Atomic-Scale Dynamic Interaction of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">H</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">O</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math> Molecules with Cu Surface
Yao Nian, Zejian Dong, Shuangbao Wang, Yan Wang, You Han, Chongmin Wang, Langli Luo
Abstract
Atomic-scale interaction of water vapor with metal surfaces beyond surface adsorption under technologically relevant conditions remains mostly unexplored. Using aberration-corrected environmental transmission electron microscopy, we reveal the dynamic surface activation of Cu by H_{2}O at elevated temperature and pressure. We find a structural transition from flat to corrugated surface for the Cu(011) under low water-vapor pressure. Increasing the water-vapor pressure leads to the surface reaction of Cu with dissociated H_{2}O, resulting in the formation of a metastable "bilayer" Cu─O─H phase. Corroborated by density functional theory and ab initio molecular dynamics calculations, the cooperative O and OH interaction with Cu is responsible for the formation and subsurface propagation of this phase.