| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session AS+SS-WeA |
| Session: | Characterization of Buried Interfaces |
| Presenter: | Osman Karslioglu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Authors: | O. Karslioglu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory S. Nemsak, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, Germany I. Zegkinoglou, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory A. Shavorskiy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory M. Hartl, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory C.S. Fadley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory H. Bluhm, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Accessing the chemical and electrical potential information at a solid/liquid interface is an important capability for investigating a process like corrosion where electrochemical transformations are at work. Here we report the first results of a combination of techniques, where we use X-ray standing waves to enhance the photoemission signal from the solid-liquid interface during an ambient-pressure XPS experiment, investigating the oxidation of Ni. X-ray standing waves were generated by a Si/Mo multilayer mirror, on which the sample is prepared as a thin layer (~8 nm Ni in this case). A thin liquid layer was formed on the surface by dipping the sample into an electrolyte (KOH(aq), 0.1 mol/L) and pulling back partially. The solid-liquid interface was probed through this thin liquid layer using hard X-rays (3100 eV). The sample was the working electrode in a 3-electrode cell, and it was oxidized by applying a positive potential using the potentiostat. Comparing the experimental rocking curves for Ni 3p and O 1s with theory provided thickness and roughness information for solid and liquid layers with ~1 nm resolution.