Partial stripping of Ag atoms from silver bilayer on a Au(111) surface accompanied with the reductive desorption of hexanethiol SAM.

Abstract  The interfacial structures of Ag bilayer prepared by underpotential deposition on Au(111) (Ag(2ML)/Au(111)) were determined by ex situ scanning tunneling microscopy and in situ surface X-ray scattering measurements before and after oxidative adsorption and after reductive desorption of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of hexanethiol (C6SH) in alkaline ethanol solution. While no structural change was observed after oxidative formation of C6SH SAM on the Ag(2ML)/Au(111) in an ethanol solution containing 20 mM KOH and 0.1 mM C6SH, some of the Ag atoms in the bilayer were stripped when the SAM was reductively desorbed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]