Infrared (IR) spectroscopy has evolved into a powerful analytical technique to probe molecular and lattice vibrations, low-energy electronic excitations and correlations, and related collective surface plasmon, phonon, or other polaritonic resonances. In combination with scanning probe microscopy, near-field infrared nano-spectroscopy and -imaging techniques have recently emerged as a frontier in imaging

First-principles predictions play an important role in understanding chemistry at the electrochemical interface. Electronic structure calculations are straightforward for vacuum interfaces, but do not easily account for the interfacial fields and solvation that fundamentally change the nature of electrochemical reactions. Prevalent techniques for first-principles prediction of electrochemical processes

The establishment of electronic and opto-electronic products relying on organic semiconductors (OSCs) has been intensely explored over the past few decades due to their great competitiveness in large area, low cost, flexible, wearable and implantable devices. Many of these products already entered our daily lives, such as organic light-emitting diodes-based displays, portable organic solar cells and

Low-dimensional self-organized surface structures, induced by (sub)monolayer metal adsorbates on semiconductor surfaces may give rise not only to a variety of emergent electronic properties, but also to a multitude of specific localized vibronic features. The focus of this review is on the analysis of these novel surface vibration eigenmodes. The application of in situ surface Raman spectroscopy under

Nanostructures, with their very large surface to volume ratio and their non-planar geometry, present an important challenge to surface scientists. New issues arise as to surface characterization, quantification and interface formation. This review summarizes the current state of the art in the synthesis, composition, surface and interface control of CdSe nanocrystal systems, one of the most studied

The review describes the physical and chemical phenomena occurring between solid ceramics used as reinforcement and liquid metals and alloys used as matrix in the composite coatings. Initially, the properties of typical matrix metals as Ni, Co, Fe and alloys as Ni-based (NiCr, NiAl, NiCrAlY,…) and Co-based (Stellites) alloys in liquid state are described. Then, the phenomena related to the diffusion

A review of directional Auger (DAES) and directional elastic peak electron spectroscopy (DEPES) for investigations of the short range order within a near-surface region, similar to XPD, is presented. The application of these techniques requires nothing more than a retarding field analyser (RFA), commonly applied for the observation of low energy electron diffraction (LEED) patterns and Auger electron

Two-dimensional (2D) crystals have developed into a popular mainstream research topic which is interesting for basic research and many applications. Gas-surface interactions, as reviewed here, are important for catalysis including noble metal-free catalysts, materials science, and surface science as well as environmental and energy technologies. Basic science concerns fundamental differences of 2D

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) monolayers have attracted considerable interest as atomically thin sp2-hybridized sheets that are readily synthesized on various metal supports. They complement the library of two-dimensional materials including graphene and open perspectives for van der Waals heterostructures. In this review, we discuss the surface science of hBN including its growth, the hBN/metal interface

The behavior of water in close proximity to other materials under ambient conditions is of great significance due to its importance in a broad range of daily applications and scientific research. The structure and dynamics of water at an interface or in a nanopore are often significantly different from those of its bulk counterpart. Until recently, experimental access to these interfacial water structures

Determination of surface structures currently requires careful measurement and computationally expensive methods since, unlike bulk crystals, guiding principles for generating surface structural hypotheses are frequently lacking. Herein, we discuss the applicability of Pauling's rules as a set of guidelines for surface structures. The wealth of solved reconstructions on SrTiO3 (100), (110), and (111)

Atomic hydrogen is a highly reactive species of interest because of its role in a wide range of applications and technologies. Knowledge about the interactions of incident H atoms on metal surfaces is important for our understanding of many processes such as those occurring in plasma-enhanced catalysis and nuclear fusion in tokamak reactors. Herein we review some of the numerous experimental surface

Metal-oxide interfaces are of great importance in catalytic applications since each material can provide a distinct functionality that is necessary for efficient catalysis in complex reaction pathways. Moreover, the synergy between two materials can yield properties that exceed the superposition of single sites. While interfaces between metals and metal oxides can play a key role in the reactivity

This paper presents a review of the experimental and theoretical investigations of halogen interaction with metal surfaces. The emphasis was placed on the recent measurements performed with a scanning tunneling microscope in combination with density functional theory calculations. The surface structures formed on metal surface after halogen interaction are classified into three groups: chemisorbed

