A Multi-Technique Study of $CO_2$ Adsorption on $Fe_3$$O_4$ Magnetite

Abstract

The adsorption of $CO_2$ on the $Fe_3$$O_4$(001)-($\sqrt{2}$ $\times$ $\sqrt{2}$)R45{\deg} surface was studied experimentally using temperature programmed desorption (TPD), electron spectroscopies (UPS and XPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). $CO_2$ binds most strongly at defects related to Fe2+ including antiphase domain boundaries in the surface reconstruction and above incorporated Fe interstitials. On the pristine surface, $CO_2$ adsorbs molecularly at fivefold-coordinated Fe3+ sites with a binding energy of 0.4 eV. Above a coverage of 4 molecules per ($\sqrt{2}$ $\times$ $\sqrt{2}$)R45{\deg} unit cell, further adsorption results in a compression of the first monolayer up to a density approaching that of a $CO_2$ ice layer. Surprisingly, desorption of the second monolayer occurs at a lower temperature ($\approx$ 84 K) than $CO_2$ multilayers ($\approx$ 88 K), suggestive of a metastable phase or diffusion-limited island growth. The paper also discusses design considerations for a vacuum system optimized to study the surface chemistry of metal oxide single crystals, including the calibration and characterisation of a molecular beam source for quantitative TPD measurements.