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In situ scanning tunneling microscopy of electrochemical oxidation of single crystal Au(100) surface in aqueous solution

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1991

Year

Abstract

In situ electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (ESTM) was applied to gold surfaces (Au(100)) in an aqueous perchloric acid solution. Images observed on fully oxidized surfaces seemed to be similar to those in the double layer region. This indicated that oxide layers such as AuOH and AuO were uniformly formed on the surface. New islands of a height of ca. 0.15 nm were observed on partially oxidized surfaces, suggesting that the AuOH layer was formed by an island-growth mechanism. Pits and islands of monatomic height were simultaneously created by rather mild oxidation-reduction cycles. The surface diffusion of Au was also investigated.