As a prototypical photocatalyst, TiO2 is a material of scientific and technological interest. In photocatalysis and other applications, TiO2 is often reduced, behaving as an n-type semiconductor with unique physico-chemical properties. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the understanding of the fundamental properties and applications of excess electrons in reduced, undoped TiO2. We discuss

Ceria (CeO2) as a support, additive, and active component for heterogeneous catalysis has been demonstrated to have great catalytic performance, which includes excellent thermal structural stability, catalytic efficiency, and chemoselectivity. Understanding the surface properties of CeO2 and the chemical reactions occurred on the corresponding interfaces is of great importance in the rational design

Chemical interactions which occur at a heterogeneous interface between a gas and substrate are critical in many technological and natural processes. Ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) is a powerful spectroscopy tool that is inherently surface sensitive, elemental and chemical specific, with the ability to probe sample surfaces in the presence of a gas phase. In this review,

Design of ions for injection water may change the wettability of oil-brine-rock (OBR) system, which has very important applications in enhanced oil recovery. Though ion-tuned wettability has been verified by various experiments, the mechanism is still not clear. In this review paper, we first present a comprehensive summarization of possible wettability alteration mechanisms, including fines migration

In this paper we provide a concise review of present achievements in the study of spin-wave resonance (SWR) in ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As thin films. The theoretical treatment of the experimental SWR data obtained so far concentrates specifically on the spherical surface pinning (SSP) model, in which the surface spin pinning energy is expressed by configuration angles (the out-of-plane polar

Understanding the physical and chemical processes in which local interactions lead to ordered structures is of particular relevance to the realization of supramolecular architectures on surfaces. While spectacular patterns have been demonstrated on metal surfaces, there have been fewer studies of the spontaneous organization of supramolecular networks on semiconductor surfaces, where the formation

A review is presented that covers the experimental and theoretical literature relating to the preparation, electronic structure and chemical and physical properties of the surfaces of the wurtzite form of GaN. The discussion includes the adsorption of various chemical elements and of inorganic, organometallic and organic species. The focus is on work that contributes to a microscopic, atomistic understanding

During the last decade, interest on the growth and self-assembly of organic molecular species on solid surfaces spread over the scientific community, largely motivated by the promise of cheap, flexible and tunable organic electronic and optoelectronic devices. These efforts lead to important advances in our understanding of the nature and strength of the non-bonding intermolecular interactions that

In this review we survey the contributions that molecular beam experiments have provided to our understanding of the dynamics and kinetics of chemical interactions of gas molecules with solid surfaces. First, we describe the experimental details of the different instrumental setups and approaches available for the study of these systems under the ultrahigh vacuum conditions and with the model planar

Nanostructures of diverse chemical nature are used as biomarkers, therapeutics, catalysts, and structural reinforcements. The decoration with surfactants has a long history and is essential to introduce specific functions. The definition of surfactants in this review is very broad, following its lexical meaning “surface active agents”, and therefore includes traditional alkyl modifiers, biological

Within the last decade powerful methods have been developed to study surfaces using bright low-energy positron beams. These novel analysis tools exploit the unique properties of positron interaction with surfaces, which comprise the absence of exchange interaction, repulsive crystal potential and positron trapping in delocalized surface states at low energies. By applying reflection high-energy positron

This review discusses modern developments in CO2 surface chemistry by focusing on the work published since the original review by H.J. Freund and M.W. Roberts two decades ago (Surface Science Reports 25 (1996) 225–273). It includes relevant fundamentals pertaining to the topics covered in that earlier review, such as conventional metal and metal oxide surfaces and CO2 interactions thereon. While UHV

Titanates are salts of polytitanic acid that can be synthesized as nanostructures in a great variety concerning crystallinity, morphology, size, metal content and surface chemistry. Titanate nanotubes (open-ended hollow cylinders measuring up to 200 nm in length and 15 nm in outer diameter) and nanowires (solid, elongated rectangular blocks with length up to 1500 nm and 30–60 nm diameter) are the most

The fascinating particle size dependence to the physical, photophysical, and chemical properties of gold has motivated thousands of studies focused on exploring the ability of supported gold nanoparticles to catalyze chemical transformations. In particular, titanium dioxide-supported gold (Au/TiO2) nanoparticles may provide the right combination of electronic structure, structural dynamics, and stability

