Interaction of water molecules with bare and deuterated polycrystalline diamond surface studied by high resolution electron energy loss and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies

In this work we study the interaction of water molecules with deuterated and bare polycrystalline diamond surfaces upon exposure to water vapor by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HR-EELS). To distinguish the molecular origin of hydrogen bonds (i.e. C–H, O–H, C–O–H, etc.) formed on the diamond surface upon interaction with the water molecules, deuterated and hydrogenated gases were used in our experiments. Diamond films were deposited from a deuterated gas mixture to induce C(di)-D surface terminations. Water adsorption on bare diamond surface gives rise to the appearance of well defined and pronounced C–H and C–OH vibrational HR-EELS peaks and an intense O (1s) XPS peak. These chemically adsorbed water fragments survive 300 °C anneal temperature under ultra-high vacuum conditions. Annealing at 600 °C of the water exposed bare diamond surface results in disappearance of the C–OH vibrational modes alongside with a pronounced reduction of the C–H vibrational modes, whilst only upon annealing to ~ 800 °C the O (1s) XPS peak decreased substantially in intensity. We associate these effects with dissociative adsorption of the water molecules on the bare diamond surfaces. exposure onto a deuterated surface, on the other hand, does not result in the appearance of the C–OH vibrational peaks but only to an increase of the C–H vibrational HR-EELS mode along side with the appearance of a weaker XPS O (1) peak, as compared to the same experiment, performed on the bare surface. 300 °C anneal significantly diminishes surface oxygen concentration, as monitored by XPS. We associate these results with H2O decomposition reactions and also with molecular adsorption on deuterated diamond surfaces. Annealing of the water exposed deuterated diamond surface, results in a pronounced decrease and disappearance of the O (1s) XPS peak at a temperature of ~ 800 °C.