Dynamic Structural Evolution of Mn–Au Alloy and MnO x Nanostructures on Au(111) under Different Atmospheres

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 125; no. 28; pp. 15335 - 15342
• Main Authors: Liu, Yijing, Zhang, Rankun, Ling, Yunjian, Lin, Le, Mu, Rentao, Fu, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 22.07.2021
• Subjects: C: Chemical and Catalytic Reactivity at Interfaces
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c04195

Construction of inverse oxide/metal model catalyst with specific chemical composition and interfacial structure is essential for clarifying their structure–performance relationship. This work describes the structural evolution of Mn–Au surface alloy and two-dimensional manganese oxide (MnO x ) islands on Au(111) surface under different treatment conditions. By employing near-ambient pressure scanning tunneling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we can obtain four different MnO x structures. Among them, double-layer square lattice Mn3O4(001) and monolayer parallelogram-shaped Mn3O4 are prepared by postannealing Mn–Au surface alloy in “oxygen-poor” and “oxygen-rich” regimes, respectively. Annealing the monolayer parallelogram-shaped Mn3O4 in vacuum to 700 K produces a double-layer structure consisting of Mn3O4 top layer and MnO(111) bottom layer, while double-layer MnO(111) is formed after annealing in vacuum to 800 K. Our study lays the foundation for exploring the catalytic properties of inverse manganese oxide/metal model catalysts.