The chemical behaviour of solid material surfaces is an important physical characteristic for applications of catalysis, chemical sensors, fuel cells and electrodes. In a recent work published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a researchers’ team led by <link>Dr. Mark Greiner (Surface Structure Analysis, Department of Heterogeneous Reactions) demonstrates an important phenomenon that can occur when metal alloys face reactive environments. They can form meta-stable 2D oxides on their surfaces. Such oxides exhibit chemical and electronic properties that are different from their bulk counterparts. Due to their meta-stability, their existence is also difficult to predict. This publication displays the results of a thorough investigation of one such oxide, confirming previous theoretical predictions of its existence, and helps to advance the understanding of the complexity of solid surfaces in reactive environments.

This investigation was a collaborative research effort between the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and the Italian National Research Council Institute of Materials (CNR-IOM).

Original publication: Schweinar, K., Beeg, S., Hartwig, C., Rajamathi, C.R., Kasian, O., Piccinin, S., Prieto, M.J., Tanase, L.C., Gottlob, D.M., Schmidt, T., Raabe, D., Schlögl, R., Gault, B., Jones, T.E., Greiner, M.T. (2020). Formation a 2D meta-stable oxide by differential oxidation of AgCu alloys ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12(20), 23595-23605. <link https: doi.org acsami.0c03963>

doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c03963

Illustration: Reused with permission from Schweinar, K., Beeg, S., Hartwig, C., Rajamathi, C.R., Kasian, O., Piccinin, S., Prieto, M.J., Tanase, L.C., Gottlob, D.M., Schmidt, T., Raabe, D., Schlögl, R., Gault, B., Jones, T.E., Greiner, M.T. (2020). Formation of a 2D meta-stable oxide by differential oxidation of AgCu alloys. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Copyright (2020) ACS Publishing.