The current status of knowledge regarding the surfaces of the iron oxides, magnetite (Fe3O4), maghemite (γ-Fe2O3), haematite (α-Fe2O3), and wüstite (Fe1−xO) is reviewed. The paper starts with a summary of applications where iron oxide surfaces play a major role, including corrosion, catalysis, spintronics, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), biomedicine, photoelectrochemical water splitting and groundwater

In the past decade there have been many theoretical and experimental efforts to study the mechanisms of solid state dewetting, that means the spontaneous agglomeration of a thin solid film on a substrate into an assembly of 3D islands. The dewetting studies of solid films on solid substrates have not yet reached the degree of maturity achieved for liquids but there is now enough experimental data to

Catalyst synthesis with precise control over the structure of catalytic active sites at the atomic level is of essential importance for the scientific understanding of reaction mechanisms and for rational design of advanced catalysts with high performance. Such precise control is achievable using atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is similar to chemical vapor deposition (CVD), except that the deposition

The accepted image of muscovite mica is that of an inert and atomically smooth surface, easily prepared by cleavage in an ambient atmosphere. Consequently, mica is extensively used a model substrate in many fundamental studies of surface phenomena and as a substrate for AFM imaging of biomolecules. In this review we present evidence from the literature that the above picture is not quite correct. The

Metal–oxide interfaces play a fundamental role in determining the functional properties of artificial layered heterostructures, which are at the root of present and future technological applications. Magnetic exchange and magnetoelectric coupling, spin filtering, metal passivation, catalytic activity of oxide-supported nano-particles are just few examples of physical and chemical processes arising

The current efficiency of various photocatalytic processes is limited by the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs in the photocatalyst as well as the back-reaction of intermediate species. This review concentrates on the use of ferroelectric polarization to mitigate electron–hole recombination and back-reactions and therefore improve photochemical reactivity. Ferroelectric materials

Understanding the bio-physical–chemical interactions at nanostructured biointerfaces and the assembly mechanisms of so-called hybrid nano-composites is nowadays a key issue for nanoscience in view of the many possible applications foreseen. The contribution of surface science in this field is noteworthy since, using a bottom-up approach, it allows the investigation of the fundamental processes at the

Molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, has recently gained considerable attention as a layered material where neighboring layers are only weakly interacting and can easily slide against each other. Therefore, mechanical exfoliation allows the fabrication of single and multi-layers and opens the possibility to generate atomically thin crystals with outstanding properties. In contrast to graphene, it has an optical

The oxidation and corrosion of metals are fundamental problems in materials science and technology that have been studied using a large variety of experimental and computational techniques. Here we review some of the recent studies that have led to significant advances in our atomic-level understanding of copper oxide, one of the most studied and best understood metal oxides. We show that a good atomistic

This review covers the surface chemistry of porphyrins, phthalocyanines, their metal complexes, and related compounds, with particular focus on chemical reactions at solid/vacuum interfaces. Porphyrins are not only important biomolecules, they also find, together with the artificial phthalocyanines, numerous technological and scientific applications, which often involve surface and interface related

Recently, pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technology makes viable the epitaxial growth of group III-nitrides on thermally active substrates at low temperature. The precursors generated from the pulsed laser ablating the target has enough kinetic energy when arriving at substrates, thereby effectively suppressing the interfacial reactions between the epitaxial films and the substrates, and eventually

Among nanoalloys, Co–Pt type (CoPt or FePt) supported nanostructures are very interesting systems due to the direct link between atom arrangement and magnetic behavior. In addition, these alloys become model systems in the field of nanoalloys, due to the diversity of atom arrangements either present in the bulk state or specific to the nanoscale (chemically ordered L10, L12, or disordered fcc structures

In recent years, the field of catalysis has experienced an astonishing transformation, driven in part by more demanding environmental standards and critical societal and industrial needs such as the search for alternative energy sources. Thanks to the advent of nanotechnology, major steps have been made towards the rational design of novel catalysts. Striking new catalytic properties, including greatly

This review covers a wide range of surface analytical techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM), photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), dynamic and static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), atomic force microscopy (AFM). Others that are relatively less widely used but are also important to the Earth

