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Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (7 December 2020) | Viewed by 21422

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Krasnoyarsk Science Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 660036 Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Interests: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; physical chemistry of surfaces and interfaces; mechanisms of formation and reactivity of nanoparticles; metal chalcogenides; fundamentals of mineral processing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) emerged as a powerful method for the characterization of composition, chemical state of atoms, and the electronic structure of solid surfaces. At present, XPS is also widely used for studying buried layers, interfaces, biological materials, and even liquids, including in situ and in operando, in such applications as catalysis, electronics, materials science and nanotechnology, power sources, biomedicine, Earth sciences, mineral processing and ecology, and so on. We invite authors utilizing conventional XPS and synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy, in particular, high-energy photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES), near-ambient pressure XPS, and so forth, in various fields of applied sciences and technology to submit original research articles, communications, or review articles to this Special Issue. Manuscripts devoted to new developments in these and related techniques also are welcomed.

Prof. Yuri L. Mikhlin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
  • surface and interface characterization
  • materials science
  • catalysis
  • electronics
  • nanomaterials
  • Earth science
  • mineral processing

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 3930 KiB  
Article
The Potential of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy for Determining Interface Dipoles of Self-Assembled Monolayers
by Thomas C. Taucher and Egbert Zojer
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 5735; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10175735 - 19 Aug 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3701
Abstract
In the current manuscript we assess to what extent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a suitable tool for probing the dipoles formed at interfaces between self-assembled monolayers and metal substrates. To that aim, we perform dispersion-corrected, slab-type band-structure calculations on a number of [...] Read more.
In the current manuscript we assess to what extent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a suitable tool for probing the dipoles formed at interfaces between self-assembled monolayers and metal substrates. To that aim, we perform dispersion-corrected, slab-type band-structure calculations on a number of biphenyl-based systems bonded to an Au(111) surface via different docking groups. In addition to changing the docking chemistry (and the associated interface dipoles), the impacts of polar tail group substituents and varying dipole densities are also investigated. We find that for densely packed monolayers the shifts of the peak positions of the simulated XP spectra are a direct measure for the interface dipoles. In the absence of polar tail group substituents they also directly correlate with adsorption-induced work function changes. At reduced dipole densities this correlation deteriorates, as work function measurements probe the difference between the Fermi level of the substrate and the electrostatic energy far above the interface, while core level shifts are determined by the local electrostatic energy in the region of the atom from which the photoelectron is excited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS))
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21 pages, 4121 KiB  
Article
Studies of Buried Layers and Interfaces of Tungsten Carbide Coatings on the MWCNT Surface by XPS and NEXAFS Spectroscopy
by Danil Sivkov, Sergey Nekipelov, Olga Petrova, Alexander Vinogradov, Alena Mingaleva, Sergey Isaenko, Pavel Makarov, Anatoly Ob’edkov, Boris Kaverin, Sergey Gusev, Ilya Vilkov, Artemiy Aborkin and Viktor Sivkov
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(14), 4736; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10144736 - 9 Jul 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4826
Abstract
Currently, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is widely used to characterize the nanostructured material surface. The ability to determine the atom distribution and chemical state with depth without the sample destruction is important for studying the internal structure of the coating layer several nanometers [...] Read more.
Currently, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is widely used to characterize the nanostructured material surface. The ability to determine the atom distribution and chemical state with depth without the sample destruction is important for studying the internal structure of the coating layer several nanometers thick, and makes XPS the preferable tool for the non-destructive testing of nanostructured systems. In this work, ultra-soft X-ray spectroscopy methods are used to study hidden layers and interfaces of pyrolytic tungsten carbide nanoscale coatings on the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) surfaces. XPS measurements were performed using laboratory spectrometers with sample charge compensation, and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) studies using the Russian–German dipole beamline (RGBL) synchrotron radiation at BESSY-II. The studied samples were tested by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Raman scattering and NEXAFS spectroscopy. It was shown that the interface between MWCNT and the pyrolytic coating of tungsten carbide has a three-layer structure: (i) an interface layer consisting of the outer graphene layer carbon atoms, forming bonds with oxygen atoms from the oxides adsorbed on the MWCNT surface, and tungsten atoms from the coating layer; (ii) a non-stoichiometric tungsten carbide WC1-x nanoscale particles layer; (iii) a 3.3 nm thick non-stoichiometric tungsten oxide WO3-x layer on the WC1-x/MWCNT nanocomposite outer surface, formed in air. The tungsten carbide nanosized particle’s adhesion to the nanotube outer surface is ensured by the formation of a chemical bond between the carbon atoms from the MWCNT upper layer and the tungsten atoms from the coating layer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS))
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25 pages, 8283 KiB  
Article
Influence of Titania Synthesized by Pulsed Laser Ablation on the State of Platinum during Ammonia Oxidation
by Andrey Stadnichenko, Dmitry Svintsitskiy, Lidiya Kibis, Elizaveta Fedorova, Olga Stonkus, Elena Slavinskaya, Ivan Lapin, Elena Fakhrutdinova, Valery Svetlichnyi, Anatoly Romanenko, Dmitry Doronkin, Vasyl Marchuk, Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt and Andrei Boronin
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(14), 4699; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10144699 - 8 Jul 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2900
Abstract
A set of physicochemical methods, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diraction, electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, was applied to study Pt/TiO2 catalysts prepared by impregnation using a commercial TiO2-P25 support and a support produced by pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLA). [...] Read more.
A set of physicochemical methods, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diraction, electron microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, was applied to study Pt/TiO2 catalysts prepared by impregnation using a commercial TiO2-P25 support and a support produced by pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLA). The Pt/TiO2-PLA catalysts showed increased thermal stability due to the localization of the highly dispersed platinum species at the intercrystalline boundaries of the support particles. In contrast, the Pt/TiO2-P25 catalysts were characterized by uniform distribution
of the Pt species over the support. Analysis of Pt4f XP spectra shows that oxidized Pt2+ and Pt4+ species are formed in the Pt/TiO2-P25 catalysts, while the platinum oxidation state in the Pt/TiO2-PLA catalysts is lower due to stronger interaction of the active component with the support due to strong
interaction via Pt-O-Ti bonds. The Pt4f XP spectra of the samples after reaction show Pt2+ and metallic platinum, which is the catalytically active species. The study of the catalytic properties in ammonia oxidation showed that, unlike the catalysts prepared with a commercial support, the Pt/TiO2-PLA samples show higher stability during catalysis and significantly higher selectivity to N2 in a wide temperature range of 200–400 C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS))
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8 pages, 1715 KiB  
Article
Confirmation of Initial Stable Adsorption Structures of Leucine and Tyrosine Adsorbed on a Cu(110) Surface
by Hangil Lee and Hyun Sung Kim
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(4), 1284; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10041284 - 14 Feb 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2204
Abstract
The structures and stability levels of leucine (Leu) and tyrosine (Tyr) adsorbed on a Cu(110) surface, at initial levels of coverage (less than 0.25 monolayer), were investigated using reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES), as well as by performing density functional [...] Read more.
The structures and stability levels of leucine (Leu) and tyrosine (Tyr) adsorbed on a Cu(110) surface, at initial levels of coverage (less than 0.25 monolayer), were investigated using reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy and high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES), as well as by performing density functional theory calculations. At an initial coverage, the O–H dissociation bonded structure was indicated from the spectral results to be the most favorable structure for Leu adsorbed on the Cu(110) surface, whereas the O–H dissociated-N dative bonded structure was most favorable for adsorbed Tyr. These models were further supported by the results of experiments, in which the systems were exposed to other molecules and HRPES was used to monitor whether the amine or carboxylic groups of the adsorbed amino acids became reactive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS))
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Review

