Ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Electron spectroscopy has provided much of our current knowledge on the chemical and physical processes involved in the complex interactions between a solid surface and its surroundings. Such processes are for example important for surface catalysis, corrosion and thin film growth.

As the surface state depends strongly on its environment, it is vital that such studies are performed under realistic in situ and/or operando conditions. Recently, ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) has been introduced as a powerful method to approach such questions due to the sensitivity to the chemical state of the substrate as well as of the adsorbates. Whereas it is not possible to perform electron spectroscopy at realistic pressures for e.g. industrial catalytic reactions, the attainable pressures in the range of 0.01 to of ca. 30 mbar are in most cases sufficient for modelling real reaction conditions.

The HIPPIE and SPECIES beamlines at the MAX IV Laboratory are key infrastructure for this project, and our main research focuses are catalysis, thin film growth (atomic layer deposition, ALD, and chemical vapour deposition, CVD) and chemistry below graphene.

Project leaders: Dr Jan Knudsen and Professor Joachim Schnadt.