This review covers the structure of, and chemical reactions on, well-defined cerium oxide surfaces. Ceria, or mixed oxides containing ceria, are critical components in automotive three-way catalysts due to their well-known oxygen storage capacity. Ceria is also emerging as an important material in a number of other catalytic processes, particularly those involving organic oxygenates and the water–gas

Nanostructured materials offer the possibility to tailor light–matter interaction at scales below the wavelength. Metallic nanostructures benefit from the excitation of surface plasmons that permit light concentration at ultrasmall length scales and ultrafast time scales. The local density of states (LDOS) is a central concept that drives basic processes of light–matter interaction such as spontaneous

We have summarized recent ultrafast spectroscopic studies on phenomena associated with dye-sensitization of semiconductor metal oxide nanoparticles, especially TiO2 nanocrystalline film from a surface science perspective with a strong relation to mechanism of electron injection in dye-sensitized solar cells, which are attracting much interest from both viewpoints of pure science and applied science

Both density functional theory calculations and numerous experimental studies demonstrate a variety of unique features in metal supported oxide films and transition metal doped simple oxides, which are markedly different from their unmodified counterparts. This review highlights, from the computational perspective, recent literature on the properties of the above mentioned surfaces and how they adsorb

A sessile drop is an isolated drop which has been deposited on a solid substrate where the wetted area is limited by the three-phase contact line and characterized by contact angle, contact radius and drop height. Although, wetting has been studied using contact angles of drops on solids for more than 200 years, the question remains unanswered: Is wetting of a rough and chemically heterogeneous surface

This review introduces hydrogen depth profiling by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) via the resonant 1H(15N,αγ)12C reaction as a versatile method for the highly depth-resolved observation of hydrogen (H) at solid surfaces and interfaces. The technique is quantitative, non-destructive, and readily applied to a large variety of materials. Its fundamentals, instrumental requirements, advantages and limitations

The 21st century has brought a lot of new results related to graphene. Apparently, graphene has been characterized from all points of view except surface science and, especially, surface thermodynamics. This report aims to close this gap. Since graphene is the first real two-dimensional solid, a general formulation of the thermodynamics of two-dimensional solid bodies is given. The two-dimensional

Stress and strain originating from mesoscopic misfit at interfaces can have diverse effects on the properties of surfaces and nanostructures thereon. We review the sources and consequences of mesoscopic misfit at metallic surfaces and elucidate various ways in which it affects growth, morphology, electronic properties and magnetism of thin films in early stages of epitaxy and epitaxial nanostructures

There are a wide variety of silica nanoformulations being investigated for biomedical applications. Silica nanoparticles can be produced using a wide variety of synthetic techniques with precise control over their physical and chemical characteristics. Inorganic nanoformulations are often criticized or neglected for their poor tolerance; however, extensive studies into silica nanoparticle biodistributions

Second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency spectroscopy (SFS) have provided unique opportunities to probe surfaces and interfaces. They have found broad applications in many disciplines of science and technology. In recent years, there has been significant progress in the development of SHG/SFS technology that has significantly broadened the applications of SHG and SFS. In this article, we

Adsorption of hydrogen and hydrocarbon molecules on semiconductor surfaces plays a key role in surface science and technology. Most studies have employed silicon (Si) as a substrate because of its paramount technological importance and scientific interest. However, other semiconductor substrates are gaining an increasing interest as well. Silicon carbide (SiC), which is a material with very special

The theory of elasticity accurately describes the deformations of macroscopic bodies under the action of applied stress [1]. In this review, we examine the internal mechanisms of elasticity for strained-layer semiconductor heterostructures. In particular, we present extended x-ray-absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements to show how the bond lengths and bond angles

This review provides theoretical understanding of the role of the surface and interface in the thermal conductivity of solids. An attempt is made to collect the various methods used in the analysis of experiments. The adequacy and range of validity of these methods are evaluated, and suggestions are made concerning possible theoretical and experimental investigations which seem desirable. A major part

Since the advent of third generation synchrotron light sources optimized for providing soft X-rays up to 2 keV, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been developed to be an outstanding tool to study surface properties and surface reactions at an unprecedented level. The high resolution allows identifying various surface species, and for small molecules even the vibrational fine structure can