Underpotential deposition of Cu on Au(111) from neutral chloride containing electrolyte

Abstract

The structure of a chloride terminated copper monolayer electrodeposited onto Au(111) from a CuSO₄/KCl electrolyte was investigated ex situ by three complementary experimental techniques (scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), X-ray standing wave (XSW) excitation) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. STM at atomic resolution reveals a stable, highly ordered layer which exhibits a Moiré structure and is described by a (5 × 5) unit cell. The XSW/PES data yield a well-defined position of the Cu layer and the value of 2.16 Å above the topmost Au layer suggests that the atoms are adsorbed in threefold hollow sites. The chloride exhibits some distribution around a distance of 3.77 Å in agreement with the observed Moiré pattern due to a higher order commensurate lattice. This structure, a high order commensurate Cl overlayer on top of a commensurate (1 × 1) Cu layer with Cu at threefold hollow sites, is corroborated by the DFT calculations.