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21 pages, 1550 KiB  
Review
X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy in Mineral Processing Studies
by Yuri Mikhlin
Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(15), 5138; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10155138 - 26 Jul 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4960
Abstract
Surface phenomena play the crucial role in the behavior of sulfide minerals in mineral processing of base and precious metal ores, including flotation, leaching, and environmental concerns. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is the main experimental technique for surface characterization at present. However, there [...] Read more.
Surface phenomena play the crucial role in the behavior of sulfide minerals in mineral processing of base and precious metal ores, including flotation, leaching, and environmental concerns. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is the main experimental technique for surface characterization at present. However, there exist a number of problems related with complex composition of natural mineral systems, and instability of surface species and mineral/aqueous phase interfaces in the spectrometer vacuum. This overview describes contemporary XPS methods in terms of categorization and quantitative analysis of oxidation products, adsorbates and non-stoichiometric layers of sulfide phases, depth and lateral spatial resolution for minerals and ores under conditions related to mineral processing and hydrometallurgy. Specific practices allowing to preserve volatile species, e.g., elemental sulfur, polysulfide anions and flotation collectors, as well as solid/liquid interfaces are surveyed; in particular, the prospects of ambient pressure XPS and cryo-XPS of fast-frozen wet mineral pastes are discussed. It is also emphasized that further insights into the surface characteristics of individual minerals in technological slurries need new protocols of sample preparation in conjunction with high spatial resolution photoelectron spectroscopy that is still unavailable or unutilized in practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS))
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