied by mass spectrometry (all elements, isotopes, molecules). This combination makes TOF-SIMS a unique technique for surface and thin film analysis, supplying information which is inaccessible by any other surface analytical technique, for example EDX, AES, or XPS. 

A unique pilot plant/minlreactor/surface analysis system has been designed and put Into operation. This system represents the closest encounter reported In the literature to date between "real world" catalysis and-surface analytical techniques. It allows In depth studies of reaction kinetics and reaction mechanisms and their correlation with catalyst surface properties. 

Much of the pioneering work which led to the discovery of efficient catalysts for modern Industrial catalytic processes was performed at a time when advanced analytical Instrumentation was not available. Insights Into catalytic phenomena were achieved through gas adsorption, molecular reaction probes, and macroscopic kinetic measurements. Although Sabatier postulated the existence of unstable reaction Intermediates at the turn of this century. It was not until the 1950 s that such species were actually observed on solid surfaces by Elschens and co-workers (2.) using Infrared spectroscopy. Today, scientists have the luxury of using a multitude of sophisticated surface analytical techniques to study catalytic phenomena on a molecular level. Nevertheless, kinetic measurements using chemically specific probe molecules are still the... 

The application of surface analytical techniques, most notably X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), or its spatially resolved counterpart. Scanning Auger Microanalysis (SAM), is of great value in understanding the performance of a catalyst. However, the results obtained from any of these techniques are often difficult to interpret, especially when only one technique is used by itself. 

SIMS is the most sensitive of all the commonly employed surface analytical techniques, because of the inherent sensitivity associated with mass spectrometry-based techniques, which can be of the order of parts per billion for some elements. There are several different variants ... 

Riviere, J.C. (1990) Surface Analytical Techniques, Clarendon Press, Oxford. 

Analysis by the Detection of Scattered Ions. Ions generally penetrate the specimen much less deeply than electrons of equivalent energy, so they are more surface-sensitive. Ion-based surface analytical techniques are popular because of their sensitivity and their ability, in some cases, to reveal the depth composition profile. 

All materials will, to some degree, be subject to corrosion and oxidation by their environment, and the critical early stages of attack can often be understood through the use of surface analytical techniques. A similar approach is required to gain an understanding of the fundamental and applied aspects of surface catalysis, which is of great importance in the petrochemical industry. The microelectronics industry has also contributed to the development of modern surface analytical techniques, where there is a necessity to analyse dopant concentration profiles while retaining lateral resolution on the device of better than one micron. 

Ingo, G. M., E. Angelini, G. Bultrini, T. de Caro, L. Pandolfi, and A. Mezzi (2002), Contribution of surface analytical techniques for the microchemical study of archaeological artefacts, Surf. Interface Anal. 34(1), 328-336. 

As ToF-SIMS is a surface analytical technique, it is well suited to the study of surface interaction between a material and its environment or between a material and products applied to it. The surface modifications can then be studied, making it possible to establish links with degradation processes. Published papers on the study of natural fibres related to cultural heritage typically illustrate this aspect of ToF-SIMS analysis. 

The anomalous features are observed on well-ordered (111) surfaces in a variety of electrolytes over a wide range of pH (0-11), but the potentials at which the features appear and the detailed shapes of the I-V curves vary considerably. Specifically, the potential region (versus RHE) in which the features appear changes with anion concentration in sulphate and chloride electrolytes, but not in fluoride, perchlorate, bicarbonate or hydroxide electrolyte. In sulfate electrolyte, at constant anion concentration the region shifts (versus RHE) with varying pH, while in fluoride, perchlorate, bicarbonate and hydroxide electrolyte it does not. The use of UHV surface analytical techniques has established to a reasonable (but not definitive) extent that adventitious impurities are not involved in the anomalous process, i.e., the only species participating in the chemistry are protons/hydroxyIs, water and the anions of the solute. On the basis of the pH and anion concentration dependencies, I agree with the... 

The Scanning Tunneling Microscope has demonstrated unique capabilities for the examination of electrode topography, the vibrational spectroscopic imaging of surface adsorbed species, and the high resolution electrochemical modification of conductive surfaces. Here we discuss recent progress in electrochemical STM. Included are a comparison of STM with other ex situ and in situ surface analytic techniques, a discussion of relevant STM design considerations, and a semi-quantitative examination of faradaic current contributions for STM at solution-covered surfaces. Applications of STM to the ex situ and in situ study of electrode surfaces are presented. 

L/evelopment of sophisticated surface analytical techniques over the past two decades has revived interest in the study of phenomena that occur at the electrode-solution interface. As a consequence of this renewed activity, electrochemical surface science is experiencing a rapid growth in empirical information. The symposium on which this book was based brought together established and up-and-coming researchers from the three interrelated disciplines of electrochemistry, surface science, and metal-cluster chemistry to help provide a better focus on the current status and future directions of research in electrochemistry. The symposium was part of the continuing series on Photochemical and Electrochemical Surface Science sponsored by the Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. 

---