Invited Paper CA+NS+SS+VT-ThA3
Interfacial Studies using Ambient Pressure XPS

Thursday, October 24, 2019, 3:00 pm, Room A120-121

Over the last decades XPS under Near Ambient Pressure (NAP) conditions has demonstrated its promising potential in a wide variety of applications. Starting from operando studies of surface reactions in catalysis, the applications soon have been enhanced towards studies of processes at liquid surfaces, mainly using freezing/melting cycles, liquid jets or liquid films on rotation disks or wheels. Since more than 15 years, the need for basic studies off fundamental solid-liquid interface chemistry has attracted growing interest. Dip-and-pull experiments at synchrotron sources finally also demonstrated, that in-situ and operando XPS in electrochemical experiments can be realized, significantly contributing to the basic understanding of modern energy converting or storing devices, like batteries, fuel cells, etc.

The development of pure laboratory NAP-XPS systems with optimized sample environments, like special sample holders, Peltier coolers and operando liquid cells combined with full automation and process control provides possibilities for preparation and analysis of a multitude of liquid samples or solid-liquid interfaces on a reliable daily base.

Interfaces of semiconductors with organic solvents are important for production processes and device operation. The first example presented shows the simplicity of obtaining relevant results on Silicon in different organic solvents without the need of highly sophisticated set-ups or special excitation sources beyond Al K_a.

Another example shows an operando study of metal corrosion in acetic acid. Moreover a versatile set-up is presented, allowing for studies of solid-electrolyte interfaces for example in Lithium ion batteries as a simple laboratory experiment.

Finally an outlook is given on the future perspective of applications and scientific contributions of routine operando XPS.